Libro d'Oro
As Libro d'Oro (German: Golden Book) in many Italian states and cities, the nobility registers were called.
The best known is the directory of the Venetian nobilhòmini . Only they enjoyed full political rights as members of the Grand Council in the Republic of Venice , whereby the rule was: "A nobleman who was considered noble by his comrades and who was tolerated in their midst at deliberations and religious, social events."
The demarcation of the ruling families - the so-called Venetian nobility - through the serrata was not a one-off act, but a lengthy process that was essentially completed by the middle of the 14th century. With this demarcation of the Venetian nobili from the outside, advancement to the patriciate was only possible in exceptional cases.
In connection with the considerable expansion of the number of members of the Grand Council in 1297 , lists were initially drawn up of persons eligible for election to the Grand Council, which initially by no means necessarily had to descend from previous council members. On July 19, 1314 it was decided that anyone who wanted to be elected to the Grand Council had to register in the lists kept by the Quarantia (court of law). On January 8, 1317, a revision of these lists was decided and a heavy fine was set for unauthorized entries. It was not until September 16, 1323 that it was clarified that the Grand Council was admitted whose father or grandfather had sat on the Grand Council. It was not until August 31, 1506 that the children of families eligible for advice were entered into a birth register ( Libro d'oro di nascita ) and the Libro d'oro dei matrimonio has existed since April 26, 1526 , in which the marriages of members of the Great councils were recorded. These two handwritten lists - then called the Golden Book ( Libro d'Oro ) - were not printed until the 18th century: Nomi, cognomi, età de 'veneti Patrizi viventi, e de' genitori loro defonti matrimoni, e figli d'essei nel Libro d'oro registrati (1714 to 1758 in 19 editions), Protogiornale per l'anno ad uso della Serenissima Dominante Città di Venezia (from 1759), Nuovo Libro d'oro che contiene i nom, ie l'età de 'Veneti Patrizi (1797).
The laws for entry in the marriage and birth lists were in effect until the end of the republic in 1797 . Sons from ordinary marriages registered in the Libro d'oro dei matrimonio could be entered in the Libro d'oro di nascita . But it also happened again and again that members of the Great Council did not register their marriage or their children. Catching up on this was difficult, but possible. At the age of 20, those entered in the birth register had to report to the Avvogaria di Commun and received a certificate ( bollettino ), based on which they automatically became members of the Grand Council at the age of 21. Those entitled who failed or neglected to have this document issued were not members of the Grand Council and were not Venetian nobilhòmini. Eighteen-year-olds were drawn early as members.
In 1367 there were 204 noble houses in Venice, with an estimated 2000 to 2500 adult male family members. At the end of the republic there were still 111 noble families with around 1000 men. After the French revolutionary troops marched into Venice on June 4, 1797, a copy of the Golden Book was burned .
Following the example of Venice, such registers of nobility were created in other cities that were owned by the republic. The editions of the Libro d'Oro of the Ionian Islands are well known . In 1542 an edition appeared on Zakynthos , 1572 on Corfu and 1593 on Kefalonia (there is said to have been an older edition there before the Great Fire of 1591). After the Ionian Islands became part of republican France in 1797, all specimens were burned in public as a sign of a new civil era. 1925-27 took place at the Athens publishing house Eleftheroudakis by Eugène Rizo-Rangabè an edition as Livre d'or de la noblesse Ionienne , which however only includes a small part of the families.
There were other golden books in Venice itself, such as one in which the Murano glassblower families were entered. Family members of the long -established Cittadini originali who did not have access to the Grand Council were entered in the Silver Book ( Libro d'argento ) and then had access to administrative offices. Descendants of the noble families of the mainland ( terraferma ) could also be entered in the Silver Book and were then treated like Venetian cittadini .
The Golden Books of the present are derived from the Libri d'Oro .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Margarete Merores: The Venetian nobility. (A contribution to social history.) Part I: The sexes. In: Quarterly for social and economic history . Vol. 19, 1926, pp. 193-237, here p. 224, JSTOR 20725394 .