Alvise Gritti

[1] He was the natural son of Andrea Gritti, the Venetian Bailo of Constantinople during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II, who later became the Doge of Venice in 1523.

[2] Gritti’s father, Andrea, lived in Constantinople as a grain merchant for about twenty years before returning as a diplomat on behalf of Venice.

[6] As an illegitimate child, Gritti was unable to hold high-ranking positions in Venice, but this barrier did not exist in Constantinople, to which he returned in 1506.

Though trading in a variety of goods, such as saltpeter, salt milk, clothes, saffron, tin, and wine, grain and gems were some of Gritti’s most prominent ventures.

[10] Since he was born into a power family with his father as the Doge of Venice, he was also already well-acquainted with this level of society, and had many strong political connections throughout Europe.

In 1528 the grand vizier, according to reports, planned to take him on the projected campaign into Hungary where Gritti was to get "an important archbishopric plus a piece of the archduchy of Austria once the Turks had taken them.

[12] Upon his official appointment to the role, however, the lesser nobility saw this unfavorably, as they feared it gave Gritti too much power and that he may have aspirations for the throne.

Due to continued tensions with Ferdinand I, Gritti and Ibrahim Pasha commissioned the creation of Süleyman the Magnificent's Venetian Helmet in 1532 in order to display the Sultan's power over the Pope and the Christian empires that challenged him and his right to universal rule[14][15] The helmet was designed by Gritti himself, along with a scepter and a crystal mirror that accompanied the piece for the Sultan.

[14] On 9 November 1533, the governor of Marano wrote to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, "I heard a few days ago that the Captain-General of Croatia apprehended and sent to (your brother's city of) Ljubljana two of Gritti's spies.

Meanwhile the dukes of Bavaria and Wurtemberg and the count (landgrave) of Hesse will create disturbances in Germany, and so distress Christendom that His Imperial Majesty will find himself in trouble.