Whilst the
Venetians, with that overweening sense of superiority which at this time
is reflected in their own annals as distinctly as in those of their
enemies, kept scout-vessels out to watch that the Genoese fleet, which
they looked on as already their own, did not steal away in the darkness. A
vain imagination, says the poet: -
"Blind error of vainglorious men
To dream that we should seek to flee
After those weary leagues of sea
Crossed, but to hunt them in their den!"[18]
[Sidenote: The Venetians defeated, and Marco Polo a prisoner.]
35. The battle began early on Sunday and lasted till the afternoon. The
Venetians had the wind in their favour, but the morning sun in their eyes.
They made the attack, and with great impetuosity, capturing ten Genoese
galleys; but they pressed on too wildly, and some of their vessels ran
aground. One of their galleys too, being taken, was cleared of her crew
and turned against the Venetians. These incidents caused confusion among
the assailants; the Genoese, who had begun to give way, took fresh heart,
formed a close column, and advanced boldly through the Venetian line,
already in disorder. The sun had begun to decline when there appeared on
the Venetian flank the fifteen or sixteen missing galleys of Doria's
fleet, and fell upon it with fresh force. This decided the action. The
Genoese gained a complete victory, capturing all but a few of the Venetian
galleys, and including the flagship with Dandolo. The Genoese themselves
lost heavily, especially in the early part of the action, and Lamba
Doria's eldest son Octavian is said to have fallen on board his father's
vessel.[19] The number of prisoners taken was over 7000, and among these
was Marco Polo.[20]
[Illustration: Marco Polo's Galley going into action at Curzola.
"il sembloit que la galie volast, par les nageurs qui la contreingnoient
aux avirons, et sembloit que foudre cheist des ciex, au bruit que les
pennoncians menoient, et que les nacaues les tabours et les cors
sarrazinnois menoient, qui estoient en sa galie"
(Joinville, vide ante, p. 40)]
[Illustration: Scene of the Battle of Curzola.]
The prisoners, even of the highest rank, appear to have been chained.
Dandolo, in despair at his defeat, and at the prospect of being carried
captive into Genoa, refused food, and ended by dashing his head against a
bench.[21] A Genoese account asserts that a noble funeral was given him
after the arrival of the fleet at Genoa, which took place on the evening
of the 16th October.[22] It was received with great rejoicing, and the
City voted the annual presentation of a pallium of gold brocade to the
altar of the Virgin in the Church of St. Matthew, on every 8th of
September, the Madonna's day, on the eve of which the Battle had been won.
To the admiral himself a Palace was decreed. It still stands, opposite the
Church of St. Matthew, though it has passed from the possession of the
Family. On the striped marble facades, both of the Church and of the
Palace, inscriptions of that age, in excellent preservation, still
commemorate Lamba's achievement.[23] Malik al Mansur, the Mameluke Sultan
of Egypt, as an enemy of Venice, sent a complimentary letter to Doria
accompanied by costly presents.[24]
[Illustration: Church of San Matteo, Genoa]
The latter died at Savona 17th October, 1323, a few months before the most
illustrious of his prisoners, and his bones were laid in a sarcophagus
which may still be seen forming the sill of one of the windows of S.
Matteo (on the right as you enter). Over this sarcophagus stood the Bust
of Lamba till 1797, when the mob of Genoa, in idiotic imitation of the
French proceedings of that age, threw it down. All of Lamba's six sons had
fought with him at Meloria. In 1291 one of them, Tedisio, went forth into
the Atlantic in company with Ugolino Vivaldi on a voyage of discovery, and
never returned. Through Caesar, the youngest, this branch of the Family
still survives, bearing the distinctive surname of Lamba-Doria.[25]
As to the treatment of the prisoners, accounts differ; a thing usual in
such cases. The Genoese Poet asserts that the hearts of his countrymen
were touched, and that the captives were treated with compassionate
courtesy. Navagiero the Venetian, on the other hand, declares that most of
them died of hunger.[26]
[Sidenote: Marco Polo in prison dictates his book to Rusticiano of Pisa.
Release of Venetian prisoners.]
36. Howsoever they may have been treated, here was Marco Polo one of those
many thousand prisoners in Genoa; and here, before long, he appears to
have made acquaintance with a man of literary propensities, whose destiny
had brought him into the like plight, by name RUSTICIANO or RUSTICHELLO of
Pisa. It was this person perhaps who persuaded the Traveller to defer no
longer the reduction to writing of his notable experiences; but in any
case it was he who wrote down those experiences at Marco's dictation; it
is he therefore to whom we owe the preservation of this record, and
possibly even that of the Traveller's very memory. This makes the Genoese
imprisonment so important an episode in Polo's biography.
To Rusticiano we shall presently recur. But let us first bring to a
conclusion what may be gathered as to the duration of Polo's imprisonment.
It does not appear whether Pope Boniface made any new effort for
accommodation between the Republics; but other Italian princes did
interpose, and Matteo Visconti, Captain-General of Milan, styling himself
Vicar-General of the Holy Roman Empire in Lombardy, was accepted as
Mediator, along with the community of Milan. Ambassadors from both States
presented themselves at that city, and on the 25th May, 1299, they signed
the terms of a Peace.
