family and society 325
constantly replenished by immigration, both temporary and definitive.17
Historiography has dealt much less with the family behavior of artisans,
sailors, and household servants than that of members of higher social
classes and, in particular, of the patriciate. nevertheless, there is no lack
of sources, particularly judicial ones. the abundance of legislation on the
family, and its application in the courtrooms of the Republic—aimed
in part, as has been hypothesized, at the preservation of the governing
class—are in fact issues concerning the population as a whole. indeed,
the sources are particularly rich and, as demonstrated by numerous stud-
ies, judicial sources offer a good opportunity for the study of the behavior
of the popular classes.
The PatriciateFamily and Political Identity
ever since the times of the Prima Serrata, patrician families occupied
the political scene, given that membership in the Maggior Consiglio was
hereditary. Beyond the criterion of legitimate birth, other criteria were
progressively added for an increasingly precise definition of the identity
of the patriciate. a series of laws enacted between the 15th and the 16th
centuries excluded the sons of female slaves, servants, and even of women
whose father or grandfather had exercised manual trades or had incurred
infamous punishments. the increased requirements went along with the
imposition of ever more precise controls and with the obligation to regis-
ter marriages and births with the Avogaria di Comun. the patriciate’s Libro
d’oro was thus instituted in 1506. While a rigid class-based endogamy was
never imposed, beginning at the end of the 16th century, women who were
not themselves the legitimate daughters of patricians were asked to pro-
vide the Avogaria di Comun with proof of their father’s and grandfather’s
“non-manual” activities. Between the end of the 16th century and the end
of the 17th century, these were mostly the daughters of Venetian cittadini,
daughters of nobles from the Venetian State, and illegitimate daughters of
Venetian patricians. Patrician marriages were thus events that involved a
constant redefinition of identity and of boundaries between social classes,
17 andrea Zannini, “l’identità multipla: essere popolo in una capitale (Venezia, sec.
XVi–XViii),” Ricerche storiche 2/3 (2002), 247–62.