Among them Vitale succeeded as doge, in 1084, to Domenico Silvio, who had been deprived of office in consequence of the losses sustained by the Venetian navy at Durazzo, in the war between the Greek emperor, Alexis Comnenus, and the Normans. Venice had joined in the struggle, in order to check the progress of that conquering band of heroes on the Adriatic coasts. As the Greek emperor was bound to Venice for the help which had been afforded to him, he was prevailed upon by Faliero to sign away every imperial right on Dalmatia, and he granted, besides, the most ample franchises to the Venetians in their trade with Constantinople. Through these negotiations, and the development given to the commercial activity of the republic in Italy and the west of Europe, Vitale Faliero left the state, greatly increased in power and wealth, to his successor, Vitale Micheli, in 1094. He was succeeded by another Faliero, Ordelaffo, who ruled Venice under circumstances which exercised a decisive influence on its future greatness, namely, the crusade, and the Hungarian war in Dalmatia. Ordelaffo manned the famous fleet which escorted the crusaders, and gave Venice the preponderance in the maritime communications between Asia and Europe. When, in 1115, the Hungarians took possession of Zara, Ordelaffo reconquered that town, and drove the enemy beyond the mountains in Croatia; thence he returned in triumph to Venice. After two years, however, the Hungarians again attacked the Venetian possessions, and the doge fell in the cause of his country whilst fighting in the foremost ranks in the neighbourhood of Zara. High in the esteem of his fellow-citizens, a century afterwards, was the venerable senator Angelo Faliero, by whose patriotism and eloquence the council of the republic was persuaded to reject a proposition made by the Doge Pietro Ziani, in 1225, to transfer the seat of government to Constantinople, with the view of defending more efficiently the Venetian possessions in the East.
Next we find the name of Marino Faliero recorded as having allowed himself to be drawn, more by personal feeling and private revenge than by any higher motive, into a conspiracy against the government of the republic. He was chosen doge in 1354, at the age of eighty, whilst he was ambassador at Rome. He was of a proud and wrathful temper; and, having married a very young and beautiful bride, the great disparity of their ages made him susceptible of any allusion to it, which might be construed into an insult. After he had been nine months in office, during which time the most important public event was the conclusion of a treaty of peace with Genoa, a circumstance occurred which prompted Marino Faliero to scheme the overthrow of the existing institutions. According to an old custom, on the last day of carnival, after the bull-hunt was over, a ball was given in the ducal palace, at which the doge and the duchess, with several of the nobility, were accustomed to meet. On the Shrove-Tuesday of 1355, there was among the guests a certain Michele Steno, who behaved with unbecoming freedom towards one of the ladies in waiting on the duchess, and was, in consequence, by order of the doge, ignominiously expelled the palace. This he basely revenged by writing on the ducal chair in the hall of audience some lines, which were offensive as well to the character of the duchess as to the dignity of her husband. The author of these lines having been discovered, he was condemned by the Council of Forty to two months' imprisonment, to be followed by one year of exile. The doge deemed the sentence greatly disproportionate to the offence, and conceived thereupon a mortal hatred against the whole body of the nobility. It came to pass, soon after, that a nobleman had a quarrel with the admiral of the arsenal, and struck him violently in the face. The admiral appealed to the doge for justice, but the latter remarked, that his own authority being disregarded, he could do nothing for him. The admiral then offered to help the doge to put down the insolent class which oppressed Venice, if he would only choose to do so. In this way a conspiracy was originated, in which one Filippo Calendaro, a seaman; Israello Bertuccio, an engineer; and other popular chiefs with their workmen, were enlisted. In their secret meetings, at night, in the palace of Faliero, it was concerted that, on the 15th of April, the chiefs, with their followers, "were," as the old report has it, "to make affrays amongst themselves here and there in order that the duke might have a pretence for tolling the bells of San Marco. . . . At the sound of the bells they were to come to San Marco; and when the leading citizens should come into the Piazza to know the cause of the riot, then the conspirators were to cut them to pieces." One of the conspirators, however, named Beltramo revealed what he knew of the plot to the patrician Leoni. Leoni lost no time in making the matter known to the magistrates; the necessary precautions were taken; the principal plotters were arrested and put to the torture, and, after having revealed their plans and accomplices, were condemned to death. The doge was separately convicted, and sentenced by the Council of Ten to be beheaded. "The execution took place on the 17th of April, on the landing-place of the stone staircase, where the dukes take their oath when they first enter the palace." In the hall of the Great Council, where hang the portraits of the doges, in the place of a portrait of Faliero there is now to be seen the inscription—"Hic est locus Marini Faletro decapitati pro criminibus."—(See Marino Sanuto's Lives of the Doges, and Byron's appendix to the tragedy of Marino Faliero.) It is right to observe that Professor de Vericour, who examined original documents at Venice, doubts whether the motive traditionally assigned was the cause of Marino's joining in the conspiracy.
The last member of this family who deserves to be noted is Michele Falieri, who was governor of Zara in 1357, when Louis, king of Hungary, took that town by surprise. Falieri was impeached for neglect of duty, though, in fact, it was not through any fault of his that the place had surrendered. He was, nevertheless, condemned to pay a fine, and be imprisoned for a year, and perpetually excluded from holding any public office.—A. S. O.
FALISCUS, Gratius, was a Roman poet of the Augustan age. He wrote a poem on hunting, entitled "Cynogeticon Liber," which will be found in Burmann's Poetæ Latini Minores, as well as in the collection of M. Maittaire. A metrical translation by Chr. Wase was published in London in 1654.—W. B.
FALK, Johannes Daniel, a German philanthropist and satirical poet, was born in indigent circumstances at Dantzic, on 28th October, 1770; and after having completed his education in the university of Halle, settled at Weimar, where he devoted himself to literary labours. The distresses and diseases produced by the Napoleonic wars, particularly after the battle of Jena, gave him an ample field for his philanthropic endeavours, which resulted in a benevolent institution for the maintenance and education of poor deserted children. This institution succeeded so well that it was taken under the patronage of government, and gave rise to a number of similar institutions in various towns. As a poet, Falk displayed lively wit and humour, but proved unworthy of the praises which Wieland had bestowed upon him in introducing him to the literary world. He died on 14th February, 1826, and his satirical works were collected after his death, in seven volumes. After Göthe's death appeared his well-known posthumous work—"Goethe, aus näherm persönlichen Umgange dargestellt," Leipzig, 1832.—K. E.
FALK, Johan Peter, a Swedish physician, was born in 1727, and died in 1774. He early became a student of natural science, which, although the victim of a painful melancholy, he prosecuted with untiring zeal. Linnæus chose him as tutor to his children, and in order to divert him from his gloomy musings, induced him to examine the plants and zoophytes of the island of Gothland. He was, sometime after 1768, appointed professor at the garden of pharmacy at St. Petersburg. He shot himself at Kasan, on his return from a scientific journey. The notes and observations he made on this journey were published at St. Petersburg in 1784-86, under the title of "Mémoire pour servir à la connaissance topographique de l'Empire Russe." —R. M., A.
FALKENSTEIN, Johann Heinrich von, a German historian, born in 1682, and died in 1760. He lectured for some time on jurisprudence, heraldry, &c., at the equestrian academy of Erlangen. Having become a convert to Roman catholicism, he removed to Eichstadt in 1718, and twelve years afterwards became counsellor to the margrave Charles William Frederick of Brandenburg-Anspach. He was a voluminous writer on history and topography.—R. M., A.
FALKLAND, Henry Cary, Viscount, some time lord-deputy of Ireland. He entered Exeter college, Oxford, at sixteen years of age, and Fuller informs us that his chamber was the rendezvous of all the eminent wits of his time. He left the university without taking a degree, and having been introduced at court, was made knight of the bath at the creation of Henry prince of Wales in 1608, or, as others say, of Charles in 1616; and comptroller of his majesty's household, and a privy councillor in 1617. He was created Viscount of
