492 edward muir
Venice’s subject towns on the terraferma, in contrast, had their own
statutes, which, unlike Venice’s, derived from lombard and roman law.
Marin’s uncle and his two companions arrived in la Motta to hear appeals
of cases based on two different statutes, those of Treviso and friuli, but
they were in la Motta for only a few days, which forced them to rely
on the local experts, the attorneys and notaries. Despite their responsi-
bility to guarantee uniform principles of justice, the auditori were at the
mercy of the very people they were obliged to regulate.14 here was the
classic dilemma faced by the european colonialists and missionaries who
invented modern anthropology: in order to rule more effectively, they
sought understanding through systematic observation of a subjected peo-
ple whose culture was utterly alien. But to do that they had to rely heav-
ily on local informants and local mediators who were by no means naïve
windows into an alien culture, and because the information came through
the medium of judicial review, the very presence of the Venetians in friuli
distorted the phenomenon Marin was trying to observe.
Marco Sanudo’s task drew him into the labyrinth of local jurisdictions
that his nephew Marin catalogued. in Udine, Marin’s party arrived in
friuli’s only real city, the center of friulan administration and of Vene-
tian influence in the region. from here the Venetian luogotenente and his
subordinate officials governed a city of 15,000 and 66 other jurisdictions,
but “governed” is a deceptive word here. each of the 66 jurisdictions had
its own customary privileges and procedures, its own formal and infor-
mal distribution of power, its own relationship with superior authority.
Behind these jurisdictional complexities lurked the shadow government
of the factions—those who followed the populist Savorgnan family, who
were allied to the Venetians, and those who followed the great aristocratic
families (the castellani). “i saw,” Marin reported, “in some streets chains
that could close them off to those [from the enemy faction] not allowed to
pass.”15 from these chains the startled young Marin began to understand
something of a feuding culture, a place very different from Venice’s non-
violent, merchant-dominated, consensus-based electoral polity.
once the party arrived in cividale, Marin began to identify the borders
between Venice and the holy roman empire, which cut through friuli.
“outside the gate of cividale was a stream.. ., which it is said divides italy
14 ceferino caro lopez, “gli auditori nuovi e il dominio di terraferma,” in gaetano
cozzi, ed., Stato, società e giustizia, 2 vols (rome, 1980), 1:259–316.
15 Sanuto, Itinerario, pp. 133–34.