Decoding Debate in the Venetian Senate : Short Stories of Crisis and Response on Albania (1392-1402)

This book uncovers a long-lost classification mechanism for analysing the Deliberazioni , secretive records of the medieval Venetian Senate. Using Albanian cities as a case study, the book helps identify unspoken state priorities during a transformative decade for Venice. Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Contents Acknowledgments List of Illustrations Introduction 1 Albania in Focus 2 Sources 3 Note on Names, Transcriptions and Dates Chapter 1 Decoding Senate Debate 1.1 Theoretical Considerations 1.2 From ‘Debate’ to Entry 1.3 From Entry to ‘Story’ 1.3.1 Selection Criteria Chapter 2 Debate in Context 2.1 Elitism and Protagonism 2.2 Sea Riches 2.3 Past and Present Chapter 3 Outline on Venice and the Mediterranean Protagonists 3.1 Power Units alla veneziana 3.2 Communal Administration and Organisation of Albanian Cities 3.3 Albanian Protagonists 3.4 Mediterranean Protagonists Chapter 4 Newsworthiness 4.1 Uneven Impact: N-entries and Other Nouitates (1392–1394) 4.2 Alternative Formulations of N-entries (1394–1395) 4.3 The Ottoman Victory: A Change of Perspective (1396–1397) 4.4 Albania Rebels (1398–1400) 4.5 News Heard and Expectation (1400–1401) 4.6 Latest News: All Enemies Defeated (1402) 4.7 Concluding Remarks Chapter 5 ‘What the Signoria Says’ 5.1 First Responses to Durrës, Shkodra and Lezhë (1392–1394) 5.2 New Threats: Many Responses (1395–1396) 5.3 Venice’s Silence and Its Consequence (1397–1400) 5.4 Venice’s Say in a Changing World (1401–1402) 5.5 Concluding Remarks Epilogue: Antonio Morosini, the Witness Some Conclusions Bibliography Unpublished Sources Published Sources Secondary Literature Index "Debate within the Venetian Senate at turn of the fifteenth century has long been opaque, as only an elite few were allowed access to Senate proceedings, their participation bound to secrecy. This volume offers a new interpretation of scribal intent, enabling hidden aspects of those discussions to come to light. By using documentation related to Venice's involvement in Albanian territories as a case study, this study unfolds the systematic yet secretive method by which scribes classified Senate discussions. The registers emerge as triumphs of precise and pragmatic codification within a milieu of information overflow."