The House of Cornaro or Corner are a family in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

who were

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

s in the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

and included many Doges and other high officials. The name ''Corner'', originally from the

Venetian dialect Venetian, wider Venetian or Venetan ( or ) is a Romance language spoken natively in the northeast of Italy,Ethnologue mostly in the Veneto region, where most of the five million inhabitants can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often ...

, was adopted in the eighteenth century. The older standard Italian ''Cornaro'' is no longer common in Italian sources referring to earlier members of the family, but remains so in English.

History

Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore (Venice)

The family and name Cornaro are said to descend from the

gens Cornelia The gens Cornelia was one of the greatest patrician houses at ancient Rome. For more than seven hundred years, from the early decades of the Republic to the third century AD, the Cornelii produced more eminent statesmen and generals than any oth ...

, a patrician family of

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...

. The Cornari were among the twelve

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

families of the

and provided founding members of the Great Council in 1172. In the 14th century, the family separated into two distinct branches, Cornaro of the Great House and Cornaro Piscopia. The latter name derived from the 1363 grant of the

fief A fief (; la, feudum) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form ...

of Piscopia in the

Kingdom of Cyprus The Kingdom of Cyprus (french: Royaume de Chypre, la, Regnum Cypri) was a state that existed between 1192 and 1489. It was ruled by the French House of Lusignan. It comprised not only the island of Cyprus, but it also had a foothold on the Ana ...

to Federico Cornaro. When Caterina Cornaro married king

James II of Cyprus James II (french: Jacques; c. 1438/1439 or c. 1440 – 10 July 1473) was the penultimate King of Cyprus (usurper), reigning from 1463 until his death. Archbishop of Nicosia James was born in Nicosia as the illegitimate son of John II of Cypr ...

in 1468, the Lusignan royal arms were added to the family arms

party per pale In heraldry, the field (background) of a shield can be divided into more than one area, or subdivision, of different tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinaries and carrying its name (e.g. a shield divided in the shape of a ...

. They had eight palaces on the

Grand Canal, Venice The Grand Canal ( it, Canal Grande ; vec, Canal Grando, anciently ''Canałasso'' ) is a channel in Venice, Italy. It forms one of the major water-traffic corridors in the city. One end of the canal leads into the lagoon near the Santa Luci ...

at different times, including

Ca' Corner Palazzo Corner della Ca' Granda, also called Ca' Corner della Ca' Granda or simply Palazzo Corner or Palazzo Cornaro, is a Renaissance-style palace located between the ''Casina delle Rose'' and the Rio di San Maurizio (Venice), across the Grand ...

and what is now the

Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore Palazzo Loredan dell'Ambasciatore is a late 15th-century Gothic palace in Venice, Italy, that once belonged to the noble Loredan family. Located in the Dorsoduro ''sestiere'' (quarter), it was called ''"dell'Ambasciatore"'' because it was offered ...

. They commissioned many famous monuments and works of art, including Bernini's ''

Ecstasy of St Theresa The ''Ecstasy of Saint Teresa'' (also known as ''Saint Teresa in Ecstasy'' or the ''Transverberation of Saint Teresa''; it, L'Estasi di Santa Teresa or ) is a sculptural group in white marble set in an elevated aedicule in the Cornaro Chapel of ...

'' in the Cornaro Chapel of

Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome Santa Maria della Vittoria ( en, Saint Mary of Victory, la, S. Mariae de Victoria) is a Catholic titular church and basilica dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Rome, Italy. The church is known for the masterpiece of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in the Corn ...

(1652). In Greece the islands of

Scarpanto Karpathos ( el, Κάρπαθος, ), also Carpathos, is the second largest of the Greek Dodecanese islands, in the southeastern Aegean Sea. Together with the neighboring smaller Saria Island it forms the municipality of Karpathos, which is part o ...

and Kasos were their fiefs from the early 14th century until the Ottoman conquest.

Sugar trade

The Cornaro Piscopias ran a large sugar plantation in their fief near

Episcopi ''Episkopoi'' ( grc, ἐπίσκοποι, sing. , ''episkopos'', literally "overseer"), Latinized ''episcopus''/''episcopi'', were inspectors who were sometimes sent by the Athenians to subject states. Harpocration compares them to the Lacedaemon ...

Venetian Cyprus The island of Cyprus was an overseas possession of the Republic of Venice from 1489, when the independent Kingdom of Cyprus ended, until 1570–71, when the island was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. History Acquisition Venice for centuries ...

, in which they exploited slaves of Syrian or Arab origin or local serfs. Sugar was transformed in-house with a large copper boiler made in Venice that the family paid hefty sums to maintain and operate. They exported sugarloafs and

powdered sugar Powdered sugar, also called confectioners' sugar, or icing sugar, is a finely ground sugar produced by milling granulated sugar into a powdered state. It usually contains between 2% and 5% of an anti-caking agent – such as corn starch, p ...

to Europe. The Cornaros were often in conflict with their neighbors over the use and handling of water.

Members

Felicia Cornaro Felicia Cornaro (died 1111) was the Dogaressa of Venice by marriage to the Doge Vitale I Michiel (). She was politically active and exerted an acknowledged influence over the affairs of state. She was a strong supporter of the First Crusade. Life ...

(died 1111), dogaressa of Venice * Andrea Cornaro (died 1323), Margrave of Bodonitsa * Marco Cornaro (c.1286–1368), doge 1365–68 * Federico Cornaro (died 1382), merchant and politician, founder of the Piscopia plantation *

Pietro Cornaro Pietro Cornaro, also known as Peter Cornaro or Corner (died in 1387 or 1388), was Lord of Argos and Nauplia in Frankish Greece from 1377. Early life Pietro was the son of Federico Cornaro of the Santa Lucia branch. He was born before 1363. Being ...

(died in 1387 or 1388), Lord of Argos and Nauplia from 1377 * Marco Cornaro (1406–1479), trader, patrician, diplomat * Luigi Cornaro (c.1464–1566), who wrote treatises on dieting * Giorgio Cornaro (1452–1527), brother of Caterina Cornaro * Caterina Cornaro (1454–1510), Queen of Cyprus from 1474 to 1489 * Francesco Cornaro (1476–1543), Cardinal from 1527 * Marco Cornaro (1482–1524), cardinal from 1522 * Andrea Cornaro (cardinal) (1511–1551), Italian Roman Catholic bishop of Brescia, and later cardinal * Giorgio Cornaro (1524–1578), Italian Roman Catholic Bishop of Treviso * Federico Cornaro (1531–1590), Italian Roman Catholic Cardinal-Priest of Santo Stefano al Monte Celio *

Luigi Cornaro (cardinal) Luigi Cornaro (12 February 1517 – 10 May 1584) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and bishop. Biography A member of the House of Cornaro, Luigi Cornaro was born on 12 February 1517, the eldest of the ten children of Giovanni Cornaro, Vene ...

, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Zadar * Andrea Cornaro (historian) (1547–c.1616), Venetian aristocrat, historian and author *

Vitsentzos Kornaros Vitsentzos or Vikentios Kornaros ( el, Βιτσέντζος or ) or Vincenzo Cornaro (March 29, 1553 – 1613/1614) was a Cretan poet, who wrote the romantic epic poem '' Erotokritos''. He wrote in vernacular Cretan dialect ( Cretan Greek), and w ...

(1553–1614),

Cretan Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, an ...

poet * Marco Cornaro (1557–1625), Italian Roman Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Padua * Cardinal Federico Baldissera Bartolomeo Cornaro (1579–1653),

Patriarch of Venice The Patriarch of Venice ( la, Patriarcha Venetiarum; it, Patriarca di Venezia) is the ordinary bishop of the Archdiocese of Venice. The bishop is one of the few patriarchs in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church (currently three other Latin ...

1631–44 * Giovanni I Cornaro (1551–1629), doge from 1624 * Marco Antonio Cornaro (1583–1639), Italian Roman Catholic Bishop of Padua * Francesco Corner (1585–1656), doge in 1656 *

Elena Cornaro Piscopia Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (, ; 5 June 1646 – 26 July 1684) or Elena Lucrezia Corner (), also known in English as Helen Cornaro, was a Venetian philosopher of noble descent who in 1678 became one of the first women to receive an academic ...

(1646–1684), first woman to get a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

degree (from the

University of Padua The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from ...

in 1678) * Giovanni II Cornaro (1647–1722), doge from 1709 * Giorgio Cornaro (cardinal) (1658–1722), cardinal from 1697 * Laura Cornaro (d.1739), dogaressa of Venice, by marriage to the Doge Giovanni II Cornaro * Giovanni Cornaro (1720–1789), cardinal from 1778

References

{{Reflist

External links

Cornaro family
Republic of Venice families Italian noble families