"A fresh revolt of the Venetians resulted in an order... by the emperor to confiscate all their property... and to seize and imprison their persons. The doge... issued orders... to depart immediately. ...The emperor, in return... letting loose a fleet and waging a destructive war upon all the dependencies of Venice. The Venetians were aroused as never before... and in one hundred days... [o]ne hundred and thirty fully armed vessels sailed under the command of Doge Vitale Michieli II. The fleet departed for Dalmatia. Trau and Ragusa were taken and well-nigh destroyed, and the fleet sailed for the Archipelago. When off Negropont they were met by the governor, who persuaded the doge to send ambassadors to the emperor. These Venetian envoys were... detained all winter in prolix negotiations. In the meantime a... plague broke out among the fleet at ... and in the spring of 1173 a miserable remnant... of only seventeen vessels, made its way back to Venice, carrying with it the seeds of the plague. ...The imported pestilence spread itself over the city, sparing neither sex, age, nor condition; the populace accused the doge of being the author of these calamities, and when he appeared before the infuriated multitude he was murdered on the steps of the ducal palace. But out of all this misery and disorder arose a new order... Changes were made in the character of the government, limiting the powers of the doge, and Sebastiano Ziani was elected and installed in the ducal palace."