236 benjamin arbel
demands explanation. There is certainly no one single explanation, but
a key element seems to be the unwritten pact that underlies Venice’s
relationship with its colonial subjects: to the loyal subjects ( fedeli nostri)
Venice promised “peace and justice” (real or mythical, both had their
influence), whereas the colonies, for their part, were expected to provide
“profit and honor” (profitto e onore). These two pairs of expressions
are mentioned repeatedly in Venetian official documents, as well as in
documents that are products of the ongoing negotiation between the
Signory and its colonies.
“Peace” also implied internal peace, for Venice’s central role as an
arbitrator between local factions constituted a major contribution to
stability in the Republic’s overseas territories. This role was firmly con-
nected to “justice,” as reflected in artistic representations in which Ven-
ice is depicted as a female personification of Giustizia. Beyond myth, the
Venetian judicial system was an essential instrument for ensuring internal
peace and safeguarding local customs. Edward Muir has stressed the func-
tion of Venice’s judicial system in offering Venetian subjects a space of
maneuver and negotiation, or what he calls “continuous litigation,” which
institutionalized resistance in the field of legal practice.451 For those sub-
jects of the stato da mar who did not belong to the privileged groups, Ven-
ice often served as the only authority to which they could turn for redress
against abuse of power or social injustice. Such was the case, for example,
of the Istrian peasants who, in the early 18th century, lodged a complaint
against a powerful Capodistrian magnate who had succeeded in orga-
nizing an illegal organization that exploited the woods in their vicinity
(in which they had been traditionally employed) for a private enterprise
of charcoal production.452 The accessibility of the judicial system to all
Venetian subjects was assured through the system of the itinerant colonial
inspectors, and later by empowering the provveditori generali to act as a
supreme judicial instance of appeal. As a matter of fact, the abundance of
information about the abuse of power found in Venetian records can be
considered a result of such accessibility. In return, the colonial subjects
were ready to express their loyalty to Venice, to fight against its enemies,
and, except for very few cases during the four centuries treated in this
chapter, to refrain from revolting against its rule.
451 Muir, “Was there Republicanism?”
452 Appuhn, A Forest on the Sea, pp. 294, 296. See also Ventura, Nobiltà e popolo, p. 217;
Berengo, “Problemi economico-sociali,” p. 510.