Age Qualification and the Venetian Constitution: the Case of the Capello Family

Abstract

Marino Sanudo in the introduction to his description of Venice and its constitution told Doge Agostino Barbarigo what every patriot already knew: ‘in verità, principe sublime, tal e tanto è il nome de la città de Venetia, che, dirò cussì, per tutto il mondo n’ è fatto grande estimatione; quelli che non l'hanno veduta, bramano di vederla et intender come si governi; quelli l'hanno veduta, non finiscono di lodarla’. This article continues the interest, but is less concerned with praise. It is based on a series of incidents in the history of one branch of the Capello family in the second quarter of the fifteenth century, showing how the age qualifications built into the constitution of which Sanudo was so proud could be abused, how family interest could be stronger than observance of the law. In Italian medieval history this point has been made before; but historians of the Venetian constitution have been concerned with the roles of councils and magistracies, or with the ideas of Venetian and foreign political theorists. They have been less concerned with the actual conduct of Venetian nobles. The present study of the political behaviour of the Capello family has for its point of departure a document of 28 June 1428 from theAntico Archivio del Comuneof the Archivio di Stato at Verona. The archives of Verona, like those of otherterrafermacities once subject to Venetian rule, contain much administrative material, not preserved in Venice, which can be used to illustrate the workings of Venetian magistracies and the political conduct and family interests of Venetian nobles.