The Republic of Venice was formed at the end of the seventh century in Europe. The capital was the city of Venice. The republic did not stop in the northeastern territories of modern Italy, forming colonies in the basins of the Marmara, Aegean and Black Seas and the Adriatic. It existed until 1797.
Republican justice
The ministers and the council of the Doges sat in the Doge’s Palace on the Pianzetta, and there was a court there. the secretariat, even the prison. The Venetian Republic executed all criminals publicly, often without any explanation - any executed person was a traitor to collective interest.
The proceedings, usually by denunciation, were dealt with by the Privy Council of Ten. The last time the townspeople saw the corpse between the columns on the pianzetta not so long ago - in 1752, to this day there is a sign: to pass between the columns is not good.
However, corpses can be seen everywhere: on the Doge’s palace itself, on its upper arcade, where there are red columns, where the quartered remains of the participants of the conspiracy Marino Falliero hung, and even in the cathedral, on which corner severed heads were exhibited. A piece of porphyry, which served as a stand under them, is still there. From here laws were proclaimed, which the Venetian Republic required to observe. Its history is long and contradictory.
Unique state
Having existed from the fifth century to almost the nineteenth, the republic had elected bodies of self-government and, one might say, democracy. Back in 466, the population of the Venetian lagoon was united by this ageless idea. Twelve representatives were elected to the Council of the twelve most important islands of those times that made up Venice: Bebbe, Grado, Heracles, Caorle, Torcello, Jesolo, Rialto, Murano, Povelia, Malamocco, Greater and Lesser Chioggia.
The Venetian Republic was forced to fight hard and constantly: Odoacre, Ostrogoths, Eastern Roman Empire, repeated invasions of the Lombards ... This revealed the need for supreme rule. The first doge was elected for his whole life, but without inheritance of his post in 697. It was Paolo Lucio Anafesto - the head of the Republic of Venice. Although the first absolutely strictly documented election took place only in 727, when Orceolo became the doge.
Checks and balances
The political system of Venice had an exceptionally complex system of government. First of all, this was necessary so that the usurpation of power would not occur.
- Great advice: the highest body to elect the main councils, magistrates and doges. Membership is limited to inheritance under the entry in the Golden Book. The number at different times from 400 to a thousand people.
- Doge: elected from among the prosecutors of San Marco - a post of life. Eleven stages of the election. I could not make independent decisions, limited power. The inability to travel and own property abroad.
- Small Advice: Six Doge advisers and three members of the Council of Forty.
- Senate: one hundred and twenty members elected for a year with the right to be re-elected. One hundred and forty members without voting rights. The head of the Senate is a college of sixteen people. The Council discussed and decided all foreign and domestic policy.
- Council of Forty: Supreme Court of the Republic. Compiled by the Great Council.
- Tip ten: practically the inquisition. Particular tracking of the doge. Members were elected for a year by the Grand Council. Affinity is prohibited. Completely anonymous composition.
- Other institutions of power: professional guilds, religious fraternities.
Any Venetian could choose and become elected, but, as always and everywhere, the representative of one of the richest families became a doge. Such elections were not only the Republic of Venice. History repeats itself constantly.
Power acquisition
Formally, the city of Venice was listed by the Byzantine Empire, for a short time Charlemagne added it to his own, but in fact, there was always a freemen. The position is safe and profitable. The Venetian Republic not only traded very successfully, but also fought victoriously, especially at sea. As a result, the eastern coast of the Adriatic and most of Lower Italy became the arm of the Venetian Doge.
The Crusades particularly enriched trade relations, and the city of Venice began to flourish, spreading influence in the Middle and Middle East. Competitors represented by the republican cities of Pisa and Genoa could not compete with the Doge Republic.
Restriction of rights
Nevertheless, within the state, democrats seriously fought against aristocrats. The desire of some to turn the republic into a hereditary monarchy was not destined to come true. In 1172, the Great Council of Elected Deputies was convened, which severely impaired the power of the Doges.
The collegial bodies changed their names and numbers: the Republic of St. Mark, as the Venetian Republic was often called in the Middle Ages, created either the Council of Forty or the Council of Five Hundred, and these bodies took away power that belonged to the Doges, they regulated and controlled all the actions of the main ruler of the state. They made the republic oligarchic, controlling the elections.
In this picture, the lion of St. Mark, an evangelist named after the Council and the Council of Ten, which the Venetian Republic was proud of, acted. Coat of arms in front of you.
Oligarchy
The most used state program for a long time was the war, and the oligarchs were an inexhaustible source of funding. The loans became compulsory and concerned the wealthiest part of the population. It was impossible to refuse or ignore the decree issued by the Venetian Republic. History has preserved many names of those who tried to resist, and whose end turned out to be inglorious. Nevertheless, the general assembly of the people was gradually abolished and dissolved. Legislation worked only for the benefit of the aristocracy.
After the Crusaders conquered Constantinople, Venice got three-eighths of the entire territory of Byzantium and the entire island of Crete. Thus, by the end of the fifteenth century, she was rich and not afraid of enemies. Among the Venetians there were more people of science and art than in any other state. Both industry and trade flourished. The people were rapidly wealthy because they were not strangled by taxes.
Change
Portugal in 1498 opened the sea route to the East Indies, and the city of Venice lost all the benefits of eastern trade. The Ottoman Empire seized Constantinople and took from the Venetians almost everything that belonged to them, even Albania and Negropont, and then Cyprus and Candia. Since 1718, the Republic of Venice almost ceased to participate in world trade.
She had about two and a half million subjects living in Venice itself, in Dalmatia, Istria and the Ionian Islands. And after the French Revolution, the last independence of the city was lost. Bonaparte declared war on the republic. No negotiations or concessions worked. Venice surrendered at the mercy of the winner in 1797. The territory of the republic was divided between Austria, France and the Italian kingdom.
Summary
Having survived for more than 1,100 years, conquering territories thousand times larger than itself, having the most massive naval fleet in the Mediterranean, at war with the Turks and the Ottoman Empire, the Venetian Republic will remain in the memory of mankind as the first democratic state. The fact that she was subsequently unable to protect not only the conquered, but also her capital is also a lesson: a war with neighbors is no better than a civil war.