Michel Beheim's History of Trieste Von der statt Triest (ca. 1465)

In 1463, a long-simmering trade dispute broke our between Venice and the city of Trieste over blockages on the trade routes through the mountainous terrain of the Karst and over Trieste's violation of rules imposed upon the salt trade by Venice. This led Venice to besiege Trieste for over three months, leaving the city starving and impoverished. But just before the city would have had to surrender, Venice agreed to peace negotiations and lifted the siege in order to engage its army elsewhere. Geopolitical factors had come to supersede local trade disputes. As Trieste had stood under Austrian guardianship for almost a century by this time, the Austrians were heavily involved in its defense, providing troops and military leaderships. Soon after the siege ended, one of the soldiers who participated in defending the city returned to Vienna and gave the court poet Michel Beheim detailed information about the events of that year. Beheim turned that into a lengthy poem, first giving an apocryphal founding story for the city an describing the military clashes that led up to the siege, then plunging into a vivid description of the siege itself. The poem provides a narrative of life in a besieged and very divided city, giving personal stories about those involved in its defense. The list of participants and their actions provide many colorful details an historical insights into besieged Trieste and fifteenth-century warfare in general. This poem is an important contemporary document that illuminates the struggle between Venice and Austria for control of the Adriatic coast.