Andrea Gritti (17 April 1455-28 December 1538) was Doge of Venice from 20 May 1523 to 28 December 1538, succeeding Antonio Grimani and preceding Pietro Lando.
Biography[]
Andrea Gritti was born in Bardolino, Republic of Venice in 1455, and he worked as a grain merchant in Istanbul for much of his life. In the 1490s, he spied on the Ottoman navy and used encoded messages to warn the Venetians of its movements; he was arrested for espionage, but his friendship with the vizier saved him from death. In 1509, after the Battle of Agnadello, he became Proveditore of the Venetian army in Treviso, and he suppressed revolts against the invaders during the War of the League of Cambrai. After the death of Niccolo di Pitigliano in 1510, Gritti took command of the Venetian army, but he was forced to withdraw to Venice by French advances. In 1512, he negotiated Venice's alliance with France, and he was elected Doge in 1523. He ended Venice's active involvement in the Italian Wars after concluding a treaty with Emperor Charles V, and he urged both Charles and Francis I of France to turn their attention to the Ottoman advances in the Balkans. He could not prevent Suleiman the Magnificent from attacking Corfu in 1537, igniting a three-year war between the Venetians and the Ottomans. He died in 1538.