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What happened to Venetian merchants in Constantinople in 1171?
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Venice
Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, where the Grand Canal opens into the San Marco Basin.
In 1171, the Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus ordered the arrest of all Venetian residents living in Constantinople and throughout the Byzantine provinces. During this action, the emperor also confiscated the goods belonging to these merchants.1
This event was the culmination of growing tensions between the two powers, fueled by the aggressive behavior of Venetian traders and the emperor’s decision to favor competing merchants from Genoa and Pisa. While diplomatic relations were eventually restored in 1187 and 1198, the incident left the Venetians deeply embittered, eventually contributing to their role in the Fourth Crusade and the subsequent sack of Constantinople in 1204.12