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Rh and also on the mainland, where Venice gradually acquired trading rights, partly by imperial diploma, partly by the establishment and the supply of markets on the mainland rivers, the Sile and the Brenta. Internally this period is characterized by the attempt of three powerful families, the Particiachi, the Candiani and the Orseoli, to create an hereditary dogeship, and the violent resistance offered by the people. We find seven of the Particiachi, five Candiani and three Orseoli reigning in almost unbroken succession, until, with the ostracism of the whole Orseolo family in 1032, the dynastic tendency was crushed for ever. During the same period we also note the development of certain families, thanks to the accumulation of wealth by trade, and here we get the beginnings of that commercial aristocracy whose evolution was the dominant factor in the constitutional history of the republic.

The growing wealth of Venice soon attracted the cupidity of her piratical neighbours on the coast of Dalmatia. The swift Liburnian vessels began to raid the Lido, compelling the Venetians to arm their own vessels and thus to form the nucleus of their famous fleet, the importance of which was recognized by the Golden Bull of the emperor Basil, which conferred on Venetian merchants privileges far more extensive than any they had hitherto enjoyed, on condition that the Venetian fleet was to be at the disposition of the emperor. But the Dalmatian raids continued to harass Venetian trade, till, in 1000, the great doge Pietro Orseolo II. attacked and captured Curzola and stormed the piratical stronghold of Lagosta, crushing the freebooters in their citadel. The doge assumed the title of duke of Dalmatia, and a great step was taken towards the supremacy of Venice in the Adriatic, which was essential to the free development of her commerce and also enabled her to reap the pecuniary advantages to be derived from the Crusades. She now commanded the route to the Holy Land and could supply the necessary transport, and from the Crusades her growing aristocracy reaped large profits. Orseolo's victory was commemorated and its significance affirmed by the magnificent symbolical ceremony of the "wedding of the sea" (Sposalizio del Mar), celebrated henceforward every Ascension day. The result of the first three Crusades was that Venice acquired trading rights, a Venetian quarter, church, market, bakery, &c., in many of the Levant cities, e.g. in Sidon (1102) and in Tyre (1123). The fall of Tyre marks a great advance in development of Venetian trade; the republic had now passed beyond the Adriatic, and had taken an important step towards that complete command of the Levant which she established after the Fourth Crusade.

This expansion of the trade of Venice resulted in the rapid development of the wealthier classes, with a growing tendency to draw together for the purpose of securing to themselves the entire direction of Venetian politics in order to dominate Venetian commerce. To achieve their object, a double line of conduct was imposed upon them: they had to absorb the powers of the doge, and also to deprive the people of the voice they possessed in the management of state affairs by their presence in the concione or general assembly of the whole community, which was still the fountain of all authority. The first step towards curtailing the power of the doge was taken in 1032, when the family of the Orseoli was finally expelled from Venice and the doge Domenico Flabianico was called to the throne. A law was then passed forbidding for the future the election of a doge-consort, a device by which the Particiachi, the Candiani and the Orseoli had each of them nearly succeeded in carrying out their dynastic ambitions. Further, two ducal councillors were appointed to assist the doge, and he was compelled, not merely permitted, to seek the advice of the more prominent citizens at moments of crisis. By this reform two important offices in the Venetian constitution—the privy council (consiglieri ducali) and the senate (the pregadi or invited)—came into being. Both were gradually developed on the lines desired by the aristocracy, till we reach the year 1171.

The growth of Venetian trade and wealth in the Levant roused the jealousy of Genoa and the hostility of the imperial court at Constantinople, where the Venetians are said to have numbered 200,000 and to have held a large quarter of the city in terror by their brawls. The emperor Manuel I., urged on by the Genoese and other rivals of Venice, seized the pretext. The Venetians were arrested and their goods confiscated. Popular feeling at Venice ran so high that the state was rashly swept into war with the empire. To provide the requisite funds for this vast undertaking, a forced loan of 1% on net incomes was raised; the money bore interest at the rate of 4%. The bonds were negotiable, and afford us the earliest instance of the issue of government stock. The doge Vitale Michiel II. led the expedition in person. It proved a disastrous failure, and on the return of the shattered remnants (1171) a great constitutional reform seemed necessary. The Venetians resolved to create a deliberative assembly, which should act with greater caution than the concione, which had just landed the state in a ruinous campaign. Forty members were elected in each of the six divisions of the city, giving a body of 480 members, who served for one year and on retiring named two deputies for each sestiere to nominate the council for the succeeding year. This was the germ of the great council, the Maggior Consiglio, which was rendered strictly oligarchic in 1296. As the duties of this council were to appoint all officers of state, including the doge, it is clear that by its creation the aristocracy had considerably curtailed the powers of the people, who had hitherto elected the doge in general assembly; and at the creation of Michiel's successor, Sebastiano Ziani (1172), the new doge was presented to the people merely for confirmation, not for election. The assembly protested, but was appeased by the empty formula, "This is your doge an it please you." Moreover, still further to limit the power of the doge, the number of ducal councillors was raised from two to six. In 1198, on the election of Enrico Dandolo, the aristocracy carried their policy one step farther, and by the promissione ducale, or coronation oath, which every doge was required to swear, they acquired a powerful weapon for the suppression of all that remained of ancient ducal authority. The promissione ducale was binding on the doge and his family, and could be, and frequently was, altered at each new election, a commission, Inquisitori sopra it doge def unto, being appointed to scrutinize the actions of the deceased doge and to add to the new oath whatever provisions they thought necessary to reduce the dogeship to the position of a mere figurehead in the state.

In spite of the check to their trade received from the emperor Manuel in 1171, Venetian commerce continued to flourish, the Venetian fleet to grow and the Venetians to amass wealth. When the Fourth Crusade was proclaimed at Soissons, it was to Venice that the leaders applied for transport, and she agreed to furnish transport for 4500 horses, 9000 knights, 20,000 foot, and provisions for one year: the price was 85,000 silver marks of Cologne and half of all conquests. But Zara and Dalmatia had revolted from Venice in 1166 and were as yet unsubdued. Venetian supremacy in the. Adriatic had been temporarily shaken. The 85,000 marks, the price of transport, were not forthcoming, and the Venetians declined to sail till they were paid. The doge Dandolo now saw an opportunity to benefit Venice. He offered to postpone the receipt of the money if the Crusaders would reduce Zara and Dalmatia for the republic. These terms were accepted. Zara was recovered, and while still at Zara the leaders of the Crusade, supported by Dandolo, resolved for their own private purposes to attack Constantinople, instead of making for the Holy Land. Boniface, marquis of Monferrat, desired to make good the claim to Salonica, and the Venetians doubtless wished to upset the Greek empire, which had recently shown itself so friendly to their rivals the Genoese. Constantinople fell (1204), thanks chiefly to the ability of the Venetians under Dandolo. The city was sacked, and a Latin empire, with Baldwin of Flanders as emperor, was established at Constantinople (see ).