Medieval Dogecoin

The Dep*rtment of G*vernment Eff*ciency, or DOGE, is a (currently) temporary organization that is not a Cabinet-level department of the U.S. government. Read the news to catch up on that one, but it’s not an accident that M*sk has embraced this acronym. Unlike his boss, M*sk is smart, and it is extremely unlikely that the actual history of the “Doges” in Medieval Italy are unfamiliar to him. “Doge,” of course, was the official title of the aristocratic leader of several city-states, especially referring to the wealthy leaders in the oligarchy of Venice.

Here, you see the most famous Doge of all, Enrico Dandelo, the leader of Venice from 1192 until his death in 1205. He is depicted on the left of this coin, the Venician grosso, which he developed and which eventually became a major trading currency. TBD about Dogecoin, but neither M*sk nor Enrico Dandalo planned on letting anything get in their way when it came to obtaining their objectives.

Doge Dandolo played a long game — the title “Doge” originally came from the Latin “Dux” or leader/military commander, and Dandolo was both. Having a history of personal hostility with the powerful Byzantine Empire, Enrico Dandelo finessed his way into leadership during the infamous Fourth Crusade of 1204. While other men were the technical leaders of the Crusade, Enrico Dandelo was a crucial behind-the-scenes and non-elected leader of this military endeavor.

In 1204, Byzantium’s Constantinople was the epicenter of Christiandom, heir to the Ancient Roman past. Initially in the Fourth Crusade, the Crusaders set off with a plan to retake Jerusalem, but Things Went Awry. In no small part due to Dandelo’s behind-the-scenes leadership, and fueled by desire for wealth, the Crusaders ended up taking over the capital of Christiandom. The epicenter of the very religion the Crusaders professed was destroyed.