Francesco Contarini (

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, 28 November 1556 – Venice, 6 December 1624) was the 95th

Doge of Venice The Doge of Venice ( ) – in Italian, was the doge or highest role of authority within the Republic of Venice (697–1797). The word derives from the Latin , meaning 'leader', and Venetian Italian dialect for 'duke', highest official of the ...

, reigning from 8 September 1623 until his death fourteen months later. He was a member of the

House of Contarini The Contarini is one of the founding families of Venicehttps://archive.org/details/teatroaraldicose02tett, Leone Tettoni. ''Teatro araldico ovvero raccolta generale delle armi ed insegne gentilizie delle piu illustri e nobili casate che esis ...

, one of the founding families of Venice.

Background, 1556–1623

Francesco Contarini was the son of Bertucci Contarini and Laura Dolfin. Both of his parents died while he was young, leaving him as an

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

who was raised by his two older brothers. The three brothers had inherited a substantial fortune, and no expense was spared on Francesco Contarini's education. A lover of travel, Contarini was sent on several

diplomatic missions A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually denotes ...

, representing the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

in many European courts. He was the bailo in Constantinople from 1602 to 1604. In 1611 Contarini was in England, serving as Venetian ambassador with Marc' Antonio Correr at the court of King James. A man of refined manners, he gained a reputation of always placing the needs of Venice above his own self-interest.

Doge, 1623–1624

Following the death of Antonio Priuli on 12 August 1623, there was no obvious successor as Doge. When voting commenced, there was a stalemate. Francesco Contarini did not particularly want to be Doge, but after 79 ballots had failed to elect a Doge, he was prevailed on to agree to become Doge, and he was elected on 8 September. Little of note happened during Contarini's time as Doge. As was customary, he participated in the large Venetian festivals. The

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, which had spilled into the

Valtellina Valtellina or the Valtelline (occasionally spelled as two words in English: Val Telline; (); or ; ; ) is a valley in the Lombardy region of northern Italy, bordering Switzerland. Today it is known for its ski centre, hot spring spas, bresa ...

in February 1623, went well for Venice, although Contarini did not himself participate in fighting. Contarini was only 67 when elected as Doge, a relatively young age for a position frequently inhabited by octogenarians. Nevertheless, he became ill 12 months after he became Doge and died six weeks after that.

References

This article is based on this article from

Italian Wikipedia The Italian Wikipedia () is the Italian language, Italian-language edition of Wikipedia. This edition was created on 10 May 2001, and first edited on 11 June 2001. As of , it has articles and more than registered accounts. It is the -largest W ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Contarini, Francesco 1556 births 1624 deaths

Francesco Francesco, the Italian language, Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis (given name), Francis", is one of the List of most popular given names, most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name inclu ...

Baili of Constantinople 16th-century Venetian people 17th-century Doges of Venice Ambassadors of the Republic of Venice to the Kingdom of England