"Council of Ten" by Bernardo Celentano
(1835-63)
The
Council of Ten (Consiglio dei Dieci)
Historical
background
From 1310 to 1797, the Council
of Ten was one of the major governing bodies of the
Republic of Venice.
1145-53:
Totius Istriae Dominator
(Renowned Lord of all Istria)
Venice's relations with Istria were
of protection, involving an obligation to provide defense by the
sea. These relations had been strengthened during the reign of
Pietro II Orseolo, but dated from earlier than this. In 932
Capodistria
had surrendered at the end of the economic war which the Venetians
had begun in retaliation for various acts of provocation. This
protectorate was transformed into submission in a series of accords,
with Pola
and
Capodistria in 1145, and with
Pola,
Rovigno,
Parenzo
and Umago
between 1148 and 1153. The cities had to swear fidelity and
recognize Venetian dominion over the mainland. The doge was given
the title Totius Istriae Dominator.
1310: The
Querini-Tiepolo conspiracy
The Papal alliance which had joined the main
Italian states, penetrated into Ferrara, thanks in part to a
plague, which reduced the ability of the defense of the city.
The Doge Pietro Gradenico was adamant in defending the independence
of the Republic against the Pope. But this decision was opposed by a
group of old families who considered it immoral to rebel against the
will of the Pope. This lay at the root of the conspiracy
of 1310, the leaders of which were Baiamonte Tiepolo, son of the
late doge Lorenzo Tiepolo, his wife the princess of Rascia (great
grand-niece eof the emperor of Byzantium), along with his
father-in-law Marco Querini, and the majority of the Quierini family
and that of Badoero Badoer, some of the Barozzi and a few other
nobles, who had several grievances against the reigning doge, Piero
Gradenigo, and trusting to the support of the people, many of whom
the doge had offended by excluding them from the Maggiore Consiglio
in 1297, was determined on a revolution.
The conspiracy was led by the three nobles who
were also unhappy about the fact that the Grand Council prevented
many families, wealthy and ambitious, but lacking the necessary
qualifications to participate in government. Meetings held by the
conspirators in the Ca’ Granda Querini, emerged the need to
overthrow the aristocratic government and get rid of the Doge
Gradenigo, "the main culprit, for the disastrous war with the Papacy
, for the excommunication fallen over the city , the exclusion of
many citizens by the government and the arbitrary justice against
opponents".
Having obtained a good many followers, the
insurrection was set for the dawn of Sunday, June 15, 1310, with
banners waiving and intending to assault the Ducal Palace and to
depose the doge. The conspirators were divided into three groups.
The first two troops, commanded by Marco Querini and Tiepolo
Bajamonte, started from the Rialto, would simultaneoulsy attack
Piazza San Marco, first from the northwest, through the Calle dei
Fabbri, and secondly from the north, across Via delle Mercerie,
intending to surprise the guards of the Palazzo Ducale. The second
group, under Marco Querini, took an alternate route to the Square.
The third troop, commanded by Badoero Badoer, went to pick up people
from the areas of Padova, and planned to transport them by boat to
St. Mark's Square.
“All was ready for the start, when a violent
storm broke over Venice; wind, thunder,
lightning, and rain descending in torrents. The
storm seemed ominous and terrified Tiepolo’s
followers. He delayed his departure, hoping that
it might pass. But the rain did not cease…”
The doge was warned about the plot by Marco Dona who
had previously joined the conspiracy but then changed is mind.
Forewarned, the doge convened the council and summoned the heads of
the great families whom he could rely upon, and gave the alarm to
the Arsenale and ordered the mayor of Murano, Burano and Chioggia,
to intercept Badoer's boats.
The rebel troops otherwise failed to synchronize their attack.
Tiepolo's men stopped to to pillage the Rialto zone, Badoer was
blocked by the storm. Querini’s contingent, not knowing about
Baiamonte’s delay, Querini and his troops took ”Calle dei Fabbri”,
at the tip on the Square through the ”Bridge of Dai”. They were the
first to arrive in Piazza San Marco, but were defeated by the Doge's
troops who were ready to respond to the attack. Marco Querini (the
father-in-law of Tiepolo), and Benedetto (brother-in-law), son of
Marco Querini perished in the clash.
While the Doge’s guards were fighting against Marco Querini, the troops of
Baiamonte Tiepolo arrived by way of the Merceria and were trapped in the narrow
space of a haberdashery, before reaching the San Marco square where they were
met the doge's followers opposite what is now called the Sottoportico e Calle
del Cappello Nero. In this place occurred one of the most amazing events in the
history of the Serenissima:
An elderly woman, widow and poor, whose name was Lucia or Giustina
Rossi lived in the area of Mercerie Meridionali (Southern Tailors), a few
meters from the Clock Tower. According to traditional beliefs, she was the
unwitting savior of the Doge. Worried by the tumult and the shouting, the
old woman presumably inadvertently dropped a mortar out of the window and
hit the standard-bearer who bore the banner with the inscription “Libertas”
who stood next to Tiepolo, instantly killing him.
His banner proclaiming “Liberty” was trampled in the mud.
Bajamonte’s men panicked and raced back toward Rialto, crossed the
bridge and burned it behind them. The fate of the missing third
contingent eventually reached Bajamonte. The storm drove their boats
aground and the governor of nearby Chioggia, dispatched by the Doge,
captured them all.
In gratitude for the old woman who had knocked down the conspiracy of
Tiepolo, the Doge himself conceded to the woman and her descendants the right to
display on the window the banner of St. Mark’s (Venice’s flag) on the 15th of
June and the other solemnity. The woman also asked that the procurators of San
Marco, the owners of the house where he lived, and the beneath shop, to
maintained the annual rent of the “house from which he had made the gesture
that had saved the Serenissima” (15 ducats) forever, to all her descendants.
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A bas-relief of the
vecia del morter was later placed on the place where the
episode took place and is still visible (above). The
house of Baiamonte Tiepolo in Campo Sant'Agostin was
razed to the ground as a warning, and the Column of
Infamy was erected in the same place as a perennial
memory. Until the fall of the Republic of Venice it was
forbidden to build new houses in that place. |
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In memory of the event,
there now remains a stone engraved on the corner of
Campo Sant'Agostin (below), with the following
inscription: "LOC. COL. BAI. THE. MCCCX". These
abbreviations have the meaning: "Here was located the
column of Baiamonte 1310. The most evident consequence
of the revolt of Baiamonte Tiepolo was the establishment
of the Council of Ten which for almost 5 centuries will
be feared by the people and by the Venetian nobles. |
With Querini dead, the two other leaders were
allowed to go into exile. Tiepolo went to Istria.
The Querini and Tiepolo palaces were razed to the ground, even thouigh Tiepolo's
house was associated with his grandfather, Lorenzo Tiepolo, a previous and
popular doge. The principal house of the Querini, was torn down and the property
became the site of the buitcher's market" (Codex Morosini, 70A). As one
scholar put it, "By destroying its palace, the government hoped to exorcise the
spirit of the family."
July 10, 1310
Despite the failure of the
insurrection, the danger had been great and it remained possible
that the exiles might forge new alliances, a possibility which had
occurred and was even then occurring in other cities. On July 10,
1310, the Council of Ten (Italian: Consiglio dei Dieci) was created
by Doge Bejamonte Tiepolo to prevent this and the formation of fresh
conspiracies. Its members held office
for a year, and one of three elected heads presided over them for a
month at a time.
The council was at first provisional, having
special powers to prosecute with speed the Tiepolo conspirators,
suppress further outbreaks of insurrection and restore state
security. The continuing threat posed by the exiles, including the
leaders of the revolt, led to continuous renewals of the Council in
the eighteen following years, until in 1328, with the discovery of a
new conspiracy, the elimination of Bajamonte Tiepolo was ordered by
any means. Tiepolo, whose traces were lost.
Although originally established for a period of two months, its
authority was continuously renewed until it was made permanent in
1335. In 1355, twenty additonal members, called the Zonta,
were added to the Council. . Elections took place annually
and the Council of Ten had the power to impose punishments upon
nobles. The Council had a broad jurisdictional mandate over
matters of state security. The Council of Ten and the
Full College constituted the inner circle of
oligarchical patricians who effectively ruled the Republic of
Venice.
1340:
The Hall of the Maggior Consiglio
The number of those entitled to sit
in the Maggior Consiglio had grown, and it was decided to build a
hall worthy of the council. This project took ten years to complete,
and occupied the part of the Doge's Palace facing on to the Molo.
The Paduan artist Guariento painted it with frescoes depicting the
Coronation qf the Virgin or Paradise between 1365 and 1367.
The Great Council consisted of all
those whose names were inscribed in the Libro d'Oro (Golden Book).
Every descendant of any one of those families whose names had been
inscribed in this book was eligible to enter the Maggior Consiglio
at the age of eighteen. In effect, the Maggior Consiglio consisted
of all adult members of the Venetian nobility, and by the year 1500,
it had grown to 2,000 members.
In its
early days, the government consisted of the Maggior Consiglio, the
nobility, and the Arengo, the people. In 1462, The Arengo was
abolished. The Maggior Consiglio had wide powers. It declared war
and made peace, levied the taxes, and made alliances, but gradually
many of these powers were delegated to Il Senato (Senate), also
called Consiglio dei Pregadi, and the Collegio dei Savi, the
Ministers, who, together with the Doge and his six counsellors was
called Il Minor Consiglio (The Minor Council). However, until the
fall of the Republic, the Maggior Consiglio continued to appoint all
great officers of State. But the power of the State was in the hands
of the few: the Doge, his six councellors, the Three Chiefs of The
Quarantia, and these together formed the Serenissima Signoria. For
important matters, the Collegio Dei Savi was also asked to vote, and
so, when all of them convened together, they took the name of Pieno
Collegio (Full Council).
During the Full Council’s meetings, the
three Procuratori (Prosecutors) of the State were asked to assist.
They were not allowed to vote but had control of and guaranteed the
legal proceedings. In the 16th century, in matters concerning urgent
State Affairs only the Doge, his six councellors and the Consiglio
dei Dieci (Council of Ten; the Ten) were appointed to render
decisions. As for Foreign Affairs there were the six Grandi Savi,
the ministers of Foreign Affairs, together with the Doge, his
councellors, and the three Chiefs of the Consilio Dei Dieci were
also obliged to join. That is why, it was said that the Maggior
Consiglio and Il Senato lost their powers little by little because
of the great numbers of members. They were too many and wasted too
much time to render decisions that were vital to the State.
The members of the Council of Ten were
appointed for one-year terms by the Great Council, as were all other
members of the State, and were not eligible for re-election, nor
could two members of the same family be elected simultaneously. They
received no monetary compensation for their services. It was their
duty to deal with treachery and conspiracy, with criminal charges
against the aristocracy, and, in general, with offences against
public morals. In practice, its sessions were expanded to seventeen
members by including the Doge and the Signoria. For major questions,
the number could be further increased by summoning additional
Senators, who composed the zonta; however, this practice was rarely
used after 1583.
The formal task of the Council of Ten
was to maintain the security of the Republic and preserve the
government from overthrow or corruption.
The Council proved effective in dealing with a treacherous Doge. In
1355 Marin Faliero
plotted to make himself despot of Venice, but the Ten ferreted out
the plot, arrested the Doge, and condemned him to death. He was duly
executed on the staircase in the courtyard of the Ducal Palace, the
same place were the Doges were appointed.
The Acts of the Ten contain no record of this execution. The
words "Let it not be written" are on the page where the minutes
recording the verdict should have been entered. Just after the death
of the doge, his image was still visible in the left corner of the
Sala del Maggior Consiglio, but after the fire in the palace on May
11, 1574, the Consiglio dei Dieci decided that all the images of the
doge had to be destroyed because they felt that he was not even
worthy of being remembered.
They had a black drape painted over his image and added the
following inscription:
Hic est locus Marini Falieri
decapitati pro criminibus
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Faliero's picture in the Great Council Hall. The black
shroud painted in its place bears the Latin phrase,
"Here is the place of Marino Faliero, beheaded for his
crimes." |
The story of Marino Faliero's uprising was made into a drama by
Lord Byron in 1820 and an opera by Gaetano Donizetti in 1835.
The Council's small size, and its
ability to rapidly make decisions, however, led to more mundane
business being sent to it. By 1457, it was enjoying almost limitless
authority over all governmental affairs. In particular, it oversaw
Venice's diplomatic and intelligence services and local police, it
managed its military affairs, and handled legal matters and
enforcement, including sumptuary laws. The Council also made
numerous, though mainly unsuccessful, attempts to combat vice,
particularly gambling, in the Republic.
The increasing power of the Council of Ten caused some concern
among the other governing bodies of the Republic, particularly after
the Ten forced the resignation of Doge Francesco Foscari in 1457. In
1468, the Great Council attempted to curb what it considered to be
despotic rule on the part of the Ten by passing a law limiting the
Ten to ruling only on emergency matters, but these limitations were
never enforced in practice.
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The capture of the
Count of Carmagnola in an ancient print. |
In times of national emergency and crisis the Council of Ten acted
with a grim combination of swiftness and resolution. A case in point
is how they dealt with the great condottiere Francesco Bussone,
Count of Carmagnola. Carmagnola (c. 1382-1432) had risen from humble
peasant beginnings to become the greatest professional soldier of
the period, then he deserted the Milanese to take service under
Venice. He proved, however, to be exasperating in his dilatoriness.
At the critical moment of a campaign he would suddenly decide to
take the baths, leaving the conduct of operations to his
subordinates.Venice gradually began to suspect that Carmagnola
was secretly preparing to transfer his services to the enemy, a
custom justified by the highest precedent of professional
generalship. The Senate decided to lure Carmagnola to Venice, and
Giovanni de Imperi, secretary to the Council of Ten, was entrusted
with this delicate and dangerous mission. It was dangerous because
if Carmagnola suspected the truth he would have begun by hanging
Giovanni, and he would then have proceeded to march on Venice.
Giovanni was a pale faced, unimpressive little man, but he had a
heart of steel, and he carried out his mission with complete
success. They thought that being Carmagnola a mercenary soldier
would offer himself to the best owner. A few days later the General
was executed between the columns in Piazza San Marco.
Alessandro Manzoni made Francesco Bussone the subject of a
poetical drama, Il Conte di Carmagnola (1826). He also wrote
a single novel I Promessi Sposi (The Betrothed), which was
fiction but includes a trial that was real. Also real was the
backdrop of the
plague, Incidientally, he did part of his research for the book
in Milan under the auspices of
Agostino Carli-Rubbi, son of the famous Istrian,
Gian
Rinaldo Carli.
In 1539, an even smaller judiciary body was appointed. Called the
Supremo Terribile Tribunale (Supreme Tribunal), they were also known
as the State Inquisitors and Three State Inquisitors.
The three members of this tribunal were elected from among the
members of the Council of Ten to serve one-month terms just to deal
with threats to state security. The State Inquisitors had
equal authority to that of the entire Council of Ten, and could try
and convict those accused of treason independently of their parent
body. To further these activities, the Inquisitors created a large
network of spies and informants, both in Venice and abroad.
Of the three State Inquisitors, one was clothed in red, sat in the
middle and was called the rosso. The other two were clad in
black and were called the negri.
During the month in which they served, the State Inquisitors were
confined to the Doge's Palace to prevent their being exposed to
corruption or bribery. Secret denunciations were placed in the Bocca
dei Leoni (the Lions' mouth), were scattered around the town and at
the Doge's Palace. The greatest care was taken to test the
credibility of these letters before acting on them. They were called
secret solely because the denunciation letters had to be signed by
three people so that the actual accuser could not be revealed from
the three.
In 1627, Renier Zeno, one of the
Capi of the Ten, began a campaign against what he saw as
despotism and corruptions on the part of the Council. The immediate
pretext for his complaints was the reluctance of the Council to deal
with the relatives of Doge Giovanni Cornaro who had been elected to
certain posts in contravention of the law of the Republic. On
October 27, Zen caused an uproar at a meeting of the Great Council
by accusing the Cornaro family of corruption. Although the elections
were annulled, he was unable to obtain any further sanctions.
At a meeting on July 23, 1628, Zen had called for the laws to be
upheld, claiming that the Doge and the Ten were subverting the
government of the Republic. Later that day, the Ten met and voted to
arrest and exile Renier Zen. By this point the Great Council had
begun to move, appointing a special committee of correctors to
examine proposals for reform. However, by September 1628, it had
become overwhelmed with procedural matters, and while it would
eventually pardon Zen, it failed to produce any significant reforms.
On December 30, Renier Zen was attacked by masked assassins, who
were later found to include Giorgio Cornaro, the son of the Doge.
The Ten lost the ability to review decisions of the Great
Council, and the giunta or zonta was formally
discontinued, but their powers were otherwise left unchecked. The
power of the Council of Ten only began to decline in the latter half
of the 17th century. While it maintained its formal authority, it
became increasingly incapable of preventing corruption, both from
within its own ranks and within the Republic at large. By the 18th
century, its role was largely limited to suppressing the minor
plottings of the poorer members of the nobility, although the Ten
continued attempting to reassert their authority until the fall of
the Republic and the dissolution of the Council in 1797.
Sources:
-
Frederic Lane, Venice. A Maritime Republic. The Johns
Hopkins University Press. 1973.
-
Paolo Preto, I servizi segreti di Venezia, Il Saggiatore,
Milano 1994.
-
G.Cozzi, M.Knapton, G.Scarabello, La Repubblica di Venezia
nell’età moderna. Dalla guerra di Chioggia al 1517, in
Storia d’Italia, vol. XII / 1, UTET, Torino, 1992.
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https://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/venice7.shtml
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Ten
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https://www.veneto.org/history/serenissima2.htm
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https://alloggibarbaria.blogspot.com/2009/10/baiamonte-tiepolo.html
- Hugh A. Douglas, Venice on Foot: with
the itinerary of the Grand Canal and several direct routes to
useful places. C. Scribner's Sons (1907), p. 373-4.
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