Francesco Morosini

Timeline

1. 1657–1669Candia · CreteBorn in 1619 into Venice's Morosini family. In 1657 he became commander-in-chief of the fleet, winning several naval victories against the Ottomans. In the 1660s he returned to Crete to direct the long defense of Candia, finally surrendering the city in 1669 for lack of relief; on returning home he was briefly tried, then acquitted, and remained regarded as the Republic's foremost naval talent.
2. 1684–1688Acropolis of Athens · AthensIn 1684 Venice joined the Holy League and Morosini again took command. Over the following years, cooperating with commanders such as Königsmarck, he took Lefkada and conquered the Morea (Peloponnese). During the siege of the Acropolis in September 1687, on the 26th a mortar hit the Ottoman powder store housed in the Parthenon, severely blasting the temple's center; in his report he called it 'a fortunate shot'. The next year he briefly occupied the Acropolis and attempted to remove the west pediment sculptures, which fell and shattered.
3. 1688–1694Nauplion · PeloponneseElected Doge of Venice in 1688, he became one of the few citizens to have a bronze bust displayed while still alive, with the title 'Conqueror of the Peloponnese'. During his reign he continued to travel to the Morean front, attempting to consolidate the new state and unsuccessfully attacking Euboea (Negroponte). He died at Nauplion on January 16, 1694, and Venice's brief revival in Greece immediately lost its most important military pillar.