Francesco Foscari

Francesco Foscari (b. 1373–d. 1457) was one of the most controversial doges in the Venetian Republic’s long history. Considered by some to be the architect or symbol of what David Chambers has characterized as Venice’s Imperial Age, it was during his thirty-four year reign (r. 1423–1457) that Venice made a decisive shift toward greater involvement in Italian mainland affairs, including the acquisition of Brescia and Bergamo. This resulted in nearly constant warfare among the leading Italian states, which led to severe strain on the financial resources of the Venetian state. Venice relied on condottieri (mercenary captains) to direct the war effort, including Francesco Bussone (known as Carmagnola), who was executed in 1432 for treason, and Francesco Sforza, who became duke of Milan. The shock delivered by the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 as well as financial and military exhaustion finally led to the 1454 Peace of Lodi, which ushered in forty years of relative stability on the Italian peninsula. From a heretofore undistinguished patrician family with interests on the Italian mainland, Foscari initially made a reputation for himself as an administrator, especially as one of the Procurators of San Marco, the trustees of estates and administrators of charitable funds. He was elected to the dogeship at the young (for Venice) age of 50, after a contentious election that pitted him against the naval hero Pietro Loredan and others. According to tradition, Foscari’s predecessor, Tommaso Mocenigo, warned his colleagues in a deathbed speech not to elect Foscari. From 1445 on, the domestic politics of Foscari’s reign operated under the shadow of the controversies surrounding his only surviving son Jacopo, who was twice accused of accepting bribes from foreign powers and of murdering one of the judges in his first trial. Following Jacopo’s final exile and death on Crete in January 1457, the Council of Ten, with the late Pietro Loredan’s son Jacopo in the lead, forced Foscari to give up the dogeship in October 1457. He died a week later. The dramatic circumstances of his deposition and death fueled the view that Foscari was the victim of a vendetta on the part of the Loredan family and their allies. In the 19th century Foscari gained new currency as writers, painters, and composers, including Lord Byron, Eugene Delacroix, and Giuseppe Verdi, interpreted his reign as a lesson in how individuals are victims of the all-powerful state.