City of fortune: how Venice ruled the seas

Prologue: departure

Part I. Opportunity: Merchant Crusaders, 1000-1204

Lords of Dalmatia

The blind Doge

Thirty-four thousand marks

"A dog returning to its vomit"

At the walls

Four emperors

"The works of hell"

Part II. Ascent: Princes of the Sea, 1204-1500

A quarter and half a quarter

Demand and supply

"In the jaws of our enemies"

The flag of Saint Titus

Bridling Saint Mark

Fight to the finish

Stato da Mar

"Like water in a fountain"

City of Neptune: the view from 1500

Part III. Eclipse: The Rising Moon, 1400-1503

The glass ball

The shield of Christendom

"If Negroponte is lost"

Pyramid of fire

Hands on the throat of Venice

Epilogue: return.