1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mocenigo

MOCENIGO, the name of a noble and ancient Venetian family which gave many doges, statesmen and soldiers to the republic. Tommaso Mocinego (1343–1423) commanded the crusading fleet in the expedition to Nicopolis in 1396, and also won battles against the Genoese. While he was Venetian ambassador at Cremona he was elected doge (1414), and he escaped in secret, fearing that he might be held a prisoner by Gabrino Fondolo, tyrant of that city. He made peace with the Turkish sultan, but when hostilities broke out afresh his fleet defeated that of the Turks at Gallipoli. During his reign the patriarch of Aquileia was forced to cede his territories to the republic (1420), which also acquired Friuli and Dalmatia. Tommaso greatly encouraged commerce, reconstructed the ducal palace and commenced the library. Pietro Mocinego, doge from 1474 to 1476, was one of the greatest Venetian admirals, and revived the fortunes of his country’s navy, which had fallen very low after the defeat at Negropont in 1470. In 1472 he captured and destroyed Smyrna; the following year he placed Catherine Cornaro, queen of Cyprus, under Venetian protection, and by that means the republic obtained possession of the island in 1475. He then defeated the Turks who were besieging Scutari, but he there contracted an illness of which he died. Giovanni Mocinego, Pietro’s brother, who was doge from 1478 to 1485, fought against Mohammed II. and Ercole I., duke of Ferrara, from whom he recaptured Rovigo and the Polesine. Luigi Mocinego was doge from 1570 to 1577. During his reign Venice lost the fortresses Nicosia and Famagosta in Cyprus. He took part in the battle of Lepanto, but after the loss of Cyprus he was forced to make peace with the Turks and to hand them back his conquests. Andrea Mocinego, who flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries, was a senator of the republic and a historian; he composed a work on the league of Cambrai entitled Belli memorabilis Cameracensis adversus Venetos historiae libri vi. (Venice, 1525). Another Luigi Mocinego was doge from 1700 to 1709, and his brother Sebastiano from 1722 to 1732. Alvise Mocinego (1701–1778), who was doge from 1763 until his death, restricted the privileges of the clergy, and in consequence came into bitter conflict with Pope Clement XIII.