La risposta di Venezia alla rivolta di San Tito a Creta (1363-1366) : un delitto di lesa maestà?

Abstract

Our contribution is about the judicial interpretation of a serious revolution exploded in Candia in 1363. In the august of the same year, many Venetian patricians and colonists deposed the Duke of Crete in charge and proclaimed independence from Venice. The homeland - shocked by the attack at the heart of its power - tried to come to terms with the rebels, but once Venice became aware of their will in persisting to be mutinous, decided to counter attack, accused the rebels to attempt to its majesty, proclaimed the insurgents heretics and fought against them. The judicial language used by Venetian authorities is centered around some categories and cases in point which referred to a specific kind of crime in late Medieval Europe : the crimen lese maiestatis. The most interesting fact, that we output in our contribution, is that these categories substituted the expression crimen lese maietstais. In particular, the terms proditio and rebellio, were used by Venetians in order to connote the crime committed : the refuse of the obedience to the political authority. During our contribution, the Cretan revolt has been compared to two others serious rebellions which upset the political life in Venice : the conspiracy of Baiamonte Tiepolo and Marco Querini and the coup d’état planned by the doge Marino Falier. In this way the law system and justice were used by Venice as flexible elements to create consent and to legitimate its power.