Teodato Ipato (also Diodato or Deusdedit; la, Theodatus Hypatus) was

Doge 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 ...

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 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 ...

. Before his election he had served as ''

magister militum (Latin for "master of soldiers", plural ) was a top-level military command used in the later Roman Empire, dating from the reign of Constantine the Great. The term referred to the senior military officer (equivalent to a war theatre commander, ...

'' in 739. Teodato was the son of Doge

. He was condemned to exile in 737 in the wake of his father's murder, which came perhaps as a complication of a civil conflict between

Eraclea Eraclea () is a small city and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. It is located on the Adriatic coast between the towns of Caorle and Jesolo. History From its founding until 742 AD, the Republic of Venic ...

and

Equilio Jesolo or Iesolo (; vec, Gèxoło) is a seaside resort town and '' comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Italy of 26,447 inhabitants. With around six million visitors per year, Jesolo is one of the largest beach resorts in the country, an ...

. The office of doge was subsequently abolished in favour of a ''

'', denoting in this case a

chief magistrate Chief magistrate is a public official, executive or judicial, whose office is the highest in its class. Historically, the two different meanings of magistrate have often overlapped and refer to, as the case may be, to a major political and admini ...

to be replaced yearly. The first to be installed in this role was

Domenico Leoni Domenico Leoni ( Latin: ''Dominicus Leo Abrogatis''; life dates unknown) was a Byzantine '' magister militum per Venetiae'' in charge of Venice in 738. Following the murder of the doge Orso Ipato in 737, the Exarch of Ravenna imposed administration ...

, who at the end of his twelve-month term was replaced by Felicius Cornicola. It was under Felicius' administration that Teodato was recalled from exile.Hazlitt, p. 45 After returning home, Teodato is said to have gained the favour of the Venetian electors, and in 739, he was thus selected as Felicius Cornicola's successor. At the end of his term he was himself replaced by

Jovian Ceparius Jovian, surnamed Hypatus or Ceparius (Italian: ''Gioviano Ceparico Ipato''), was Byzantine '' magister militum per Venetiae'' in charge of the duchy of Venice in 740. Following the murder of the doge Orso Ipato in 737, the Exarch of Ravenna impos ...

, having failed to procure re-election; and Jovian, at his term's end, was succeeded by Giovanni Fabriciaco, who took office in 741. Fabriciaco's appointment would prove disastrous: some months into his term an uprising took hold, and consequently he was ousted from office, blinded, and driven into exile. Most historians put this at around 742. Teodato, said to have been complicit in Fabriciaco's downfall, was later by popular vote appointed Doge, marking the end of the interregnum which had lasted from 737 to 42. Under Teodato, Venice's

seat of government The seat of government is (as defined by ''Brewer's Politics'') "the building, complex of buildings or the city from which a government exercises its authority". In most countries, the nation’s capital is also seat of its government, thus that ...

was moved from

Malamocco Malamocco ( vec, Małamoco) was the first, and for a long time, the only settlement on the Lido of Venice barrier island of the Lagoon of Venice. It is located just south of the island's center and it is part of the Lido-Pellestrina borough of ...

. Also during his reign came the renewal of an age-old treaty with the

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 an ...

, first composed in the reign of

Paolo Lucio Anafesto Paolo Lucio Anafesto ( la, Paulucius Anafestus) was, according to tradition, the first Doge of Venice, serving from 697 to 717. He is known for repelling Umayyad attacks. Biography A noble of Eraclea, then the primary city of the region, he was ...

, and an

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, fr ...

which is said to have flooded parts of Venice. His reign came to an end in 755 when he was deposed and blinded at the instigation of Galla Gaulo, who was subsequently elected Doge. An alternative view of Teodato's fate, as described in Hazlitt's ''History of the Venetian Republic'', is that rather than being blinded and deposed, he was instead murdered by adherents of Galla Gaulo.Hazlitt, p. 48

Notes

Sources

* Norwich, John Julius. ''A History of Venice''. Penguin, 2012. * Hazlitt, William Carew. ''History of the Venetian Republic: Her Rise, Her Greatness, and Her Civilization''. Elder, Smith and Co.:

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, 1860. *Hodgson, Francis Cotterell. ''The early history of Venice, from the foundation to the conquest of Constantinople, A.D. 1204''. George Allen:

, 1901. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ipato, Teodato 8th-century Doges of Venice Magistri militum 755 deaths