Doge Andrea Gritti - Dogenate and Diplomacy

Balcony by Antonio Abbondi Scarpagnino with Doge Andrea Gritti in front of the Lion of St. Mark, on the façade of the Piazzetta San Marco in Venice

Doge Andrea Gritti On 25 February 1525, Francis I was defeated at Pavia and taken prisoner by Emperor Charles V.

This was a difficult situation for Venice, which maintained good relations with both Francis I and Emperor Charles V, with whom, barely two months after Andrea Gritti's election as Doge, Venice had signed a peace treaty in Worms on 29 July 1523.

Andrea Gritti's diplomatic skills were once again called upon to appease both sides while protecting Venice from reprisals from either of the belligerents.

In a first audience before the Venetian Senate,the French ambassador was received by Andrea Gritti, and the skilful Doge shed tears with him over the fate of poor Francis I.

Shortly afterwards, in a second audience, again before the senators of the Republic of Venice, Andrea Gritti received the ambassador of Emperor Charles V and warmly congratulated him on the capture of Francis I.

One can imagine the astonishment of the Venetian senators at this double attitude.

Andrea Gritti justified himself before them by saying:

« Essendo amico dei due Re, non posso che dire coll' Apostollo : mi rallegro con qui gode e piango con chi soffre. »

Which means: « As the apostle (Saint Paul) said, being a friend of both kings, I rejoice with those who laugh and weep with those who suffer! »

This ambiguous but highly diplomatic attitude perfectly illustrates Andrea Gritti's talents in this area, talents that led to his appointment as Doge on 20 May 1523.

A contested election

Andrea Gritti was not the favourite to become Doge against his rival Antonio Tron, largely because of his numerous amorous escapades. A Doge had to be, first and foremost, a "serious" person.

A senator, Alvise Pruili, had even declared before Andrea Gritti's election: « We cannot appoint as Doge a man who already has three bastards in Turkey!

Antonio Tron therefore seemed a more serious candidate for the dogate, but Andrea Gritti had a major advantage over Tron: his diplomatic skills and the fact that he knew most of the leaders of the foreign powers with whom Venice had to deal at the time.

It was this diplomatic ability that led to Andrea Gritti being appointed Doge over his rival Antonio Tron.

As we have seen above, Andrea Gritti proved himself more than equal to the task, and Venice enjoyed a relatively peaceful period throughout his reign as Doge, as Andrea Gritti was clever enough to deal with all sides without compromising Venice's generally neutral position.

A Doge unpopular with the people of Venice

However, the security he brought to the Republic never made him popular with the Venetians.

And this was true from the moment he was elected.

The people of Venice preferred Antonio Tron and showed their discontent to Andrea Gritti during the enthronement procession in the Piazza.

The Venetians expressed their disapproval throughout the ceremony by chanting in Venetian dialect: “Um, Um, Trum, Trum”.

But Andrea Gritti, a warlord, paid no attention to these demonstrations and took no more notice of them during his election than he did throughout his dogate.

Although he knew how to temper his authoritarian nature during diplomatic negotiations, Andrea Gritti also knew how to impose his views when necessary, and thus put an end to gambling, which had been permitted between the two columns of the Piazzetta since 1172, following a concession granted by Doge Sebastiano Ziani.

It was customary in Venice to respect one's word, and even more so that of the Serenissima, but judging the practice to be immoral and disturbing to public order, Gritti did not hesitate to break this taboo.

One can imagine that this decision did not make him more popular with the Venetians!

His activities as a wheat merchant did not win him many friends either.

So much so that during the famine of 1527, Andrea Gritti was forced to defend himself against accusations that his two illegitimate sons, Alvise and Zorzi, had imported wheat into Venice.

Andrea Gritti The man | Wars | Diplomat | Freedom
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