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them detested by the common people, who were not afraid to show this – as attested by the behaviour of the gang of sailors who quickly gathered to support Isarello, marching up and down in such menacing fashion outside the Doge’s Palace. The nobles certainly felt threatened, and it has been suggested that there was widespread support amongst them for a monarchist party, which sought a strong leader, untrammelled by quasi-democratic restraints,during this nadir in Venice’s fortunes. Support for such leadership may even have existed amongst certain groups of commoners – the Arsenalotti being the most obvious candidates. If such was the case, Doge Falier, far from being consumed with ambition, may only have become privy to any plot when it was already well advanced. This would explain why the initial uncovering of the plot did not implicate him. In the end, his taking full blame may have been an act of noble self-sacrifice rather than ignominious confession – he had no wish for the Republic to fall victim to hopeless divisions and reprisals in the aftermath of the plot’s failure. Such an explanation would clarify why afterwards so ‘many were acquitted and set free’; and the mysterious fact that Falier’s name did not appear on the list of those condemned for the plot, which is set down in the usual meticulous records. And, tellingly, why the furrier Beltrami did not receive the full reward he expected for his part in revealing the plot; as well as the mysterious fact that some years later he would be stabbed to death by one of the conspirators. Indeed, there are indications that much of the ‘story’ concerning Falier was nothing more or less than a vast cover-up. If this is the case, it certainly reaffirms the power of the nobility, as well as their ruthlessness when faced with a challenge to their authority. The success of such a cover-up would also indicate the conspiratorial secrecy that was now increasingly adopted by the authorities.

    * Not to be confused with his relative Admiral Andrea Dandolo, who killed himself after his defeat at Curzola.
    * These were much-revered samts of some importance. St Maurus was a sixth-century Italian monk whose many miracles, whilst alive and dead, included healing the sick and bringing sight to the blind. In 1985 his remains were spectacularly rediscovered beneath the floorboards of a Czech castle, where they are now considered to be ‘the second most important historical artefact … after the Czech crown jewels’. St Cyrillus was the ninth-century Greek who introduced the written word to the Slavs, after whom is named the quasi-Greek Cyrillic script now used in Russia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
    * The Piazzetta is the extension of the Piazza San Marco leading down to the waterfront of the Molo. Under normal circumstances this was a popular gathering place for members of the administration in San Marco, where between busmess they would gather in groups scheming, soliciting votes or attempting to ingratiate themselves with leading council members. In former times it had been in the grounds of the San Zaccaria convent, forming the garden (il brolo); consequently the complex ebb and flow of political activities that took place here gave rise to our word ‘imbroglio’.
    * Venetian dialect version of the Italian giunta , the origin of the modern term ‘junta’.

3
    The Saviours of Venice
    W ITHIN JUST THREE days of Falier’s execution a new doge had been elected – this was the seventy-year-old Giovanni Gradenigo, who interestingly was a close relative of the former dogaressa Aloica. The first major achievement of his reign was the signing on 1 June 1355 of a peace treaty with Genoa, under the auspices of the three Visconti brothers – Matteo II, Bernabo and Galeazzo – who now jointly ruled Milan after the death of their uncle, Archbishop Giovanni Visconti. Although by any reckoning Venice had come off second-best in the war, the treaty imposed by Milan was