Unit 4 Outcome 1 Venice Social Life

The Miraculous Healing of Pietro Ludovesi

• The painting by Bellini shows in the right hand corner, the poor popolani woman begging from the members of the Scuole. There is in the painting a suggestion of the social life of Renaissance Venetians. The social institutions like the scuole which were places on the social map where people of different genders, castes and ages came together and were united by the membership of this social institution.

The demands of the Study Design

• • • • • Social structure Social Map Social relationships Social Identity The Examiners are limited to the Study Design and the elements of it, in their construction of the Section C Essay question

The details of the study design

•

Italian city-states such as Venice possessed distinct social structures shaped by their economic and political bases. These social

hierarchies were reflected in many aspects of everyday life such as dress, housing,

food, entertainment and the social map of the city based on neighbourhoods.

Social Structures

• • • • • • What were the economic and political bases in Venice?

How were social hierarchies reflected in aspects

of everyday life such as: dress, housing, entertainment

the social map of the city based on neighbourhoods.

The Arsenale

• • • • The basis of much of Venice’s wealth was her Maritime Empire The ship building enterprise at the Arsenal was vital to this The workers at the Arsenal were called the Asenalotti So, the question for your essay is did the Asenalotti form relationships that grew out of their work

Glass Making at Murano

• • • Glassmaking was Venice’s most renowned industry Venice’s reputation as a glass centre relied on successful cooperation between nobles and master craftsmen Places of work and residence closely linked and this would mean that the glass makers would have all know each other and would have understood their connections to each other

Neighbourhoods that promoted social relationships

• • • Both the glass workers and the Arsenalotti lived and worked in close proximity. The glass makers on an island, and the Arsenalotti around the Parish of San Niccolo.

The same could have been said of the patricians and cittadini who worked in commercial activity around the Rialto.

They would have known each other and have formed relationships. Here we can see how the social map and neighbourhoods were important to social relationships

Social Hierarchies

• • This is simply another way of expressing the idea of the social structure. The Patriciate dominated the political and the social structure, although there were significant efforts to include the cittadini so that their ambitions for prominence could be satisfied.

The Social Map

• • The geography of a city is an expression of the values that underpin the nature of the social relationships that exist in this time and place. The Study Design mentions the social map, and as such you need to be able to define it and discuss how the spaces and institutions of the social map of Venice contributed to social relationships.

• WHAT WERE THE PLACES AND SPACES WHERE PEOPLE CAME TOGETHER AND FORMED RELATIONSHIPS

The Social Map

• • • This is a concept that students often struggle with, but it is not difficult.

The social map is a map of the spaces and the places where people came together and formed relationships.

Like the neighbourhoods, the campi, the parish, the scuole. These were places where people of different classes and genders mixed in a way that transcended class and gender

Social Relationships

• • • • • • How important were the sestieri in Venice to political, economic, social and religious aspects of life at this time?

What were the range of social relationships that were

crucial to a Venetian citizen’s existence?

What was their nature?

competitive? typified by economic and political networks, Pragmatic co-operative reflecting personal ties like love or friendship.

The Social Structure

• Patricians: established by the Serrata in 1297 • • Cittadini: no political role but social prominence Plebian/ Popolo: no political of social role • You could be asked how did these separate and distinct groups form relationships?

Relationships that were based on class

• Clearly this would have been the most obvious link between Venetians. The Serrata of 1297 created an artificial nobility which determined their dress, their occupations. This would have meant that a primary social relationship in Venice was based on class identity

• •

The alignments within the Patriciate upon the important questions were such that no one side could conquer: because the alignments cut right through the ranks of the great families, the opposing sides were too strong to crush . . . there were both case vecchie and case nuove, The result was an equilibrium of countervailing forces, face to face. Moreover, because they were a consistently strong and dominant group of families, they provided continuity to the Patriciate and to the Venetian polity generally. (Chojnacki)

The Patricians

• •

The Patriciate Bartolus, a lawyer and political thinker said:

•

“Although they are few compared to the whole population of the city, they are many compared to those ruling in other cities, and because they are many, the people are not resentful of being governed by them. Also because they are many, they are not easily divided among themselves; moreover, many of them are men of moderate wealth, who are always a stabilising force in a city”.

Miracle of the Bridge of San Lorenzo

How did the different social classes interact

• • The painting by Bellini which dates from around 1500, shows the social integration of the classes and genders.

So, while the classes were separated by birth, occupation and dress, there were occasions which have been documented by the Scuole painters where the different classes and genders came together to share the ritual moment.

The relationship between the Patriciate and the Cittadini • Doge Loredan said of the cittadini • •

“we are the vine and you are the branches”.

He is quoting the Scripture here in his attempt to show that there was a strong unity between the two social classes

The nature of this relationship

• The Study Design asks whether these relationship were competitive, cooperative or pragmatic. In light of Loredan’s words it is possible to conclude that these were complex relationships, including a pragmatic understanding that they had to get along, but also a cooperation that would mean that Venice maintained civic harmony.

Relationships between the Cittadini and the Popolani • How did these two groups meet? They were separated by class and often wealth, what would they have in common?

• Religious observance and charity

The Parish and the Scuole

• • Every island in Venice had a Church that the local people would have gathered at to pray. This group would have been patrician, cittadini and popolani.

The parish church is an important part of the social map which brought people together to pray and worship

The Scuole

• • The Scuole were lay religious organisations that were formed to provide charity for the poor.

Each parish had a scuole piccole attached to it and here again, Venetians of all classes and both genders were able to meet and engage in charity.

The Miracle of the Bridge of San Lorenzo

The Scuole

• • In this painting you can see the Venetians, men and women, patricians and cittadini united in the ritual moment.

The Scuole provided a means for this sort of relationship to take place

The Parish • • • • • The Venetians felt a strong association to their local parish and created them a sense of a community. Romano argues that members of the Venetian parishes ‘strongly identified with their church’ which Black argues that ‘for an individual, locating himself spiritually within a city might be of considerable importance’. Almost 200,000 souls were distributed amongst the parishes. Typically each parish was separated on separate islands and Lane describes that a central square had its church on one side and on the other a wharf or some boatyards or workshops.

Muir describes the parish each had its own rich and influential families, patron saint, special feasts, customs and defined border. In the surrounding area of the parish there was a bell tower, the campanile. Crouzet-Pavan argues that ‘for men it signalled their life within a community of which they were a part of’. These parishes created small communities of people living in the area.

The Parish

• Black argues that ‘San Nicolo di Mendicoli had developed a fairly well-defined community in the 15th century.’ It was a community of fishermen and artisans who were locals of the area. Muir argues that in Venice, the church was thus parochially grounded, and the urban structure consisted of a conglomeration of semi-autonomous communities, each serving as a microcosm of the city as a whole.

Inclusions and Exclusions

• • • • • Within each city, many people, such as the urban poor, foreigners and ‘deviants’, fell outside the networks created by the dominant elite. How were they excluded?

legislation (e.g. controlling foreigners, prostitutes and homosexuality), How were they included?

institutionalised charity and festivals were used to incorporate these groups

Foreigners

• • • • • • • There was social legislation that regulated the lives of foreigners in Venice It was not uniform The Jews were treated far more severely than other foreign groups They were limited to the Geto Nuove They had to be there by 6pm The guard was a Christian They had to show a yellow star on their clothing

The Germans and the Turks

• • The Germans had to live and work at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi The Turks: the Fondaco dei Turci • Venetian social legislation protected Venetian special interests, so while the foreigners were limited in their locations and work places, they were hardly excluded

Prostitutes

• • Again, they were restricted as to where they could live and work, the Venetians had a pragmatic attitude to prostitution, and they designated the Rialto area for prostitutes to work in.

Chambers and Pullan documents set out these regulations

Cassiodorus

• • Writing in the 6 th century, the Roman tribune Cassiodorus described the civic concord that characterised the Venetian populace: “among you there is no difference between rich and poor, your food is the same, your houses are all alike. Envy which rules the rest of the world is unknown to you.”

Essay Questions

• • • • • • • • • • • • •

2005

In his description of Venice, written in 1493, Venetian patrician Marin Sanudo observed ‘ that there is no sedition

[troublemaking] from the non-nobles (popolo), no discord among the patricians, but all work together . . .í’

Marin Sanudo, In Praise of the City of Venice, 1499, cited in David Chambers and Brian Pullan (eds), Venice: A Documentary History, 1450ñ1630, Blackwell, Oxford, 1992

To what extent did cooperation between classes characterise Venetian class relationships?

2006

They all walked two and two, as I said, after the Doge in perfect order. This is very different from the practices I have witnessed at many courts, both ecclesiastical and secular, where the moment the Prince has passed all go pell mell* . . . without any order. In Venice, both before and behind the Doge, everyone goes in the best order imaginable.

Pietro Casolo, a Milanese pilgrim who witnessed an All Saints’ Day procession in 1494, in Edward Muir’s Civic Ritual in Renaissance Venice * hasty and disorderly

How important was social life in Renaissance Venice? Discuss with reference to two or three aspects of Venetian social life that you have studied.

2007 To what extent can neighbourhoods (sestieri) in Renaissance Venice be described as competitive and/or cooperative in relation to social life?

2009 In what ways did the Venetian Government try to enhance civic harmony through legislation? Discuss in relation to three different kinds of legislation. In your response you must draw on a range of evidence and relevant historian’s views.

Essay Questions

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

2010 Writing in 1493, Marin Sanudo declared that the population of Venice ‘according to a census which was

made, is about 150,000 souls. There are three classes of inhabitants: gentlemen [nobles] who govern the state and republic; . . . citizens; and artisans or the lower class’.

Marin Sanudo, ‘Praise of the city of Venice’, in David Chambers & Brian Pullan (eds), Venice – A Documentary History: 1450–1630, 2001, p. 6

To what extent was social identity influenced by class and gender in Renaissance Venice?

2011 Venice

‘In practice, the long-lived stability of the Venetian government rested on the attention its rulers gave to both special interests and the general welfare of the beloved city.’

FC Lane, Venice: A Maritime Republic, Baltimore: The John Hopkins University Press, 1973, p. 273

To what extent did Venetian social structures balance both the ‘special interests’ and the ‘general welfare’ of the city’s inhabitants 2012 ‘Venice opens her arms to all whom others shun. She lifts up all whom others abase. She welcomes those whom others persecute.’

Garry Wills, Venice: Lion City: The Religion of Empire, Simon & Schuster, New York, 2001, p. 180

To what extent was Venice an inclusive society?

20 marks

opens her arms – welcomes shun – to ignore, reject or avoid abase – to belittle or degrade, to take a lower view of someone