Giovanni II Valente (

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, 1280 –

, 1360) was the third

doge A doge ( , ; plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as " crowned republics". Etymology The ...

of the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

. His time in office was marked by the crushing defeat of the city against the Venetians at the naval Battle of Alghero. Giovanni had already asked to succeed the first doge of the Republic in December 1345 but had turn down the responsibility.

A doge at war

After the death of his predecessor, Giovanni I da Murta, a short crisis of succession ensued. The ''popolani'' supported Luchino Fieschi while the patricians and the partisans of the late doge backed his son, Tommaso da Murta. Giovanni Valente finally emerged as a candidate of compromise and was elected on January 9, 1350. When Valente abandoned the careful foreign policy of his predecessor and tried to expel entirely the Venetians from the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

, the tension between Genoa and Venice erupted into open warfare. Each navy plundered the merchant fleets of the opposing side in the Eastern Mediterranean. Venice formed an alliance with

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

and the

kingdom of Aragon The Kingdom of Aragon ( an, Reino d'Aragón, ca, Regne d'Aragó, la, Regnum Aragoniae, es, Reino de Aragón) was a medieval and early modern kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula, corresponding to the modern-day autonomous community of Aragon, ...

, forcing the Genoese to seek the support of the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

. On November 17, 1350, to pay for the expenses of the war, the Republic had to levy a forced-loan of 300,000 '' lire'' at an interest of 10% from an association of creditors known as the ''Compera imposita per gerra Venetorum''. On March 9, 1352, the Genoese fleet under the command of

Paganino Doria Paganino Doria was an Italian admiral from the prominent Republic of Genoa, Genoese Doria family. He was the victorious head of the Genoese navy, Genoese naval forces in the conflict between the Republic of Genoa to Venice in the middle of the 14th ...

won a naval victory against the coalition near

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

. The following year, in August, near

Alghero Alghero (; ca, label= Alguerese, L'Alguer ; sc, S'Alighèra ; sdc, L'Aliera ) is a city of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. The city's name comes from ...

, on the island of

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

, the Genoese navy, under Antonio de' Grimaldi was crushed by the Venetians.

Resignation

Confronted with the threat of a new civil war breaking out in the city and the prospect of foreign invasion, the council had to call for the support of the

Visconti of Milan The Visconti of Milan are a noble Italian family. They rose to power in Milan during the Middle Ages where they ruled from 1277 to 1447, initially as Lords then as Dukes, and several collateral branches still exist. The effective founder of the ...

. The doge lost any executive power and Giovanni Valente had to resign from the dogate on October 8, 1353 and the position became vacant. He died seven years later and may have been buried at the church of San Bartolomeo dell'Olivella in Genoa.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valente, Giovanni 02 1360 deaths 14th-century Doges of Genoa Year of birth unknown