"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.

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.
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

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.

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.

  • https://www.oldandsold.com/articles03/venice7.shtml
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Ten
  • https://www.veneto.org/history/serenissima2.htm
  • 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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