cosmology--for the study of which Florence was perhaps something of an outpost, as well as over classical studies and love-poetry where Florence partook of the lively activity evident throughout Tuscany. In Dante's greatest work, the Comedy, an extraordinary fusion of the religious, the philosophical, the poetic, and the political--product of both the political theorist and the embittered political exile--takes place in the construction of a journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. With what is ultimately the height of conceit Dante, as well as mapping out the theology of the world to come, places his heroes and his villains in appropriate places and passes judgement on the whole political scene of his time. Wholly eclectic, the Comedy represents what is most dynamic and constructive in Italian urban life--its aspirations, its creativity, and its vehemence--and at the same time is profoundly 'medieval' in its outlook. It is above all a religious construct in which are made moral judgements, and in one respect at least--his vision and advocacy of universal empire as the solution to these problems--it was hopelessly out of date. Ultimately, though, if his remedy was impracticable the diagnosis was to prove correct; the precocious Italian city-states, as long as they remained in conflict, were going to be overtaken and indeed overrun by those who were able to build something stronger.
The commercial hegemony attained by Venice could not have been established without the momentous events of 1204. The taking of Constantinople by the forces of the Fourth Crusade, discussed in Chapter 4, was more than an outrage and a great psychological blow. For the first time it gave the crusaders extensive territory in south-eastern Europe and Asia Minor. By the terms of the division of the new 'Latin Empire of Constantinople' Venice obtained three-eighths of this territory, the rest being divided between the new emperor, Baldwin of Flanders, and the 'Frankish' barons. At the same time the
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