64 alfredo viggiano
and types of behavior that have already been studied in other Italian and
European contexts.30 A quick glance at the legislation reveals a crack-
down regarding the observance of sumptuary laws,31 the harsh repression
of sodomy,32 and the formation of new magistracies dedicated to specific
fields of inquiry and subject to the Council of Ten, of which they were
de facto appendages: see the Provveditori sopra monasteri, instituted to
obviate recurring episodes of scandalous behavior in sacred places.33 It
was also at this juncture that the Inquisitori sopra la propalazione dei
segreti (1539)—were established (soon giving way to the magistracy of the
Inquisitori di stato), responsible for enforcing the obligation to absolute
secrecy regarding the debates that took place in the sovereign councils.
New worries over social control are evident in the creation of the Ese-
cutori contro la Bestemmia (1537):34 the Council of Ten ordered this new
magistrate to apply older laws that had been disregarded. The three Esecu-
tori could proceed with a firm hand, torturing the accused and working
in secret. The crime of blasphemy had, in fact, brought the divine wrath
upon the city of St Mark: in order to regain God’s benevolence—“the pro-
tection and grace of the Divine Majesty for our state”—it was necessary
to prosecute them vigorously. A later law of the Ten in 1539, demonstrat-
ing the magistracy’s success in uprooting blasphemy, decreed the exten-
sion of these norms to “dens” and “brothels” which, in addition to these
offenses to God, gave rise to “other enormous and detestable sins, along
with gambling” with the consequent ruin of both people and their financ-
es.35 In 1541, the jurisdiction of the Esecutori was further augmented by
another law that censured the “extreme insolence” of the Venetian youth:
from the moment forward, anyone who dared “to extract weapons of any
type without reverence for the Lord God” in sacred places, churches, or
30 On the theme of social discipline in the early modern period, the bibliography is vast
indeed. Important for its methodological indications and valid for the Roman Catholic
world as well that of the Reformed Churches is the analysis of Paolo Prodi, Una storia
della giustizia: Dal pluralismo dei fori al moderno dualismo fra coscienza e diritto (Bologna,
2000).
31 Federica Ambrosini, “Cerimonie, feste, lusso,” in Storia di Venezia, vol. 5 (1996):
Il Rinascimento. Società ed economia, ed. Alberto Tenenti and Ugo Tucci, pp. 597–80.
32 Gabriele Martini, Il “vitio nefando” nella Venezia del Seicento: Aspetti sociali e repres-
sione di giustizia (Rome, 1988).
33 This theme has recently been investigated by Jutta G. Sperling, Convents and the
Body Politic in Late Reinaissance Venice (Chicago/London, 1999).
34 Gaetano Cozzi, “Religione, moralità e giustizia a Venezia: vicende degli Esecutori
contro la Bestemmia (secc. XVI–XVIII),” in Cozzi, La società veneta e il suo diritto. Saggi su
questioni matrimoniali, giustizia penale, politica del diritto (Venice, 2000), pp. 65–148.
35 ASV, Esecutori contro la Bestemmia, reg. 54, c.3v–4r, 26 aprile 1539.