gradonico, from the moment he was in possession of the office of doge, formed a scheme of depriving the people of all their remaining power. an aversion to popular government, and resentment of some signs of personal dislike, which the populace had shewn at his election, seem to have been his only motives; for, while he completely annihilated the ancient rights of the people, he shewed no inclination to augment the power of his own office.
although the people had experienced many mortifying deviations from the old constitution, yet, as the grand council was chosen annually, by electors of their[130] own nomination, they flattered themselves that they still retained an important share in the government. it was this last hold of their declining freedom which gradonico meditated to remove, for ever, from their hands. such a project was of a nature to have intimidated a man of less courage; but his natural intrepidity, animated by resentment, made him overlook all dangers and difficulties.
he began (as if by way of experiment) with some alterations respecting the manner of choosing the grand council; these, however, occasioned murmurs; and it was feared, that dangerous tumults would arise at the next election of that court.
but, superior to fear, gradonico inspired others with courage; and, before the period of the election arrived, he struck the decisive blow.
a law was published in the year 1297, by which it was ordained, that those who actually belonged to the grand council, should continue members of it for life; and that the same right should descend to their posterity, without any form of election whatever. this was at once forming a body of hereditary legislative nobility, and establishing a complete aristocracy, upon the ruins of the ancient popular government.
this measure struck all the citizens, who were not then of the grand council, with concern and astonishment; but, in a particular manner, those of ancient and noble families; for although, as has been already observed, there was, strictly speaking, no nobility with exclusive privileges before this law, yet there were in venice, as there must be in the most democratical republics, certain families considered as more honourable than others, many of whom[132] found themselves, by this law, thrown into a rank inferior to that of the least considerable person who happened, at this important period, to be a member of the grand council. to conciliate the minds of such dangerous malcontents, exceptions were made in their favour, and some of the most powerful were immediately received into the grand council; and to others it was promised that they should, at some future period, be admitted. by such hopes, artfully insinuated, and by the great influence of the members who actually composed the grand council, all immediate insurrections were prevented; and foreign wars, and objects of commerce, soon turned the people’s attention from this mortifying change in the nature of the government.
a strong resentment of those innovations, however, festered in the breasts of some individuals, who, a few years after, under the direction of one marino bocconi,[133] formed a design to assassinate gradonico, and massacre all the grand council, without distinction. this plot was discovered, and the chiefs, after confessing their crimes, were executed between the pillars.
the conspiracy of bocconi was confined to malcontents of the rank of citizens; but one of a more dangerous nature, and which originated among the nobles themselves, was formed in the year 1309.
this combination was made up of some of the most distinguished of those who were not of the grand council when the reform took place, and who had not been admitted afterwards, according to their expectations; and of some others of very ancient families, who could not bear to see so many citizens raised to a level with themselves, and who, besides, were piqued at what they called the pride of gradonico. these men chose for their leader, the son of james[134] theipolo, who had been proclaimed doge by the populace. their object was, to dispossess gradonico, and restore the ancient constitution; they were soon joined by a great many of inferior rank, within the city, and they engaged considerable numbers of their friends and dependents from padua, and the adjacent country, to come to venice, and assist them, at the time appointed for the insurrection. considering the numbers that were privy to this undertaking, it is astonishing that it was not discovered till the night preceding that on which it was to have taken place. the uncommon concourse of strangers created the first suspicion, which was confirmed by the confession of some who were acquainted with the design. the doge immediately summoned the council, and sent expresses to the governors of the neighbouring towns and forts, with orders for them to hasten with their forces to venice. the conspirators were not disconcerted; they assembled,[135] and attacked the doge and his friends, who were collected in a body around the palace. the place of st. mark was the scene of this tumultuous battle, which lasted many hours, but was attended with more noise and terror among the inhabitants, than bloodshed to the combatants. some of the military governors arriving with troops, the contest ended in the rout of the conspirators. a few nobles had been killed in the engagement; a greater number were executed by order of the senate. theipolo, who had fled, was declared infamous, and an enemy to his country; his goods and fortune were confiscated, and his house razed to the ground. after these executions, it was thought expedient, to receive into the grand council, several of the most distinguished families of citizens.
those two conspiracies having immediately followed one another, spread an[136] universal diffidence and dread over the city, and gave rise to the court called the council of ten, which was erected about this time, merely as a temporary tribunal, to examine into the causes, punish the accomplices, and destroy the seeds of the late conspiracy; but which, in the sequel, became permanent. i shall wave farther mention of this court, till we come to the period when the state inquisitors were established; but it is proper to mention, that the ecclesiastical court of inquisition was also erected at venice, in the reign of the doge gradonico.
the popes had long endeavoured to introduce this court into every country in europe; they succeeded too well in many; but though it was not entirely rejected by the state of venice, yet it was accepted under such restrictions as have prevented the dismal cruelties which accompany it in other countries.
this republic seems, at all times, to have a strong impression of the ambitious and encroaching spirit of the court of rome; and has, on all occasions, shewn the greatest unwillingness to entrust power in the hands of ecclesiastics. of this, the venetians gave an undoubted proof at present; for while they established a new civil court of inquisition, with the most unlimited powers, they would not receive the ecclesiastical inquisitions, except on conditions to which it had not been subjected in any other country.
the court of rome never displayed more address than in its attempts to elude those limitations, and to prevail on the senate to admit the inquisition at venice, on the same footing as it had been received elsewhere; but the senate was as firm as the pope was artful, and the court of inquisition was at last established, under the following conditions:
that three commissioners from the senate should attend the deliberations of that court, none of whose decrees could be executed without the approbation of the commissioners.
those commissioners were to take no oath of fidelity, or engagement of any kind, to the inquisition; but were bound by oath to conceal nothing from the senate which should pass in the holy office.
that heresy should be the only crime cognisable by the inquisition; and, in case of the conviction and condemnation of any criminal, his goods and money should not belong to the court, but to his natural heirs.
that jews and greeks should be indulged in the exercise of their religion, without being disturbed by this court.
the commissioners were to prevent the registration of any statute made at rome; or any where out of the venetian state.
the inquisitors were not permitted to condemn books as heretical, without the concurrence of the senate; nor were they allowed to judge any to be so, but those already condemned by the edict of clement viii.
such were the restrictions under which the inquisition was established at venice; and nothing can more clearly prove their efficacy, than a comparison of their numbers, who have suffered for heresy here, with those who have been condemned to death by that court in every other place where it was established.
an instance is recorded of a man, named narino, being condemned to a public punishment, for having composed a book[140] in defence of the opinions of john huss. for this (the greatest of all crimes in the sight of inquisitors) his sentence was, that he should be exposed publicly on a scaffold, dressed in a gown, with flames and devils painted on it. the moderation of the civil magistrate appears in this sentence. without his interposition, the flames which surrounded the prisoner would, in all probability, not have been painted. this, which is mentioned in the history of venice as an instance of severity, happened at a time, when, in spain and portugal, many wretches were burnt, by order of the inquisition, for smaller offences.
in 1354, during the interregnum after the death of andrew dandolo, it was proposed, by the correctors of abuses, that, for the future, the three chiefs of the criminal council of forty should be members of the college; and this passed into a law.
it may be necessary to mention, that the college, otherwise called the seigniory, is the supreme cabinet council of the state. this court was originally composed of the doge and six counsellors only; but to these, at different periods, were added; first, six of the grand council, chosen by the senate; they were called savii, or sages, from their supposed wisdom; and afterwards, five savii, of the terra firma, whose more immediate duty is to superintend the business of the towns and provinces belonging to the republic, on the continent of europe, particularly what regards the troops. at one time there were also five savii for maritime affairs, but they had little business after the venetian navy became inconsiderable; and now, in the room of them, five young noblemen are chosen by the senate every six months, who attend the meetings of the seigniory, without having a vote,[142] though they give their opinions when asked. this is by way of instructing, and rendering them fit for the affairs of state. they are called sages of the orders, and are chosen every six months.
to those were added, the three chiefs of the criminal court of forty; the court then consisting, in all, of twenty-six members.
the college is, at once, the cabinet council, and the representative of the republic. this court gives audience, and delivers answers, in the name of the republic, to foreign ambassadors, to the deputies of towns and provinces, and to the generals of the army; it also receives all requests and memorials on state affairs, summons the senate at pleasure, and arranges the business to be discussed in that assembly.
in the venetian government, great care is taken to balance the power of one court by that of another, and to make them reciprocal checks on each other. it was probably from a jealousy of the power of the college, that three chiefs of the criminal court of forty were now added to it.
