Giovanni Orseolo
Encyclopedia
Giovanni Orseolo was the first Venetian to hold power in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....

, holding the title of Dux Dalmatiae.

Giovanni's father Pietro II Orseolo
Pietro II Orseolo
Pietro II Orseolo was the Doge of Venice from 991 to 1009.He began the period of eastern expansion of Venice that lasted for the better part of 500 years...

 was the Doge of Venice
Doge of Venice
The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...

.

In AD 1000 he was sent to Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

 to work out the details of a plan his father and the Byzantine Emperor Basil II
Basil II
Basil II , known in his time as Basil the Porphyrogenitus and Basil the Young to distinguish him from his ancestor Basil I the Macedonian, was a Byzantine emperor from the Macedonian dynasty who reigned from 10 January 976 to 15 December 1025.The first part of his long reign was dominated...

 had been working on. Under this agreement the Venetians would conquer Dalmatia and then hold it as a protectorate under Byzantine suzerainty. (Norwich, John Julius. "Byzantium: The Apogee" (Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1992) p. 257).

While in Constantinople he was given a standard to use in his upcoming invasion of Dalmatia by the Bishop of Olivolo. He was successful in establishing Venetian power on the Dalmatian coast.

In 1004 Giovanni married Maria Argyre
Maria Argyre
Maria Argyra or Maria Argyropoulaina was a Byzantine princess, the granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Romanos II and niece of the emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII....

, who was the daughter of Basil II's second cousin. By this time Giovanni had been advanced to the rank of co-doge of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

.

In 1006 Giovanni, along with his wife and son died of plague.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK