Vitale Faliero
32nd Doge of Venice
1020 CE to 1095 CE
Vitale Faliero Dodoni (also known as Falier de' Doni) and usually known in English as Vitale Falier is the 32nd Doge of Venice from 1084 until his death in 1095.
World
The Middle of The Earth
View →Related Events
Showing 2 events out of 2 total
The first St. Mark's had been a building next to the Doge's Palace, ordered by the doge in 828, when Venetian merchants stole the supposed relics of Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria, and completed by 832; from the same century dates the first St. Mark's Campanile (bell tower).
The church was burned in a rebellion in 976, when the populace locked Pietro IV Candiano inside to kill him, and restored or rebuilt in 978.
Nothing certain is known of the form of these early churches.
From perhaps 1073, the present basilica was constructed.
The consecration is variously recorded as being in 1084-5, 1093 (the date most often taken), 1102 and 1117, probably reflecting a series of consecrations of different parts.
The building also incorporates a low tower (now housing St. Mark’s Treasure), believed by some to have been part of the original Doge's Palace.
In 1094, the body supposed that of Saint Mark is rediscovered in a pillar by Vitale Faliero, the current doge.
Vitale Faliero is a member of a noble Venetian family, probably from Fano.
A member of the minor consiglio (the council of doge's advisers), he had been elected Doge in the revolt that overthrew Domenico Selvo in December 1084, probably initiated by Faliero himself, among others.
He is the first Doge whose image is known, being allegedly portrayed next to the high altar of St. Mark's Basilica.
During the latter part of his reign the city has been hit by an earthquake, a seastorm, and a heavy famine.
Venice had been supporting Constantinople in the war against the Normans under Robert Guiscard when Vitale Fallero became Doge.
In the spring of 1095, the Venetian fleet obtains a great naval victory at Butrinthos (in modern-day Albania) that avenges Selvo's defeat at Corfu.
The recovery in the prestige of the city is testified by the visit of Emperor Henry IV, to whom it is allied during the Investiture Controversy against the pope, for the consecration of St. Mark's church, the rebuilding of which is completed at this time.
Faliero dies in December 1095.
He was married to Cornella Bembo.
His son Ordelafo will become a subsequent Doge.