Jacopo Tiepolo

Jacopo Tiepolo (shortly before 1170 – 19 July 1249), also known as Giacomo Tiepolo, was Doge of Venice from 1229 to 1249. He had previously served as the first Venetian Duke of Crete, and two terms as Podestà of Constantinople, twice as governor of Treviso, and three times as ambassador to the Holy See. His dogate was marked by major domestic reforms, including the codification of civil law and the establishment of the Venetian Senate, but also against a mounting conflict with Emperor Frederick II, which broke into open war from 1237 to 1245. Early life and career Jacopo Tiepolo was the son of Pietro Tiepolo of the San Ermagora parish in Venice. The identity of his mother is unknown, as is the date of his birth, but it was likely in the late 1160s. His family was engaged in trade, and Tiepolo himself is first attested in 1190, as a merchant trading with the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. In 1196, he is even recorded as participating in a merchant fleet to Constantinople which failed due to a mutiny of its crews at Abydos, at the entrance of the Dardanelles. Unlike his ancestors, who had been merchants but uninvolved in Venetian politics, Tiepolo's social rise was couple with increasing participation in politics. Thus in 1205 he was one of the forty electors of Pietro Ziani, who had financed Tiepolo's trade venture in 1190, as Doge of Venice. In 1207 he served as judge in Venice, and in 1209 he was named as the first Duke of Crete, a post he held until 1214. Duke of Crete Tiepolo's job was to establish the Venetian administration over the island of Crete, which had been purchased by the Republic from Boniface of Montferrat. Tiepolo supervised the establishment of a Venetian colony, himself setting up the settlement of the island by military colonists from the metropolis. In 1211, a major revolt broke out against Venetian domination by the Greek inhabitants of Crete. Aided by the Genoese, the Greeks rose in revolt, so that Tiepolo was forced to call upon the aid of the Venetian lord of the Duchy of Naxos, Marco Sanudo. Sanudo successfully subdued the revolt, but initially refused to vacate the island. It was not until 1213 that Tiepolo was able to persuade Sanudo, through diplomatic means, to abandon his claims on Crete.