Pietro Ziani was the forty-second 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...

 from 15 August 1205 to 1229, succeededing Enrico Dandolo

Enrico Dandolo

Enrico Dandolo — anglicised as Henry Dandolo and Latinized as Henricus Dandulus — was the 41st Doge of Venice from 1195 until his death...

. He was the son of Doge Sebastian Ziani of the very rich noble family.

In his youth a sailor, he commanded a flotilla escorting the emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1177, took also part in the Fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...

 and sacking of Constinople

Siege of Constantinople (1204)

The Siege of Constantinople occurred in 1204; it destroyed parts of the capital of the Byzantine Empire as it was confiscated by Western European and Venetian Crusaders...

. After his election, Ziani is said to consider the transfer of the capital of the Republic to Constantinople, but eventually the Council decided against it. Instead, he organized the Venetian acquisitions in the territory of the Latin Empire

Latin Empire

The Latin Empire or Latin Empire of Constantinople is the name given by historians to the feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. It was established after the capture of Constantinople in 1204 and lasted until 1261...

: Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

, Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

, other islands and the substantial part of Constantinople itself, demanding an oath from the Venetian colony in the city. Ziani established also commercial ties with the post-Byzantine states, signing in 1210 a treaty with the despotate of Epirus

Despotate of Epirus

The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...

 under Michael I Komnenos Doukas

Michael I Komnenos Doukas

Michael I Komnenos Doukas or Comnenus Ducas , often inaccurately called Michael Angelos , was the founder and first ruler of the principality of Epirus from 1205 until his death in 1215.-Life:...

.

In February 1229 he abdicated and in his place a Jacopo Tiepolo

Jacopo Tiepolo

Jacopo Tiepolo was Doge of Venice from 6 March 1229 to 2 May 1249. Previously, served as a first Venetian duke of Crete and podestà in Constantinople ....

 was elected, but Ziani refused to meet him and died a year later. He is buried in the church of San Giorgio Maggiore

San Giorgio Maggiore

San Giorgio Maggiore is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The isle is surrounded by Canale della Grazia, Canale della Giudecca, Saint Mark Basin, Canale di San Marco and the southern lagoon...

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