430 david d’andrea
the religious zeal of preachers. Venetian authorities would decide which
religious practices and clerical initiatives were in the best interest of the
Venetian state. the rise and fall of nations depended on divine favor, and
Venetian nobles would not entrust the fate of their dominion to ecclesi-
astical decrees.
What was best for the poor themselves? the debate reflects a genuine
concern for the health of the state, but there was no suggestion that the
state should care for the poor directly. once again, the Venetian govern-
ment established the general welfare policies but was reluctant to create
a centralized bureaucracy. Like the Venetian scuole, the Jews served
the Venetian state, loaning their capital to Venetian poor at established
rates.
Hospitals and Poor LawsVenice also did not adopt another movement that was sweeping italy in
the 15th century: the consolidation of medieval hospitals.30 despite the
trend of renaissance states to construct large public hospitals, the Vene-
tian distrust of concentrated resources and power fostered a system of
decentralized autonomous hospitals and shelters.31 as a result, dozens
of small hospitals and hospices scattered throughout the city served the
sick and poor of Venice. these institutions, often established by a devout
patron and governed by confraternities, performed a wide variety of ser-
vices for diverse categories of poor and sick.32 Pullan lists more than fifty
hospitals established before the 16th century that cared for a variety of
poor (such as pilgrims, orphans, ex-servicemen, and women) and were
administered by various organizations, including the Procuratori of san
Marco, guilds, the scuole grandi, and foreign communities.33
30 for the most recent overview, see francesco Bianchi and Marek słoń, “Le riforme
ospedaliere del Quattrocento in italia e nell’europa Centrale,” Ricerche di storia sociale e
religiosa 69 (2006), 7–45.
31 in Gli “Ospizi” di Venezia (Venice, 1983), franca semi inventories more than 130 hos-
pitals and hospices.
32 on the Venetian charitable network, see Pullan, Rich and Poor; Giovanni scarabello,
“strutture assistenziali a Venezia nella prima metà del ’500 e avvii europei della riforma
dell’assistenza,” in Manfredo tafuri, ed., “Renovatio Urbis”: Venezia nell’età di Andrea Gritti
(1523–38) (rome, 1984), pp. 119–33; dennis romano, “L’assistenza e la beneficenza” in Storia
di Venezia, vol. 5: Il Rinascimento. Società ed economia, ed. tenenti and tucci, pp. 55–406;
and Bernard aikema and dulcia Meijers, Nel regno dei poveri. Arte e storia dei grandi
ospedali veneziani in età moderna, 1474–1797 (Venice, 1989).
33 Pullan, Rich and Poor, pp. 423–28.