SANUDO, MARINO THE ELDER. — Venetian traveler and statesman, born ca. 1270 to Marco, of the branch of S. Severo, died ca. 1343.
From his youth he traveled extensively in the eastern Mediterranean, later pushing as far as the northern seas of Europe. He is to be counted among the theorists of the Crusade, which he conceived as the defense of Western Christendom and the safeguarding of Venetian interests. In 1309 he began to compile the *Conditions Terrae Sanctae*; on 24 Sept. 1321 he presented to John XXII in Avignon the *Opus Terrae Sanctae* in 3 books, which later became in 1321–23 the *Liber secretorum fidelium fidei*, which he widely disseminated; but political events and the discord among princes prevented any practical realization of his plans. In 1328–33 he composed a *History of Romania*, known in an Italian translation, which includes the history of the Sicilian Vespers and Italian events up to the end of the 13th century. The manuscripts are accompanied by corrected geographical maps.