made this' action .a.easu.s belli.- The-Genoese wona victory in- the gulf of Alexandretta (1 294);~but on the other hand the Venetians under Ruggiero Morosini forcedfthe Dardanelles and sacked the Genoese quarter of Galata.. ».The decisive engagement, however, of this 'campaign was fought at Cureola (1299) in the Adriatic, when Venice suffered a crushing defeatri A peace, honourable to bothvparties, was broughbabout by Matteo Visconti, lord of Milan, 'in that same year. ~ But the quarrel between the republics, both fighting for tradesupremacythat is to say, for their lives-could not come to an end- till one or other was thoroughly crushed. 'The fur trade of the Black Sea furnished the pretext for the next war (13 53-54), which ended in the crushing 'defeat of Venice at Sapienza, and the .loss of her entire fleet. But .though Venice herself seemed to' lie open to the Genoese, they took no advantage of u their victory; they were probably too: exhausted. The lord of .Milan again arranged 3f'P¢3»Ce-(1355)- ' '~ '

We have now reached the last phase of the strugglerfor maritime supremacy.. Under pressure from Venice- the emperor John V. Palaeologus granted possession ofutheislancl of Tenedos to the republic. The island commanded the entrance to the Dardanelles, Genoa' determined to' 'oppose the concession, and war broke out. '- The Genoese:Admiral Luciano Doria sailed into the>Adriatic, attacked and defeated Vettor Pisani at Pola in Istria, and again Venice and the lagoons lay at the mercy of theenerny. Doria resolved to blockade and starve Venice., to surrender. He was master of the sea, and the flow of pnovkions from, the mainland was out off .»by Genoa's ally, Francesco I. Carrara, lord' of Padua. Doria seized Chioggia as a base of operations and drew his fleet inside the lagoons. The situation was extremely critical for Venice, but she rose to the occasion. Vettor Pisani was placed in command, and by a stroke' of naval genius he grasped the weaknessiof 'Doria's position. Sailing to Chioggia he blocked the channel leading from the lagoon to the sea, and Doria was caught 'in» a trap. Pisani stationed himself outside the Lido, on the open sea, to intercept relief should any appear, and Doria, instead' of blockading Venice, was himself blockaded in Chioggial For many months the-siege-went:on; but Pisani graduallyassumedithe offensive as Genoese -spirits andlfood ran low. Finally, in June 1380 the flower of the Genoese fleet .surrendered at discretion. Genoa never recovered frorn theblow, and Venice remained undisputed mistress of the Mediterranean and the Levant trade. ' '-The

defeat of Genoa and the establishment of Venetian supremacy in the Mediterraneanibrought the state to a further step in its development. ~. The undisputed mastery of the eastern trade increased its bulkin <veni¢¢.~ But as' the city became the recognized 'mart for exchange of goods between east and west, the freedom of the western outlet assumed the aspect of a/paramount question. ' It was useless forfVenice to accumulate eastern merchandise if she could 'not freely pass it on 'to the west. If the various states on thev immediate mainland could levy taxes on Venetian goods in transit, the Venetian merchant would inevitably suffer in profits. The geographical position .of Venice and her commercial policy alike compelled her to attempt tow secure the command of the rivers and roads of the mainland, at least up to the mountains, that is to say, of the north-western outlet, just as she had obtained command of the south-eastern inlet. She was' compelled to 'turn her attention, though reluctantly., to the mainland of Italy. Another consideration drove- her in the same direction. During the long wars with Genoa, after the defeats of Curzola, Sapienza, Pola, above all during the crisis of the war of Chioggia, it had been brought -home to the Venetians that, as they owned no meat or corn-producing territory, a crushing defeat at sea and a blockade on the mainland exposed them to the grave danger of being- starved into surrender. .Both these pressing necessities, , for a free. outlet-for merchandise and for a food-supplying area, drove Veniceon to the mainland, and compelled herto initiate;-a-.policyxwhich eventually landed her in the disastrous wars of Carnbrai. The' period with which weare now dealing* is the epoch of the despots, the eignori, and in pursuit of expansion on the mainland Venice wa.s»brought into collision* first withzthe Scaligeri of Verona, then with? the Carraresi of Padua, and finallywfith the Visconti of Milan(Hitherto Venice had enjoyed the advantages of isolation; the lagoons were virtually impregnable shelhaxl no land frontier to -defend. ~ But when she touched the mainland she at once became possessed of a frontier which could be attacked, and found herself compelled either to expand. in self-defence or to lose the 'territory she had acquired. ' I

Venice. had 'already .established a tentative hold on the immediate mainland as early as 1339. She was forced into war by Mastino della Scala, lord of Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, F eltre and Belluno, as well as of Verona, who imposed a duty on thertransport of. Venetian goods; A league against the Scala domination was formed, arid the result was the fall of the family. Venice took possession of Padua, but in the terms of the league she at once conferred' the lordship on the Carraresi, retaining. Treviso and Bassano forrherself. Butit is not till we'.~come'to the opening of the next century that Venice dennitely acquired land possessions and found herself committed to all the difficulties and irrtricaciesof Italianlniainland politics; On -the death of Giah. Galeazzo Visconti in 1402, his largelpossessions broke up. His neighbours and his generals seized what was nearest to hand; 5 Francesco-~II:' Carrara, lord' of Padua, attempted to seize Vicenza and Verona. But Venice had been made, to suffer at the hands of' Carrara, who had levied heavy dueson transit, and moreover during the' Chioggian War had helped the Genoese and cut off the food supply from the mainland. She was therefore forced in self-defence to crush the family of' Carrara' andlto make 'herself permanently mistress of theiminediate' mainland. Accordingly when Gian Ga1eazzo's widow applied to the republic for help against' Carrara it was readily-granted', and, after some years' oftighting, the possessions of the'Carraresi, 'Padua, Treviso, Bassano, commanding the Val Sugana. route, as -well as Vicenza'and<Verona, passed definitely under Venetian rule. This expansion of mainland territory was 'followed in 1420 by the' acquisition of Friuli after a successful war- with the emperor Sigistnund, thus bringing the possessions of the republic up to »the'Carnlc and Julian Alps, their natural frontier on the north-east. i ' Venice was soon made to feel' theiconsequences of having become at mainland power, the difficulties* entailed 'by holding possessions which others coveted, and the weakness of a- land frontier. "To the west the new duke of Milan, fFilip'po'Maria Visconti, was steadily piecing together the fragments of his father's shattered duchy. 'He was "determined to recover Veronaand Vicenza from Venice, and intended, as, his father had'¥done, ' tofmake himself master of all north Italy. The conflictlbetween Venice and Milan led 'tothree warsfin 1426, 1427 and 1429. Venice was successful on theiwhole. She established her hold permanently” on Verona and Vicenza, and acquired-besides botlf' Brescia and ~Bergamo; and' later 'she occupied Creme. Vt The warof Ferrara and the peace of Bagnolo (1484) gave her Rovigo and the Polesine. This, with'the exception of 'a. brief tenure of Cremona (1499-1512), formed her permanent territory downto thle fall of the rep'ublic.?3 Her 'Frontiers now ran'-fr0m, th¢=ls¢ae<>aSti'near Monfalcone, following "the line of the Carnic and julian 'and Raetian Alps to the Adda, down the' course*of that river till; it joinsthe Po, and thence along the lineof the Po fback to the sea. But long and exhausting wars were entailedupon her for'th'e maintenance of her hold. The rapid formation of this land empire, and the obvious intention to expand, called the attention not only of Italy but of' Europe to this power which seemed (destined to become supre1ne inlnorth'Italy, and eventually led to the leagueof Cainbraifor the dismemberment of Venice. Conternporaneously other events were menacing the ascendancy and "exhausting- the treasury of the republic. In 1453 Constantinople fell to the'0ttoman'Turks, and although Venice entered at once into treaty with thelnew power and desired totrade with it,

notlto fight with it, yet' it was impossible that her possessions