Chapter VI

GRADENIGO, TIEPOLO, AND THE COUNCIL OF TEN.

A new era was inaugurated in Venice by the fall of Constantinople. Prosperous and powerful as the Republic had previously been, it now sprang, as if by magic, into a position of which her most ambitious and far-seeing statesmen could not have dreamed.

A little more than a quarter of a century had elapsed since the visit of Pope Alexander, at which time sixty-five thousand was the highest estimate that could be made of her population; now, at the end of the Fourth Crusade, her nominal sovereignty embraced millions of souls, and the actual numbers within the borders of the Republic itself had vastly increased. The new territory and the various rights and privileges which she had acquired in the Lower Empire had largely increased her commerce and the sources of her wealth, and she hastened to make all these advantages permanent by a liberal and wise system of colonization.

At the beginning of the thirteenth century the Venetian nobility was the most powerful and opulent class in the world, as well as the most polished and enlightened, and were everywhere held in the highest consideration as men, soldiers, and diplomats. In the history of the Republic one fact stands forth prominently,--the devotion of Venetians to Venice,--devotion to the Republic, and to her elevation to the highest ideal of which they could conceive. To this end her sons directed all their powers, and were willing to sink their personality in her aggrandizement.

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Not in a spirit of humility, for never a prouder race existed; but it was the pride of patriotism which moved them,--pride if by any act they could add to the stature of the Republic. Not in any spirit of sacrifice, for they felt it no hardship to spend and be spent if only the name of Venice could thereby be made more resonant wherever it was spoken. Venetians were united in one aim,--that Venice should be the most beautiful and most powerful of cities. And so it happens that in the voluminous records of her history and life, while they give a vivid realization of the thought, energy, and power which thousands of her sons must have possessed and must have dedicated to her glory; while as one reads he may almost hear the hum of her busy life and feel the throbbing of her pulses, little prominence is given to individuals. It is not of men nor of family that we read; it is of Venice, first, last, and always.

Often as the names of Contarini, Michieli, Ziani, Dandolo, and Tiepolo appear, no one family ever held absolute power, or was independent of the others. Was this the result of their jealousy of one another? Perhaps; and it answered a great end. Never was Venice at the mercy of a race like the Medici or Visconti; and when the great ambition of her sons was turned from personal exaltation and centred in the good of the State, it became an overmastering passion, and could but produce glorious results. Ten times it happened that the Republic was on the verge of ruin; and as many times did its leaders in Council, Senate, and College, together with the Doge, stake all they possessed for the preservation of Venice, and always with success.

The wisdom of its laws conduced to bring about this state of things; for every boy of the noble class knew that at twenty years of age he must appear before the proper magistrate and claim admission to the Great Council, he being the legitimate son of one whose name was in the {92} Libro d' Oro. From that day, if he had ability, he must be a servant of Venice. He could follow no personal tastes in studies or pursuits. A refusal to accept appointments was subject to so heavy a fine as to occur but rarely. At the age of twenty-five, the beginning of manhood, he must enter the Great Council, serve on laborious committees, go thence to the Senate, and be elected or appointed to one position after another that demanded all his power of service. Sometimes he must fill several offices at once, and to the last day of life he can give himself no repose if the State finds his service valuable. No matter how old he is, nor how feeble, if Venice chooses him for her Doge, he must assume the beretta, the mantle of gold and ermine, and bear them as well as he can until the end of life brings his release.

Thus, by the middle of the thirteenth century the Venetians were held in the highest consideration throughout the civilized world, and still their reputation was increasing. The voice of Venice was powerful in every cabinet; her flag was respected on every sea; and, in fact, from the Great Council of Venice magistrates were chosen to rule in other parts of Italy where the native governing class was violent in its jealousies. To Milan, Bologna, Padua, and other important cities had these Venetians been called, and wherever they ruled the influence of Venice was potent. The intimate knowledge of the affairs of other provinces and cities which these Venetian governors gained was shared with the home government, and many advantages accrued from it.

The thirteenth century was an intermediate period, so to speak; for it followed the tremendous efforts with which the twelfth century closed and preceded the period when Venice reached its greatest glory and prosperity. It was largely spent in adjusting the Republic to the new conditions consequent upon its greatly enlarged territory, {93} and in changes of matters of internal policy. There were struggles in its colonies, struggles with Genoa and with the Papal See, as well as insurrections and serious party differences at home.

A large anti-patrician party had arisen, and an effort was made to return to the old method of electing the Doge by acclamation. So bitter were the troubles with Rome that the Republic was laid under an interdict, and all the offices of religion strictly forbidden; and had not Martin IV. died suddenly in 1286, Venice must have suffered unspeakably from his severity. But the advent of a new Pope gave an opportunity for a reconciliation, and it is believed that the principal condition of the peace made with Rome in 1289 was the establishment of the Inquisition in Venice. This was the last act approved by Giovanni Dandolo. Prior to this date there had been trials of heretics from time to time, but no permanent institution had existed. Indeed, the Republic had stood out against the wishes and commands of ten Pontiffs, and even now such restrictions were placed upon the Holy Office as disarmed it of much of its power and danger.

Two months later, in November, 1289, Giovanni Dandolo died, and the time and occasion had come when the Democracy had determined to assert themselves. They congregated in large numbers in the Piazza of San Marco, and declared Giacomo Tiepolo to be elected Doge by acclamation. Two centuries before, this sort of revolution had been successful, but a different order of things now existed.

Tiepolo was a sincere democrat; he was a wise and good man, one of those whose love of Venice far exceeded his love of self. He knew that his party could not succeed, and that such an attempt to overcome established customs could only end in the gravest consequences; accordingly he hastened to withdraw from the contest, and {94} retired to Villa Marocco to await the result of the election. His party, thus abandoned, seemed to disappear from the stage; but the tumult had proved to those in power that still firmer ground must be taken to secure the ascendancy of the aristocracy. To further this end, Pietro Gradenigo (contemptuously called Perazzo) was elected Doge in the usual manner.

Gradenigo was not a popular man, as the corruption of his name shows, for Perazzo was not a complimentary title, and he was known as a firm supporter of the patrician party. Many remonstrances against his election were made by the opposition; but the democrats were not organized, they had no reliable leaders nor any settled plan, and the firm determination of the aristocrats carried things with a high hand.

The deputy who was sent to announce the election of Gradenigo to the National Assembly pronounced the formula, "Pietro Gradenigo is your Doge, if it please you," and at once withdrew. As no dissent was heard by this deputy, the election was considered legal. Gradenigo was at Capo d' Istria; and a squadron of honor, carrying twelve noblemen as his escort, was sent to announce his election and invite his return.

And now commenced a reign which continued twenty-two years (1289-1311), during which time the most important changes were made in the government of Venice; serious wars were undertaken, and great disasters encountered; the Republic was placed under the ban of the Church; grave revolutions occurred. Indeed, these years seem not to have had a day that was not heavy with important results; and yet, as we now review them after the lapse of centuries, we know that the effect of wars, insurrections, interdict, and plague combined, did not compare in importance with two great political changes which were brought about under Gradenigo's leadership,--the {95} closing of the Great Council (_Serrata del Consiglio Maggiore_), and the establishment of the Council of Ten.

Daniel Barbaro sums up the character of Gradenigo thus:--

"He was a person of infinite astuteness and sagacity. For the vigor of his understanding and the soundness of his judgment he was not more remarkable than for his constancy of purpose and firmness of will. In the prosecution of his formed designs his energy and resolution were indomitable. As an orator, his delivery was fluent, his language copious, and his manner persuasive. Toward his friends and partisans, no one was more urbane in deportment, more profuse in kindness, more apparently studious to please. Toward those who had provoked his enmity, no one could be more unforgiving and implacable. In politics he was a dexterous tactician and an habitual dissembler; and he at all times evinced a backwardness to employ force, until intrigue and artifice were exhausted."

There is little doubt that Gradenigo was pledged to fully carry out the policy of the aristocrats. By a certain management they had been essentially in power for a long time, but occasionally they were made to realize the dissatisfaction of the people and their claim to authority. The time was favorable for the politicians to perfect and initiate their schemes, almost unnoticed by the people, who were fully occupied with the Genoese war, which gave them much anxiety and distracted their thoughts from what was being quietly done in their very midst. The intent of the closing of the Great Council was to exclude from election all save the aristocrats; it is thus explained by Romanin:--

"The citizens were divided into three classes: first, those who neither in their own persons nor through their ancestors had ever formed part of the Great Council; second, those whose progenitors had been members of it; third, those who were themselves members of the Council, both they and their fathers. {96} The first were called new men, and were never admitted save by special grace; the second class were included from time to time; finally, the third were elected by full right."

This measure was not perfected without much diplomacy extending over many years,--indeed, it may he said to have been initiated in 1172,--and when it was finally accomplished Venice was ruled by an oligarchy beyond dispute, and for all time. It was confirmed in the statute-book when all Venice was occupied with the fitting out of the great fleet to be commanded by the Admiral Andrea Dandolo. The Genoese war had thus far been uncertain in its results, the advantage being sometimes on one side, and again on the other, until the Venetians were thoroughly aroused, and willing to contribute money and men, and to do everything possible to put an end to this vexatious conflict.

Dandolo's fleet numbered ninety-five vessels, and carried more than thirty thousand fighting men. One man-of-war was fitted out and commanded by Marco Polo, lately returned from travels in Tartary and other countries then rarely visited. So rich was he that he was called "Messer Marco Milioni;" and but for his engaging in this war our knowledge of him to-day might have been confined to this title.

The fleet sailed from Venice early in September, 1298, and proceeded down the Adriatic to the island of Curzola, where Dandolo learned that Lampa Doria, with the Genoese fleet, was approaching. He had but seventy-eight ships, many of them being much larger and heavier than those of the Venetians. Doria had hoped to reach Venice before Dandolo sailed, and was much chagrined to find the enemy's squadron stretched across the gulf in three lines, completely barring his passage.

Doria was so impressed by the superiority of the Venetians, and so well knew their indomitable spirit, that he {97} at once gave up the thought of a battle, and sent to Dandolo to arrange terms of submission, offering to give up all his stores. Dandolo answered that the only terms he would accept were those of the unconditional surrender of the Genoese. This acted like a tonic on the courage of Doria and his men, and they determined to fight. Ten Genoese galleys were placed in concealment behind the island, and the remaining sixty-eight were disposed in line of battle.

Dandolo, finding that he was so placed that his men must fight with both the sun and wind in their faces, began to doubt the wisdom of his haughty and insolent reply, and decided to consult the civil councillors who had been sent from Venice as his advisers. Dandolo did not hesitate from fear, but from common prudence, which recognized the disadvantages he must encounter. But the civilians in their ignorance and arrogance urged him to fight, and he at once proceeded to do all in his power to overcome his unfortunate position.

The action took place on Sunday, September 8; and in the very beginning the Venetians crashed down on the Genoese, and ten of their vessels were sunk with every soul on board. The sea was strewn with the débris of these ships, and for some hours it seemed that victory still, as ever, attended the Venetians. As the ships met, the Venetians did not hesitate to board those of the enemy, who, knowing their fate if captured by the men of the Republic, fought like wild beasts in despair. Wounded men were hurled into the sea; many were crushed between the ships; the vessels of the two admirals were in conflict for hours, and the Venetians had almost won the day, when suddenly the wind changed, and several Venetian galleys were driven on the coast and completely wrecked.

Now all was changed; vainly did Dandolo exert every power to encourage his men and restore order; vainly did Quirini, Marco Polo, and other brave men expose their {98} lives with patriotic devotion; vainly did the men of Zara and Chioggia perform feats of valor; twelve captains were seized with such fear that they took to flight, and thus led to irretrievable defeat.

Doria quickly perceived his advantage, and his order to advance flew all along his line like lightning. A struggle followed which in desperation and loss of life has rarely been equalled, never surpassed. The conflict seemed still so equal that neither side could feel the confidence of success, when suddenly the Genoese, by a skilful movement, forced the Venetian centre, their reserve came up, and the rout of the Venetians was complete. The only vessels saved were the twelve which ran away; eighty-three were foundered in action or fell into the hands of the enemy, who dismantled and burned nearly all of them.

Five thousand Venetians were prisoners to the Genoese; the number killed was not known; Dandolo and Marco Polo, who had shown the most impetuous daring and bravery, were taken alive, and all the misgivings with which the brave admiral had opened the battle were more than justified.

"The spectacle which presents itself at Curzola on that terrible 8th of September, after the action, can be pictured more easily than described. In the evening the followers of Doria are seen in a dreamy and trance-like posture, holding with tremulous hands the palm which they have so dearly won, and thinking of the reply which they must give when, on their return, mothers ask for their children, and children for their fathers, who have lost their liberty or their lives on that too eventful day. Curzola hears no shouts of victory, no songs of triumph; several thousand Genoese have felt the edge of Venetian steel; several thousand Venetians see before their dim and feverish vision the horror and ignominy of a Genoese dungeon; and as the sun goes down on the conquerors and the conquered, {99} its serene effulgence affords a striking contrast to the deep lurid hue which has been imparted to the sky for several miles around by the gradual immersion of sixty galleys in a sea of belching fire."

Even the Genoese writers speak of this victory as fortuitous; the losses of the combatants were nearly equal, and the squadrons were well matched, as the superior number of the Venetian ships was fully compensated by the size and strength of the opposing vessels; and even after the change of the wind, if the heroic conduct of Dandolo and his chiefs, of the Zaratines and Chioggians, had not been neutralized by the infamous desertion of twelve ships, the victory might yet have been with the Lion of St. Mark.

"No joy-bells or other manifestations of popular enthusiasm awaited the return of Doria to his country. Too many among the multitude which thronged the quays to witness the landing of the troops were doomed to retrace their steps to a bereaved home, and to hearths made desolate by war; and in the extremity of their affliction, the Genoese were almost tempted to forget their glory, and to check their unbecoming exultation at the abasement of Venetian insolence and purse pride.

"But there was one who was expected to be in the crowd of Venetian prisoners, and whom the Genoese displayed the greatest eagerness to see in chains. _He was not there_. Unable to support the galling thought that the son of a Doge of Venice was about to grace a Genoese triumph, to be paraded in fetters before a Genoese mob, and then to rot in a Genoese dungeon, the brave and unfortunate Dandolo took an opportunity of dashing his head against the gunwale of the vessel which was conveying him to his new destination, and thus miserably terminated his existence."

Marco Polo was wounded and in an alarming condition when taken to prison; but so much admired was he, and so capable of fascinating enemies as well as friends, that {100} he was cared for in such a way as to insure his recovery, and was even visited by Genoese gentlemen. All who came near him listened to his stories of travels and adventures with rapt attention and delight; and especially a fellow-prisoner, a Pisan, Rusticiano, who had been a writer in his day, and was seized with a desire to write out all the wonderful tales which Marco repeated again and again. Through the kindly offices of a Genoese noble the necessary materials were furnished, and three months were devoted to writing, in curious antique French seasoned with Italian idioms, the tales of the modern Herodotus. We can imagine the supreme felicity with which Rusticiano began: "Oh, emperors and kings, oh, dukes, princes, marquises, barons, and cavaliers, and all who delight in knowing the different races of the world and the variety of countries, take this book and read it!" The first perfect copy was presented to the Republic of Genoa. The length of Polo's imprisonment is not positively known; but he probably returned to Venice in 1299, just when the "Serrata" and the insurrections convulsed the city. But his public life was finished; and his marriage, the making of his will in 1323, and such personal matters are the only records of his remaining life.

The Venetians at once set about the building and organization of a new fleet of one hundred galleys, and rose from their defeat with an energy and spirit that astonished the world. They bought artillery in Spain, and built vessels with such rapidity that the Genoese were undoubtedly influenced to make their peace with Venice by the conviction that she would be ready again to attack much sooner than they to repel. At all events, within a few months, these rivals concluded a perpetual peace with all possible pledges of friendship and mutual respect.

The Venetians now gradually turned their attention to what the Doge and his creatures had accomplished while {101} all eyes had been directed elsewhere; and great excitement and discontent were soon manifested. The populace had seemed childish and almost worse than that in the simple and unreasoning way in which they had cherished the fallacy that they retained any political power worthy of the name; but of late, in certain directions, notably by trying to elect their own Doge, they had evinced an awakening appreciation of the facts, and a determination to re-establish themselves.

Naturally, when the closing of the Grand Council was understood and the whole drift of the government apprehended, a demonstration was made, led by Marino Bocconio, who had already made himself prominent by his emphatic opposition to the election of Gradenigo. Early in 1300 Bocconio, with some of his followers, demanded admittance to the Great Council, in order to protest against recent measures of the government. The Doge was present at the Council when this demand was made, and after some hesitation the visitors were admitted. What occurred has never been known; but the next day Bocconio and ten others were tried for sedition, condemned to death, and immediately hanged between the columns in the Piazzetta. It will be easily understood that this immediate and extreme punishment of malcontents brought peace to Venice, in seeming at least.

It is interesting to note one peculiar element in the policy of Gradenigo. By the changes in the Great Council the power of the Doge had been greatly lessened, and "The Forty," or the "Quarantia," was now the supreme power in the Republic. Gradenigo had thus strengthened the aristocrats to the prejudice of his own authority. Various reasons have been given for his course in this matter, the most reasonable one being that he thus redeemed his pledge to advance the policy of the aristocrats to the extent of his power.

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During the preceding half-century the power of the Doge had been merely nominal; he was now simply the instrument of the officials about him. At the same time his pomp and circumstance had been augmented as much as his real power had declined, and the public occasions on which he appeared gradually increased in magnificence. Martino da Canale thus describes the Easter procession which could not have occurred later than 1268, as the Doge Renier Zeno died that year:--

"On Easter Day, then, the Doge descends from his palace; before him go eight men bearing eight silken banners blazoned with the image of St. Mark, and on each staff are the eagles of the Empire. After the standards come two lads who carry, one the faldstool, the other the cushion of the Doge; then six trumpeters, who blow through silver trumpets, followed by two with cymbals, also of silver. Comes next a clerk, who holds a great cross all beautiful with gold, silver, and precious stones; a second clerk carries the Gospels, and a third a silver censer; and all three are dressed in damask of gold. Then follow the twenty-two canons of St. Mark in their robes, chanting. Behind the canons walks Monsignor the Doge, under the umbrella which Monsignor the Apostle (the Pope) gave him,--the umbrella is of cloth of gold, and a lad bears it in his hands. By the Doge's side is the Primiciero of St. Mark's, who wears a bishop's mitre; on his other side, the priest who shall chant the Mass. Monsignor the Doge wears a crown of gold and precious stones, and is draped in cloth of gold. Hard by the Doge walks a gentleman who bears a sword of exquisite workmanship; then follow the gentlemen of Venice. In such order Monsignor the Doge comes into the Piazza of St. Mark, which is a stone-throw long; he walks as far as the church of San Gimignano, and returns thence in the same order. The Doge bears a white wax candle in his hands. They halt in the middle of the Piazza, and three of the ducal chaplains advance before the Doge, and chant to him the beautiful versicles and responses. Then all enter the Church of St. Mark; three chaplains move forward to the altar-rails, {103} and say in a loud voice, 'Let Christ be victorious, let Christ rule, let Christ reign; to our lord Renier Zeno, by the grace of God illustrious Doge of Venice, Dalmatia, and Croatia, conqueror of a fourth part and of half a fourth part of all the Roman Empire, salvation, honor, life, and victory; let Christ be victorious, let Christ rule, let Christ reign.' Then the three chaplains say, 'Holy Mary,' and all respond, 'Help thou Him.' The Primiciero removes his mitre, and begins the Mass. Then the Doge shows himself to the people from the loggia, and afterwards enters his palace, where he finds the table spread; he dines there, and with him all the chaplains of St. Mark."

The coronation of the Doge had also come to be a magnificent fête.

The day was a general holiday, the streets were festooned with garlands, richly emblazoned banners floated from the windows, draperies were suspended from the balconies, and all the beauty of Venice gathered in casements and verandas to see the processions as they passed.

We have a description of the Coronation of Lorenzo Tiepolo the successor of Renier Zeno, in 1268, which is a type of these ceremonies. The newly elected Doge was escorted to San Marco by a solemn deputation, and at the door was met by the Vice-Doge and the clergy of the Ducal Chapel. At the high altar he took his oath of office, and received the standard of the Republic. He was then led to the throne, and invested with the mantle and other insignia of office, the youngest senators encircling his brow with the ducal beretta. All this was witnessed by a vast concourse of people, who were enthusiastic in their reception of the new Duke.

The chaplains of San Marco then conducted the Dogaressa to the Ducal Palace, where, amid great pomp and rejoicing, she was seated on the throne beside her husband.

The coronation was followed by splendid festivities. A water fête was held; and a squadron of galleys, gayly {104} and fancifully dressed with pennants, passed close along the canal in front of the palace, while choristers on board chanted verses in praise of the Doge and Dogaressa which were written for the occasion.

The procession of trades was an imposing feature of this festival. It was led by the smiths, who, wearing crowns and chaplets of flowers, carried banners and marched to the sound of musical instruments; the furriers followed, arrayed in ermine and minnever; and then came the skinners in taffeta robes, displaying their choicest manufactures; these were succeeded by the tanners, iron-masters, barbers, hosiers, drapers, cotton-spinners, gold-cloth workers dressed in their precious products, the weavers and tailors attired in sumptuous white costumes with rich, fur-trimmed mantles. The dress of the mercers, glass-blowers, fishmongers, butchers, and victuallers was equally costly, some being red and others yellow. Each corporation wore a badge or token of their calling, and the drapers carried olive branches in their hands.

The four deputies of the barbers were disguised as knights errant, two being mounted on richly caparisoned horses, while the other two walked beside them; they were accompanied by four damsels, fantastically dressed, whom they claimed to have rescued from deadly peril. When they were near the platform of the Doge, they halted and made a speech claiming to have come from some far country seeking their fortunes, and offering to defend the maidens against any others who might claim them. The Doge made a reply of welcome, and assured them of their safety under his protection; they then shouted, "Long live our Prince, the noble Doge of Venice!" and moved on.

Then ten master-tailors changed their dresses, and donned white suits sprinkled with vermilion stars, and {105} traversed the city singing the popular songs of the day; each one carried a goblet of malmsey and occasionally sipped it. This was extremely Venetian; and we can but wonder if the tunes these tailors sung are not the same that have descended through many generations to the gondoliers of our own day.

There were also games in which buffoons played the principal parts, and men carrying cages of birds many of which were liberated when they came near the court; this was greeted with hearty approbation, and the whole scene was as merry as possible. We are sorry to add that then, as now on like occasions, there were many light-fingered ones among the crowd who filled their pockets at the expense of honest folk.

All these entertainments closed with an industrial exhibition in the palace in compliment to the Dogaressa, who, as she passed through the apartments, was presented with gifts which she graciously received; and thus auspiciously was the reign of the new Doge inaugurated.

This flattered his vanity; and when he was borne about the Piazza, scattering gold as he went, he may have been elated and imagined himself of great consequence. Every four years the citizens swore allegiance to him, his person was declared sacred, and he never left the palace without an attendant train of nobles and citizens. On the other hand, his oath now obliged him to execute the orders of the various councils implicitly. He was not permitted to exhibit his portrait, bust, or coat-of-arms outside the Ducal Palace; he could not announce his election to any court save that of Rome; no one could kiss his hand, or kneel to him, or make him gifts,--in short, no homage must be personal to the Doge; it must be rendered to the aristocracy who had made him Doge, and who were the State. No member of the Doge's family could hold government appointments in any part of the Venetian territory; {106} and his sons, who had formerly been associated with him in office, could now be elected to the Great Council and Senate only, and in the latter had no vote.

To make the power behind the throne more absolute, it was finally decreed that no one elected to the ducal office could refuse to serve, neither could he resign nor leave Venice. Thus the Ducal Palace became a prison, and the Doge the only man in Venice who absolutely could have no will of his own.

The quiet that followed the execution of Bocconio was a quiet full of storms. The discontents were not yet ready, and had no leader to inaugurate a revolution. Meantime the foreign policy of Gradenigo was making him the best-hated man imaginable. He had involved the Republic in a most disastrous war with Ferrara, in consequence of which the Pope had pronounced the sentence of excommunication against the whole Republic of Venice. It is difficult in our day to appreciate the full meaning of this.

Not only the inhabitants of the Republic, but all who aided them in any way, were placed outside the pale of the Church; their property, wherever found, was declared sequestrated; their treaties were null; it was made unlawful to trade or eat or converse with them; every one was at liberty to take them and sell them into slavery; all sacraments were refused them; even the rites of burial were denied, and the clergy left Venice. A new Crusade was published, and papal indulgence given to all attacks upon Venetians or their property. In several parts of Italy Venetians were put to death; and at Genoa many of the prisoners of Curzola were sold as slaves.

"In England, in France, in Italy, in the East, the merchants were robbed. From Southampton to Pera the Venetian counting-houses, banks, and factories were forced, sacked, and destroyed. The commerce of Venice trembled on the verge of extinction; {107} and all these evils were laid at the door of the Doge and the new aristocracy. But the party in power never wavered; their determination was the result and the proof of their youth, their confidence, their real capacity for governing. Though they were surrounded by a people suffering intensely from physical and spiritual want, as well as by a nobility who openly declared their hatred of the new policy and of its authors, yet they never deviated for a single moment from the predetermined line. Everything was done to win the regard and support of the people. The Doge instituted a yearly banquet to the poor, and the picturesque ceremony of washing and kissing twelve fishermen from the lagoons."

At the same time everything possible was done to humble and insult the opposing party. The noble Marco Quirini was refused a seat in the Privy Council, and his place given to a Dalmatian, who, according to the statute, was not eligible to this Council. It was attempted to strictly enforce the law against carrying arms in the street, which occasioned grave troubles. A watchman, called a "Signior of the Night," met Pietro Quirini in the Piazza one evening, and insisted on examining him; Quirini knocked the man down, and was heavily fined.

Meetings of the Opposition were held at the house of Marco Quirini, near the Rialto, and an organization was made. They determined to make Bajamonte Tiepolo their leader; he was a son-in-law of Quirini, and was greatly beloved by the people, who called him il gran Cavaliero. He had inherited all the popularity of his father, the Tiepolo who had been elected Doge by acclamation. Quirini had been the head of the Opposition. He was of exalted rank and personal character; and his relation to Bajamonte Tiepolo had increased his consideration by the union of two great families, so that he was now the most influential man in the Great Council. He had been sent as Podestà to Ferrara, doubtless in the hope that he would {108} never return; but he escaped pestilence and all other dangers, and was at home in time to engage in the insurrection with all his heart.

Bajamonte had been for several years at his Villa Marocco in the March of Treviso; but when, in 1310, his brother nobles invited his return, he readily assented, and his arrival in Venice was the signal for greater excitement and determination. He urged immediate action; and so many of his party agreed with him that the more cautious counsel of their elders was set aside, and on June 14, ten years after the execution of Bocconio, the fires of revolution were again kindled in Venice.

It was arranged that the conspirators should gather at night in the house of Quirini, and with the dawn rush to the Piazza, gain possession of the centre of the city, and kill Gradenigo. The night was terrific; thunder and lightning, and torrents of rain raised a tempest in which the cries "Death to the Doge!" and "Freedom to the People!" could not be heard; and under the cover of this terrible storm the insurrectionists went forth. One division, under Bajamonte, proceeded by the Calle of the Merceria; a second, under Quirini, took the nearer way by the bridge of Malpasso (now di Dai) and the Fondamenta; and all were to meet in the Piazza.

Up to this time the meetings of the revolutionists had escaped observation; but now a traitor, Marco Donato, gave such information to Gradenigo as led him to send three officers to ascertain the truth. At the Rialto they were met by drawn swords, and fled for their lives. The Doge at once apprehended the situation, and sent to the governors of the neighboring islands for a speedy supply of troops. He arranged his soldiers with great care, by the aid of the flashes of lightning; posted guards at every entrance to the Piazza; the main body being massed in the centre, awaiting the rebels in silence. No more dramatic scene is described in history.

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The conspirators had believed that their marching would be the signal for a rising of the people; but they were disappointed, and each advancing step proved that they had no sympathy from the masses.

Quirini reached the Piazza first; and as he entered the square, the soldiers charged on him with the cry of "Traitors! kill them, kill them!" Quirini and his two sons were cut down at once, it is said by the hand of Giustiniani himself, and seeing their leader killed, his followers fled wildly. When Bajamonte reached the Piazza, he was received in like manner; his standard, inscribed LIBERTÀ, was struck to the ground, the bearer being killed by a heavy flower-pot thrown from a window above him by a woman. This was the signal for a panic; and Bajamonte, with his men, turned to fly. Here and there they made a stand, and a fight ensued; they burned the customs offices, and at length reached the Rialto. This wooden bridge was cut down behind them; and they shut themselves within the house of Quirini, which was a fortress and defensible.

Meantime the followers of Quirini who escaped from the Piazza were attacked by soldiers in the Campo San Luca, and cut to pieces. The only hope remaining to the insurgents was that Badoer might arrive from Padua with the aid he had been sent to ask; but he was cut off by the Chioggians, and Bajamonte had no reliance save himself, his few followers, and the strength of his position.

The Doge soon sent envoys to him, offering amnesty and even pardon, should the rebels submit; but Bajamonte steadily refused. Gradenigo knew that Tiepolo could not be taken in his present quarters without a great loss of men and property; he also reflected that if he captured the leader he must either permit a traitor to go free, or execute the most popular man in all Venice. For these reasons he determined to use all possible means to bring {110} about a satisfactory negotiation; but everything proved ineffectual until an old man, and one much respected, Filippo Belegno, after many arguments and long persuasion, prevailed on Bajamonte to relent and accept the terms of the Doge, which he had at first believed to be but a snare for him and his followers.

By these terms Bajamonte and all the insurgents who had a right to a seat in the Council were banished to Dalmatia for four years; those of lower rank were pardoned on swearing allegiance to the Doge and the Constitution, and returning all the goods that had been taken from private dwellings or government stores. The lives of any of the exiles detected in breaking their parole would be forfeited, and to harbor them or correspond with them was made treasonable. Their wives and families were expelled from the Dogado, and the houses of Bajamonte and of the Quirini were demolished; on the site of the first a Column of Infamy was raised, and the armorial bearings of both houses were changed.

One cannot avoid a feeling of sympathy for Badoer and others who, being taken fighting, were beheaded, nor a sentiment of scorn for the traitor Donato, whose treachery was rewarded by a seat in the Council without election, while his family were made noble forever. Even Giustina Rosso was not forgotten, and for dashing down that flower-pot which came so near being fatal to Bajamonte, she was permitted to hold her residence in the Merceria for fifteen ducats annually, and to unfurl a standard from the so-called "mortar casement" on every festival day, and in 1341 her bust was placed near the Sotto Portico del Capello.

The 15th of June, being the day of San Vito, was made a festival, and one of the great Venetian anniversaries, when the Doge went in grand and solemn state to the very small and ancient church of that saint to give thanks {111} for the deliverance from this most important of the Venetian insurrections.

Bajamonte Tiepolo lived a stormy and unhappy life. In 1311 he was a conspirator at Padua, and somewhat later was hunted out of Treviso; in 1322 the Ten offered a reward for his capture; in 1328 the Doge was ordered to secure him if possible: but death fortunately released him from all his tortures. He had ever longed for the lagoons, the Piazza, his old _contrada_, and all the ways of his beloved Venice; but he refused all the proposals made to him for his return,--he could not trust the dreaded Ten.

However, so long as Gradenigo lived, he was haunted by fear of Tiepolo, and of what he might do; indeed, one historian goes so far as to say that he died of this revolt and its consequences. For a time the Venetians were constantly suspecting an ambush in the streets, and went to their beds in dread of the night and of the morrow. It was believed that only the most stringent measures could prevent a repetition of this insurrection, and that even worse things might happen. This tendency of the public mind found expression in a petition for a Committee of Inquiry, which proved to be the origin of the famous Council of Ten.

This Council was organized for a few months only, and for the special purpose of making a searching inquiry into all the ramifications of the late conspiracy. But on the following Michaelmas Day the Doge made one of his rare visits to the Great Council, for the purpose of saying that as the day had come on which the authority of the Ten expired, he recommended its extension for two months, as the need of it still existed in order to root out sedition and treason. The amendment was passed and the time extended to November 30, and again to January 30, 1311. At that time it was thought best to establish it for five years; and at last, in 1335, it was made permanent, {112} and became the tyrant and terror of Venice. In his "Venetian Studies" Brown says:--

"More terrible than any personal despot, because impalpable, impervious to the dagger of the assassin, it was no concrete despotism, but the very essence of tyranny. To seek its overthrow was vain. Those who strove to wrestle with it clasped empty air; they struck at it, but the blow was wasted on space. Evasive and pervasive, this dark, inscrutable body ruled Venice with a rod of iron. For good or for bad, the Council of Ten was the very child of the new aristocracy, which had won its battle against both the people and the old nobility. The victorious party breathed, and their breath became the Ten; and it is the Ten which determined the internal aspect of Venice for the remainder of her existence."

Thus had Gradenigo silently and determinedly worked a greater revolution than Bajamonte could have made, had he succeeded in his plans; and he had made himself hated in his success, while his rival was beloved to the end. The name of Pietro Gradenigo is not so frequently mentioned as those of other Doges and generals of the Republic. The man who firmly established the aristocrats in power and originated the Council of Ten is forgotten in the importance and vast results of his work; but so far as the sovereignty of Venice was concerned, no man was more remarkable than Gradenigo.

When he died, in August, 1311, he was hastily buried at Murano. Whether this was because he was so hated that a riot was feared, or on account of his excommunication, we know not. How truly of him could it be said, he brought nothing into this world; and it is certain he carried nothing out,--not even sufficient respect from those he had benefited to lead them to follow him to his grave. This was all the more noticeable from its contrast with the usual obsequies of those who held his office. Hazlitt gives the following account of a Doge's funeral:

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"In the first instance the ducal remains were transported from the Palace on the shoulders of twenty of the oldest Senators to the saloon of the Signori di Notte; one of the household marched in front, carrying a sheathed sword with the point upward; and a large number of patricians followed the corpse. The Doge was splendidly attired in the costume which he wore on state occasions; and the gilded spurs, indicating his equestrian rank, were fastened at his heels. After a brief interval the procession was again set in motion; and, the members of the College having taken leave at this point, the rest proceeded to St. Mark's, where the Dogaressa and her ladies and a throng of mourning nobles had assembled. Here the burial service was performed with the accustomed solemnity; and after its celebration the bearers resumed their burden, and the body was conveyed, with every mark of pomp, to the family vault."

With Bajamonte Tiepolo died the old nobility. He and it and the people were sacrificed to the new aristocrats, who had overridden the old Constitution. From the Quirini-Tiepolo conspiracy the peculiar government which was purely Venetian, and unparalleled elsewhere, may be dated; and strangely enough, the leaders of the revolt contributed largely to the success of Gradenigo, since, but for the insurrection, it is doubtful if he could have riveted his chains and clasped them with the Council of Ten.

Time has obliterated the traces of the rebellion. The Column of Infamy was broken soon after its erection by one of Bajamonte's admirers, and after many removals from one garden to another it was carried to Como. A square of white marble in the pavement of the Campo of Sant' Agostino, inscribed "Col: Bai: The: MCCCX.," is the sole reminder of the insurrection; and this is where few strangers go, in the heart of Venice, between the Frari and the Campo San Polo.

The family of the Tiepolo were not crushed by the failure and exile of Bajamonte. Their palaces, always {114} bearing two obelisks on the roofs, are still seen on the Grand Canal, and prove that in later days this house was not disgraced by the remembrance of the Gran Cavaliero.

THE COUNCIL OF TEN.

Until within the last half-century it would have been a matter of surprise to hear a charitable word spoken for this famous council, much more to hear it defended as the best method for the government of Venice at the time when it was the controlling spirit of the Republic. But in more recent years the historians of various nationalities, taking into account the more reliable and wider knowledge that has come from the study of the Venetian archives, are not inclined to the severe condemnation of the Ten which it formerly received, and have indeed been led to think it well suited to its era, and of great value in upholding the power and guarding the prosperity of the Republic.

Formerly the opinion which Cooper expresses in the "Bravo" found an almost universal echo. After giving an account of the establishment of the Council, he says:

"A political inquisition, which came in time to be one of the most fearful engines of police ever known, was the consequence. An authority as irresponsible as it was absolute was periodically confided to another and still smaller body, which met and exercised its despotic and secret functions under the name of the Council of Three. The choice of these temporary rulers was decided by lot, and in a manner that prevented the result from being known to any but to their own number, and to a few of the most confidential of the more permanent officers of the government. Thus there existed at all times in the heart of Venice a mysterious and despotic power that was wielded by men who moved in society unknown, and apparently surrounded by all the ordinary charities of life; but which, in truth, was influenced {115} by a set of political maxims that were perhaps as ruthless, as tyrannic, and as selfish as ever was invented by the evil ingenuity of man. It was, in short, a power that could only be intrusted, without abuse, to infallible virtue and infinite intelligence, using the terms in a sense limited by human means; and and yet it was here confided to men whose title was founded on the double accident of birth and the colors of balls, and by whom it was wielded without even the check of publicity.

"The Council of Three met in secret, ordinarily issued its decrees without communicating with any other body, and had them enforced with a fearfulness of mystery and a suddenness of execution that resembled the blows of fate. The Doge himself was not superior to its authority, nor protected from its decisions, while it has been known that one of the privileged three has been denounced by his companions.... Thus Venice prided herself on the justice of St. Mark; and few States maintained a greater show, or put forth a more lofty claim to the possession of the sacred quality, than that whose real maxims of government were veiled in a mystery that even the loose morality of the age exacted."

Since this Council is one of the most interesting and characteristic peculiarities of the Venetian government, it is worth while to quote a few authoritative and judicial opinions regarding it, and all the more that we have already cited those most severely against it. Hazlitt,--the able English historian of the Venetian Republic, and a member of the Inner Temple,--in speaking of the time (1335), when the Council of Ten was made permanent, says:--

"The Republic had now enjoyed halcyon days of peace since the return of the Zaratines to their allegiance in 1313. Twenty years of foreign war and domestic convulsion (1293-1313) were thus followed by twenty years of external and internal repose (1313-1333). Dalmatia was tranquillized; Genoa was humiliated. The Lower Empire, though not without its alarming symptoms, was quiescent. The pressure of extraordinary taxes {116} was no longer sensible. Prices were low. Provisions were abundant. Commerce had received an enormous impulse and expansion. The condition of trade was highly flourishing. The upper classes were elated by the development of fresh sources of wealth. The lower orders were exhilarated by the removal of their burdens. It was under these auspicious circumstances that the time was approaching for the dissolution of the Council of Ten.

"The original jurisdiction of this unique tribunal had been of a purely exclusive and strictly transient character. To devise measures for the safety of the State, to obtain by any expedients every new clew to the conspiracy of 1310, to unravel these clews to their source with untiring diligence, to bring to justice all who might have eluded detection, were the objects to which the labors of Decemvirs were directed, and the points to which their cognizance was confined. But the Council, even if its attributes had not been emphatically inquisitorial, showed no disposition to be perfunctory. The line of demarcation, if any such line had existed, was soon obliterated or ignored. Every branch of the Executive was submitted in its turn, under various pretexts, to the novel influence. Nor could it be denied that that influence was exercised, on the whole, to a highly beneficial end. It had been accounted a great revolution when, so recently as 1298, the Great Council succeeded in arrogating to itself the prerogatives which formerly belonged to the people. But the narrow jealousy and distrust, which were gradually growing up in the ranks of the nobility, had long made it palpably evident to the more discerning, that a still higher and still more concentric power must eventually arise to wrest these prerogatives from the hands of the Great Council itself. That power was already found to exist in the Decemvirs. Primarily elected, and constantly renewed by the legislative body on the clearest ground of expediency, the Ten had incessantly striven to popularize themselves, and to strengthen their position by propitiating the lower classes on the one hand, and by turning to account, on the other hand, with unequalled dexterity the disunion among the patricians, to rule that order with a hand of iron. By some the Dictatorship was viewed as an indispensable ingredient in the Constitution; by some it was tolerated as an odious necessity; {117} but all accepted the silent innovation in a spirit of acquiescence. The Decemvirs knew their strength, and they quickly made that strength felt. It was on the 30th of January, 1336, that their commission was about to expire; on the 20th of July, 1335, _they caused themselves to be declared a permanent Assembly_....

"In the Middle Ages, when an almost total ignorance reigned of civil principles, it was not unnatural that a system pretending to rise above the common level of crude simplicity should be viewed as slightly cabalistic and inscrutable. The Venetian Executive, indeed, displayed the earliest attempt to organize a bureaucratic machinery and a plan for the distribution of public functions; and Venice also led the way in founding the practice of diplomatic etiquette and official routine. _The Council of Ten was, perhaps, a constitutional evil; but it was certainly a constitutional necessity_. The tribunal was more or less fatal to the political liberty of the Venetians; but it left untouched their civil privileges, and it was highly conducive to the preservation of the national independence. While it was inaccessible to the whispers of treason, it was not a stranger to the softer influences of humanity. Instances were known in which a female suppliant was permitted to penetrate into the Hall of the Decemvirs, and obtained that redress which had been denied to her elsewhere. An instance might be cited in which, when a foreign tyrant had tempted and overcome the virtue even of members of the College, the Ten, alone incorruptible and without a price, provided for the safety of the imperilled State! ... It was not very long after their original institution in 1310 that the Decemvirs resorted, in cases where peculiarly delicate investigation was requisite, to the practice of delegating their powers provisionally and specially to one, two, or three of their number, according to circumstances; and these extraordinary functionaries were known as the 'Inquisitori dei Dieci,' or the Inquisitors of the Ten.... The Capi submitted resolutions to their colleagues, and signed decrees in their name; and the letters purporting to be written by the Doge himself or his secretary were generally composed under their dictation, being forwarded to his Serenity only for subscription. The Inquisitors of the Ten, who were thus nearly coeval with the Ten themselves, may {118} be recognized as the forerunners of the famous 'Inquisitors of State.' But no tribunal existed at Venice under the latter title prior to 1596, nor even then was it clothed with the revolting attributes which have been ascribed to it by ignorance or malignity."

M. Armand Baschet has written a book founded on the Archives of Venice, called "Histoire de la Chancellerie Secrète," which treats of the Senate, the Cabinet, the Council of Ten, and the Inquisitors of State, in their relations to France. It is an exhaustive and learned work; and having quoted an English authority, it is wise also to give a few sentences from this erudite French writer:--

"No institution has been more falsely represented and more misjudged than the Council of Ten. The profound secrecy of its deliberations, to secure which the extremest precautions were always permitted, offered so favorable a subject for invention and exaggeration that pamphleteers and romancers could but seize upon it without reserve. Doubtless this extraordinary tribunal had its dramas, since politics and reasons of State imposed on it the duty of scrutinizing the depths of the heart. Assuredly, also, it had its faults,--for although called supreme, it was not divine, and was therefore liable to err; but to believe that it was established for the calm commission of evil, rather than to prevent or correct it, is one of those extremely gross errors for which the active research into the truth of history--which in our day is zealously carried so far--endeavors to make reparation.

"Was its creation the arbitrary outcome of the heated imagination of a tyrant of the school of Nero? Was it an offensive or defensive weapon invented by this tyrant in order to torment his people? Good sense proves this to have been impossible. The Council of Ten was created by the votes, the discussions, and conclusions of a numerous and intelligent Assembly; strong in its united strength; full of political instincts, which did not ignore the truth that the power which by a vote it was about {119} to establish was created to prevent the dangers which men of great ambitions on the exterior, or revolutionists in the interior, might bring to the Republic.

"Was its establishment the work of a day? Would this great Council, created for two months only, have been continued by a new vote for one year, five years, ten years, and at last permanently, if the exercise of its power had not been recognized as a benefit rather than an evil? Was not this State, which in establishing this Council created a judge for itself, the best governed and most orderly which then existed in the world? What other nation then had a parliament like that of Venice? Could the sovereign exercise oppression even in his decrees? What was the Doge in the presence of the Grand Council, the lesser Council, and the Senate, other than a person with less power than the Sovereign of Great Britain to-day, who must be in accord with the will of the Parliament and the House of Lords? Moreover, it is manifest to one who seeks to know the Council of Ten from authentic sources, rather than from amusing histories without reliable knowledge, that this power was for the protection of the people against the patricians rather than against the people in favor of the patricians.

"Go to its archives, open its records, examine its parchments, penetrate into its correspondence, initiate yourself in the mysteries of its justice, understand its decrees, inform yourself as to its judgments, and you will see whether it made its power one long abuse, and whether the spirit of tyranny rather than that of justice was its inspiration and motive power. That it held a terrible power in its hands is incontestable; but that it used this power upon suspicion, and in the absence of other proof, is absolutely false. It is puerile to judge the penalties of those days by present standards. Should we not consider the manners and customs of its time? Under the best of our kings, under the most just, the most amiable and honest, were not the abettors of certain crimes furiously quartered? It is absurd to compare past history with the present, except it be to praise and admire the progress that has been made.

"Moreover, the Council of Ten had to sustain, in the course of three centuries, the most searching tests to which a political {120} institution could be subjected. Three times its institution, its existence, and its system were placed under the ban of the Parliament which had created it. Three times was it called in question by a party in the Grand Council, and submitted to examination and discussion. The tribune was free; the speeches made for and against its abolition still exist. In 1582, 1628, and 1762 the eloquence of the orators threatened its destruction. Judges were elected by vote to thoroughly inform themselves regarding it. They did not act under personal instruction to proceed against the individuals invested with full powers and accused of having used them against the welfare of the State. Quite otherwise were they instructed, since, according to the results of their investigation, a considerable Assembly would decide for or against the preservation of this institution in the Republic. Its most secret papers were submitted to them; and three times the Council of Ten triumphed over the party opposed to it, after having been subjected to the most exciting and searching discussions which could possibly engage a great and vigorous political assembly."

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