The Venetians: A New History: from Marco Polo to Casanova by Paul Strathern Page B

menacingly back and forth outside the palace, waiting for Dandolo to come out. Realising the danger he was in, Dandolo fled to the doge, who summoned Isarello and sternly reprimanded him, yet in such a manner that Isarello understood he had the doge’s sympathy. The sailors dispersed from the Piazzetta, but this indication of where the doge’s sympathies lay soon reached the ears of the nobility. *
    A similar incident involved the noble Marco Barbaro, an important member of the city legislature known as the Great Council, and the commoner Stefano Ghiazza, the commander of the Arsenale. In the course of an altercation between them, Barbaro struck Ghiazza in the face – a very public humiliation for a senior commoner who was also a well-respected man throughout the city. When Ghiazza later complained to the doge, Falier once again privately indicated his sympathy – whereupon Ghiazza is said to have muttered, ‘Wild animals should be chained up; either that, or you should get rid of them by bashing them on the head.’
    Falier quickly understood that he could trust Ghiazza, and that in him he had a considerable ally. As commander of the Arsenale, Ghiazza had the loyalty of the powerful Arsenaloti , who were also by tradition the doge’s bodyguards. Falier saw this as an opportunity to liberate himself from thehumiliating restraints imposed on him by the nobles who on his accession had made him sign the promissione . Between them, Falier and Ghiazza set in motion a plot. On 15 April 1355 rumours were to be spread throughout the city that the Genoese fleet was about to attack. This would draw a crowd of citizens, commoners and nobles alike, to the Piazzetta in front of the Doge’s Palace. Here, armed Arsenalotti would mingle with the crowd, ostensibly protecting the palace. At a signal, they would seal off the exits and begin murdering all the nobles they could identify. Falier would then appear on the balcony of the Doge’s Palace and offer himself to the people as Prince of Venice, their saviour in this time of turmoil. Encouraged by the Arsenalotti , the people would then confirm Falier as Principe by popular acclaim.
    Such a plan involved considerable organisation, as well as the strictest secrecy, especially amongst the Arsenalotti . Yet word leaked out, and on 14 April a furrier from Bergamo by the name of Beltrami happened to warn his noble friend and customer Nicolò Lioni not to venture onto the streets the next day. Lioni immediately began questioning him, and Beltrami soon revealed all he knew: there was to be an uprising against the government. He let drop the names of a few nobles, but not that of Falier. Lioni then hurried to Doge Falier to inform him that he had uncovered a plot to overthrow the government. Lioni became suspicious when Falier dismissed this as mere tittle-tattle and at once called on a member of the Council of Ten to report his suspicions. The Council of Ten had meanwhile been informed of a rumour about an uprising by the Arsenalotti . The reliable source of this rumour had been a sailor called Marco Nigro, who lived amongst Arsenalotti residents in the Castello district, and his rumour was confirmed after enquiries by other informants. The Council of Ten immediately came to the obvious conclusion: the doge himself was intending to overthrow the noble government and set himself up as a dictator. A secret meeting of the Council of Ten was held, away from the Doge’s Palace at the monastery of San Salvatore, where those present decided to summon an emergency meeting of all members of the leading councils, with the exception of any members of the Falier family. This meeting took place in the Doge’s Palace that night, presumably under circumstances of the utmost secrecy. On the morning of 15 April, the entire militia of around 7,000men was ordered into the Piazzetta, and at the same time 100 cavalry were assembled ready to put down any disturbances that broke out elsewhere in the city.