Chapter XIII: The Archives of Venice

Probably no other collection of state papers exists that can compare in interest with the archives of Venice, now preserved in the Convent of the Frari, and most courteously at the disposal of all who seriously wish to study them. It is said that the two hundred and ninety-five rooms in which these archives are disposed contain more than fourteen million documents, the earliest dating from 883. Even so, many Venetian records were doubtless lost in the conflagrations between the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries, of which we have accounts, for there are some important periods quite blank; and as late as 1797 a mob invaded the Hall of the Council of Ten, and dispersed the papers found there, which would no doubt have been of great value. The knowledge that has been gained from these records and given to the world within a half-century is most important and entertaining, and we are greatly indebted to the numerous scholarly writers who have given us the results of their researches; but there remains much more to be done before the stores of information and entertainment in the archives of the Frari will be exhausted.

It is from them that the true stories of Faliero, Pisani, Carmagnola, Caterina Cornaro, and others have been taken. They tell of all the great ceremonials, even to the minutest details. The letters of royal personages are there preserved. Civil and criminal trials, reports, {246} despatches, and, in short, every imaginable thing that could have happened, been suspected, or whispered in all Venice, seems to be there writ down. To the casual observer, perhaps the most striking feature of these papers is the attention given to matters of minor importance by the government of the Republic. We know that each department was concerned with its special subject, but concerned in such a way that we can almost learn what was eaten in a particular palace on a certain day centuries ago; and the manner in which matters that are regulated by custom or individual fancy in other countries were the subjects of special decrees in Venice, is most surprising.

The papers of the secret chancellery, established in 1402, exceed all others in general interest. The direction of this department pertained to the Council of Ten; and here the story of the growth, splendor, and decline of the Republic can be read with all its complications. In the study of these papers, as they have been given us by patient writers, we are impressed anew with the utter disregard of individual interests and schemes, and the persistent devotion to the good of the Republic, first, last, and always. Venetians formed no syndicates, and profited by no monopolies. Venice was the syndicate, and the monopoly was hers.

Private owners of vessels were not allowed to send cargoes to ports to which Venice sent fleets. Vessels were built and fitted out by the State, and put up at auction to be bidden for by the merchants, the voyages all being made according to regulations, and a good share of the profits paid to the State. Private owners were licensed before freighting a ship, and no ship not commanded by a Venetian was permitted to sail from the lagoons. Ships of war guarded the mouths of the rivers, and all foreign vessels were liable to inspection. All kinds of goods {247} carried in Venetian ships were obliged to be taken to Venice before they could be sent to any other port. Thus it became a great mart for the merchandise of all countries, and we can scarcely imagine the enormous supplies of costly and magnificent Oriental products which filled her storehouses, and were thence distributed all over the western and northern world in exchange for other goods as well as for gold. Her commerce with Nuremberg was important, and there was a weekly post between the two cities in 1505, when Albert Dürer made the journey to Venice.

Her unique position made Venice the chief market for all the East, and her supremacy in the Levant forbade all rivals to attempt competing with her; but if she thus deprived other nations of the privileges of commerce, she protected them from the Turk. She was a bulwark that could neither be ignored nor overthrown. Every branch of commerce was made tributary to her, and her coffers were always full. She expended her wealth at home, encouraging her workers in metals, glass, and mosaics, and the manufactures of silk and wool, as well as in cherishing the fine arts and improving the city.

From the beginning of the thirteenth century so great a number of merchants periodically visited Venice that no sufficient provision could be made for them in the public houses, and the question as to how and where they could live was solved by the establishment of the Fondachi, where they were lodged, free of cost, after reporting to the proper magistrate, and showing their purpose in coming to Venice. Warehouses were attached to the Fondachi, supplied with weighers and keepers to attend to the storing and care of merchandise.

The Germans, Armenians, Moors, and Turks, all had these Fondachi, as well as the Tuscans and other Italians. A superb palace on the Grand Canal, which has been {248} restored, and is now the Museo Civico, was given to the Turks. It is nearly as old as the Ducal Palace, and very remarkable. But as the Turks were infidels, the windows were walled up, the rooms thus being lighted only from the court. A Catholic warder closed the doors at sunset. No women or children were allowed to enter, and no Ottoman was permitted to lodge elsewhere. Greeks and Syrians were allowed the utmost freedom in all parts of the city.

The Jews were not liked, and many regulations were made for them. At times they were excluded from Venice, but their aptitude in all matters of trade made them almost a necessity. Indeed, they had the monopoly of money changing, and the Senate found that they must be at hand. Many regulations were made as to where they should live, concerning certain badges they must wear, forbidding them to own houses or lands, to enter any profession save that of medicine, to open their doors between sunset and sunrise, or to go out at all on holidays. They were not permitted to have a synagogue, and a burial-place was given them grudgingly.

So fully did the rulers of Venice appreciate the importance and dignity of her commerce that they permitted the Fondachi to be splendidly decorated, and by the best artists. Nothing can give a better idea of the wealth and luxury of the Venetian merchants than the following extract from Mutinelli:--

"When the news of the victory of Lepanto reached Venice, the Germans were the first who wished to celebrate it by a splendid illumination in their Fondaco on the Rialto. All the other merchants followed this example; and those who most distinguished themselves were the jewellers, the Tuscans, and the mercers. The well-known portico of the Rialto, where the drapers' shops are, was hung with turquoise-blue fabrics, spangled with gold and lined with scarlet. Each shop had its {249} decoration; there were panoplies of Oriental arms taken from the Turks, and in the midst of these trophies were to be seen pictures by Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Sebastian del Piombo, Titian, and Pordenone. At the entrance of the bridge an arch was raised on which the arms of the allied powers were represented quartered on the same scutcheon. Banners and festoons hung from every arch and every window; torches and silver candelabra placed on every projection illuminated the streets, and turned the night into a bright and splendid day."

And in a manuscript in the library of St. Mark is written:--

"Thursday was the festival of the Doge, Thomas Mocenigo; great stands were raised in tiers on St. Mark's Place for the women. The goldsmiths placed two silver helmets in the midst, with their enamelled plumes, which cost a hundred ducats apiece. Then came a procession of three hundred and fifty goldsmiths, dressed in scarlet and mounted on richly caparisoned horses (each harness costing three ducats) preceded by trumpeters and musicians, who marched round the Piazza in regular order. Then followed the companies of the Marquis of Ferrara and of the Lord of Mantua, the first composed of two hundred and sixty horsemen; it was a great consolation to behold so many coursers, so many devices and ornaments and flags and streamers. The tournament lasted from seventeen o'clock [four] till twenty-two o'clock [nine], and it was a marvel to see so many gentle deeds. One of the silver caskets was presented by the goldsmiths to a knight of the Marquis of Ferrara, and the other to the Lord of Mantua; and it was a great triumph to behold. On the Sunday following, the 28th of March, 1415, there was a joust,--a noble sight to see, with all these lords and their companions and devices."

Gradually the trading-galleys of the Venetians, which sailed in small fleets, left Venice at fixed seasons, and made regular voyages all over the known seas; and at the mouths of the rivers of Europe they met boats bringing {250} inland cargoes to be sold to the Venetian captains, or exchanged for their goods. Venetian manufacturers were thus supplied with raw materials, as well as with specimens of the products of all other countries, to be imitated or excelled in Venice. As a rule, Venetian manufactures were in demand. The armor and weapons of Venice were equal to any that could be found at the same period. Her cloths of gold and silver, velvets, jewelry, and splendid adornments were unequalled, while many of the commoner articles of trade were made there in the best manner. Their immense commerce in beads and glass has already been described. In order to increase their business in the different ports which the galleys visited, Venice purchased warehouses called "factories," and put them in charge of such agents as would wisely conduct them.

When we read how slowly the unwieldy trading-galleys moved,--not more than twenty miles a day, and were a year in reaching England,--we can but admire, almost with reverence, the men who could "make haste slowly" with such perseverance as did these Venetians. In 1488 the Senate offered a reward of £650 to any ship-builder who could build a galley of one thousand tons burden.

Each galley required one hundred and sixty rowers, and altogether carried about three hundred men. They suffered great inconvenience, and encountered many dangers. The Senate made the most exact rules concerning their wages, food, the parts of the vessel to which they should have access, when and where they should go on shore, and many other details. The ship of the chief captain carried a master, a nautical adviser, eight pilots, a mate, two scribes, two doctors, a priest, a lawyer, an oarmaker, carpenter, calker and weigher, a cook, a cellarman, three servants, two fifers, and two trumpeters, besides thirty bowmen in charge of four young noblemen. The duties and salaries of each and all these men were fixed {251} by the Senate, as well as the method of loading and unloading the ships. As we think of all this tediousness for everybody concerned in Venetian commerce in the Middle Ages, from the Doge down to the humblest servitor of them all, the commerce of the present day, with our labor-saving machinery, our swift sailing-vessels, and space-annihilating steam-engines, seems insignificant in a way.

John B. Marsh, in his "Stories of Venice and the Venetians," gives an account of the experiences of a merchant fleet, which has a special interest, as Christopher Columbus acted a prominent part in the story, which Mr. Marsh claims is authenticated in the state papers. It is essentially as follows:--

On April 12, 1485, Bartolommeo Minio was appointed captain of four galleys to make the Flanders voyage. They had been bidden in by some merchants who had goods suited to the northern markets at £220 per galley. The great galleys were loaded. The prows were fenced to afford footing to the crossbowmen. All the different officers and men were selected and bound to complete the voyage. The cargo of glass, jewels, gold, silver, furs, silks, and damasks, bales of spices, dried fruits, and Malmsey wine was all on board, and an official from the Arsenal approved of all the preparations.

Then Minio, the commander, in presence of the whole Senate and the captains who were to sail with him, took an oath upon the Bible that he would obey the regulations of the Senate regarding the galleys and the people on board, and would care for them all in good faith. The preparations being thus completed, to the sound of trumpets the rowers began their labor, and the galleys moved from the canal into the Gulf of Venice.

Between Pola and Zara it was Minio's duty to pipe all hands for action. The decks were cleared, hatches {252} fastened down, and the four brass cannon on each galley were made ready to meet an enemy. The bowmen took advantageous positions, and went through evolutions as if in battle. This being done, the fleet was anchored for the night. Supper was served to Minio and his chief officers in the principal cabin. The bowmen and archers were in another cabin, but the rowers ate as they sat at work. Each man received eighteen ounces of biscuit, and an allowance of common wine daily, and in front of each bench of rowers was a locker for food. Having passed the Adriatic, the galleys were allowed to remain a few hours at Otranto, and reaching Messina they anchored for four days. The merchants went on shore, and exchanged some goods for oil and wine, while the oarsmen enjoyed a much needed rest. At Palermo the same stay was made, and thence they crossed to the coast of Tunis and Algiers, and passing through the Straits of Gibraltar reached Cadiz. Here a stay of six days was made, and then, having taken two pilots for each galley, they prepared to pass along the coast of Portugal and cross the Bay of Biscay. Ten hides were purchased for each galley and stretched across the holds to protect the cargo; and all having thus far been prosperous, they started upon the most dangerous part of their voyage.

Near Cape St. Vincent, on an August afternoon, Minio saw a fleet of seven armed ships bearing the French flag. They were corsairs under the command of Niccolo Griego, and one of his chief captains was Christopher Columbus. The two fleets anchored within sight of each other, and during the night the Venetians made the best preparation possible for a contest with the pirates; and at daybreak the attack was made. The Venetians fought so bravely that the battle was prolonged during the entire day, and only at sunset were they finally conquered, and that at a large loss in killed and wounded to the corsairs, and {253} serious injury to their vessels, which they were compelled to run into the nearest port, in order to save them from shipwreck. This port was Lisbon; and as the King of Portugal was friendly to Venice, the pirates hastened to mend their ships, transfer the cargoes from the three Venetian galleys, which were worthless, to their own, and with the one that was seaworthy to sail for Honfleur.

When the news reached the King of Portugal, he hastened to assist the surviving Venetians, and sent them home as soon as possible. Two captains and many noble youths had been slain. The pirates had thrown one hundred and thirty dead men into the sea, and three hundred others were seriously wounded, many of whom soon died.

When the Senate heard what had happened, they sent a swift fleet to seize a French galeas then at Alexandria. They sent ambassadors to the courts of France, England, and Burgundy, soliciting aid in recovering their vessels and cargoes. In the following spring two galleys, freighted with the cargoes saved from the four vessels captured by Columbus, were sent to Southampton, and there were sold by the Venetian Consul. The Venetians owed thanks for this to the French, who would not permit Columbus to leave Honfleur until he had given up his plunder. When the sum received at Southampton, and the value of the damaged ships which were brought back to Venice was deducted from the whole, the Senate announced the total loss which the Republic had sustained to be £32,200. When we remember that such disasters were not uncommon, we do not wonder at the Venetian proverb, "If you want to learn to pray, go to sea."

This particular misfortune caused much distress to the wool-workers, and the Senate removed all restrictions on the importation of wool for several months, in order to relieve the pressure in that particular trade.

{254}

This story of Columbus is in exact accord with the opinion of Charles Kendall Adams, in his most excellent life of Columbus. He says:--

"In point of character,--considering the term in the largest and broadest possible sense,--we shall probably not find much to admire. The moral atmosphere which he created about him was not much better or much worse than the general atmosphere of the age in which he lived. He entered no protest against any of the abuses of his time. On the contrary, he was ever ready to avail himself of those abuses whenever he could do so to his own advantage."

To resume our study of the mercantile policy of Venice, so quick was she to see her advantage in all directions and to take up new industries whenever it was possible, that no sooner was the question raised as to the introduction of the art of printing than it was generously encouraged. Venetian printing dates from 1469, and the honor of its introduction rests between John of Spires and Nicholas Jenson. The latter was a Frenchman, sent by Louis XI. to Mayence to learn printing. He never returned to France, and the only question as to his career in Venice is the actual date of his first book.

Venice soon became a city of printers. Between 1472 and 1500 one hundred and fifty-five printers established themselves there, some of them being the most celebrated printers of that age. In other cities of the Republic the printing of books rapidly grew into an enormous industry. We can scarcely realize what the demand for books became so soon as it could be satisfied. The slow processes of caligraphy had only created a desire it could never content. At the same time the exquisite ornamentation of the manuscripts had fostered a taste for dainty books which a plain-printed page could not satisfy; and then, too, those who could afford the silky vellum, with {255} its lovely miniatures, decorative initial letters, and graceful borders, did not relish books so cheaply made that any one could buy them, and no distinction was attached to their ownership. Thus it resulted that the early printers made a few vellum copies of their works, and employed the miniaturists to ornament them in the style of the manuscripts. Among these books those of Jenson, made at Venice, are the most remarkable, and bring fabulous prices when sold in the present day.

After 1480 the printers employed engravers, and from that time the Venetian books were very notable. For two centuries Venice was the centre for printing, and besides her strictly literary publications she furnished school-books to all Italy; books of exquisite designs to lace-makers and embroiderers; missals, breviaries and books of hours to the devout; and to the general reader, books of romantic adventures, poems, and numberless accounts of festivals and important events. These, now literally worth their weight in gold, were made in little shops where the industrious artisans actually made the designs and executed the engravings of the books they printed. The amount of printing and bookmaking done at Venice up to the end of the seventeenth century, as compared with all the rest of Italy and Lyons, is simply amazing. Of the great printer, Aldus, I shall speak more at length elsewhere.

In 1498 the Senate granted to Ottaviano Petrucci the privilege of printing music for twenty years, for which time Venice may be said to have monopolized that very important art. Petrucci ceased to publish in 1525; and it is believed that he worked alone, as later music printers were greatly his inferiors. His books are now very rare, and proportionately valuable.

In all these important affairs the wisdom of the Venetians is most apparent, and the results of their system are {256} its justification in many directions. But in the midst of great matters the smaller ones were by no means forgotten, and jealousy of individualism was the motive that induced the Senate gravely to make and severely to execute laws which seem to us most puerile and unworthy.

In wealthy families, on the occasion of a baptism, it was not allowable to invite patricians or high officials as witnesses, because it was feared that these families would become too powerful if too closely allied, and the position of godfather was one of very intimate relations and sacred trusts. So in marriages, in families of importance, as has already been shown, certain ceremonies must be held in the Ducal Palace, thus assuring a publicity which enabled the State to have its part in the affair, and have full knowledge of it, the religious ceremony being apparently quite a secondary matter.

With death only did jealousy cease, and at funerals the noble and wealthy Venetians were permitted to freely indulge their love of pageantry. The funeral procession of a patrician was usually at night. About two in the morning all the clergy of the quarter in which the dead had resided, with relatives and friends, attended the body to the church. Here it was placed on a bier, the nave being lighted by torch-bearers, and sentinels placed on guard until the morning hour, when the burial took place. At this ceremony a large number of clergy, and all persons named in the will of the deceased, preceded the body to its final resting-place.

If the dead had been eminent for services to the State, all the clergy of the chapter of St. Mark, the prebendaries of the Archbishop's cathedral, and the chapter of the Congregation led the procession. Two canons of St. Mark acted as precentors in singing dirges. Then came men bearing the ornamented and embroidered banners of all the guilds and societies to which the deceased had {257} belonged. Next followed the brethren of the "Scuola" with which he had been associated. These frequently numbered two hundred, all in white robes, and by night bearing torches. Behind them the body, on a bier, was borne by eight men. It was most richly dressed, and covered with a trellis of golden wire. Lastly followed the relatives, friends, servants, and behind all others, the orphan children of the dead man.

Next day the friends, in funeral attire, went to the Ducal Palace, whither the bereaved family were expected to come, and there receive condolences.

The Venetian archives throw a very favorable light on the hospitality, benevolence, and wisdom in sanitary regulations shown by the rulers of Venice in the Middle Ages. From the time of Michieli II. (1117-28) the streets were lighted at night, and watchmen had been employed earlier than that,--at least a century before they were instituted in London, under Henry III.

From a very ancient date Venice was "a place of universal resort, the Goshen of Italy." Strangers were constantly arriving and departing, and as early as the beginning of the fourteenth century the new-comer, as he landed at the Piazza of St. Mark, was met by one of the _messeti_ or _sensali_, who were always there, and served the stranger as the commissionaires now do wherever travellers are found, but with one great difference: in Venice these men were in the care of the messetaria,--a department of the public service,--and they dared not practise deceit or cheating, being sure of paying the penalty if they did. It was also the duty of the messetaria to see that no imposition was practised by the keepers of hostelries, or any advantage taken of unsuspicious strangers.

The ancient hotels of Venice were celebrated. In the fourteenth century the Moon, the White Lion, and the Wild Savage took the lead; and the latter was the {258} favorite of those who could pay well in 1368. Other hotels are mentioned in the books of the Procuratie of St. Mark; and ever after 1280, perhaps earlier, it was the duty of the police to see that clean beds, sheets, and coverlets were provided in hotels, and all necessary comforts furnished to travellers.

The government was constantly adopting measures against epidemics, and in 1423 the first lazaretto was established. A Board of Health existed very early; and during epidemics in neighboring cities no meat, fish, or wine was admitted into Venice until it had been disinfected. The greatest care was taken to supply wholesome water. All impurities were removed from the streets and canals, which last were dredged of mud periodically; and even smoking chimneys were prohibited.

The first hospital was established by the will of Orseolo the Holy, in 977; the first infant asylum, by the Doge Marino Giorgio, in 1312. A surgeon named Gualtieri established a Refuge for the Indigent, and a Home for Aged or Disabled Seamen. The Misericordia was endowed by Giacomo Moro for poor women; and a Magdalen Asylum by Bartolommeo Verde at St. Christopher-the-Martyr. In 1342 the Foundling, or Pietà, was established, and in 1349 there was an Orphan Asylum on the Giudecca. Moreover, both the State and individuals made periodical distributions of alms to the poor; while street-begging was forbidden, and the Signori di Notte conveyed all mendicants to the hospitals.

We must also remember that while the Venetians took and held many prisoners of war, they made constant efforts to relieve the sufferings of these men. In short, the archives of Venice bear unquestionable testimony to much in the domestic policy of the Republic that merits the praise and is worthy the emulation of all nations in all ages.

{259}