Enrico Dandolo and the Rise of Venice

Thomas F. Madden is an associate professor of history and chair of the history department at Saint Louis University. He is the author of A Concise History of the Crusades, coauthor (with Donald E. Queller) of The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, editor of The Crusades: Essential Readings, and co-editor (with Ellen E. Kittell) of Medieval and Renaissance Venice.

• Contents: One Rise of the New Families Two Patriarch Enrico Dandolo & the Reform of the Venetian Church Three Vitale Dandolo & the Reform of the Venetian State Four Coming of Age, 1175-1192 Five The Medieval Dogeship & The Election of 1192 Six Enrico Dandolo's Dogeship: The First Decade, 1192-1201 Seven The Crucible of the Crusade Eight Venice & the Diversion Nine The Conquest of Constantinople Ten The Venetians in the Latin Empire, 1204-1205 Epilogue: Birth of a Maritime Empire

An example of the kind of history that should be read and written by all students of history. -- Donald B. Epstein History: Reviews of New Books 2004 This is a very readable book... No one working in the fields of Venetian, Byzantine, or Crusading history (in all three of which Madden is equally comfortable), much less medieval history in general, can ignore this book. With it, Madden more than ever stakes out his place as one of the most important medievalists in America at present. -- John W. Barker Medieval Review In addition to a lively narrative, Madden offers a new interpretation of Venice's role in the Fourth Crusade. Choice 2004 A refreshing contribution not only to study of the Fourth Crusade but also to that of medieval Venice. -- David Malkiel American Historical Review 2004 This book deserves to be considered authoritative because of Madden's use of sources contemporary to the Fourth Crusade and not written afterwards with the advantage of hindsight. -- Eleanor A. Congdon International Journal of Maritime History 2004 An elegantly constructed book that gives a new twist to the fourth crusade and a new perspective on the government and constitution of Venice at a critical moment in its development. -- Michael Angold International History Review 2005 Offers a useful account of a turning point in Venice's development. -- Jonathan Seitz Sixteenth Century Journal 2005 Helps shed a great deal of new light on the origins of Venice's political system. -- Karl Appuhn Speculum 2005 Madden provides an unusually lucid and thorough account. -- James S. Grubb Journal of Interdisciplinary History 2006 Provides an important contribution both to our understanding of Venice's political and constitutional evolution until the early thirteenth century and to the background of the Fourth Crusade. -- David Jacoby Mediterranean Historical Review 2006 Well-written and interesting study. -- James M. Powell Crusades 2006 Thanks to its resolutely urban perspective, its careful reading of the sources, and its well-founded and independent standpoint, this study is a benefit to the history of the Crusades and the history of Venice alike. -- Nikolas Jaspert Catholic Historical Review 2009