Marino Faliero had been a naval and…
1356 CE
Marino Faliero had been a naval and military commander and then a diplomat before being elected doge in succession to Andrea Dandolo in September 1354.
The populace of Venice is disenchanted with the ruling aristocrats, who are blamed for a recent naval defeat by the fleet of Genoa at Portolungo.
Faliero had learned of his election while he was on a diplomatic mission to the papal court at Avignon.
Within months of being elected, Faliero attempts a coup d'etat in April 1355, aiming to take effective power from the ruling aristocrats.
According to tradition, this comes about because the dogaressa, Faliero's second wife, Aluica Gradenigo, had been insulted by Michele Steno, a member of an aristocratic family, but in a study of doges of Venice, Antonella Grignola suggests that Faliero's move was consistent with a prevailing trend in Italian cities to move away from oligarchic government to absolute, dynastic rule.
The plot is badly organized, with poor communication between the conspirators, and is quickly discovered.
Faliero pleads guilty to all charges and is beheaded and his body mutilated.
Ten additional ringleaders are hanged on display from the Doge's Palace in St Mark's Square.
Faliero is condemned to damnatio memoriae, and accordingly his portrait displayed in the Sala del Maggior Consiglio (Hall of the Great Council) in the Doge's Palace is removed and the space painted over with a black shroud, which can still be seen in the hall today.
An inscription on the painted shroud reads: Hic est locus Marini Faletro decapitati pro criminibus ("This is the space reserved for Marino Faliero, beheaded for his crimes").
The story of Faliero's uprising will be made into dramas by Lord Byron (1820) and Casimir Delavigne (1829).
The latter's version will be adapted as an opera with a score by Gaetano Donizetti in 1835.
All three present the traditional story that Faliero was acting to defend his wife's honor.
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