The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-02-26
The HISTORY OF. Venice
". Hudson Shaw Gives the First of
His Series of Illustrated Lectures.
FOUNDING OF THE REPUBLIC
Romans Forced to Fly from the Mainland
ofItaly Sought Refuge from the Goths
and Vandais Amid the Islands
OF the Lagoon.

Aseries of six illustrated lectures upon
the origin and history of the Republic
of Venice was begun last evening in
the Young Mems Christian Association
hall by w. Hudson Shaw, fellow of
Balliol college, oxford. The series Is in
connection with the movement for uni
Versity extension and is Immediately
under the auspices of the Ladies' Read
Ing club, The lecturer was introduced
by William Y. Smith, and for an hour
was attentiVely listened to by large
and distinguished audience, afterward
explaining II number of interesting
Views.
The speaker sketched briefly, but
clearly, the condition OF middle and
southern Europe at the critical moment
just preceding the dissolution of the
Roman empire; explained the invasion,
first of the GOths ana Nandals, and
later of the Huns under Attila and then
told how it was that many wealthy
Roman families. forced to fly from the
mainland of Italy. found refuge in the
peculiarly cnVironed and protected Ia
guOn in the Adriatic afterward known
as Venice. 1t was particularly impressed
upon his auditors that by reason
of the geographical conditions of that
lagoon, consisting as 1t did of about
thirty-iiVe square miles of sandy silt.
studded with small islands which We're
protected by an outer breakwater
formed ofVast accumulatons Of detrltus
from the rivers of the mainland, and,
thanks to the Adriatics tide alternate
4 al al ahn hn
water level Venice, thus effectually de-
tached from what is now Italy, was
alone among the early Italian cities in
its escape from Teutonic intermiXture
The Founding of Venice.
Historical Venice dates from A. ID.
ij2. In that year such of the inhabi-
tants of Aquileia, of Altnum, and es-
pecially OF wealthy Padua as escaped
from the destroying sword of the Hun,
settled upon the seven marshy islands
at the mouth of the Piave, or upon the
nearby islands of Rivus Altus and
Methamancus, hitherto inhabited chief
ly by poor fishermen and salt diggers.
1t was Il noteworthy coincidence, the
speaker said, that in that same year
there occurred another migration of
peoples, this time not patrician Romans,
but sturdy, seafaring Angles. Jutes and
Saxons, under the joint leadership of
Hengst and Horsa, the upshot of which
was the retirement of the Roman domi-
nation from what is now England, and
the upbuilding of a rival mistress of the
seas.
The speaker dealt in detail upon the
inf 10 hnp 10 I,,, "a,
foundations for the Venetian cities.
built as they were upon shifting sand
and silt and mud. This was later illus
trated by the view of a section of eX-
cavated foundation showing first great
trees driven forty and fifty feet deep
through the muck surface to solid clay,
and successfully surmounted by strata
of the finest masonry until the whole
presented the appearance almost of a
high tower, only the top of which, how
ever, appeared above the surface of
the canal. In consequence of this en-
vireonment it followed that as the va
rious sea girt islands, through sheer
necessity, became grouped under a CEN
trail government with its headquarters
upon the island Rialto, in what is now
known as the city of Venice, the energy
of their citizens took a maritime bent
making Venice the greatest naval and
ship-trading power of medieval
Europe.
Uneasy Life of the Doges.
The fact that at its origin Venice
comprised two distinct classes. that is
to say, the original inhabitants, who
Eel,. ls f.f
clan immigrant refugees, who in the
main were cultured Roman noblemen,
explained, the speaker said, why the
government of Venice, although repub-
lican insomuch that its doges were
chosen by popular vote, was essentially
an aristocracy, against which the jeal-
Gus democracy continually plotted and
schemed. In consequence of this civil
DIVISION out Of fifty doges five abdicat-
ed five were murdered, nine were de-
posed and two fell in battle But the
natural independence of the lagoon re-
public from mainland alliances in
volved it for centuries in diplomatic
oscillation between the great and rising
empire of the Franks on the west and
the waning Byzantine empire of the
Greeks, on the east. The defeat of the
Franks. in 80, marked the affranchise-
ment of Venice, and brought the first
lecture to appropriate conclusion.
A series of stereopticon views was
then exhibited. the speaker briefly eX-
planning the significance of each in its
relation to the theme under considera-
ton. one picture, a restoration of the
Turkish traders. exchange built some
time in the Thirteenth century, afford
ed the lecturer an opportunity to con-
trast the purer art and architecture OF
Venice with the grOsser feudal forms
prevalent in Florence, Sienna, Padua,
Pisa and Milan--the latter being con-
sequences of the TeutOnic invasion.
Three pictures gave different maqs of
early Venice, showing the relation of
the lagoon to the mainland and also to
the open sea. Modern Venice was also
pletured, and then contrasted with va
rious other once-competitive cities on
the mainland, notably Pisa and Flor
| enCe.
Mr.. Shaw Is an interesting speaker,
in thorough command of his subject.
He presented that subject with admira-
bic tact, saying neither too much nor
| too little to enable the auditor to thor
oughly comprehend 1t: and the series
will unauestionab be not only popu-
lar, but also highly profitable as an
| aid to culture.