152 benjamin arbel
a provveditore generale. Zara was already declared as the chief town of
Venetian Dalmatia in 1450, and its governor had a certain authority over
other Venetian administrators in this region.75 In 1511, the Provveditore
Generale in Damazia e Albania, who resided in Zara, became the senior
regional governor, whose title could occasionally even be expanded, as
in the case of the Proveditor Generale in Istria, Dalmazia, Albania, Golfo
et Isole di Levante con auttorità di Capitan General da Mar (the title given
in 1622 to Giust’Antonio Belegno).76 A few subordinate, but still regional,
magistracies were later established under his authority: the Provveditore
alle Isole della Dalmazia, a magistracy established in 1539, the Provvedi-
tore Generale della Cavalleria, who was active in the region between 1520
and 1694,77 or the Provveditore Straordinario delle Isole del Levante, a title
borne by Niccolò Erizzo, sent in 1787 to the Ionian islands to put in order
the local civic councils.78 Finally, a Provveditorre Starordinario was elected
to deal with the Venetian possessions beyond the Narenta (Neretva)
valley or, in other terms, south of the territories ruled by Ragusa (the
so-called “Albania Veneta”).79
The Provveditore Generale da Mar, in addition to his function as the
supreme commander of the fleet in peacetime, appears as the highest
authority of the Ionian Islands during the first half of the 16th century,
first as a temporary appointment and later as a permanent one called
Provveditore Generale del Levante.80 His seat was in Corfu. From the mid-
16th century onwards, when the Provveditore Generale da Mar was busy
in commanding the fleet, a Provveditore Generale delle Tre Isole, with
supreme authority over Corfu, Zante, and Cephalonia, was established as
a temporary magistracy. This temporary magistracy became more stable
during the long period of the war of Candia. The office was later abol-
ished but was revived in 1684 under the title of Provveditore Generale delle
Quattro Isole (following the conquest of Santa Maura), and it continued to
function throughout the war of Morea. Obviously, it had mainly military
responsibilities.81
75 Pederin, “Die venezianische Verwaltung... und ihre Organe,” pp. 117, 121.
76 Nicolas Karapidakis, Civis fidelis: l’avènement et l’affirmation de la citoyenneté corfiote
(XVIe–XVIIe siècles) (Frankfurt, 1992), p. 157 n. 1.
77 Da Mosto, L’Archivio di Stato, p. 18.
78 Viggiano, Lo specchio, pp. 11, 17 n. 33.
79 Paladini, ‘Un caos che spaventa,’ pp. 35–36, 62; Paladini, “Paterni tiranni,” p. 185.
80 Lunzi, Della condizione, pp. 253–54.
81 Bacchion, Il dominio veneto su Corfù, pp. 19, 158–59. After the loss of Crete, Cerigo
also came under the responsibility of this provveditore generale, but apparently he rarely