The House of Orseolo was the name of a powerful Venetian noble family, who descendend from ''

Dux ''Dux'' (; plural: ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, '' ...

Orso Ipato Orso Ipato (Latin: ''Ursus Hypatus''; died 737) was the third traditional Doge of Venice (726–737) and the first historically known. During his eleven-year reign, he brought great change to the Venetian navy, aided in the recapture of Ravenn ...

and his son

Teodato Ipato Teodato Ipato (also Diodato or Deusdedit; la, Theodatus Hypatus) was Doge of Venice from 742 to 755. With his election came the restoration of the dogato, which had been defunct since the assassination of his father, Orso Ipato. Before his ele ...

, the first ''Doges of Venice''. Four members of the Orseolo family became

Doges of Venice The Doge of Venice ( ; vec, Doxe de Venexia ; it, Doge di Venezia ; all derived from Latin ', "military leader"), sometimes translated as Duke (compare the Italian '), was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 726 a ...

, as well as Commander of the Venetian fleet, and

King of Hungary The King of Hungary ( hu, magyar király) was the ruling head of state of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1000 (or 1001) to 1918. The style of title "Apostolic King of Hungary" (''Apostoli Magyar Király'') was endorsed by Pope Clement XIII in 1758 ...

. They also reconstructed

St Mark's Basilica The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark ( it, Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco), commonly known as St Mark's Basilica ( it, Basilica di San Marco; vec, Baxéłega de San Marco), is the cathedral church of the Catholic Chu ...

and the Doge's Palace after the revolution.

Notable members

Domenico tintoretto, ritratto dei dogi pietro orseolo II e ottone orseolo (cropped)

Pietro I Orseolo Pietro I Orseolo OSBCam, also named ''Peter Urseulus'', (928–987) was the Doge of Venice from 976 until 978. He abdicated his office and left in the middle of the night to become a monk. He later entered the order of the Camaldolese Hermits of ...

(c. 928–997) acted as ambassador to the Holy Roman Emperor

Otto I Otto I (23 November 912 – 7 May 973), traditionally known as Otto the Great (german: Otto der Große, it, Ottone il Grande), was East Frankish king from 936 and Holy Roman Emperor from 962 until his death in 973. He was the oldest son of He ...

before he was elected ''doge'' in August 976. Just previous to this event part of Venice had been burned down and Pietro began the rebuilding of St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace. He is chiefly celebrated, however, for his piety and his generosity, and after holding office for two years he left Venice secretly and retired to a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

in the Pyrénées-Orientales, France, where he passed his remaining days. He was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christian communion declaring a person worthy of public veneration and entering their name in the canon catalogue of s ...

in 1731. *

Pietro II Orseolo Pietro II Orseolo (961−1009) was the Doge of Venice from 991 to 1009. He began the period of eastern expansion of Venice that lasted for the better part of 500 years. He secured his influence in the Dalmatian Romanized settlements from the Croa ...

(died 1009), a son of

, was himself elected to this office in 991. He was a great builder, but his chief work was to crush the

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s of the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

and to bring a long stretch of the

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

n coast under the rule of Venice, thus relieving the commerce of the republic from a great and pressing danger. The fleet which achieved this result was led by the ''doge'' in person; it sailed on Ascension Day, 9 May 1000, and its progress was attended with uninterrupted success. In honor of this victory the Venetians instituted the ceremony which afterwards grew into the ''sposalizio del mar'', or

Marriage of the Sea The Marriage of the Sea ceremony ( it, Sposalizio del Mare) was a major maritime event in the Republic of Venice commemorated on Ascension Day. It symbolized the maritime dominion of Venice and was manifested by the throwing of a golden ring into ...

, and which was celebrated each year on Ascension Day, while the ''doge'' added to his title that of duke of Dalmatia. In many other ways Pietro's services to the state were considerable, and he may be said to be one of the chief founders of the commercial greatness of Venice. The ''doge'' was on very friendly terms with the emperor

Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of ...

and also with the emperors at

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 (" ...

, and in 1003 he sailed against the Saracens and compelled them to raise the siege of

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

. In 1003 his son Giovanni was associated with him in the dogeship, and on Giovanni's death in 1007 another son, Ottone, succeeded to this position. His grandson, Peter Krešimir IV, also became King of Croatia. *

Otto Orseolo Otto Orseolo ( it, Ottone Orseolo, also ''Urseolo''; c. 992−1032) was the Doge of Venice from 1008 to 1026. He was the third son of Pietro II Orseolo and Maria Candiano, whom he succeeded at the age of sixteen, becoming the youngest doge in Ven ...

(died 1032), whose godfather was the emperor Otto III, became sole ''doge'' on his father's death in 1009. He married a sister of

Stephen I of Hungary Stephen I, also known as King Saint Stephen ( hu, Szent István király ; la, Sanctus Stephanus; sk, Štefan I. or Štefan Veľký; 975 – 15 August 1038), was the last Grand Prince of the Hungarians between 997 and 1000 or 1001, and the ...

, and under his rule Venice was powerful and prosperous. One of his brothers, Orso, was

patriarch of Grado This is a list of the Patriarchs of Grado (north-eastern Italy).
''

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Torcello Torcello ( la, Torcellum; vec, Torceło) is a sparsely populated island at the northern end of the Venetian Lagoon, in north-eastern Italy. It was first settled in 452 CE and has been referred to as the parent island from which Venice was p ...

, but the growing wealth and influence of the Orseolo family soon filled the Venetians with alarm. About 1024 Ottone and Orso were driven from Venice, but when Orso's rival,

Poppo, Patriarch of Aquileia Poppo of Treffen (also Wolfgang) was the fifty-seventh patriarch of Aquileia from 1019 to 1045. In 1020, Poppo commanded the smallest of three armies which Emperor Henry II (who had appointed him as patriarch) led through Italy. Poppo followed the ...

, seized Grado, the exiled ''doge'' and his brother was recalled and Grado was recovered. In 1026 Ottone was banished; he found a refuge in Constantinople, where he remained until his death, although in 1030 an embassy invited him to return to Venice, where his brother Orso acted as agent for fourteen months. Orso remained patriarch of Grado until his death in 1045, and another member of the Orseolo family, Domenico, was ''doge'' for a single day in 1031. After the fall of the Orseoli the Venetians decreed that no ''doge'' should name his successor, or associate any one with him in the dogeship. Ottone's son,

Pietro Pietro is an Italian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: People * Pietro I Candiano (c. 842–887), briefly the 16th Doge of Venice * Pietro Tribuno (died 912), 17th Doge of Venice, from 887 to his death * Pietro II Can ...

, was king of

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

for some time after the death of his uncle, St. Stephen, in 1038. *

Peter Orseolo Peter Orseolo, or Peter the Venetian ( hu, Velencei Péter; 1010 or 1011 – 1046, or late 1050s), was the King of Hungary twice. He first succeeded his uncle, King Stephen I, in 1038. His favoritism towards his foreign courtiers caused an u ...

, King of Hungary, succeeded his uncle

of the

Árpád dynasty The Árpád dynasty, consisted of the members of the royal House of Árpád (), also known as Árpáds ( hu, Árpádok, hr, Arpadovići). They were the ruling dynasty of the Principality of Hungary in the 9th and 10th centuries and of the Kingd ...

. He was the nephew of

Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor Henry II (german: Heinrich II; it, Enrico II; 6 May 973 – 13 July 1024), also known as Saint Henry the Exuberant, Obl. S. B., was Holy Roman Emperor ("Romanorum Imperator") from 1014. He died without an heir in 1024, and was the last ruler ...

, and a great-grandson of Gyula of Transylvania. He was known for his active foreign policy and for having invaded

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

. He was forced to exile in

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

but later restored as King of Hungary by Emperor Henry III. *

Frozza Orseolo Frozza Orseolo (1015 – 17 February 1071) was a Margravine of Austria by marriage to Adalbert, Margrave of Austria. Life Frozza was born in Venice as a daughter of Otto Orseolo and his wife Grimelda of Hungary, Doge of Venice, and granddaught ...

, daughter of Doge

, was married to

Adalbert, Margrave of Austria Adalbert (german: Albrecht, c. 985 – 26 May 1055), known as Adalbert the Victorious (german: Albrecht der Siegreiche), was the Margrave of Austria from 1018 until his death in 1055. He was a member of the House of Babenberg.Lingelbach 1913, p. 89 ...

, member of the

House of Babenberg The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from its creation in 976 AD until its ...

. Their son

Ernest Ernest is a given name derived from Germanic languages, Germanic word ''ernst'', meaning "serious". Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People *Archduke Ernest of Austria (1553–1595), son of Maximilian II, Holy Roman ...

married to

Adelaide of Eilenburg Adelaide of Eilenburg ( 1030 – 26 January 1071) was a German noblewoman. She was a daughter of Margrave Dedi I of the Saxon Eastern March and his first wife, Oda of Lusatia. In 1060, she married Margrave Ernest Ernest is a given name de ...

, member of the

House of Wettin The House of Wettin () is a dynasty of German kings, prince-electors, dukes, and counts that once ruled territories in the present-day German states of Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia. The dynasty is one of the oldest in Europe, and its ori ...

. *

Giovanni Orseolo Giovanni Orseolo (981-1006/7) was the first Venetian to hold power in Dalmatia, holding the title of ''Dux Dalmatiae''. History Giovanni's father Pietro II Orseolo was the Doge of Venice, and his mother was Maria Candiano. In 1000 he was sent to ...

, Duke of

, made an alliance with the Byzantine Emperor

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...

and became co-doge of Venice. He was married to

Maria Argyropoulina Maria Argyra (also Argyre or Argyropoulina) ( el, Μαρία Ἀργυρή or Ἀργυροπουλίνα; died 1007), of the Argyros family, was the granddaughter of the Byzantine emperor Romanos II, niece of the emperors Basil II and Constantine ...

, of the House of Argyros; a family of Roman Emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire. See Kohlschütter, ''Venedig unter dem Herzog Peter II. Orseolo'' (Göttingen, 1868); H. F. Brown, ''Venice'' (1895); F. C. Hodgson, ''The Early History of Venice'' (1901); and W. C. Hazlitt, ''The Venetian Republic'' (1900).

References

*{{EB1911 , wstitle=Orseole , volume=20 , pages=330–331 Republic of Venice families