Headed by the disaffected patricians Bajamonte Tiepolo, Marco Querini [it], and Badoero Badoer but backed by a sizeable number of other patricians, churchmen, and commoners, the conspiracy resulted in a coup attempt on 15 June 1310, in which three columns, each led by one of the chief conspirators, were meant to converge on the Piazza San Marco, seize the Doge's Palace, and overthrow the Venetian government.

Various motives have been attributed to the conspiracy, from personal ambitions to a populist reaction to the increasingly exclusive, aristocratic nature of the Venetian state after the Serrata of the Great Council that excluded the lower classes from power.

In later times, Tiepolo was seen as a heroic champion of the people, but modern historians view the conspiracy as factional strife among the patrician elites, exaggerated by the recent and disastrous War of Ferrara and the resulting papal interdict over Venice.

[8][9][10] Once in office, however, Lorenzo Tiepolo adopted a moderate course, reconciling with his rival (and eventual successor as Doge) Giovanni Dandolo and upholding the restriction placed on the guilds by his predecessor.

[13] A conflict with Venice's traditional rival, Genoa, ended inconclusively after the Venetians suffered a shattering defeat at the Battle of Curzola in 1298,[13][14] and while a brief conflict with Padua over Venice's salt extraction monopoly was more successful,[13][15] the Doge's 1306 treaty with Charles, Count of Valois to launch a crusade for the conquest of Constantinople from the Byzantine Empire and the re-establishment of the Latin Empire with Charles as emperor went nowhere.

[16] Gradenigo also spearheaded, ignoring the other executive councils of the Venetian government, the disastrous attempt to capture Ferrara in 1308–1309, which led to a papal interdict and resulted in severe financial losses and a humiliating retreat for the Republic.

[20][21] The Serrata was soon challenged by those excluded from the Great Council: a conspiracy was led by the commoner Marino Boccono in 1300 but little detail is known about it other than that it failed and its members were condemned to death.

[13][26][27] While generally restricting the eligibility for Venetian citizenship and high office, Gradenigo's government was generous with its supporters and allies: in the aftermath of the Bocho affair, the government gave membership in the Great Council to fifteen prominent commoner families that had shown loyalty to the regime, while foreign potentates like Marquis Fresco d'Este [it], Lord of Ferrara in northern Italy and Count Doimo of Veglia in Dalmatia were given the privilege of bearing arms in public.

[28] Much of the opposition's ire focused on Doge Gradenigo, who was held personally responsible for the Republic's state of affairs—arguably so for the Ferrarese war, less justifiably so in the case of the Serrata, as he was mostly the figurehead for the conservative aristocrats who had sponsored his election and were the driving force behind the changes to the Great Council.

His family had extensive estates in Ferrara and Polesine, and were landholders rather than merchants, thus at odds with most of the Venetian aristocracy of the time, and liable to take a more pro-papal stance.

Pietro, who had formerly served as Bailo of Negroponte, was of an irascible temper and had most recently gotten into trouble by assaulting a member of the Morosini family—among Gradenigo's chief supporters—who as head of the night watch tried to inspect him for carrying concealed weapons.

[30] In 1309, when Count Doimo of Veglia was elected ducal councillor, Marco and Jacopo Querini led the opposition to this against the Michiel [it] and Giustinian families, leading to a stormy debate and even scuffles in the Great Council, as the Querini brothers and Badoero Badoer brought up a law of 1267 that prohibited the Dalmatian nobles from holding seats in the Great Council or the Senate.

[34] [36] As the oldest and most eminent representative of the "Guelph" faction,[30] and further embittered over his being scapegoated over the failures of the Ferrarese war,[26] Marco Querini was the driving force of the anti-government conspiracy.

[38][26] The conspirators amassed a considerable following: 77 patricians took part from no fewer than 28 families (although the Querini, Tiepolo, Badoer, and Barozzi provided almost half of them), along with 23 clerics and unknown numbers of commoners.

Marco Querini launched a diatribe against Gradenigo, followed by Tiepolo, who after revisiting the injustices heaped upon them by the current regime, urged them to move to practical measures to "obtain a good prince, who might preserve the national liberty".

[42] This course was steadfastly objected to by Jacopo Querini, recently appointed ambassador to Constantinople, who was reluctant to risk his and his family's lives on such a risky endeavour and argued for prudence and moderation.

[51] The Doge reacted with alacrity: all senior officials of the state were summoned to him—apart from one, Andrea Doro, who had resigned and joined the rebels—called upon his followers and friends to arm themselves and their servants and come to the Piazza San Marco, barricaded the square's entry points.

Antonio Dandolo and Baldovino Dolfino were named as the Doge's lieutenants, while orders went out to the governors of the nearby islands of the Lagoon, Murano, Torcello, and Chioggia, to raise their militia and come to Venice as soon as possible.

[49][53] Many of Querini's followers tried to reform at Campo San Luca [it], but volunteers from the religious confraternity of the Scuola Grande della Carità and the painters' guild set upon them and dispersed them again, taking many prisoner.

[40][54][55] Tiepolo, in the meantime, had moved much slower than his father-in-law, as his supporters had stopped to plunder the public treasury,[26] so that combined with Badoer's delay the loyalists were afforded the advantage of dealing with each rebel force in isolation.

Tiepolo hesitated, seeking refuge from the rain and holding council under a large elder tree; but in the end he decided to press on regardless, hoping to gain a decisive victory before the arrival of the loyalist reinforcements from Chioggia.

At this point took place an event which entered Venetian folklore: close to where the St Mark's Clocktower now stands, a commoner, named Giustina or Lucia Rossi, threw down a heavy stone mortar at Tiepolo.

[63] The terms, confirmed by the Great Council on 17 June, were that Tiepolo and his most prominent followers—those being members of the Great Council or holding rank sufficient for a candidacy—would leave the city unharmed and stay in exile in designated places in Dalmatia or northern Italy for four years; the exiles were forbidden from approaching Zara, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, or from finding refuge in any territory hostile to the Republic.

The commoners that followed the patricians into rebellion were amnestied, provided that they declared their submission to the government, and all treasure or other property looted during the uprising was to be restored to the state or the private owners.

[30] Gradenigo lost no time in conveying the news of the coup's defeat to the Venetian officials overseas, as well as putting his own spin on events, demonizing Tiepolo—described as "the vilest traitor and seducer of iniquities"—and his followers, who were dismissed as "exiles, foreigners, and rogues".

Unable to clearly delineate the boundaries of the brothers' properties, in the end, the government bought out Giovanni's share in the house, and tore it down except for two arches that were incorporated in 1339 in the building of the Ufficiali alle Beccherie, the officials responsible for supervising the butchers.

[71][72] Similarly, the Scuola Grande della Carità, along with the painters' guild, who had helped battle Querini's followers at Campo San Luca, were allowed to hoist their corporations' emblems next to the banner of Saint Mark on that site.

[79] During the 18th century, amidst the Age of Enlightenment and the Republic of Venice's increasingly apparent stagnation and decline, with reform proposals repeatedly stymied by the Ten and the State Inquisitors,[80] the view of Tiepolo as a champion of the people gained currency.

[41] As Lane points out, while Tiepolo enjoyed widespread popularity, there is no evidence that the commoners moved in any numbers to support his coup, and if it had been successful, it is more likely that Venice would have turned into a one-man princely rule (signoria), as was the case in many other Italian city-states at the time.