Acqua Alta, War Reports: Sanudo Diaries: November 16, 1517, 1509

In addition to fighting in Syria, Gaza, Israel, the strikes all over Europe this week and the economic instability underlying the entire region, they have also been hit by some very big storms. Floods are reported all over but especially in Italy and Venice that here at the end of the week are said to begin to recede. The Atlantic has a big bunch of photos this week at their blog.

So today in Sanudo's Venice two reports on two occasions, both of the same day and both relating to our present circumstances: bad weather and war reports.

Editor's note: "...like all urban blights, they were harder on the poor than on anyone else. Sanudo described such an acqua alta in 1517:" p. 328.

Sanudo Diaries: November 16, 1517: (25:84); "Monday morning, the 16th. Because it rained heavily during the night and in the morning, and there was a high sirocco in the morning, about tierce the water rose very high in the city, the highest it has been in many years. The Piazza San Marco on the Grand Canal side and Rialto and all the walks were full of water. It was almost impossible to move about on land and even more so by boat because of the bridges, except that by boat one could travel over some flooded fondamente. It was terrible to see the water continually rising, which it did until the twentieth hour. If the wind had not been blowing against the tide,[the opposite of Sandy and the eastern seaboard in our day] no doubt it would have been much higher. In the memory of living man it had never been so high.  The high water ruined many wells, with damage, it is said, of ten thousand ducats. It destroyed much merchandise in warehouses, especially ashes. [Editor's footnote: "Ashes were used in the manufacture of soap.] and other goods. In many houses of poor people, everything on the ground floor was flooded, inflicting great damage. It is likely that this flood will give rise to many diseases in the city, which God forbid. In my courtyard, although it is elevated, there was more than a foot and a half of water. By the twenty-second hour the water had returned to normal, and one could walk everywhere in Venice. I wanted this to be noted and remembered."

nedits: But the city had more than a city to worry about... and it had developed a complex system of local loyalists who were constantly being trained at home and sent abroad to run their empire.

Editor's note: "For the purpose of governing these extended territories, the patrician class itself was not wanting in military and naval skill.  The Venetian system of commissaries or proveditors connected the governing class to the practical details of military matters, including such decisions on fortifications as were made above. A high degree of professionalism was achieved  by these civilian proveditors. They liaised with commanders of infantry and men-at-arms. They recruited spies, detected traitors, saw to the billeting and feeding of troops, and above all were the information network of the Venetian government. In the spring of 1509, at the time of Agnadello, Venice had thirty-seven proveditors in the field. Sixteen of them became prisoners after that battle. Such dangers were real. ... In addition to the dangers, the proveditors had to deal with the continuous shortage of funds. "Money is needed" was their incessant plea. There were also the difficulties and discomforts of daily military life, frequently described in the proveditorial disaptches. On November 16, 1509, Sanudo summarized five letters from ser Piero Marzello, proveditor general, sent to ser Bernardo Donado from Noale, in the Trevisano, and Vicenza (9:314-9). Two letters written on November 11 vividly describe the delay of a reconnoiterer because he had only a "bad and exhausted horse," the lack of money to pay the crossbowmen and stradiots, German plans to sack the territory, the population in full flight. Then came a letter written on November 13, which Sanudo records a few days later:" pp. 90-1

Sanudo Diaries: November 16, 1509; (9:316-7); "...yesterday morning, at the twelfth hour, he had left Noale with his men, in such a downpour as destroyed the world, and that by evening he had arrived at Camisano. There he was poorly lodged, and without food until the night, and he had to sleep on a bench, as he would also have to do this night. They had hoped to enter Vicenza but had remained outside the city. And since this morning, November 13, when they left Camisano, where they hjad been billeted, itself eighteen long miles from Noale, they had ridden all day, soaked, in their armor, without food or drink, without dismounting until dark, deprived of every comfort. Having arrived this morning, they went on until they were under the city walls with the light cavalry and infantry. Finally, not seeing any sign of an agreement, which they had hoped to see, they decided to draw the artillery up to the Borgo San Piero gate, which faces Padua. And after many rounds of cannon and falconeti [guns] had been fired, and the first gate of the guardhouse destroyed, and a breach made in the wall, some infantry jumped inside. They were rebuffed, and many were killed. And when night finally came, Lactantio da Bergamo stayed there with part of the infantry and light cavalry, and the captain of the infantry was sent to the Pusterla district with the rest of the infantry and light cavalry. All day their proveditors -- some on one side and some on the other -- were exhorting [the men to fight], under a rainstorm so heavy that it dispersed the infantry and men-at-arms. It was a pitiable sight."

All quotes as Sanudo Diaries or Editor's notes or Editor's Footnotes from Venice, Cita Excellentissima, Selection from the Renaissance Diaries of Marin Sanudo translated by Linda L Carroll,  editors: Patricia H LaBalme and Laura Sanguineti White, published by Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008