venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 239
Similarly, during the second half of the 18th century, a widespread habit
of wearing uniforms of foreign armies, such as of the Papal State, Naples,
Austria, or Russia, also served as a sort of immunity from Venetian
justice.460 These findings may inspire further investiagtion of reflections in
the stato da mar of what is generally conceived to be a slow disintegration
of the Republic’s ruling mechanisms during the last decades of its exis-
tence. In this case too, a comparative approach, taking into consideration
the experience of other colonial empires, would certainly be useful.
The Advantage of Weakness
Granting autonomy to local communities, particularly urban communities,
was meant to serve as a means of assuring political stability, but it also
reflected the limits of Venice’s ability to control its overseas territories.
In the long run, the mechanism of negotiation with local communities
through the capitoli reinforced, by its very nature, the local elements and
therefore weakened Venice’s ability to rule. Venice simply could not afford
to refuse to make concessions when presented with a list of requests by
representatives of its loyal subjects. Such concessions accumulated over
the course of time, resulting in an ever-widening scale of self rule. In
territories that remained under Venetian rule, the longevity of the stato
da mar inevitably resulted in greater autonomy enjoyed by local elites.
With the passing of time, two patterns of self rule—one legitimate and
institutionalized and the other (partly overlapping with the former) illegal
and informal but nevertheless effective—came to regulate the lives of
Venetian subjects in the Republic’s overseas colonies. The survival of the
stato da mar up to the late 18th century may have hinged on this very
duality.
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460 Viggiano, “Venezia e la chiesa greca,” pp. 28–30.