Alexios I's chrysobull for Venice
In return for naval help against the Normans, Alexios I granted the Venetians the right to trade free of all duties in Constantinople and a long list of imperial ports, a quarter of their own in the capital and honours for the doge. The golden bull laid the foundations of Venice's commercial power in the eastern Mediterranean — at the expense, many historians argue, of Byzantine revenue and merchants.
- Date
- May 1082month known
- Place
- Constantinopletoday: Istanbul, Turkey · Balkans and Anatolia
- Participants
- Alexios I Komnenos, Republic of Venice, Byzantine Empire
- Threads
- Balkans and Anatolia (11th–12th c.)
- Also known as
- Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1082; Golden Bull of 1082; Византийско-венецианский договор 1082 года; Хрисовул 1082 года
The chrysobull rewarded the Venetian fleet that had fought the Normans off Dyrrhachium and secured its continued support. Venetian merchants were freed from the customs and other dues collected by imperial officials in Constantinople and in ports and cities from Laodicea and Antioch in the east to Dyrrhachium and Corfu in the west; they received a quarter in the capital with workshops and three landing stages; the doge was given the court title of protosebastos with a salary, the patriarch of Grado the title of hypertimos, and the Amalfitan merchants living in the empire had to pay dues to the church of San Marco in Venice.
Most historians accept the traditional date of May 1082, which Thomas Madden defended in 2002; others, among them E. Francès, have argued for 1084, and Peter Frankopan for 1092. The privileges gave the Venetians an advantage over their Byzantine competitors that grew with time. When John II Komnenos refused to renew them, Venetian fleets raided the Byzantine coasts in 1122–1126 until he confirmed and extended them.
Connections
Part of
- Reign of Alexios I Komnenos: the Komnenian restoration begins4 April 1081 – 15 August 1118 · Balkans and Anatolia
Related events
- Battle of Dyrrhachium18 October 1081 · Balkans and Anatoliathe privileges rewarded the Venetian fleet that had fought the Normans off Dyrrhachium
Same participants
- Battle of Levounion29 April 1091 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Alexios I Komnenos
- Sack of Constantinople12–13 April 1204 · Balkans and Anatoliavia Republic of Venice
Same place
- Founding of Constantinople11 May 330 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Theodosian Walls of Constantinoplebetween 404 and 408 – 413 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Imperial school in the Capitol of Constantinople27 February 425 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Theodosius II1 May 408 – 28 July 450 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Theodosian Code15 February 438 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Council of Chalcedon8 October – 1 November 451 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Nika riots13–18 January 532 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague of Justinian541–549 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Justinian I1 August 527 – 14 November 565 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Silkworm eggs are smuggled to Constantinoplebetween 552 and 554 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Phocas overthrows Maurice23 November 602 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reign of Heraclius5 October 610 – 11 February 641 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Avar–Persian siege of Constantinople29 June – 7 August 626 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Invention of Greek firec. 672 · Balkans and Anatolia
- First Arab siege of Constantinople674–678 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Third Council of Constantinople7 November 680 – 16 September 681 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Second Arab siege of Constantinoplebetween 15 July and 15 August 717 – 15 August 718 · Balkans and Anatolia
- The Ecloga: law code of Leo III and Constantine Vbetween 726 and 741 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Plague in Constantinople, 746–747746 – between 747 and 748 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Byzantine Iconoclasmbetween 726 and 730 – 11 March 843 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Irene becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empirebetween 15 August and 19 August 797 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Leo the Mathematician heads the school of the Magnaurabetween 843 and 866 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’ attack on Constantinople18 June – 4 August 860 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople907 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 9112 September 911 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Igor’s campaigns against Byzantium11 June 941 – 944 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Rus’–Byzantine Treaty of 944between 944 and 945 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Olga’s visit to Constantinople and her baptism9 September – 18 October 957 · Balkans and Anatolia
- East–West Schism: the excommunications of 105416 July 1054 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Michael Psellos writes the Chronographiac. 1059 – c. 1078 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Reconquest of Constantinople25 July 1261 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Fall of Constantinople29 May 1453 · Balkans and Anatolia
- Accession of Suleiman the Magnificent30 September 1520 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within a year of this event
Western and Central Europe
- Norman conquest of SicilyMay 1061 – between 1090 and 1091
- Investiture Controversy1075 – 23 September 1122
Middle East and Egypt
- The caliphate of al-Mustansir and the ‘Mustansirite hardship’13 June 1036 – 29 December 1094
Africa
- Hummay founds the Sayfawa dynasty: Islam at the court of Kanembetween 1075 and 1085
- The Almoravids: from a desert reform movement to an empirebetween 1039 and 1046 – 1147
- K2 (Bambandyanalo) and the rise of Mapungubwec. 1000 – c. 1220
- Igbo-Ukwu: bronze casting in the West African forest800–899 – 1100–1199
East Asia
- Wang Anshi’s New Policies26 February 1069 – 16 September 1086
Southeast Asia and Oceania
- Polynesians settle the Society Islandsbetween 1025 and 1120
North America
- Classic Mimbres: the painted bowls of the Mogollonc. 1000 – between 1130 and 1150
- Pueblo II: stone pueblos and the Chaco worldc. 900 – c. 1150
Latin America
- Collapse of Tiwanakuc. 1000 – c. 1150
- Eight Deer Jaguar Claw unites the Mixtec kingdomsc. 1083 – 1115
- Tula and the Toltecs: the leading city of central Mexicoc. 900 – c. 1150
- Middle Sicán: the Lambayeque culture at its height at Batán Grandec. 900 – c. 1100
- Chimor: the Chimú kingdom and its capital Chan Chanc. 900 – c. 1470
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Byzantine–Venetian treaty of 1082
- Wikipedia (Russian): Византийско-венецианский договор (1082)
- Madden T. F. The chrysobull of Alexius I Comnenus to the Venetians: the date and the debate // Journal of Medieval History. — 2002. — Vol. 28, no. 1.
- Frankopan P. Byzantine trade privileges to Venice in the eleventh century: the chrysobull of 1092 // Journal of Medieval History. — 2004. — Vol. 30, no. 2. — P. 135–160.
- Wikidata: Q5004719