Date of Award

2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Social Sciences

First Advisor

Benes, Carrie

Keywords

Venice, Renaissance, Doge, Politics, Government

Area of Concentration

History, European Studies

Abstract

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the numerous small states of the Italian peninsula were experimenting with many different forms of government. In this time many such states attempted to govern themselves as republics. By the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the political landscape of northern Italy had become largely a collection of princely states, indicating the instability of republican regimes at this time. In this landscape of political change and a tendency towards autocratic or even princely rule the Most Serene Republic of Venice stands unique. Unlike most of its peers and neighbors during this time period, Venice never became a monarchic or autocratic state. This thesis seeks to explain how, through a mix of ideological motivations and personal interest, the Venetians crafted a state with a particularly responsive and adaptive government, which allowed for its power base to shift drastically when the balance of power was threatened. The structure of Venice's political institutions prevented the formation of an autocracy or a more closed off oligarchy and maintained republican stability throughout the Renaissance. Research for this essay includes the close study of primary sources as well as a wealth of secondary literature on the political structures and history of Venice. All of this research has been synthesized in this essay in order to explain the role of governmental institutions in the Republic's stability.

Rights

The author has granted New College of Florida the nonexclusive right to archive, make accessible, and distribute for educational purposes this work in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The copyright of this work remains with the author.

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