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The Venetian Takeover of English Banking

Lesson by Dr . Douglas Gabr iel

How the Venetian System Was Transplanted into England Against Oligarchy, by Webster G. Tarpley, Ph.D.; New Federalist, June 3, 1996.

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Douglas Gabr iel gives a br ief in tr oduct ion to the sum m ar ized ar t icle below. W e suggest that you l isten to h is lecture f i r st , then cont inue reading for detai ls.

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The ol igarchical system of Great Br i tain is not an autochthonous product of

Engl ish or Br i t ish h istor y. I t r epresents rather the tr adi t ion of the

Babylon ians, Rom ans, Byzantines, and Venetians which has been

tr ansplanted in to the Br i t ish Isles through a ser ies of upheavals. The status of

Br i tain as the nat ion foutué of m odern h istor y is due in par t icular to the

sixteenth and seventeenth century m etastasis in to England and Scotland of

the Venetian ol igarchy along with i ts phi losophy, pol i t ical form s, fam i ly

for tunes, and im per ial geopol i t ics. The victor y of the Venetian par ty in

England between 1509 and 1715 bui l t in turn upon a pre-exist ing foundation of

Byzantine and Venetian in fluence.

Venetian in fluence in England was m ediated by bank ing. Venetian ol igarchs

were a guiding for ce am ong the Lom bard bankers who car r ied out the ?great

shear ing? of England which led to the bank ruptcy of the Engl ish King H enry

I I I , who, dur ing the 1250?s, r epudiated h is debts and went bank rupt. The

bank ruptcy was fol lowed by a large-scale civi l war.

I t was under Venetian auspices that England star ted the catastrophic confl ict

against France known today as the H undred Years? W ar. In 1340, King

Edward I I I of England sent an em bassy to Doge Gradenigo announcing h is

in tent ion to wage war on France, and proposing an Anglo-Venetian al l iance.

Gradenigo accepted Edward I I I?s offer that al l Venetians on Engl ish soi l

would receive al l the sam e pr ivi leges and im m unit ies en joyed by

Engl ishm en. The Venetians accepted the pr ivi leges and decl ined to join in

the f ight ing. H encefor th, Engl ish arm ies laying waste to the French towns

and countr yside would do so as Venetian sur rogates. France was in no

posi t ion to in ter fere in the f inal phase of the r ival r y between Venice and

Genoa, which was decided in favor of Venice. The degeneracy of Engl ish

society dur ing these years of Venetian ascendancy is chronicled in the

wr i t ings of Chaucer ? the greatest Engl ish wr i ter of the age ? who was an al ly

of the ant i -Venetian Dante- Petrar ca- Boccaccio grouping.

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H enry VII?s suppression of the ol igarchs displeased Venice. Venice also did

not l ike H enry?s pol icy of al l iance with Spain, secured by the m ar r iage of h is

heir to Cather ine of Aragon. H enry VII in fact sought good relat ions with

both France and Spain. The Venetians wanted England to becom e em broi led

with both France and Spain. Venice was also fundam ental ly host i le to the

m odern nat ion-state, which H enry was prom oting in England. W hen H enry

VII?s son H enry VII I turned out to be a m urderous pro-Venetian psychotic

and satyr , the Venetians were able to r e-asser t their ol igarchical system .

H enry VII I was King of England between 1509 and 1547. H is accession to the

throne coincided with the outbreak of the W ar of the League of Cam brai , in

which m ost European states, including France, the H oly Rom an Em pire

(Germ any), Spain, and the papacy of Pope Jul ius I I del la Rovere joined

together in a com binat ion that bid fair to annih i late Venice and i ts ol igarchy.

The League of Cam brai was the wor ld war that ushered in the m odern era.

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in the m odern era. H enry VII I attr acted the attent ion of the Venetian

ol igarchy when he ? alone am ong the m ajor r u ler s of Europe ? m aintained a

pro-Venetian posi t ion dur ing the cr isis years of 1509-1510, just as Venice was

on the br ink of destruct ion. H enry VII I was for a t im e the form al al ly of

Venice and Pope Jul ius. The Venetian ol igarchy becam e in tr igued with

England.

In 1527, when H enry VII I sought to divorce Cather ine of Aragon, the

Venetian-control led Universi ty of Padua endorsed H enry?s legal argum ents.

Gasparo Contar in i , the dom inant pol i t ical f igure of the Venetian ol igarchy,

sent to the Engl ish cour t a delegation which included his own uncle,

Francesco Zorzi . The ol igarch and in tel l igence operat ive Zorzi ,

consum m ately sk i l led in playing on H enry?s lust and paranoia, becam e the

founder of the power fu l Freem asonic tr adi t ion in the Tudor cour t. Later ,

H enry VII I took the m om entous step of break ing with the Rom an Papacy to

becom e the new Constant ine and founder of the Angl ican Church.

H e did th is under the

expl ici t advice of

Thom as Crom wel l , a

Venetian agent who had

becom e his chief adviser.

Thom as Crom wel l was

H enry VII I?s business

agent in the confiscat ion

of the form er Cathol ic

m onaster ies and other

church proper ty, which

were sold off to r ising

fam i l ies. Thom as

Crom wel l thus served as

the m idwife to m any a

l ine of ol igarchs.

Oliver Cromwell

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Under the im pact of the W ar of the League of Cam brai , the Venetian ol igarchy

real ized the fut i l i ty of attem pting a pol icy of wor ld dom inat ion fr om the t iny

base of a ci ty-state am ong the lagoons of the nor thern Adr iat ic. As was f i r st

suggested by the present wr i ter in 1981, the Venetian ol igarchy (especial ly i ts

?giovani? fact ion around Paolo Sarpi) r esponded by tr ansfer r ing i ts fam i ly

for tunes (fondi), phi losophical out look , and pol i t ical m ethods in to such states

as England, France, and the Nether lands. Soon the Venetians decided that

England (and Scotland) was the m ost sui table si te for the New Venice, the

W ar of the League of Cambrai

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future center of a new, wor ld-wide Rom an Em pire based on m ar i t im e

suprem acy. Success of th is pol icy r equired ol igarchical dom inat ion and the

degradation of the pol i t ical system by wiping out any Platon ic hum anist

opposi t ion.

The overal l Venetian pol icy was to fom ent wars of r el igion between the

Lutherans, Calvin ists, and Angl icans on the one hand, and the

Jesui t-dom inated Cathol ic Counter -reform ation of the Counci l of Trent on the

other. The Venetians had spawned both sides of th is confl ict and exercised

profound in fluence over them . The Venetians insisted on the m aintenance of

a Protestant dynasty and a Protestant state church in England, since th is m ade

confl ict wi th the Cathol ic powers m ore l ikely. The Venetians dem anded an

ant i -Spanish pol icy on the par t of London, general ly to energize the im per ial

r ival r y wi th M adr id, and m ost im m ediately to prevent the Spanish arm y

stat ioned in M i lan fr om gett ing an oppor tun i ty to conquer Venice.

The destruct ion of the Engl ish m ind was fostered by the Venetians under the

banner of m urderous rel igious fanat icism . Under H enry VII I , the Engl ish

populat ion cont inued in their tr adi t ional Rom an Cathol icism , which had been

establ ished in 644 at the synod of W hitby. Then, in 1534, H enry?s and Thom as

Crom wel l?s Act of Suprem acy m ade the Rom an Pope anathem a. Those who

refused to fol low H enry VII I down th is path, l ike St. Thom as M ore and m any

others, were executed. This f i r st phase of Angl ican ism lasted unt i l 1553, when

the Cathol ic Queen M ary I (?Bloody M ary,? the daughter of H enry VII I and

Cather ine of Aragon) took power. M ary re-establ ished Papal author i ty and

m ar r ied King Phi l ip of Spain. Bloody M ary?s m ain adviser in her proscr ipt ions

was Cardinal Reginald Pole, who had l ived in Venice for som e years and was

par t of the im m ediate cir cle around Gasparo Contar in i .

H enry VII I had feared Pole, an heir to the Plantagenets, as a possible pretender ,

and Pole had done everyth ing to exci te H enry?s paranoia. Pole inci ted Bloody

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M ary to car r y out a bloodbath

with 300 to 500 prom inent

vict im s. These executions of the

?M ar ian m ar tyr s? were

im m or tal ized in John Foxe?s

celebrated Book of M ar tyrs

(1554), a copy of which was later

kept in every church in England

and which attained the status of

a second Bible am ong

Protestants of al l types. The events or chestrated by Pole seem ed to m any

Engl ishm en to prove the thesis that a Cathol ic r estorat ion would threaten

their l ives and proper ty.

Bloody M ary died in 1558 and was succeeded by El izabeth I , the daughter of

H enry VII I and Anne Boleyn. From the Cathol ic poin t of view El izabeth was a

bastard, so i t was sure that she would ru le as a Protestant. El izabeth for cibly

r estored her father?s Angl ican or Episcopal Church.

Three t im es with in the span of 25 years the Engl ish populat ion was thus

coerced in to changing their r el igion under the threat of capi tal punishm ent.

Three t im es, the supposedly eternal ver i t ies taught by the vi l lage parson were

turned upside down, clear ly because of dynast ic am bit ion and raison d?état.

The m oral , psychological , and in tel lectual destruct ion involved in th is

process was perm anent and im m ense.

El izabeth?s ant i -Cathol ic and ant i -Spanish pol icies fu l f i l led the basic

Venetian im perat ives. The struggle against the Spanish Arm ada in 1588 also

gave these pol icies an undeniable popular i ty. El izabeth was for 40 years

under the in fluence of W i l l iam Ceci l , whom she created Fir st Baron of

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At the death of El izabeth, Rober t Ceci l

m asterm inded the instal lat ion of the

Stuar t King of Scot land as King Jam es I

of England. Jam es I was an

enthusiast ic suppor ter of Paolo Sarpi

in Sarpi?s 1606 struggle against the

Papal In terdict. Jam es I did th is in par t

by the Pope. Venetian in fluence at the

Stuar t cour t was accordingly very

great. Sarpi even talked of r et i r ing to

England.

Jam es?s feeble pro-Spanish

appeasem ent pol icy bi t ter ly

disappointed Paolo Sarpi , Ceci l?s boss

and the leading Venetian in tel l igence

chief of the era. Jam es m ade peace

Bur leigh and Lord Treasurer. The Ceci ls were notor ious assets of Venice;

their ancestral hom e at H atf ield house was festooned with Lions of St. M ark .

W hen W il l iam Ceci l was too old to act as El izabeth?s control ler , he was

succeeded by h is son Rober t Ceci l , the 1st Ear l of Sal isbury. The

Venetian-Genoese Sir H orat io Pal lavicin i was an im por tant control ler of

Engl ish state f inance.

El izabeth?s econom ic pol icies had strong elem ents of m ercanti l ism . The

num erous industr ial m onopol ies she prom oted had the resul t of establ ish ing

new areas of product ion in the countr y. Ceci l developed the m erchant m ar ine

and the navy. There were taxes to suppor t those unable to work , and a detai led

regulat ion of jobs and work ing condit ions. M any of these successful

m easures were coherent wi th the Venetian desir e to bui ld up England as the

new wor ld em pire and as a counterweight to the im m ense power of Spain.

Rober t Cecil, 1st Ear l of Salisbury

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with Spain in 1604, ending 19 years of war. Ceci l then tr ied to induce Jam es in to

an ant i -Spanish pol icy with a planned provocation ? Guy Fawkes and the

Gunpowder plot of 1605. Sarpi schem ed to un leash the Thir ty Years? W ar

(1618-1648) as an apocalypt ic confrontat ion between Protestant and Cathol ic

Europe, and he wanted England in the fr ay. Jam es?s adviser , Sir Francis Bacon

of the Ceci l fam i ly, urged Jam es to enter the war against Spain and Austr ia, but

Jam es f i r st attem pted to m ediate the confl ict and then did noth ing. Char les I

was equal ly disappoint ing: H e m ar r ied the Cathol ic Pr incess H enr ietta M ar ia

of France and helped France to defeat the French Calvin ists or H uguenots ? a

Venetian asset ? in their str onghold of LaRochel le.

W ith their t i r ades about their own divine r ight, the ear ly Stuar ts were violat ing

a cardinal poin t of the Venetian pol i t ical code. Venice was an ol igarchy ru led

by, at m ost, a few thousand m ale nobles. In pract ice, power belonged to several

dozen patr ician leaders. But no single patr ician was strong enough to

dom inate al l the rest as dictator. The Grand Counci l (M aggior Consi lgio) was

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the general assem bly of the nobi l i ty, and elected the Senate or Pregadi. The

Grand Counci l , using a com pl icated procedure, also elected the Doge or Duke,

who occupied the h ighest post in the state. The Doge was accordingly an

elected and l im ited executive who served for l i fe. This off ice was never

heredi tar y; when one Doge died, a new one was elected by the M aggior

Consigl io. The Doge was sur rounded by h is cabinet or Col legio, including the

m in ister s (savi) of var ious depar tm ents. Under th is system , the Doge was not

the leader of a nat ion and the protector of al l the people, as an absolute

m onarch m ight be; he was the chief funct ionary of a consor t ium of noble

fam i l ies who owned and ran the state for the pr ivate profi t of their own fondi .

For the Venetians, an ol igarchy required the weak executive power of a Doge,

and th is was the system they wanted tr ansplanted in to their clone, England.

England was the countr y where the tr ium ph of the ol igarchs was eventual ly

m ost com plete. This is even clearer i f we bear in m ind that the Engl ish gentr y

and squires cor respond to the level of count in the cont inental t i t led

ar istocracy. The Engl ish gentr y were determ ined that they, and not in tendants

fr om the governm ent in W hitehal l , would ru le in the shir es.

Par l iam entary leaders wanted to establ ish an ol igarchy by the sur render of the

King to Par l iam ent so they could bui ld up a navy and hasten the loot ing of the

Spanish Em pire in the Car ibbean. They wanted a m ore vigorous pursui t of the

slave tr ade. Pym and H am pden asser ted Par l iam entary author i ty by passing

bi l ls of im peachm ent and attainder against r oyal favor i tes l ike Strafford and

Archbishop Laud, the head of the Church of England, who were both executed.

In 1641, Char les I t r ied to ar rest Pym and H am pden. The pro-Venetian City of

London, the por ts, and the south and east of England rebel led against th is

botched coup by the stupid King, who f led nor th. The Engl ish Civi l W ar , or

Pur i tan Revolut ion, was on. M any Engl ish were appal led by the m iserable level

of leadership and wretched program s of both the sides. The civi l war was

ar t i f icial ly im posed by two r ival London cl iques, both under Venetian

in fluence.

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England would be the on ly m ajor European countr y in which a war of

r el igion would be fought between two pro-Venetian Protestant fact ions ? the

Angl ican royal ist caval ier s and the Par l iam entary Pur i tan Roundheads.

Dur ing the f i r st phase of the civi l war , (1642-1646), there em erged two fact ions

am ong the Par l iam entar ian Roundheads. A m ore conservat ive group favored

a l im ited, defensive war against Char les I , fol lowed by a negotiated peace.

They hoped to defeat Char les by using a foreign arm y, preferably the Scott ish

one, in order to avoid arm ing the Engl ish lower orders. The Scots dem anded

for England a Presbyter ian state church on the m odel of their own k ir k ? run

by synods of Calvin ist elders ? but that was what the m ajor i ty of the Long

Par l iam ent wanted anyway. So, th is fact ion cam e to be cal led the

Presbyter ians. Am ong them were the Calvin ist town ol igarchy of London.

The other group wanted total war and eventual ly the execution of the King

and the end of the m onarchy and the H ouse of Lords. This group was wi l l ing

to accept a standing arm y of sectar ian rel igious fanat ics in order to prevai l .

This group was cal led the Independents or Congregational ists. They were

favored by Venice. Ol iver Crom wel l em erged as the leader of th is second

group.

Oliver Crom well

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Oliver Crom wel l was a Venetian agent. Prom inent in Ol iver Crom wel l?s

fam i ly tr ee was the widely hated Venetian agent Thom as Crom wel l

(1485-1540), Ear l of Essex and the author of H enry VII I?s decision to break

with Rom e and found the Church of England. Ol iver Crom wel l (1599-1658)

was descended fr om Thom as Crom wel l?s sister. Ol iver Crom wel l?s uncle had

m ar r ied the widow of the Genoese-Venetian f inancier Sir H orat io Pal lavicin i .

This widow brought two chi ldren by her m ar r iage to Pal lavicin i and m ar r ied

them to her own later Crom wel l ch i ldren. So, the Crom wel l fam i ly was

in t im ately connected to the wor ld of Venetian f inance.

In M arch 1655, Crom wel l decided in favor of a ?thorough? Bonapar t ist

m i l i tar y dictator ship. The countr y was divided in to 11 ad hoc distr icts, and a

m ajor -general of the arm y was put in charge of each distr ict . The

m ajor -generals control led the local m i l i t ia, r an the cour ts, appointed al l

off icials, and suppressed publ ic im m oral i ty. Al l of th is was done arbi tr ar i ly,

wi th l i t t le r eference to law. The ru le of the M ajor -Generals prefigured

European fascism . But they al ienated m any ol igarchs who found th is

in ter ference far worse than that of Char les I .

The second Protectorate

par l iam ent was im pel led by

desperat ion to pass the

H um ble Peti t ion and Advice,

which urged Crom wel l to take

up the crown. But i t was a

doge?s crown, a l im ited

m onarchy of the H ouse of

Crom wel l subject to

Par l iam ent. Under pressure

fr om the arm y generals,

Crom wel l decl ined the t i t le of

k ing but accepted al l the

Oliver Cromwell

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r est. In February 1658, Crom wel l dissolved his last Par l iam ent, and died the

sam e year. Final ly, the arm y spl i t in to pieces; the com m ander of the winn ing

piece, General M onck , joined the new Par l iam ent in r ecal l ing Char les I I , the

son of the executed Char les I .

Observing these events, the pro-Venetian wr i ter John M i l ton ? who had been

Lat in secretar y to Crom wel l?s Counci l of State ? lam ented that the City of

London had concluded that ?nothing but k ingship can restore tr ade.?

M i l ton?s Ready and Easy W ay to Establish a Free Commonwealth, issued in

M arch, 1660, proposed a regim e based on a Grand Counci l along expl ici t ly

Venetian l ines, wi th l i fe tenure and co-optat ion of new m em bers. This could

be obtained, M i l ton thought, by declar ing the Rum p perpetual and capable of

co-opt ing new m em bers when the old ones died off. M i l ton had wanted

rel igious tolerance, but he was wi l l ing to sacr i f ice th is to obtain an ol igarchy

without a single-person executive. M i l ton effusively praised Venice, which

had m ade i ts ?whole ar istocracy im m ovable? with sim i lar m ethods.

Today som e m em bers of the Br i t ish ol igarchy are cal l ing for the end of the

m onarchy and the creat ion of a r epubl ic. W e m ust r ecal l that the last t im e

th is was tr ied, the resul t was the fascist dictator ship of Ol iver Crom wel l and

his m ajor -generals. A ?republ ic? in Br i tain in the ear ly 21st century m ight

turn out to be a m i l i tar y dictator ship rather sim i lar to Crom wel l?s.

Crom wel l?s ru le m arked the tr ium ph of fr ee tr ade, as i t was understood at

that t im e. Al l attem pts by governm ent to supervise the qual i ty of product ion,

to f ix pr ices, to m aintain jobs and em ploym ent, to in fluence

labor -m anagem ent r elat ions, or to in fluence wage rates were whol ly

abandoned. The City of London dem anded fr ee tr ade.

The Anglo-Venetians decided that they were fed up with the Cathol ic,

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pro-French and whol ly useless Stuar t dynasty. Representat ives of som e of the

leading ol igarchical fam i l ies signed an invi tat ion to the Dutch King, W i l l iam

of Orange, and his Queen M ary, a daughter of Jam es I I . John Churchi l l , the

future Duke of M ar lborough, was typical of Jam es? form er suppor ter s who

now went over to suppor t W i l l iam and M ary. W i l l iam landed and m arched

on London. This is cal led by the Br i t ish the ?Glor ious Revolut ion? of 1688; in

r eal i ty, i t consol idated the powers and prerogatives of the ol igarchy, which

were expressed in the Bi l l of Rights of 1689. No taxes could be levied, no arm y

raised, and no laws suspended without the consent of the ol igarchy in

Par l iam ent. M em bers of Par l iam ent were guaranteed im m unity for their

pol i t ical act ions and fr ee speech.

Soon, m in ister s could not stay in off ice for long without the suppor t of a

m ajor i ty of Par l iam ent. Par l iam ent was suprem e over the m onarch and the

state church. At the sam e t im e, seats in Par l iam ent were now bought and sold

in a de facto m arket. The greater the graft to be der ived fr om a seat, the m ore

a seat was wor th. W ith in a few years after the Glor ious Revolut ion there was

a Bank of England and a nat ional debt. W hen George I ascended the throne

in 1714, he knew he was a Doge, the leader of an ol igarchy.

The regim e that took shape in England after 1688 was the m ost per fect copy

of the Venetian ol igarchy that was ever produced. The Venetian Par ty was

broadly hegem onic, and Br i tain was soon the dom inant wor ld power.

The struggles of seventeenth-century England were thus decisive in

par laying the str ong Venetian in fluence which had existed before 1603 in to

the long-term dom inat ion by the Br i t ish Venetian Par ty observable after 1714.

These developm ents are not phenom ena of Engl ish h istor y per se. They can

only be understood as aspects of the in fi l t r at ion in to England of the

m etastat ic Venetian ol igarchy, which in i ts Br i t ish Im per ial guise has

rem ained the m enace of m ank ind.

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The An gl o-Ven et i an Al l i an ce

W ebster G. Tarpley?s descr ipt ion of the in fluence of Venice on London

(CityofLondon) in the ar t icle above is one that is seldom found in a h istor y

book . Yet, i t is qui te tr ue and consistent wi th h istor ians who ?fol low the

m oney? to or iginal sources. H istor y is a col lect ion of biographies and

m onarchies, doges, ol igarchs, and greedy bank ing fam i l ies who often fal l

prey to lower vices and becom e despots in the process. The batt le between

the ?Republ ic? and the m onarchy is descr ibed showing that the idea of the

?divine r ight of Kings? was m ore an econom ic considerat ion rather than a

rel igious one. A single m onarch decided the fate, l i fe, and death of their

subjects based upon loans m ade by W ar lord Bank ing Fam il ies. Those in

control of m oney were m ore power fu l than popes, k ings, and queens. The

f inancing of pol i t ical aim s could restructure a nat ion, a governm ent, a

cont inent.

Dr. Douglas Gabriel summarizes The Venetian Takeover of English Banking which brings to light the Venetian plan to supplant the Roman Catholic Pope, the European monarchy and any others who tried to slow down their insatiable desire for hegemony. The Venetian Republic became the new model for ruling a kingdom through multiple committees of oligarchs who exercise total control over the civic population, including imprisonment for debt or even assassination of those who got in the way of the bankers making money. The financing of war became the biggest business these warlord bankers conducted. The control of kings, queens, popes and despots fell to the control of central banks that came to rule most European nations as monarchs were transplanted by Italian Republics.

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W e wi l l see in the condensed and abbreviated ar t icle next in our bank ing

ser ies, by Gerald Rose, fur ther substant iat ion of the sam e ideas that Venice

and I tal ian central bankers m olded the h istor y and dest iny of the Br i t ish

through devious and im m oral plots to control and dir ect the m onarchy

through quest ionable bank ing pract ices. The cont inuing plans to turn the

Br i t ish m onarchy in to a Venetian Republ ic of ol igarchs is obvious to those who

fol low the path of I tal ian bank ing fam i l ies in fi l t r at ing Br i t ish econom ics.