Venier family
This Venetian patrician family produced three doges in the Renaissance: Antonio (Doge 1382-1400), Francesco (Doge 1554-56) and Sebastiano (Doge 1577-78). A striking example of the Venetian practice of entrusting old men with the most demanding and potentially dangerous of public duties, Sebastiano was made captain general of the sea in 1570 at the age of 74; as such he was in great measure responsible for the tactics and the morale that defeated the Turks off Lepanto in the following year. His contention that failure thereafter to recapture Cyprus was due to the delaying tactics of Venice's allies was for years looked upon with scepticism, and his election to the dogeship at the age of 82 was possibly in part a deliberate rehabilitation.
