The Republic of Venice was formed at the endseventh century in Europe. The capital was the city of Venice. In the northeastern territories of modern Italy, the republic did not stop, forming colonies in the basins of the Marmara, Aegean and Black Seas and the Adriatic. There was until 1797.
Republican justice
In the doge’s palace, ministers sat on the pianzette andDoge's advice, there was a court there. the secretariat, even the prison. The Republic of Venice was executed by all criminals in public, often without any explanation - any executed person was a traitor to a collective interest.
The proceedings - usually on the denunciation - dealt withPrivy Council of Ten. The last time the townspeople saw a corpse between the columns on pyanzetta 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:and at the Doge's Palace itself, on its upper arcade, where the red columns stand, where the quartered remains of the participants of the conspiracy Marino Faliero hung, and even in the cathedral, at the corner of which the severed heads were exposed. A piece of porphyry, which served as a stand for them, is still there. From here, the laws that the Venetian Republic demanded to abide by were proclaimed. Its history is long and contradictory.
Unique state
Existing since the fifth century, almostnineteenth, the republic had elected bodies of self-government and, one might say, democracy. Back in 466, the population of the Venice Lagoon was united by this timeless idea. Twelve representatives were elected to the Council of the twelve most important for those times islands that made up Venice: Bebbe, Grado, Heraclea, Caorle, Torcello, Jesolo, Rialto, Murano, Povelia, Malamocco, Bolshoi and Malaya Chioggia.
Venetian Republic was forced to fightdifficult and constant: Odoacer, Ostrogoths, Eastern Roman Empire, repeated invasions of the Lombards ... Thus, the need for sovereign rule was revealed. The first Doge was elected for the rest of his life, but without the transfer of his post as a legacy in 697. It was Paolo Lucio Anafesto - the head of the Republic of Venice. Although the first absolutely strictly documented election occurred only in 727, when Orceolo became a doge.
Checks and Balances
The political system of Venice had an extremely complex management system. First of all, it was necessary to prevent the usurpation of power.
- Grand Council: the supreme body that elects the main councils, magistrates and doge. Membership is limited to heredity under the entry in the "Golden Book". The number at different times from 400 to a thousand people.
- Дож:elected from among the procurators of San Marco - a lifetime position. Eleven election stages. I could not make independent decisions, power was limited. The impossibility of traveling and owning property abroad.
- Small council: six advisers with the doge and three members of the council of forty.
- Senate:one hundred and twenty members elected for a year eligible for re-election. Another hundred and forty non-voting members. The head of the Senate is a board 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 of Ten: practically inquisition. Special surveillance for the doge. Members were elected for a year by the Great Council. Affinity is prohibited. Completely anonymous composition.
- Other institutions of power: professional guilds, religious brotherhoods.
Выбирать и стать избранным мог любой венецианец, but, as always and everywhere, the doge became a representative of one of the richest families. Such elections had not only the Republic of Venice. History repeats itself constantly.
The acquisition of power
Formally, the city of Venice was listed as Byzantine.empire, for a short time, Charlemagne joined him to his own, but in fact there was always freemen. The position is safe and advantageous. The Venetian Republic not only very successfully traded, but also fought victoriously, especially at sea. As a result, the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and most of Lower Italy became the arm of the Venetian doge.
Crusades especially enriched the tradecommunications, and the city of Venice began to flourish, extending its influence to the Middle and Middle East. Competitors in the face of the city-republics of Pisa and Genoa could not with the Republic of the Doge.
Restriction of rights
Тем не менее внутри государства демократы всерьёз fought with aristocrats. The desire of some to turn the republic into a hereditary monarchy did not come true. In 1172, the Grand Council of Elected Deputies was convened, which greatly infringed the power of the doge.
Collective bodies changed their names andsize: the Republic of St. Mark, as the Republic of Venice was often called in the Middle Ages, created the Council of Forty, then the Council of Five Hundred, and these bodies selected the powers belonging to the doge, they also regulated and controlled all actions of the main governor of the state. They made the republic oligarchic by controlling the elections.
In this picture is a lion of St. Mark, an evangelist, whose name is the name of the Council and the Council of Ten acted, of which the Republic of Venice was rightly proud. Coat of arms in front of you.
Oligarchy
Самой используемой государственной программой for a long time there was war, and the oligarchs were an inexhaustible source of funding. The loans became compulsory and concerned the most affluent part of the population. It was impossible to refuse or ignore the ruling, which made the Republic of Venice. The history has kept many names of those who tried to resist, and whose end was disgraceful. Nevertheless, the general assembly of the people was gradually abolished and dissolved. Legislation worked only for the benefit of the aristocracy.
After the conquest of Constantinople by the crusadersVenice got three eighths of the entire territory of Byzantium and the whole 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 are rapidly growing rich, because they did not choke with taxes.
Changes
Portugal in 1498 opened the sea road inOst-India, and the city of Venice lost all the benefits of eastern trade. Ottoman Isperia took Constantinople and took away from the Venetians almost everything that belonged to them, even Albania and Negropont, and then Cyprus, and Candia. Since 1718, the Republic of Venice has practically ceased to participate in world trade.
She had about two and a half millionnationals 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 and concessions have worked. Venice surrendered to the mercy of the winner in 1797. The territory of the republic was divided between Austria, France and the Italian kingdom.
Outcomes
Existing for more than 1100 years,having conquered territories a thousand times larger than itself, having the most massive navy in the Mediterranean, at war with the Turks and the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice will remain in the memory of humanity as the first democratic state. The fact that she subsequently failed to defend not only the conquered, but also her capital is also a lesson: the war with the neighbors is no better than the civil one.
