W. C a r e w H a z l i t t Coinage of the European Continent

368 The Coins of Europe
This political metamorphosis sometimes strikes the
student as having its melodramatic and sometimes, perhaps
oftener, its depressing side. To the trading communities,
such as Venice and Genoa, these acquisitions were attended
by checkered results, and were never consolidated in a
sufficient degree to withstand the pressure of a strong
aggressive force from without. But the majority of the
minor fiefs fell an easy prey to the Mohammedan conquerors,
while many disappeared long before by cession or otherwise.
The lion's share ultimately fell to Venice, and the Venetian
colonial currency arose from the politic desire to spread the
name of the republic, and supersede other currencies,
wherever her empire extended and the absence of ; any
coinage, which can be confidently ascribed to the Latin
emperors, has been explained by the supposed use of
Venetian specie. The bailo or consul-general of the
republic at Constantinople was long
indeed the actual
sovereign and a sort of lieutenant or vicar of the Doge
;
and a second important official was the bailo of Negropont.
Apart from those localities, where the Government itself
enjoyed direct jurisdiction, the noble houses of Cornaro,
Sanudo, Quirini, Grimani, Barozzi, and Michieli occupied
fiefs under Venetian protection.
The numismatic lessons to be learned from this great
historical incident and epoch are certainly not very important.
The rolls of the numerous lines, which enjoyed
for a longer or shorter term the fruits of conquest, include
many distinguished names of statesmen, warriors, and men
of cultivated tastes Boniface, Marquis of Monteferrato,
Charles of Anjou, Geoffrey de Villehardouin the historian,
Gui de Lusignan, and Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus.
But the majority of the host, which took the capital and
participated in the plunder, were warlike freebooters, of
whom a few have transmitted their names to us on coins or
in chronicles of the age, each elucidating the other. At the
same time two or three points of a curious character present
themselves to our observation and criticism. The Genoese
settlement at Caffa (Theodosia) in the Crimea found itself