page_title: War of the Castle of Love
section_title: War
hierarchical_section_title: War of the Castle of Love / War
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: Cà Bianca, frazione di Chioggia: i ruderi della Torre di Bebe (o Torre delle Bebbe).
context_page_description: The War of the Castle of Love was a conflict in 1215–1216 between Padua and Treviso on one side and Venice on the other. It began with the an exchange of insults at a festival, escalated to raiding and finally to open warfare. The decisive engagement was fought near the mouth of the Adige on 22 October 1215 and a peace treaty was signed on 9 April 1216.
  Narrative sources for the war include the Liber chronicorum of Rolandino of Padua, Les estoires de Venise of Martino Canal, the Chronicon of Andrea Dandolo, De origine urbis Venetiarum of Marino Sanuto and Historie venete of Gian Giacomo Caroldo.
context_section_description: Warfare did not break out immediately as a result of the spoiled pageant, but relations between Padua and Venice turned sour. According to the Cronaca Altinate, Doge Pietro Ziani strove to maintain peace through diplomacy so that Venice could concentrate on its recent acquisitions in Greece. The year following the pageant was spent in diplomatic exchanges and raids until Venice severed commercial relations with Padua. In the words of Rolandino:
  For in process of time the enmity between Paduans and Venetians waxed so sore that all commerce of trade forbidden on either side, and the confines were guarded lest anything should be brought from one land to the other: then men practised robberies and violence, so that discord grew afresh, and wars, and deadly enmity.
  In the autumn of 1215, Padua invaded Venetian territory and attacked the Torre delle Bebbe near the mouth of the Adige. This tower had been built by Venice to control the traffic on the Adige. Its garrison consisted of men from Chioggia and some sailors. In preparation for the Paduan assault, they filled its base with earth, dug a ditch around it and created a covering for it with ropes taken from ships in order to protect it from the projectiles of siege engines. Taking advantage of high tide on 22 October, the defenders sortied, supported by a small fleet, sacked the Paduan camp and took 400 prisoners One source puts it at 400 knights plus many foot soldiers besides, but Dandolo records it as 200 knights and 200 foot soldiers. The Paduan captain, Geremia da Peraga, was among the captives. For its service, Chioggia was released form its annual tribute to Venice of three hens per household.
  Owing to unusually heavy rains, the ground was exceptionally marshy and the Paduans were forced to break up in retreat. Some of the retreating Paduans encountered a force under the podestà of Treviso that had been coming to reinforce them. Observing the rout, the Trevisans returned home. The author of the Cronaca Foscariniana and Bartolomeo Zuccato writing in the 16th century both report the Paduan–Trevisan alliance as having been signed on 4 September 1215. Other sources give 4 February 1215.
  Following the intervention of Patriarch Wolfger of Aquileia, separate peace treaties for Padua and Treviso were signed on 9 April 1216 at San Giorgio in Alga in Venice. This achievement is mentioned on Wolfger's tombstone. Wolfger's influence stemmed in part from his position as the superior of the suffragan bishops of Treviso and Padua, but he may also have received a papal commission from Innocent III when he attended the Fourth Lateran Council in November 1215. The pope was at the time preparing a new crusade, which required general peace among the Christian powers of Europe. Present at the signing of the treaties was the prominent peacemaker Giordano Forzatè, who had probably acted as one of the Paduan government's advisers. According to the treaties, "on the occasion of the games of Treviso, the devil instigating, no small war between Venetians and Paduans arose" (instigante diabolo, occasione ludi Tarvisii, inter Venetos et Paduanos werra non modica fuisset suborta).
  One of the articles of the treaty stipulated that the wealthy Jacopo da Sant'Andrea and twenty-five other Paduans would be at the disposal of the doge of Venice (perhaps to be tried). This suggests that Jacopo may have been behind Padua's decision to go to war.
caption: Ruins of the Torre delle Bebbe today, site of the main battle of the War of the Castle of Love
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