venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 151
obviously tended to have personal and local interests that differed from
those of the Venetians or even of their own countrymen.70
Central Control and Regional Organization
From 1396 colonial inspectors, or sindici, were supposed to be sent on
tours across Venice’s overseas territories at four-year intervals. On their
arrival to a given colony, public proclamations were made, inviting local
subjects to lodge complaints against any magistrate or public officer. The
sindici were authorized to conduct investigations and collect evidence
that was then presented to the avvogadori, or state attorneys, in Venice.
They sometimes took Venetian governors prisoner along with them to
Venice to be put to trial.71 The functions and title of a sindico could be
coupled with other titles and assignments, as in the case of Giacomo
Foscarini, who was sent in 1574 to Crete to carry out a thorough reform of
the colonial administration, as Provveditore Generale (with the powers of a
capitano generale), Sindico e Inquisitore. He performed this task during his
long stay on the island, which lasted more than three years, starting from
the autumn of 1574.72 His measures were related to nearly all aspects of
local life: defense, economy, religion, food supply, the organization of the
rural society, etc.73 No wonder that such missions “left a bitter cocktail of
resentment and grievances in their wake” and that the syndics themselves
were sometimes accused of—and even convicted of—malfeasance.74
During the 15th century the stato da mar was still extremely fragmented
in nature. Each colony, including the smallest ones, was directly depen-
dent on the central organs of government, normally the Senate and the
Council of Ten. From the 16th century onward, there was a tendency to
encompass several territorial units within a larger regional authority of
70 E.g., Pagratis, ed., Οι εκθέσεις, p. 175; Benjamin Arbel, “A Fresh Look at the Venetian
Protectorate of Cyprus (1474–1489),” in Sabine Rogge and Candida Syndikus, eds., Cyprus
and Venice in the Era of Caterina Cornaro (Münster, 2012), forthcoming.
71 Bacchion, Il Dominio veneto su Corfù, pp. 210–11; O’Connell, Men of Empire, p. 123;
Alfredo Viggiano, Lo specchio della Repubblica. Venezia e il governo delle Isole Ionie nel ’700
(Verona, 1998), pp. 119–33, 139–51.
72 Sterios G. Spanakis, “Η θρησκευτικό–εκκλησιαστική κατάσταση στην Κρήτη του ΧVI
αιώνα,” Κρητικά Χρονικά 21 (1969), 136 n. 5; Zvi Ankori, “Giacomo Foscarini and the Jews of
Crete: A Reconsideration,” Michael 7 (1981), 9–118, repr. in Studi veneziani 9 (1985), 10, 14
n. 17, 16 n. 24.
73 Spiridonos Μ. Theotokis, “Ιάκωβος Φωσκαρίνης ή η Κρήτη το 1570,” Επετηρίς Εταιρείας
Κρητικών Σπουδών 1 (1938), 186–206; Ankori, “Giacomo Foscarini”; Roberto Zago, “Foscarini,
Giacomo,” in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, vol. 49 (Rome, 1997), pp. 365–70.
74 O’Connell, Men of Empire, pp. 135–39.