CRISIS THEME MUSIC

The streets of Venice have been quieter than usual lately.

The heavy oak door creaks open, and the cloaked face of a wealthy man peers out. He sees his comrades and quickly ushers them inside. “Come in, come in.” the man whispers. He is the Procurator of Saint Mark-- the second most prestigious position in the Most Serene Republic of Venice. Second only to the Doge. And that Doge…

The Procurator gathers his friends around a table- the heads of four of Venice’s wealthiest and most powerful noble houses. The Camondo Family, the Calogera Family, the Sagredo Family, and most importantly, Ludovico Manin- head of the Manin Family. Ludovico Manin slowly sat down at the head of the table and the Procurator poured him a drink. His voice, hoarse from age, whispered into the dimly lit room,

”Procurator, I want to thank you for helping me organize this meeting here today. And also the other heads of the Families- Venezia and Istria. Giancarlo Camondo from Venice and ah from uh… Castello, Luciano Cordobo. An’ from Cyprus, we have with us Benito Sagredo. And all the other associates that came as far as from Milan, and the Morea, and all the other territories of the most serene republic… thank you.

How did things ever get so far? I don’t know. It was so unfortunate… so unnecessary. Palladio Contrarini started a war. I lost an election. We’re quits. And if Contrarini agrees, then I’m willing to let things go to the way they were before…”

Luciano Cordobo, from Castello interrupted. “We’re all grateful to Manin for calling this meeting. We all know him as a man of his word… a modest man… he’ll always listen to reason.”

Ludovico nodded and sipped his drink.

”When,” he continued, “When did I ever refuse an accommodation? All of you know me here. When did I ever refuse. Except one time. And why? Because I believe this war business is gonna destroy us in the years to come. I mean, it’s not like trading or even piracy… even slavery, which is something that most people want nowadays, and is ah forbidden to them by the pezzonovante of the Church. Even the Italian states that have helped us in the past with trade and other things are gonna refuse to help us when it comes to war. And I believed that then and I believe that now.

You might think I want vengeance… is vengeance gonna bring Morea back to us? I forgo the vengeance of the Doge. But I have selfish reasons. I lost the election… because of this neutrality business. All right… and we have to make arrangements to bring back the neutrality. But I’m a superstitious man and if some unlucky accident should befall the current Doge… if he should get shot in the head by a palazzo guard or if he should hang himself in his bedroom or if he’s struck by a bolt of lightning… then I will be a happy man.

But that aside… let me say that I will swear on the souls of my grandchildren that I will not be the one to break the newfound peace once we’ve reaffirmed neutrality, like we have here today…”

The heads of the Families were all in agreement after Ludovico’s speech. They knew what had to be done and the arrangements were swiftly made. Everything went into motion the next morning. Luciano Cordobo, a wealthy landowner from Venice proper, collected from his tenants, an extra tax. He doled out his wealth as bribes to the electors of the republic. At the same time, Giancarlo Camondo arranged for a ship to be waiting in Venice harbor, a fast sloop. But for who?

Around 9am, when the Doge was taking his breakfast. Benito Sagredo and his personal guard entered to “meet” with him. While Benito was talking to the Doge, one of his guards approached behind… and pulled the trigger of his pistol. A thunderous noise rang out as the Doge’s blood and brains splattered across Sagredo’s chest. His guard disappeared into the shadows while Benito Sagredo called for the palazzo guards!

“MURDER!” he screamed, his hands shaking-- Sagredo put on quite a performance. He rambled about how his life was in danger! How the shooter aimed for him first, and only hit the Doge by accident. Benito Sagredo yelled that he could not stay in this city! He fled for the ship in the harbor and was quickly swept away back to Cyprus.

The Doge’s Palazzo was silent. An emergency election was conducted and Ludovico was elected as Doge- unsurprisingly. He gave a short speech to the Senate, condemning his predecessor for unilaterally breaking the Venetian policy of neutrality. Without breaking a sweat, the new Doge wrote a long letter to the Ottoman Sultan, expressing that his predecessor was a mad man that knew nothing of the history of the Most Serene Republic, and that the declaration of war had not gone through the Senate. He apologized profusely to the Ottoman Sultan and asked for a peace- a white peace, status quo ante bellum, a return to trade and the peace before the election of the last Doge who had only served a couple of months.

RESULTS

Doge Palladio Contrarini is assassinated

Ludovico Manin is the new Doge

The new Doge has asked for peace and status quo ante bellum with the Ottoman Sultan, affirming that Venice has a policy of neutrality that, while being in practice since the 1600s, was part of official policy since 1700.