His brother Beato shared his throne, and in the end probably chased him from it.

Beato was Doge when Rialto became the seat of government, Malamocco having gone over to the Franks under Pepin.

But of Beato no account is here taken, Obelerio's successor being Angelo Partecipazio (810-827), who was also the first occupant of the first Ducal Palace, on the site of a portion of the present one.

It was his son Giustiniano, sharing the throne with his father, who hit upon the brilliant idea of stealing the body of S.Mark from Alexandria and of preserving it in Venice, thus establishing that city not only as a religious centre but also as a place of pilgrimage and renown.

As Mrs.
Richardson remarks in her admirable survey of the Doges: "Was it not well that the government of the Doge Giustiniano and his successors throughout the age should become the special concern of a Saint-Evangelist in whose name all national acts might be undertaken and accomplished; all national desires and plans--as distinct from and dominant over purely ecclesiastical ones--be sanctified and made righteous ?" The success of the scheme of theft I have related in an earlier chapter; and how this foresight was justified, history tells.