COMMENT: Marty,
Hope you’re doing nicely.
I simply returned from a visit to Venice, Italy, and an area tour information knowledgeable me of the next in regards to the Venetian Republic, a few of which is analogous and a few of which is barely totally different than what you’ve talked about up to now:
1. it was the longest-lasting republic within the historical past of the world, lasting about 1100 years, abolished solely by Napoleon’s menace, to whom it surrendered
2. its longevity was attributed to its skill to maintain corruption in test, which it did by a number of strategies: its senators got one time period, and had been chosen by randomly drawing names out of a bowl, which contained the names of all of the eligible residents of Venice; in abstract, about 200 of these randomly drawn names had been chosen to be in a pool of candidates, of which solely about 50 of these had been chosen to be senators for that time period, primarily based on a range interview.
3. the Venetian mouth, which you’ve gotten represented up to now, was solely used to submit names of people that had been committing crimes towards the republic, and any accusation needed to be signed by two witnesses; if the accusation was false, then the accusers would/could possibly be put to dying.
I discovered #2 above notably fascinating, as it will be akin to the US randomly choosing names out of a telephone guide to be representatives or senators. . .
Take care,
L
REPLY: Sure, there has all the time been a rivalry as to the longest-lasting Republic claimed by Venice. That’s true solely as a result of Rome from 750 BC to 476AD went by means of being dominated at first by kings, then a republic in 509 BC, and Imperial Rome started eclectically with Augustud being granted that title in 27 BC.
The Mouth of Fact started with nameless suggestions, which had been clearly abused and ultimately reformed. Venice had its corruption. The Dige was for all times, not one yr. After he died, his property was seized and investigated, and any uncovered corruption noticed no matter belongings got to the Treasury.
I’m certain you additionally noticed the well-known “Bridge of Sighs” as a result of as soon as convicted of any crime, you crossed that bridge and went straight from the courtroom to the jail or from their dungeon (from the torture room) to the courtroom. Venice didn’t flip the opposite cheek.
What he didn’t inform you is that Venice was a quasi-fascist State insofar as the complete fleet was owned by the federal government, however there was some personal possession.
I’m not sure if he additionally instructed you that the Venetians had been infamous pirates. Venice engaged in commerce starting from the late eighth Century, however this was the slave commerce. Throughout this very early interval, Venice was engaged within the promoting of slaves to the Arabs from the Carolingian-Sclaveian wars. The title of the “Slavic” folks means servitude or slave. Within the pactum Lotharii of 840 between Venice and the Carolingian Empire, Venice was lastly pressured to reform and promised to not purchase Christian slaves within the Empire and to not promote Christian slaves to Muslims.
Venice was additionally on the head of the Fourth Campaign, however as a substitute of going after the Muslims, they laid siege to and conquered Byzantium. It is a portray of the “Latin Rulers” conquering Byzantium.
The Venetians even issued Their variations of Byzantine cash between 1204 and 1261AD.
Enrico Dandolo (c. 1107–1205) was the doge of Venice from 1192 till his dying. He’s remembered for his corruption and shrewdness. He’s the Doge who killed Christians within the Sack of Constantinople. Dandolo died in 1205 in Constantinople and was buried on the Hagia Sophia, which as we speak is the Blue Mosque.
You most likely visited the Cathedral in St Mark’s Sq.. The Turks stole St Mark’s physique from Egypt, and the 4 horses you see stood on a chariot of Constantine the Nice in Byzantium. In addition they liberated them.
However, Venice grew to become a strong maritime energy. Due to its bankers, its coinage grew to become the dominant coinage and was solely eclipsed by Florence. The truth that its coinage was acknowledged in worldwide commerce very similar to the US greenback is as we speak confirms that in India, after imitating Roman cash for tons of of years, they imitated Venetian gold ducats as nicely.
We now have an in depth database, and the debt disaster of Venice, which no one appears to need to discuss, is included inside it. The Venetian gold ducat, that means the Duke’s coin, was most likely essentially the most well-known, due to the industrial and maritime energy of the Venetian Republic. Nevertheless, earlier than 1284, Venice used the coinage of Byzantium in commerce – particularly the Byzantine gold hyperpyra. The Venetians imported items from the East and offered them at a revenue north of the Alps.
Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (1261-1282) backed the revolt of the Sicilian Vespers in 1282, and the price of that struggle pressured him to debase the hyperpyron. This was only one extra in a collection of debasements, and the Nice Council of Venice responded with its personal coin of pure gold in 1284. The follow of debasement has preceded him.
The foremost debasement of the Byzantine coinage had begun below Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-1055), with the purity of the gold coinage falling from 24 carats to 18 carats throughout his reign. In 1041, the yr earlier than he got here to the throne, the Histamenon Nomisma had a weight of about 3.96 grams with a gold content material of about 90%. The very first yr in 1042, the gold content material was decreased to 87.5%. Constantine IX didn’t take his tasks as Emperor very significantly. He appears to have assumed that the wealth of the nation was his to spend as he desired. He squandered cash profoundly and this seems to have been the preliminary purpose for the start of the debasement. The gold nomisma fell to 87%.
Minted in Venice from 1284 onwards, the Ducat competed with the florin, the reference foreign money of Florence, minted since 1252, which till then had dominated monetary exchanges in Europe. It weighed 3,545 grams and was 98.6% superb gold, a really excessive purity for the time.
We noticed banking begin to rise in Northern Italy, particularly throughout the thirteenth century. In 1282, the Republic of Venice organized most public finance actions below its Grain Workplace, which subsequently did a banking enterprise on behalf of the federal government. It was the beginning of what we would name a Treasury as we speak. It accepted time deposits from rich residents in addition to foreigners. Just like the US Treasury, the Grain Workplace superior loans to authorities departments and personal enterprises. It was not till 1587 that Venice established a public financial institution on the Rialto. It might take till 1619 earlier than it created a public Giro Financial institution, the place funds had been paid between accounts. That’s what Giro means. I can write you a test, and we each have accounts on the identical financial institution. Venice was too connected to commerce, and the federal government sought to monopolize it. Venice clearly didn’t rival Genoa or Florence in capital administration issues as a result of it was primarily a quasi-fascist state the place the federal government sought to have interaction in commerce enterprise, and thus, entrepreneurship was missing. Apparently, the town of Venice gained an exclusion from the Sin of Usury and was allowed to commerce with the Arabs, together with the slave commerce.
Venice was not a Papal State, and it typically opposed the Vatican. Venice, Tuscany, and Modena shaped an antipapal league to guard Parma, and France intervened. Peace was concluded in Venice on March thirty first, 1644, and Pope City died quickly afterward.
So, whereas Venice is the longest Republic, the follow of 1 time period of workplace and out was prevalent in Nothern Italy with republics on the whole. So far as the random collection of a consultant, this was taken from Athens. Here’s a Kleroterion the place names could be chosen at random to be a consultant in authorities and even to serve on a jury.
That is truly the basis of why the three main Athenian philosophers had been anti-democratic. The actual objection was that these folks had been chosen randomly and lacked expertise, mind, or any talent to be in command of something, no much less the welfare of the folks.
