Giovanni Galbaio

Giovanni Galbaio
8th Doge of Venice
In office 787–804
Preceded by	Maurizio Galbaio
Succeeded by	Obelerio degli Antenori
Personal details
Born	Unknown
Died	804

Giovanni Galbaio was the eighth Doge of Venice (787–804) according to tradition, but only the sixth historically verifiable one.

Life

He succeeded his father Maurizio Galbaio, who had associated him as doge in 778. The Byzantine emperor Leo IV the Khazar recognised his title in that year, though the attempt to set up a hereditary monarchy endangered Maurizio's own dogeship.

Giovanni had been briefly held captive by the Lombard king Desiderius after a campaign in Istria, but his father, through the pope, sent ambassadors to Charlemagne, the king of the Franks, to petition for Giovanni's release.

Career

Upon his inheriting, without election, the full office of his father, he immediately began a vendetta against the patriarch of Grado, who represented the church and its opposition to the slave trade. Charlemagne, a dutiful son of the church and now king of Lombardy, supported the abolition of slavery in his domains and thus came to resent the Venetian commerce in the Adriatic. The patriarch, in the reign of Maurizio, had even instigated the expulsion and confiscation of goods of the Venetian merchants in the Pentapolis. Giovanni had the Empress Irene name his son Maurizio co-doge.

Trying to counter influence the patriarch, Giovanni appointed his sixteen-year-old nephew Christopher bishop of Olivolo. The patriarch refused to consecrate him, officially due to his age, but actually because of his anti-Frankish stances. Maurizio II was sent to attack Grado with a flotilla of ships. There the elderly patriarch was thrown to his death from the tower. The opposition to the Galbaii family fled to Treviso while the nephew of the patriarch, Fortunatus, was elected in his stead and immediately fled to the Frankish court. The opposition crystallised under the leadership of one Obelerio degli Antenori and returned to Venice. Giovanni, with Maurizio and Christopher, fled to Mantua in 803, where they all probably died. Obelerio succeeded them.

The Galbaio family later returned to Venice and assumed the name of Querini.

References

Sources

• Norwich, John Julius. A History of Venice. Alfred A. Knopf: New York, 1982.

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Doges of Venice

Byzantine period (697–737)
Paolo Lucio Anafesto Marcello Tegalliano Orso Ipato

Regime of the magistri militum (738–742)
Domenico Leoni Felice Cornicola Teodato Ipato Jovian Ceparius John Fabriacus

Ducal period (742–1148)
8th century	Teodato Ipato* Galla Lupanio* Domenico Monegario* Maurizio Galbaio Giovanni Galbaio*
9th century	Obelerio degli Antenori*† Agnello Participazio Giustiniano Participazio Giovanni I Participazio* Pietro Tradonico† Orso I Participazio Giovanni II Participazio♦ Pietro I Candiano‡ Pietro Tribuno
10th century	Orso II Participazio Pietro II Candiano Pietro Participazio Pietro III Candiano Pietro IV Candiano† Pietro I Orseolo♦ Vitale Candiano♦ Tribuno Memmo Pietro II Orseolo
11th century	Otto Orseolo* Pietro Centranico* Domenico Flabanico Domenico I Contarini Domenico Selvo* Vitale Faliero Vitale I Michiel
12th century	Ordelafo Faliero Domenico Michiel Pietro Polani
* deposed     † executed or assassinated     ‡ killed in battle     ♦ abdicated

Republican period (1148–1797)
12th century	Domenico Morosini Vitale II Michiel Sebastiano Ziani Orio Mastropiero Enrico Dandolo
13th century	Pietro Ziani Jacopo Tiepolo Marino Morosini Reniero Zeno Lorenzo Tiepolo Jacopo Contarini Giovanni Dandolo Pietro Gradenigo
14th century	Marino Zorzi Giovanni Soranzo Francesco Dandolo Bartolomeo Gradenigo Andrea Dandolo Marino Faliero† Giovanni Gradenigo Giovanni Dolfin Lorenzo Celsi Marco Cornaro Andrea Contarini Michele Morosini Antonio Venier
15th century	Michele Steno Tommaso Mocenigo Francesco Foscari* Pasquale Malipiero Cristoforo Moro Nicolò Tron Nicolò Marcello Pietro Mocenigo Andrea Vendramin Giovanni Mocenigo Marco Barbarigo Agostino Barbarigo
16th century	Leonardo Loredan Antonio Grimani Andrea Gritti Pietro Lando Francesco Donato Marcantonio Trivisan Francesco Venier Lorenzo Priuli Girolamo Priuli Pietro Loredan Alvise I Mocenigo Sebastiano Venier Nicolò da Ponte Pasquale Cicogna Marino Grimani
17th century	Leonardo Donato Marcantonio Memmo Giovanni Bembo Nicolò Donato Antonio Priuli Francesco Contarini Giovanni I Cornaro Nicolò Contarini Francesco Erizzo Francesco Molin Carlo Contarini Francesco Cornaro Bertuccio Valiero Giovanni Pesaro Domenico II Contarini Nicolò Sagredo Alvise Contarini Marcantonio Giustinian Francesco Morosini Silvestro Valiero Alvise II Mocenigo
18th century	Giovanni II Cornaro Alvise III Mocenigo Carlo Ruzzini Alvise Pisani Pietro Grimani Francesco Loredan Marco Foscarini Alvise IV Mocenigo Paolo Renier Ludovico Manin*
† Marino Faliero (1354–55) was convicted of treason, executed and condemned to damnatio memoriae * Francesco Foscari (1423–57) was forced to abdicate by the Council of Ten * Ludovico Manin (1789–97) was forced to abdicate by Napoleon leading to the Fall of the Republic of Venice