Sacred Plunder. David M. Perry
SACRED
PLUNDER
SACRED PLUNDER
VENICE
AND THE
AFTERMATH
OF THE
FOURTH
CRUSADE
DAVID M. PERRY
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Perry, David M., 1973–
Sacred plunder : Venice and the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade / David M. Perry.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: “Explores the emergence of a body of texts about relics transported from Constantinople to the West as a after the Fourth Crusade, and the role of these texts in the development of Venice’s civic identity in the thirteenth century”— Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-271-06507-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Venice (Italy)—History—697–1508.
2. Group identity—Italy—Venice—History—To 1500.
3. Crusades—Fourth, 1202–1204—Historiography.
4. Crusades—Fourth, 1202–1204—Sources.
5. Crusades in literature.
6. Relics in literature.
I. Title.
DG677.6.P47 2015
945’.304—dc23
2014033309
Copyright © 2015 The Pennsylvania State University
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Published by The Pennsylvania State University Press,
University Park, PA 16802-1003
The Pennsylvania State University Press is a member of the Association of American University Presses.
It is the policy of The Pennsylvania State University Press to use acid-free paper. Publications on uncoated stock satisfy the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Material, ANSI Z39.48–1992.
This book is printed on paper that contains 30% post-consumer waste.
FOR Lewis and Elisabeth Israels Perry
CONTENTS
Constantinople’s Relics, 1204–1261
Pope Innocent III and Sacrilege, 1204–1215
PART II: TEXTS
3
The Translatio Narratives of the Fourth Crusade
4
Interpretations
PART III: OUTCOMES
5
Translatio and Venice Before and After 1204
6
Translatio and the Myth of Venice
Epilogue
Notes
Bibliography
Index
FIGURES
1 Mosaic of St. Peter, St. Mark, and St. Hermagoras, San Marco
2 Marble relief of St. Demetrios, San Marco
3 Marble relief of St. George, San Marco
4 Marble relief of Heracles and the Erymanthian boar, San Marco
5 Marble relief of Heracles and the Lernaean Hydra, San Marco
6 Marble relief of relics from the treasury of San Marco, corridor to Palazzo Ducale
MAPS
2 Europe as of 1270 with sites of Fourth Crusade translatio narrative production
3 The world of the Venetian empire (1204–1797)
The authors of medieval translatio narratives wrote with a profound sense of the community in which they were operating. The community provided these authors with inspiration, audience, guidance, and even funding. As I bring my work on this book to a close, I find myself deeply aware of the debts that I owe to my family, friends, colleagues, mentors, and institutions.
The project owes much to the comments and advice from Alfred Andrea, Bernard Bachrach, Cecilia Gaposchkin, Michael Lower, Susan Noakes, Thomas Madden, Kathryn Reyerson, Jay Rubenstein, Susanna Throop, John Watkins, Brett Whalen, and Diana Wright. I am deeply grateful to the anonymous readers for the Pennsylvania State University Press, as well as to my editor, Ellie Goodman, and to my copyeditor, Julie Schoelles, for their many useful suggestions. In the final stages of compiling the manuscript, I benefited from the assistance of an extraordinarily competent research assistant, Breeanna Watral. Special thanks go to my parents, Lewis and Elisabeth Israels Perry, who by now have become quite expert in medieval Venetian studies.
Funding for research trips to Italy and elsewhere was provided by the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Center for Early Modern History at the University of Minnesota, the History Department at the University of Minnesota, and the Faculty Development