At the time of his accession to the dogeship, Venice was engaged in the second Ottoman-Venetian war, and Leonardo had lost his cousin Andrea Loredan, a naval officer, in the disastrous Battle of Zonchio. The war proceeded badly on land too, with the Venetians losing considerable territory. This included the strategic city of Modon, which was the site of a bloody battle involving hand-to-hand combat, followed by the beheading of hundreds of Venetians following the Turkish victory. The war took a heavy toll on the Venetian economy, and in 1502/1503 Loredan agreed a peace treaty with the Ottomans. He was helped in negotiations by Andrea Gritti, a Venetian who had been conducting trade in Constantinople and would later become Doge of Venice himself.