"Venier Family"

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The Venier Family is a family of paternals from Venice from Vincenza located in the province of Veneto to the north of the Italian peninsula. The Venier Family though it was among the top families with a significant contribution to the Republic of Venice after ruling with three Doges and making countless Pontestas in Padova and Praetors in St. Mark's Basilica does not appear before the 11th century.

Lords on Greek Islands

Pietro Venier, Lord of Kythira, a member of the Family will participate in the Fourth Crusade, take as a gift Kythira (1207) and be declared Marquis of Kythira. His family will rule for three centuries the island as Lords of Kythira while in the late 15th century they will become Lords of Paros when the immediate descendant of Pietro Venier Juan Francesco Veneer marries Juan Francesco Veneer heiress of Paros. Another branch of the Family will settle in Crete and rule the island as High Commissioner of Crete for Venice. With the sole exception of the apostasy in Crete that became known as the Republic of St. Titus and leading members of the Venier Family in all other cases family members remained loyal to the Republic.

Doges of Venice

The three Doges of Venice members of the Venier Family were as follows:

Antonio Veneer
Francesco Venere
Sebastiano Venier, descendant of Pietro Vennier, Marquis of Kythera. Leader of the Venetian fleet in the Battle of Nafpakto (1571) in which the fleet of Venice crushed the Ottomans. Venice however had no benefit from its great victory because Cyprus that had been conquered the previous year by the Ottoman Empire (1570) remained in them.

Genealogical tree of the Venier Family (Kythira branch)

References

Sources

Lane, Frederic Chapin (1973). Venice, a Maritime Republic. Johns Hopkins University Press.
Setton, Kenneth Meyer (1978). The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571. DIANE Publishing.

External links
Venier