He Had A Son Named Pietro Zeno, Who Was Father To
Rinieri Zeno, Who Was Elected Doge, Or Duke Of Venice, In 1282, And
Governed The Republic For Seventeen Years, During Which Period He Waged A
Successful War Against The Genoese.
He adopted Andrea, the son of his
brother Marco, who was afterwards raised to be captain-general of the
Venetian fleet, in the war against Genoa.
Rinieri Zeno, the son of Andrea,
was the father of Pietro Zeno, who, in 1362, was captain-general of the
Venetian squadron in the allied fleet of the Christians against the Turks,
and had the surname of Dracone, from the figure of a dragon which he wore
on his shield. Pietro had three sons; Carlo Leone, the eldest, who was
procurator and captain-general of the fleet: of the republic, and; rescued,
her from imminent danger in a war in which, almost all Europe was leagued
for her destruction; the second, Nicolo, called likewise il Cavaliere, or
the night, shewed great valour in the last mentioned war of Chioggia
against the Genoese; Antonio was the youngest.
Francesco Marcolini, a learned Italia, extracted the whole of the ensuing
relation from the original letters of the two Zenos, Nicole and Antonio,
which is published in the collection of Ramusio; and declares that Antonio
laid down all the particulars of these voyages, and of the countries he and
his brother had visited, on a map, which he brought with him to Venice, and
which he hung up in his house as a sure pledge and incontestible proofs of
the truth of his relations, and which still remained as an incontrovertible
evidence in the time of Marcolini. Many have been inclined to reject the
whole of this narrative because the names which it assigns to several of
the countries are nowhere else to be found. After having carefully
examined, and made a translation of the whole, I am fully convinced that
the narrative is true, and that it contains internal proofs of its own
authenticity, and I hope fully to solve, in the course of this
dissertation, all the difficulties attending the names, which have been
strangely perverted by a vicious orthography.
It has been alleged that the whole narrative has the appearance of a mere
fable; and it may be asked where is Friesland and the other countries
which it mentions, to be found? Who has ever heard of a Zichmuni who
vanquished Kako, or Hakon, king of Norway, in 1369, or 1380? All this is
very plausible; but we think a good deal may be done for clearing away the
difficulties.
Marcolini extracted this relation from the original letters of the two
Zenos, who were of one of the most considerable families in Venice; a
family which could not be supposed to have boldly forged a story of this
kind. The truth could easily have been detected, whether these brothers
existed or not, and whether they ever made voyages to the north. Besides
this, the map, actually constructed by Antonio, and hung up in his house at
Venice, existed in the time of Marcolini, as a sure and incontestable proof
of the fidelity of the narrative.
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