Week Eleven

Utopia and Upheaval: The Renaissance City (II)

Renaissance Urbania

Venice: Political System and Social Reality

Blah blah
● The word republic comes from res publica in Latin (thing/cause + common)
● The basilica of St. Mark’s is a testament to connection and cultural exchange between
Venice and the near east
● According to lore, venetian traders obtained the bones of St. Mark in egypt
● Church is done in a style quite different from typical cathedrals of the time → lavish
mosaics, as is characteristic of Byzantine Art
● Eyewitness Evelyn saw the church as dark, hailing from northern europe, a place of
soaring naves and stained class
Doge’s Palace
● Begun in ~1340 the doge’s palace, in the secular gothic style, was the political center of
Venice
● Seat of the venetian government and the residence of the Doge, head of the venetian
republic
● Houses some bureaucracy, the prisons (piombi, lead chambers), connected by the bridge
of sighs
● Casanova was imprisoned here, along with many other famous people through history
● Also had a chapel
● The largest city hall in europe at the time
The Venetian Political System
● The quintessential example of a self-governed city-republic, without external overlords
● Even without an external overlord, the venetians needed a leader → The Doge, the
highest representative of the venetian republic
● The venetians considered the doge to be equally ranked to leaders like the pope
● However he was not a monarch and was not allowed to wear a crown, he was after all an
ordinary citizen
● The Sposalizio del Mare → an annual ceremony where the Doge “married the sea” and
tossed a ceremonial ring into the waters
● This ritual acknowledged the venetian link to the sea, the biggest procession of the year
in a city of processions
● Rituals like these help the venetians to project an image of unity, values, traditional
hierarchy and unanimity → important since Venice didn’t have a constitution or legal
code
 ● The system was extraordinarily complex and it wasn’t easy to see who really held the
power
● Just because Venice was a republic does not mean all citizens are equal
Venetian Social Reality and Hierarchies
● In 1297 the serrata, or closure, was a watershed moment that outlined which 200 venetian
families could be involved in the government, in 1381 30 more added
● These families were called gentilhuomini (Nobles), about 2500 individuals and 5% of the
populations, their role was aristocratic
● Liked to bolster their status by claiming ancestry with the initial roman refugees, a rather
tenuous proposition (most had made their fortunes as merchants in the 12th and 13th
century)
● From the 16th century onwards venetian trade economy declined
● Below the gentilhuomini were the cittadini (citizens)
● Cittadini often worked in secretarial jobs, buerocratic servants to the nobles
● And below these are the 90% of the population known as Popolani Commoners, mostly
artisans and shopkeeper
● The Popolani did not have active political lives
● Does this mean the nobles held all the power?
● IN terms of economic power there was a better distribution
● “Not every noble man was wealthy nor every rich man noble”, particularly after venetian
trade decline in 16th century
● Lots of potential in this system for social turmoil, thus the government micromanaged
consumption
● Sumptuary Laws → regulated a wide range of aspects related to everyday life, listed the
clothes and jewelry for members of various social groups
● Such laws existed in many european cities, to cover up social tensions
● The idea was that people should not dress above their social status, ostentation was
considered a provocation of fellow citizens and god
● By the mid 17th-century the discrepancy between political and economic power was so
great the nobles had to expand political power (for a hefty fee), thus 120 families joined
the nobility
● They didn’t tell anyone about it though, to maintain
● The venetians fetished elections and held them all the time, every few days, to avoid the
impression of favoritism and corruption
● These elections often took place in the venetian great council, where every man from a
noble family over 25 had a vote
● Elections were specifically convoluted to avoid ambitious men from seizing power, this
system minimized partisanship
The Political System of the Republic of Venice
 1. Doge → official head of the venetian republic, only officeholder in the system who had a
lifetime appointment, far from omnipotent (restrained by elaborate checks and balances),
if savvy, could navigate system and gain power, as the only lifetime appointment could
outlast others, venetians made sure that the most ambitious would not become a doge
2. Ducal Council → 6 elected members, 3 reps from the quarantia, and the doge, executive
oversight and policy creation
3. SEnate → foreign policy, the navy, and
4. Quarantia → presided over judicial and fiscal
5. The Great Council → 2000-2500 Noblemen, approved major legislative acts, elected
smaller bodies
● The achievements of this system will become clear when contrasted with the Florentine
republican devolution
● Most cities came under seigneurial rule
Florence: From Republicanism to Princely Rule
● More than just a foil for Venice, a power in it’s own right
● After an initial heydey of republicanism, a descent until one-man rule
● Fun fact: Florence was known for its gay culture! The San Francisco of the Middle Ages
Three Aspects of florentine history
1. An example of the city that gained power by developing into a city state
a. In this process brought surrounding land under their control
2. Unlike Venice, Florence was not a major port city (an hour in modern times from the
ports) , the economic engine of florence was arts and crafts
3. The importance of the arts and crafts turned guilds into key political players
Geographical and Chronological
● Florence developed from an Etruscan/Roman core,
● The Urbs Quadrata is still visible
● Florence gained sea access by creating an alliance with PIsa (later brought under its
control)
● Florence needed walls while venice obviously did not
● Walls were a symbol of great pride, security, and power
● Who ruled florence?
● Technically florence was subject to the germanic Holy Roman Empire, but in practice the
political power rested in the hands of a local aristocratic nobility
● These nobles often owned land outside the city and drew on annuities, later engaged in
financial services
● Below the noble upper class lay a growing number of artisans and workers subsumed
under the heading of populani (though the political fate of these people was different than
that of the venetian populani)
● In the 13th and 14th century the power in florence shifted from a small elite to the
populaniAt first the populani had no power, they gained control of the government and
excluded the rich to form a republican-esque government
● The commoners take over for a certain amount of time
● This was the period where florence gained control over land outside the city
● Primary Document: Dante’s Inferno → “newcomers to the city and quick gains have
brought excess and arrogance to you, o florence”
● There was remarkable social mobility in Florence
● Terms such as republicanism and democracy are anachronistic, degrees of public
participation
● After the populani take over a remarkably high degree of public participation
● That said, some populani were more powerful than others, namely those in powerful
positions in the craft guilds
● Florence was always an artisan economy, being landlocked it couldn’t engage in
● A guild government was established, the vehicle of social mobility
● Affluent or noble citizens
● Dante was in the guild of pharmacists just so he could part
● 5,000-6,000 guild members in 15th century florence, the only people eligible for public
office
● Frequent elections, short tenures in most public offices
● Some guilds were more powerful than others, the most powerful of all was the Arte di
Calimala
● Named for the street that was once the ancient Roman Cardo, cloth guild was centered
around this location
● Like in Venice the downside of the short appointments was the difficulty of long term
policy planning, but unlike Venice, no ceremonial head of the republic
● Despite the problems of the florentine government, florentines were extraordinarily proud
● Compared to many other Italian cities it achieved remarkable political autonomy
● Contado ​the territories external to the city but claimed by Florence
● Catasto was the Italian name for a document of Land Registration, Florentine Catasto of
1429 was a very thorough historical document
● Florence’s most important building was the Palazzo Vecchio “the old palace”, begun in
1299, shortly after the guilds had taken power
● It served as the assembly hall for the council
● Exterior is imposing and intimidating, a deliberate choice of a fortress-like exterior
reflected the insecurity of the republican system in the face of aristocrats, POlitical
Architecture
● And now the religious architecture, it’s often a smart choice to contrast the political and
religious spheres in these cities
 ● The Duomo was and still is the most prominent building in florence’s skyline “the most
beautiful and honorable church in all of tuscany”
● Like the palazzo vecchio, a prestige project, took more than a century to build up just the
core structure (no roof)
● 8 generations of florentines worked on the duomo
● Completed under Brunelleschi, an eminent renaissance architect, came up with the three
shell plan, cupolas like nesting dolls
● At the time the duomo was completed , the city was ruled by the Medici
● The Medici were a powerful florentine elite family who made a fortune in banking
● In the 14-15th century the patriarch was Cosimo de’ Medici, the de facto leader of
florence
● He had a network of political supporters and paid bribes to ensure his supporters were
elected and enemies were exiled
● The medici did not resort to violence in their political aims, instead very shrewd swaying
of the public opinions
● Methods included Personal Favors (e.g. loans to families of young women without
dowries), gained him the favor of the lower classes, though really just a ploy for public
image
● Method two: acting as a benefactor of the populace: financed jousting tournaments, and
the original soccer tournaments!
● Method three: acting as a religious patron and publicly displaying his piety, funded the
construction of churches in his name like the Church of San Lorenzo, second most
important in florence, designed by Michelangelo (with Medici Chapel)
● This is a great example of the social function of religious
● Method four: secular commissions, like his family’s palace the Palazzo Medici (looks
like an oversized upperclass residence), built in benches to this house again a strategic
decision
● The building tries hard to avoid any appearance of aristocracy, a sympotom of Cosimo’s
commitment to keeping up the facade
● The Medici held onto their power for 4 centuries, with breaks, some sons weren’t so
careful about their ostentation
● Very significant population increase post-medieval
● New urban settlement develops, they reverse the medieval organization and reinvent the
roman practices of orderly design
Patterns in Renaissance Urbanism: Interplay between Politics and Urban Space