Piracy and the Decline of Venice 1580 - 1615

Pirate welfare played a prominent part in Mediterranean life during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Its influence was significant both in the decline of Venice and in the shift of the economic hegemony of Europe. Professor Tenenti maintains that Venice is a fitting focus for study of this period, for the mediterranean became and increasingly a centre of European activity. On one side was Venice which, in spite of a huge navy and a still sizable merchant fleet, observed the st