# Marino Faliero

Marino Faliero (Venetian: Marin Falier, 1274 – 17 April 1355) was the 55th Doge of Venice, appointed in September 1354. He was executed for attempting a coup d'etat.

## Origin and family

Marino Faliero was born c. 1285 the son of Jacopo Faliero and Bettiola of the Loredan family. Marino had three brothers, Ordelaffo, Marco, and Jacopo, and a sister, Francesca. The Faliero family was one of the oldest in the Venetian patriciate, legend tracing its origins to the myths surrounding the foundation of Venice itself in Late Antiquity. By the 14th century, it was counted among the twelve most prestigious, so-called "apostolic" noble families.
Marino married twice. The name of his first wife, who died sometime before 1328, is unknown, but may have been a member of the Contarini family (the same as his grandmother's). The couple had numerous children: Lucia, Marco, Nicoletto, Maddalena, Andriota, Caterina, and Tommasina. His second marriage, in 1335, was to the much younger Alvica Gradenigo, a granddaughter of Doge Pietro Gradenigo (r. 1289–1311). This marriage was childless.

## Early career

The Faliero family had many branches and many of its members shared the same, name which makes distinguishing them difficult for modern historians. At the time of Marino's early life there were two other namesakes, a remote cousin who died shortly after 1320, and a paternal uncle, who died around 1330. As a result, information about Marino Faliero's early career is only certain after 1330.

### Service in the Council of Ten and overseas

The first known public post of Faliero is attested in October 1315, when he was one of the three heads (capi) of the Council of Ten, convened to examine the case of a sympathizer of the failed 1310 Tiepolo conspiracy. Faliero's own role during the 1310 events is nowhere mentioned, but from his later appointment it appears that he supported the—victorious—loyalist side. Faliero continued as a member of the council until 1320 and held the office of head of the Ten as well as state inquisitor several times during this period. In early 1320 he was charged with Andrea Michiel to organize the killing of Bajamonte Tiepolo and Pietro Querini, the only two leaders of the conspiracy still at large.
From then until 1323, Faliero's activities are unknown, other than records of mercantile activity in 1321 and early 1323. In April of the latter year, he was named bailo (governor) and captain (military commandant) of Negroponte (Euboea), a Venetian-ruled island in the Aegean Sea. In 1326 he was again in Venice as a member of the Council of Ten, but in May of the following year he left for Bologna on a diplomatic mission along with Marco Michiel to the prior of the Servites who had a dispute with Venice. Back again in Venice he again served in the Ten, he left shortly after to be elected to the police board of the Five Elders to Peace (cinque anziani alla pace). He is next mentioned in a number of private deeds in 1329, and was elected to the Council of Ten in August of the same year, and again at the start of 1330.
In 1333 Faliero became captain of the galleys destined for the Black Sea and of Constantinople, his first known military posting. His task was the protection of the merchant ships going to Tanais. He was back in Venice by 31 October, when he was tasked with examining the affairs of the East, notably the reports sent to Venice by the—largely Venetian-sponsored—Holy League and from Negroponte, as well as serving in commissions on the matters of navigation in the East. In early 1334 Faliero was elected as podestà (governor) of the Dalmatian island of Lesina (Hvar). He remained at this post from early March 1334 to late June 1335. In July he was member of a commission examining letters from Hélion de Villeneuve, the Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, and a month later of a commission concerning correspondence with King James III of Majorca. During the same time he also wedded his second wife, Alvica Gradenigo. In November 1335 Faliero was elected as a savio agli ordini, the board tasked with naval affairs.

### Governorships and ambassadorships

With the Scaliger War looming, in May 1336 Faliero was member of a commission sent to supervise the defence of the former Caminesi lands annexed by Venice. He then served as one of the two Venetian members (along with two Florentine ones) in the council assisting the anti-Scaliger alliance's captain-general, Pietro de' Rossi, until late autumn 1336. From 1 May 1337 to 28 February 1338 he served as podestà of Chioggia, immediately on the next day assuming his post as podestà of Padua, which had only recently been freed from Scaliger rule and was now a protectorate of Venice and Florence. Faliero held the post until February 1339, and during this time cooperated with the city's lord, Ubertino I da Carrara, in a comprehensive overhaul of the Paduan statutes to secure the position of the new Carraresi regime and its ruling family. Among the reforms was a revision of the eligibility criteria for the Paduan Great Council that echoed Venice's own Serrata of 1297, by making membership more restrictive and founded on a hereditary basis.
Elected as the first Venetian podestà of Treviso on 26 January 1339, Faliero took up his new post on 11 February, holding it until December of that year. During the next year he was a member of various commissions of 'wise men' (savi) on diverse issues, domestic as well as foreign, ranging from preparations in Dalmatia for a possible war with King Louis I of Hungary to an examination of usury practices, or supervising road construction in Venice. From May 1341 to January 1342 he served as podestà of Serravalle, followed by a second term as podestà of Chioggia from April 1342 to April 1343, although his actual tenure was shorter, since in March he was recalled to Venice for consultations. During the following months he played a role in resolving the legal disputes of the former Caminesi lords; acting as guarantor in an agreement between Gherardo V da Camino [it] and Rizzardo VII da Camino [it] and the Bishop of Ceneda, Faliero was rewarded by the former with ownership of the castle of Fregona. In spring 1344 Faliero was sent as envoy, along with Andrea Corner, to Pope Clement VI in Avignon. The mission, to receive papal permission to trade with Alexandria—ruled by the Mamluk Sultanate and thus normally prohibited for Christian merchants—was a success. During his absence, Faliero was elected again podestà of Chioggia, a post which was filled by his brother Ordelaffo until Marino returned from Avignon. He remained in this post till 1 May 1345.
In September Faliero was briefly part of a commission dealing with the revolt of Zara (Zadar), the chief Venetian possession in Dalmatia. On 20 November Faliero was designated captain of the naval forces against Zara, but this was soon altered to a six-month command of the land forces ten days later, a move of uncertain legality as Faliero had already accepted the previous appointment. He never seems to have exercised this command, however, and on 14 January 1346 he was again named captain of the sea. Sailing to Zara with a fleet, he arrived there at the end of February, but already in March was obliged to subordinate himself to Pietro Civran, who arrived at the scene with another Venetian fleet as commander-in-chief of all naval forces. With the defeat of a relief attempt by King Louis I of Hungary in early July, the military situation dramatically shifted in favour of the Venetians, and by the end of the same month Faliero was back in Venice. From 4 August 1346 to 4 August 1347 Faliero served a second term as podestà of Treviso.
In November 1347, Faliero was member of a commission to examine correspondence with Louis I of Hungary, before going for a second term as podestà to Serravalle in the next year. In the meantime, Venice was devastated by the Black Death, which killed his brother, Ordelaffo. While still at Serravalle, on 24 September 1348, Faliero was elected captain-general of the land forces against the city of Capodistria (Koper), which had revolted against Venetian rule. By the time he arrived in Venice and began preparations, however, the revolt was already subdued, and he only went to Capodistria as a commissioner in November, to ensure its defence and examine how the revenue derived from it could be increased. In February–April 1349, as savio agli ordini, he was charged with the Republic's deteriorating relationship with its traditional rival, the Republic of Genoa, which would soon lead to the outbreak of the Third Genoese–Venetian War. He was then sent as envoy to the papal legate, Guy de Montfort [fr], on the issue of the accumulated arrears, due to the plague and the imminent war with Genoa, of the decima dei morti, the tithe that ought to be paid to the Church from the property of deceased Venetians. Neither Faliero nor his eventual successors could resolve the matter, which festered and poisoned the Republic's relations with the Church for decades.
By May 1349, Faliero was again serving an annual term as podestà of Chioggia. In July the same year, in a ceremony at Ceneda, he was invested with the fief of Valmareno, which was ceded by Rizzardo VII da Camino in exchange for a loan from the Republic. In May 1350, he served in a board on the affairs of Dalmatia, was briefly again envoy to the papal legate, and in June was appointed to the five-member commission examining relations with Genoa. Elected ambassador to the Duke of Austria, Albert II, Faliero was eventually replaced in this task and sent instead to an embassy to Genoa, in hopes of averting the imminent conflict. The decree of his appointment makes clear the high hopes vested in him, claiming that "our fates are largely entrusted in the person of the ambassador". He was given ample remit to conclude an agreement as he saw fit, or to refer the matter to papal arbitration. Officially confirmed on 31 July, Faliero set out, but already on 2 August, he received messages that instructed him to stay put, and then to turn back, leaving only his secretary, Amadeo, to continue with the mission. The reason for this was news received in Venice that Venetian citizens had been killed by the Genoese in the Black Sea. Even though newer messages confirmed this not to be the case, the subsequent proposals for Faliero to continue his journey, or for another ambassador to be sent in his stead, fell through, making war inevitable.
In 1352 Faliero was sent on a diplomatic mission and met with the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander in Nicopolis, giving him a letter from the doge Andrea Dandolo.

## Doge of Venice

Faliero was a naval and military commander and then a diplomat before being elected doge in succession to Andrea Dandolo. He learned of his election while he was on a diplomatic mission to the papal court at Avignon. The populace of Venice was at that time disenchanted with the ruling aristocrats who were blamed for a recent naval defeat by the fleet of the Republic of Genoa at the 1354 Battle of Portolungo during the Third Venetian–Genoese War.
Within months of being elected, Faliero attempted a coup d'etat in April 1355, aiming to take effective power from the ruling aristocrats. According to tradition, this came about because the dogaressa, Faliero's second wife, Aluycia Gradenigo, had been insulted by Michele Steno, a member of an aristocratic family, but in a study of doges of Venice Antonella Grignola suggests that Faliero's move was consistent with a prevailing trend in Italian cities to move away from oligarchic government to absolute, dynastic rule.
The plot intended to murder the chief patricians on 15 April and proclaim Faliero prince of Venice. It was badly organised, with poor communication between the conspirators, and was quickly discovered thanks to some of the conspirators having made revelations. The Council of Ten proceeded to arrest the ringleaders and to place armed guards all over the town. Several of the conspirators were condemned to death and others to various terms of imprisonment. Faliero pleaded guilty to all charges and was beheaded on 17 April and his body mutilated. Ten additional ringleaders were hanged on display from the Doge's Palace in Piazza San Marco.

## Legacy

Faliero was condemned to damnatio memoriae, and accordingly his portrait displayed in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio (Hall of the Great Council) in the Doge's Palace was omitted and the space painted over with a black shroud, which can still be seen in the hall today. A Latin language inscription on the painted shroud reads: Hic est locus Marini Faletro decapitati pro criminibus ("This is the space for Marino Faliero, beheaded for his crimes").
The story of Faliero's failed plot was later made into plays by Lord Byron (Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice in 1821) and Casimir Delavigne (in 1829). Delavigne's play was adapted into an eponymous opera scored by Gaetano Donizetti in 1835. All three present the traditional story that Faliero was acting to defend his wife's honour. Prussian author E. T. A. Hoffmann used a different approach in his 1818 novella Doge und Dogaresse [de]; German composer Robert Schumann contemplated writing an opera based on Hoffmann's story. Eugène Delacroix's 1826 painting The Execution of the Doge Marino Faliero is based on Lord Byron's play.
His home, Palazzo Falier, still exists in Venice, being one of the oldest structures there.