Primary Document: Ideal Society
Venice
Venice: A Documentary History, 1450-1630
INTRODUCTION: FOOD FOR THE CITYGiovanni Bolero found the principal causes of 'the magnificence and greatness of a city' in 'justice, peace and plenty' (Bolero tr. Peterson 1956, p. 280). Venetian patricians and citizen secretaries might well have argued that, in addition to guaranteeing these things to their subjects, they must also protect their large and dense population (the greatest treasure of a powerful state) against famine, pestilence and the vengeance of God. These three scourges, potentially more terrible than the assaults of any human foe, were intimately connected. For plague, in the opinion of those who saw and feared it, could well be caused by bad food or spread by the wanderings and panic migrations to the towns that occurred in times of dearth; and plagues, likes earthquakes and even military defeats, were not to be regarded just as natural phenomena or man-made disasters, but also as divine penalties for sinfulness and disorder in the community. A frugal, moral and orderly society, free of extravagance and unnatural vice, was good in itself, and it was also likely to be a prosperous one, for it would earn the favor of God, or at least avoid provoking his wrath.The documents in this subsection deal with the government's essential duty to guarantee supplies of good and nutritious food. Alvise Cornaro was a strong and persistent advocate of the reclamation of land within Venice's mainland possessions, for he believed that the problems created by a marked increase of population in the Venetian Republic, as in other Mediterranean countries, could only be solved by attaining a much greater degree of self-sufficiency. At a conservative estimate, the population of Venice itself may well have risen by over 50 per cent between 1509 and 1563, from approximately 110,000 to about 175,000. The dire consequences of a severe food shortage are graphically described in document (c), which illustrates the whole range of measures employed by the Venetian government during a famine: the actions it took in the late 1520s and in the early 1590s were not very different. Here the chronicler is unusually frank about the threat of disorder and the extent of black marketeering. Particularly striking are his accounts of popular resentment against a government - personified by the Doge, as principal scapegoat which had failed to provide a large white loaf at a reasonable price, and had resorted to inferior substitutes for wheaten bread. An English traveler was later to find the ordinary Venetians a frugal people, but still very much attached to fine white bread (Moryson 1907 edn, IV, 95-6) AGAINST BAD FLOUR, 1484, 1494About the hour of Vespers on that day there was a great crowd of people coming together and rushing across the bridge to Rialto to see the burning of adulterated flour. For a certain man had imported sacks full of flour in a ship to sell them, and it was discovered that the flour was mixed with ash and chalk and other kinds of white dust to make it seem more plentiful: for there was then a severe famine in Venice and flour and corn were very costly in the market place. When the fraud was detected the authorities brought the sellers of the flour under arrest to Venice and they ordered all the purchasers to return it, and they lit a fire in the middle of Rialto and threw all the flour upon it and burned it in the sight of an enormous crowd.By order of the Signori, etc. There have been many complaints to our office that rotten and stinking flour is being sold in the flour warehouse, a thing that could easily infect this city with pestilential disease on account of the poor people who buy it because it costs them less. To avoid any unhappy consequences that might arise from this [abuse], we give orders that from henceforth no shopkeeper who has or holds a shop in the warehouse may sell or keep in his shop any rotten or stinking flour, but must keep and sell good flour that can [properly] be sold. If there is anyone, no matter who, that presumes to keep and sell in his shop rotten and stinking flour of this kind he shall at once be liable to a fine of 50 lire and shall forfeit this rotten flour, which shall be burnt or else flung into the water, and, if there is an accuser and through his accusation the truth is discovered, he shall have the said 50 lire and his name shall be kept secret. GROWTH OF POPULATION AND SHORTAGE OF FOOD, 1540In past times this city has had good cause to fear a failure of supplies or at least a shortage of food for its people, and we should still be afraid of such things, for the reasons that I will now state. The population of Venice has increased so far that, whereas 30,000 staia or corn would once have supplied it for a month, 45,000 are now not enough. This increase stems from the wars which have broken out in all parts of Italy and have forced many foreigners to come and live in Venice. Furthermore, those deadly outbreaks of plague which used to carry off one fifth of the population every eight to ten years have ceased on account of the measures adopted by your lordships. Hence the survivors increase the population by their own presence, and double their numbers by means of their children, so it is possible that in a hundred years' time the population of Venice will have doubled. The cessation of the plagues is responsible for the same increase in nearby foreign countries. Hence there is more need for grain in every place, and still its price rises. Another cause of the growth in population is the new way of making war, whereby they no longer fight the pitched battles that used to carry off 25,000-30,000 persons at a stroke. We must, then, believe that in future, on account of this increase of the people, this city will have need for more crops.GOOD ORDER AND MORALITYThose who, in this city of Venice and its district, or upon any boat, barge, roundship or other vessel belonging to subjects of the most serene Signoria, even if these are in foreign parts, blaspheme against the most holy name of God, or of the most blessed Virgin Mary, or of any male or female saint, or of any other heavenly being, not only in clear and explicit terms but also under any other conceivable form of words that may vilify and offend the majesty of God, the galleys, imprisonment, banishment or mutilation, and may even be condemned to death as the nature of this heinous and detestable crime may demand, with a payment of 400 lire to the accuser, who shall be kept secret.Those who draw weapons in any churches, convents, or other sacred places, and in the Scuole of this city, or who in some other way behave scandalously in word or deed, by resorting to fisticuffs, blows or together unseemly behavior in these places, shall be punished by banishment, imprisonment and galley service, and by other yet harsher penalties, according to the gravity of the offenses. Likewise, if anyone ravishes and has his way with women, deceiving them by a promise of marriage, he shall be severely punished. If anyone keeps a saloon, or serves in one, and contravenes the law in the matter of gaming, taverns and saloons, he shall incur the penalties at discretion. And, if anyone publishes any book, song, prophecy, letter or together such matter without proper permission, or falsely makes it appear that it was published in some other place, he and any persons who sell such things shall be condemned to prison, the galleys or banishment, as the offense shall require. A MERCHANTS CHILD AND HIS PROGRESS, 1509-11Dalla Santa 1916-17, II, 1574,1575-6, 1570. The letters are taken from a collection of 'Lettere Commerciali' in the ASV, not further identified.4 March 1509 [Zuan Francescho's father, Martino Merlini, writes to the boy's uncle Zuan Batista] Zuan Francescho salutes you heartily. He remembers you, and often at table he says, 'When will my uncle, Meser Zuan Batista, come?' He can say anything, loud and clear, and says, at the correct time, the 'Our Father' and the 'Hail Mary'; it's a pleasure to hear him. He comes out with so many other stories and jokes that he keeps the whole household amused. He visibly growing: if he lives, please God, he'll be a fine figure of a man. He'll be big and broad, may God make him good! I want to send him to school soon, please God, and I believe he'll learn quickly and well, and have a good mind and a ready tongue. 29 December 1509 [ probably from Zuan Batista Martino] Zuan Francescho writes to you every day; he has made his cousin Piero prepare for him an inkhorn, complete with ink and pens and paper, and I will send you some of his letters, together with Piero's. He has become the sweetest and most beautiful little boy you could ever hope to see, and is marvelously intelligent; he picks things up by ear incredibly quickly: he knows the 'Our Father' and the ' Hail Mary,' the Creed, the Salve Regina, the Qui habitat and many other prayers which his mother has already taught him. Come Lent, please God, he will begin to learn to read; he knows the entire alphabet by heart, and so many songs and stories that I can't begin to tell you. He is a champion dancer. Every day as he gets dressed and every evening as he takes off his clothes, as soon as he's down to his doublet he wants to dance; if you could see him, nothing would give you greater pleasure than his dancing and capering; if it weren't for this cursed war and one dared to spend a bit of money, we'd send him for some proper dancing-lessons. He looks so good with his straight little body and his trim, shapely legs that it's a pleasure to see him. Every day he says he wants to come and visit you with Piero, but he wants to bring his nurse with him, as you should know; he tells me he's writing to you to have a robe and doublet of camlet made for him, as you'll see from his letter. 9 March 1511 [Zuan Batista to Martino] Zuan Francescho has chosen for himself a poor fellow to whom he gives alms every Friday for your sake, and every day he says a lovely prayer to Our Lady for you, and the prayer to St. Sebastian to protect you from the plague; and he asks me to tell you this.... [From about the same period; Zuan Batista to Martino] Could you give me some news as to how you are getting on with your ships? Your son Zuan Francescho prays to God for you every day and gives alms to all the poor that come to the door, and he asks me to write to you about all his doings. He commends his ship to you, and other childish prattle. INTRODUCTION: NOBILITYThroughout the period 1450-1630 the nobility were essentially an 'estate of birth': male children acquired by legitimate birth into a noble family the right of entry to the sovereign Great Council on reaching political adulthood (between the ages of twenty and twenty-five), and hence the right to participate in governing the city and its dominions. The regulation of baptismal ceremonies, 1505, suggests, baptisms were not just religious ceremonies or family occasions: they also provided, through the institutions of godfatherhood and spiritual kindred, opportunities to form alliances and factions within the patriciate.Each noble family was in part an association for managing property and pursuing or at least preserving wealth. These notarial documents record arrangements for the transfer, distribution, and control of assets, especially in the form of landed property. NOBLES AND CITIZENS IN VENICE[In regards to citizenship and its benefits in Venice]And to start first of all with the benefits: are there not in this city a great many offices yielding most substantial incomes, which through our favour and the disposition of the city pass among you from one heir to the next; whereas among the nobles not one is to be found, however insignificant, which they hold beyond the year? Your citizens with these offices very often not only keep themselves and support a great number of children and servants, but also grow right thereby. We, however, through those which we share among ourselves, more often than not become poor because of the expense of others, or grand furniture, of banquets, of games arranged for the populace, of ceremonies and other excessive expenditure, which is presently the practice, and which we, because it is the custom, have to incur. None of these expenses do you have to incur for yourselves, nor is there any evident need for them; instead you simply enjoy your undiminished gains in peace. And so I should ask you Venetians, how many are these offices, how much benefit comes from them, how many among you have been enriched by them, I am sure that because there are so many you would not know how to answer without long and mature consideration. For, leaving aside the offices where there is no judicial element, from which you make great gains without care or effort, are there not many others held by clerks who are popolari and who stay secure in office as long as they live, while the nobles are changed from year to year? And when the latter have to give judgments and sentences in disputed cases they do not decide otherwise than according to the opinion of the clerks and secretaries, in whose great experience they trust firmly: hence not the nobles but the popolari can usually be deemed the effective judges. How many offices of secretary, clerk and notary come to be enjoyed by you, which are better and more profitable than any office in this city granted to us, and to which it would not be unseemly for someone of noble birth to be appointed? Such is the benefit you derive from them! And how many positions are there outside the city, such as that of Grand Chancellor in Cyprus, and others most fitting for any noble to hold, which we leave entirely to you? But, coming to honors, do you have a Grand Chancellor, who, comparably to our most serene Prince among the nobles, is called 'Doge of the popolo', with generous allowances and most ample liberty to enter into any of our councils, to consult, to admonish and to propose, as I and the other nobles have, and almost as the Doge himself has? Are there not in our most excellent and secret Council of Ten, six secretaries who are popolari, whom every man of noble birth acknowledges, whom all respect, and whose high rank all envy? THE REGULATION OF BAPTISMAL CEREMONIES, 1505It is the duty of this Council to extirpate anything that might result in disorder and impropriety, as could easily happen in consequence of an unseemly and insufferable practice recently introduced by the gentry of Venice, who in baptizing their sons and daughters have begun to invite large numbers of other Venetian gentlemen to act as godfathers, feasting them, and also making them handsome and expensive presents, for the sole purpose of creating obligations and making use of these people, a thing which must surely be severely reproved; and there is also the fact that such spiritual ties act as a bar to intermarriage. Be it [therefore] determined that from henceforth no gentleman of our city may take any other gentleman for godfather either at baptisms or at christenings, on pain of being deprived of all offices, benefits and governorships, and of [the right to sit in] councils, for a period of five years, and on pain also of a fine of 200 ducats, which shall go to the accuser, who is to be kept secret; and no pardon, relief or remission may be granted save by all seventeen votes of this Council.DEATH OF A PATRICIANThe service was held as usual, with our most reverend Patriarch, Don Heronimo Querini, in attendance, and the procession began with the parish of San Maurizio, the nine congregations, the chapters of [the cathedral in] Castello and of St. Mark's, the most reverend Patriarch in his robes, fifty Jesuati with torches weighing [. . .] pounds each, twenty-four monks of San Sebastiano, fifty mariners with torches weighing [. . .], and then the Scuola della Misericordia with 200 torches, 100 of their own and 100 from the deceased, and there was a great number of these flagellants, because he left them [. . .] soldi each. Then came twelve of his servants, wearing long mantles and cloth upon their heads, in front, the corpse was beginning to decompose. Then they came down, two by two, family by family, and followed the body through the city to the Piazza San Marco, where it was raised three times, as is the custom with Procurators, and the bell of St. Marks' were tolling, two strokes at a time. Meanwhile the Doge, and the ambassadors of the Pope, England, Milan, Florence and Ferrara, the Bishop of Scardona, Ser Domengo Trevixan and the Procurator Lunardo Mozenigo came down from the Palace to the church, where they met with the family mourners, and the Doge took the first one to himself, and in the same way each of the ambassadors, Ducal Councillors and the Procurators took a partner, and they went off through the Merceria and through the city to the Santi Apostoli, where a high platform had been made ready in the church. There they placed the litter, with the Jesuati and the mariners round about it. This platform was bedecked with torches and great candles and black clothes, and the dead man's coat of arms was placed in the middle, together with those of the Queen of Cyprus and of the Scuola della Misericordia. All round the church were fine black cloths and coats of arms. The Doge took his seat, together with the ambassadors and family mourners and anyone else who wished to stay, and I myself was among them. The funeral oration was delivered by Ser Carlo Capello of the Civil Court of The Forty, son of the Cavalier Francesco. He had on a pleated mantle, and someone was reading his speech to him from behind. . . The shops were closed from the dead man's house all the way to the Santi Apostoli. The Doge wore a scarlet mantle with golden bells and a scarlet cap; he was in the same company of the House. . .And the Doge was his dear friend. |
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