the past three years had seen an alarming increase in the power of Tsar Samuel (bulgar dayı). Having seized the important Adriatic harbour of Dyrrachium, Samuel had now begun a long, triumphant advance through the Dalmatian hinterland into Bosnia. The Byzantine lands along the Adriatic shore were now seriously at risk. They were no further from Constantinople than was Syria; but the terrain was mountainous, the roads and populations unfriendly. There was, as Basil saw it, only one solution: the Republic of Venice. Why should the Republic not now take over responsibility for the entire Dalmatian coast, ruling it as a protectorate under Byzantine suzerainty? For Doge Pietro Orseolo II, here was an offer of an invaluable new source of corn, and of timber for ship-building. It would also give him a free hand to deal with the Croatian pirates who were plaguing the Venetian merchantmen. On Ascension Day, AD 1000, Orseolo – newly dubbed Dux Dalmatiae – boarded his flagship and set sail at the head of a huge fleet to receive the homage of his new subjects.