A Companion to Venetian History, 1400-1797

POLITICS AND CONSTITUTION

Alfredo Viggiano

Introduction

The historiographical question concerning the nature of the political
constitution of the Venetian Republic—from the time that Republic still
existed, to after its fall in 1797, until today—seems to have progressed
towards and, in some ways, entangled itself in a conundrum. On the one
hand, Venetian history is narrated as the progressive construction of the
exclusive power of an oligarchy that monopolized the highest politi-
cal offices, occupied the state’s most important ecclesiastical benefices,
impeded any form of “modernization” in the administrative apparatus,
and, through the work of its institutions and legislations, created a dia-
phragm that obstructed any form of integration between the subjects of
the terraferma and those of Venice’s maritime empire. The black legend
that took shape beginning in the early 19th century regarding the tyran-
nical character of the Venetian model fed on stereotypes regarding the
republican power system that had already been elaborated during the 17th
and 18th centuries by both internal and external observers.1 On the other
hand, there were others who insisted—we might call this the “golden”
legend—on the innate wisdom of the Venetian constitution, the “mixed
state” par excellence, and on its “uniqueness” and “originality.” It was the
republican experience which, from the 15th century to 1797, saw no regime
change, recognized no external power—neither pope nor emperor—as
sovereign and superior, and was thus wholly unique with respect to the
contemporary history of any other Italian state.
Such paradigms and models, at times intellectually refined and at
times oversimplified and popularized, were destined to characterize the
historiographical debate for many years. The period following the Second
World War represents a decisive turning point in this “history of history.”

1 Mario Infelise, “Venezia e il suo passato: Storie miti ‘fole,’ ” in Mario Isnenghi and
Stuart Woolf, eds., Storia di Venezia: L’Ottocento e il Novecento (Rome, 2002), pp. 967–88;
Claudio Povolo, “The Creation of Venetian Historiography,” in John Martin and Dennis
Romano, eds., Venice Reconsidered. The History and Civilization of an Italian City-State,
1297–1797 (Baltimore, 2000), pp. 491–519.