City of Fortune

罗杰·克劳利（Roger Crowley），历史学家。他出生于英格兰，剑桥大学毕业后，曾久居伊斯坦布尔，并对土耳其的历史产生了浓厚的兴趣。他花费数年时间广泛游历了地中海世界，这使他拥有对地中海的渊博的历史和地理知识。著有“地中海史诗三部曲”《1453》《海洋帝国》和《财富之城》。

出版者:Random House

作者:Roger Crowley

页数:464

出版时间:2012-1-24

价格:USD 32.00

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9781400068203

图书标签:历史威尼斯地中海history中世纪英文原版英文的

The rise and fall of the Venetian empire stands unrivaled for drama, intrigue, and sheer opulent majesty. In City of Fortune, Roger Crowley, acclaimed historian and New York Times bestselling author of Empires of the Sea, applies his narrative skill to chronicling the astounding five-hundred-year voyage of Venice to the pinnacle of power.

Tracing the full arc of the Venetian imperial saga for the first time, City of Fortune is framed around two of the great collisions of world history: the ill-fated Fourth Crusade, which culminated in the sacking of Constantinople and the carve-up of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, and the Ottoman-Venetian War of 1499–1503, which saw the Ottoman Turks supplant the Venetians as the preeminent naval power in the Mediterranean. In between were three centuries of Venetian maritime dominance—years of plunder and plague, conquest and piracy—during which a tiny city of “lagoon dwellers” grew into the richest place on earth.

Drawing on firsthand accounts of pitched sea battles, skillful negotiations, and diplomatic maneuvers, Crowley paints a vivid picture of this avaricious, enterprising people and the bountiful lands that came under their dominion. Defiant of emperors, indifferent to popes, the Venetians saw themselves as reluctant freebooters, compelled to take to the open seas “because we cannot live otherwise and know not how except by trade.” From the opening of the spice routes to the clash between Christianity and Islam, Venice played a leading role in the defining conflicts of its time—the reverberations of which are still being felt today. Only an author with Roger Crowley’s deep knowledge of post-Crusade history could put these iconic events into their proper context.

Epic in scope, magisterial in its understanding of the period, City of Fortune is narrative history at its most engrossing.

读后感

第一部：机遇：商人十字军 1.达尔马提亚领主 10世纪威尼斯执政官奥西奥罗率军击败克罗地亚海盗 成为达尔马提亚领主 进而称霸亚得里亚海 11世纪 帮助拜占庭抵御诺曼军队 获得在拜占庭主要城市免税经商的特权 从此崛起 随着时间的推移 拜占庭人开始厌恶威尼斯人 渐渐给予威尼斯的...  

2015年初的时候,我本没有对威尼斯抱太大期望,仅安排了两天行程,蜻蜓点水掠过。然而威尼斯给了我惊喜。这是一座精致典雅的水城， 相比起中国的周庄那些水乡，又多了一些历史的厚重。但夕阳西下，落日余晖映在水面浸染万物金黄色。在这张桀骜不驯的照片中，我老婆笑我成了铜人。 ...  

威尼斯主导第四次十字军东征占领君士坦丁。此后数个世纪威尼斯与热那亚争斗不休。读完能理解基督教世界不是铁板一块，内部充满裂痕，无法凝聚起有效的力量救援君士坦丁（1453陷落）。 总结一下关键事件： 1198年8月教皇英诺森三世号召第四次十字军东征。1201年威尼斯执政官恩里...  

罗杰克劳利用一种全新的写史方法，带我们领略了从1000到1500年，一段长达五个世纪威尼斯的绚丽、华美乐章。全书让人有深深的代入感，为威尼斯人的努力拼搏而自豪，为威尼斯人的勇敢无畏而赞叹，为威尼斯人的团结理性而敬畏。同时，也让人深深的意识到，在世界的大势面前，威尼...  

用户评价

五百年兴衰 其兴也勃焉 其亡也忽焉 最后一章的总结很准确 商业立国 注定了不得久远 可是谁又能说衡量存在的标准就一定得是遗迹与残垣？威尼斯开创的商业模式经荷兰与英国一路传承并发扬光大 又何尝不是某种意义上更历久弥新的存在？

To the honor and profit of Venice

看的地中海三部曲的第二本，Roger Crowley的独到之处在于用写小说的手法写历史，因而把历史的探索之旅变得更为生动有趣，特别是本书精彩还原了威尼斯共和国的崛起到衰落的过程。第四次十字军东征和攫取君士坦丁堡使得威尼斯开始成为海上霸主，与热内亚的四次交战则确立了其牢固的海洋霸主地位，然而随着土耳其奥斯曼帝国的崛起，海洋霸权最终输给了陆地霸权。

一声叹息。//美第奇那书里屡屡提到威尼斯，这个意大利一片混乱的政局里唯一的共和国，而且实力强大。而且看过1453之后一直打算看的。。。

To the honor and profit of Venice