Ludovico Manin

Portrait, oil on canvas, 99 * 75.5 cm, Bernardino Castelli (1750–1810), today in the Museo Correr

Ludovico Manin (born June 23, 1726 in Venice ; † October 24, 1802 there ) was the last doge of the Republic of Venice . He ruled from 1789 until his abdication in 1797 when he handed the city over to Napoleon Bonaparte . This ended Venice's independent political history, apart from the period between March 1848 and August 1849, when an independent republic, the Repubblica di San Marco , was proclaimed under the leadership of Daniele Manin .

Origin and family

On February 4, 1526, Emperor Charles V raised the Manin family, who lived in Friuli , to the Austrian nobility. In 1651 the family acquired membership in the patriciate of Venice for 100,000 ducats . The further, now ostentatiously visible, social rise took place in 1700 with the move from an apartment in Palazzo Fontana in the municipality of S. Felice to Palazzo Dolfin in S. Salvador, which was artistically designed between 1704 and 1748, with the new owners let him equip mainly with paintings and stone carvings.

Until the Doge election

Villa Manin in Codroipo

Ludovico was the eldest son of Ludovico and Maria Basadonna. Together with his brothers Pietro († 1792), born in 1732, and Giovanni († 1774), who was born in 1736, he received a typical training in Italian and French literature under the supervision of his highly educated mother, a relative of Cardinal Pietro Basadonna . He then studied at the Jesuit college ( dei nobili ) in Bologna , where he chose rhetoric and philosophy . With a Tesi on natural law under the title Propositiones de Jure naturae quas in Nobilium S. Xaverii Collegio… propugnabit he completed his studies there, a small philosophical work that was published in Bologna without a year of publication.

On October 15, 1743, accompanied by his brother Piero, he set out for Rome to go to the Collegio Clementino . Subsequently, Ludovico Manin studied history, rhetoric, mathematics and French, but also dance and fencing, out of private interest, under the guidance of priest A. Gibellini. On April 18, 1746, Ludovico set out for Naples , again with his brother Pietro, who had left the college for unknown reasons . They were received in his house by the Venetian consul Conte GA Piatti and introduced to King Charles IV of Naples and Sicily, who later became King of the Bourbons, Charles III. of Spain . His wife Maria Amalia von Sachsen , who married him at the age of 13, stayed in her villa in Passariano in 1738.

After returning to Venice, he looked for an opportunity to rise to the higher political ranks. In September 1748 he married Elisabetta di Giannantonio Grimani. However, this marriage with Elisabetta Grimani had no descendants. In 1751, when he had reached the statutory minimum age of 25, he received a seat on the Grand Council. He was immediately elected Capitano of Vicenza , with which he skipped the otherwise usual apprenticeship in the Venetian magistrates. He dealt with the question of taxes with great success and fought the smuggling of silk, tobacco, salt and oil in the foothills of the Alps, more precisely in the area of ​​the Seven Municipalities , known in Italy as the Asiago plateau (altopiano) . He succeeded in balancing interests even with the less well-off. Manin had thus recommended himself, and so the Great Council elected him Capitano of Verona in December 1756 . When the Adige overflowed its banks in September 1757 and caused great damage, he was able to earn an appropriate reputation through his aid measures. He was elected to the prestigious post of Podestà of Brescia in 1763 , but was elected procurator of San Marco in November, barely a month after moving to the city.

The inauguration celebrations began in Brescia with music, fireworks, dancing and refreshments, a solemn procession and Te Deum . But the ceremony and the celebrations in Venice overshadowed all of this by far, because the comparatively "new" family had to shine through wealth and prestige in order to stay at the top of the city nobility. The actual inauguration ceremony took place on April 30, 1764 in the Church of San Salvador. In a long march through the Mercerie , the procurator came to St. Mark's Square , where he was sworn in in the church. Over the next few years he gained a high reputation in dealing with finance and administration. From 1764 to 1768 he was one of the three auditors in Zecca (vg. Zecca (Venice) ), then until 1770 one of the auditors e regolatori dei dazi , then he became one of the Provveditori in Zecca (1771–1773), then one of the Revisori e regolatori delle entrate pubbliche (1773–1775 and 1776–1778, again 1783–1785 ) to become one of the Inquisitori sull'amministrazione dei pubblici ruoli from 1774–1776 . After this supervisory and control post in the finance and coin administration, he took on military supervisory functions as deputato alle cose dell'Arsenale from 1780 to 1783 , then he was again for Verona as Magistrato dei Beni inculti designato al prosciugamento delle Valli Veronesi , where he accordingly took care of the drainage of unused soil. From 1785 to 1789, as one of the Deputati alla regolazione delle tariffe mercantili di Venezia, he took care of commercial tariffs, and finally of collecting public credits as one of the three Inquisitori sull'esazione dei pubblici crediti .

The election of Paolo Renier , a direct relative of Manin, as doge, caused the latter to maintain a dense network of patronage and clientelism. His reputation as a balancer in political and economic matters was cultivated, but also by his enormous fortune. In 1789 the still reigning Doge believed, a few months before his death: "L'erario xe in sconquasso ocore un ricon ei farà Lodovico Manin". What made him even more of a candidate, however, was the fact that he saw economics take precedence over the clashes between the conservatives and the moderates among the Enlightenment.

Before being elected, Manin had had a political, economic and military career, with stints in Venice, Verona and Brescia . Manin was notorious for being stingy. Already at the beginning of his Dogat, in which he missed the usual generosity of the Doges, he made himself unpopular with the people of Venice. His family owned the Villa Manin in Friuli .

The Doge's Office (1789–1797)

Manin was elected Doge in the first ballot on March 9, 1789, a few months before the Parisians revolted against the rule of the Bourbons and the French Revolution began, which also heralded the end of the once glamorous Serenissima . The second influential candidate was Andrea Memmo. He had started with decided reform ideas, but he had increasingly lost the support of his group. Manin gained increasingly significant support, particularly from the Pisani-Mocenigo Corner. In the first ballot, he received 28 votes.

Manin tried, even though he was deeply hit by the death of his wife in 1792, to solve the economic problems. Nevertheless, there were riots in the subordinate cities due to massive price increases in 1793 and 1794. As a large landowner in Friuli, he ensured that the status quo was maintained against reform proposals formulated as early as 1782. These were finally shelved in 1795.

The Italian states including the Republic of Venice in 1789

After Napoleon's invasion of Italy and his military successes, there was a first coalition against France in 1795, which was also joined by the Italian states with the exception of Genoa and Venice, which took a neutral position. Without worrying about the threatening foreign policy situation, it was rumored for a long time that the inability of the Doge and the state as a whole to react to the threat, the Carnival and the wedding of the Doge to the sea were celebrated in Venice with the usual pomp.

On June 1, 1796, French troops invaded Verona . Only now did Venice take note of the seriousness of the situation, and Venice's diplomacy began - too late - to move. All of Northern Italy had meanwhile become a battlefield for the French and Austrian troops. On April 15, 1797, the French general Andoche Junot gave the Doge an ultimatum accusing the republic of treason, which the republic did not accept. On April 18, in a secret amendment to the Leoben Peace Treaty, it was agreed between France and Austria that Veneto , Istria and Dalmatia should fall to Austria. A week later, on April 25, 1797, a French fleet lay in front of the Lido .

Manin was convinced that the fatherland and the patrician government were by no means identical. On May 1, 1797, he proposed to the Grand Council to deny the patriciate the exclusive right to exercise power in order to 'save this city' ("salvar questa città"). He gave posterity the impression of a weak and fearful Doge when he warned on May 4th that the rejection would put the city at great risk, that it would be the first to fall victim to a military attack. Neither the Senate nor the Signoria ever met again to express their opinion, so that the Consulta straordinaria, composed by the Doge alone, prepared the dissolution of the Republic. After the dissolution of the Grand Council on May 12th, the Doge stayed in the Doge's Palace until May 15th. He called the Consulta together to see that order was maintained. He also sent reports to Napoleon's delegates, organized the dissolution of the Grand Council and the transfer of power to a provisional government. He himself refused to participate in any future government, not even after death threats from the new masters of the city.

Venice's cannons had sunk a ship and its captain, but the arrival of the French could not be stopped.

After the abdication (1797–1802)

Manin's abdication 1797 (painting)

Altar of the Cappella Manin in the Scalzi Church

On May 16, 1797, foreign troops stood on St. Mark's Square for the first time in Venice's history . On the same day the surrender treaty was signed and Venice submitted to French rule. June 4th, day of the establishment of a Provisional Government, has been declared a national holiday as Freedom Day. In the Treaty of Campoformio of October 17, 1797, Veneto , Dalmatia and Istria fell to Austria . On January 18, 1798, the occupation of the city by Austria began with the entry of his troops.

After his abdication, Manin withdrew with his two nephews to the Palazzo Pesaro a San Stae and then to the Palazzo Dolfin Manin , which he had restored. He returned the doge cap (the corno ducale ) and the golden book (the list of the member families of the Grand Council) and is said to have been insulted on walks through the city for leaving the millennial republic to the French almost without a fight. After all, he is said to have stopped receiving old friends himself. His wish to enter a monastery could not be realized. He died on October 24, 1802 and was buried - at his own request without any pomp - in the Cappella Manin , a family crypt in the Church of Santa Maria di Nazareth (Scalzi Church). A simple stone only contains the inscription Manini Cineres (ashes of Manin). Since he had no children (his brother continued the family), he set up the Manin Foundation , to which he left 110,000 ducats. She cared for orphans and the mentally handicapped and provided dowry for daughters from poor families .

Manin was well aware of the importance of what was going on. From July 21, 1797, he wrote notes about the events. At first, his dislike of the behavior of the revolutionaries, especially his former Venetian colleagues, predominated. Then he moves on to administrative and economic notes. He gives a lot of space to political and social etiquette, the relationship between victors and vanquished, the comings and goings of French and Austrian generals, and changes in functionaries. In the course of 1799, more analytical reports followed, which also served to describe his attempts to reform the republic. The last entries were made on August 1, 1802, two months before his death. These notes were published by Attilio Sarfatti in 1886 under the title Memorie del dogado di Lodovico Manin con prefazione e note . The editor's stance caused widespread condemnation of the "weak" doge, such as Edoardo Vecchiato's Un principe debole (Padua 1888), who insinuated that Manin was a man without any civil virtues. Without Manin, according to the author, the fall of the republic would by no means have been inevitable. Even Andrea Da Mosto rumored that view unaudited. Later works, such as that of Michele Gottardi or Dorit Raines, showed, despite Manin's pessimistic attitude, that the Doge had made an effort to save the republic.

When the Austrians moved into Venice in early 1798, Manin was among the twelve members of a delegation who had to swear allegiance to the new masters. He also followed closely the rise of Francesco Pesaro, who became a close advisor to Emperor Franz II, as Commissario straordinario, special commissioner for Venice and the Terraferma. Manin stayed away from all positions in the new regime. In 1801 he often appeared on walks in Cannaregio, went to the Chiesa dei Servi or to the old Ridotto behind the Procuraties. Despite a donation of 20,000 ducats for impoverished nobles, he registered how the people and parts of the patriciate made him responsible for the changed conditions. He was insulted in the street, including in church, and robbed twice.

swell

The family's documents are on the one hand in the Archivio di Stato di Udine, the Udine State Archives , including the memoirs of Dogaressa Elisabetta Grimani (busta 335), on the other hand in the Biblioteca civica Joppi in the same city. In contrast, other, partly unpublished holdings are central to his official work and, above all, his reign:

• Venice State Archives , Avogaria di Comun, Libri d'oro, Nascite , registro 64 / XIV, c. 253r; Notarile, Testamenti , busta 234, n.208 (October 1, 1802); Senato, Terra , filze 2159, 2162-2163, 2167, 2174 and registro 343 (Dispacci, also envoy reports, from Vicenza), filze 2371, 2374-2375, 2380-2381 (Dispacci from Brescia).
• Biblioteca Marciana , Mss. It., Cl. IV, 324 (= 5332) and cl. IV, 330 (= 5293): lettere a S. Stratico; cl. VII, 942 (= 9014): Famiglie aggregate alla nobiltà veneta, p. 24; cl. VII, 1402 (= 9293).
• Anton Maria Lamberti: Memorie degli ultimi cinquant'anni della Repubblica di Venezia , c. 198, Biblioteca del Civico Museo Correr, Cod. Cicogna, 3419, 3057 (episcopal letters to Manin) and other holdings.
• Gaspare Gozzi: Delle lodi di sua eccell. il sig. Ludovico Manin, procuratore di S. Marco per merito , Stamperia Albrizzi, Venice 1764.
• La verità vellata dell'anno 1797 , undated, undated (1797?).
• Francesco Donà: Esatto diario di quanto è successo dalli 2. sino a 17. Maggio 1797. nella caduta della veneta aristocratica Repubblica unitamente al trattato di Pace stipulato fra la medesima e la Repubblica Francese , Basilea [Venice] 1797. ( digitized )
• Francesco Calbo Crotta : Memoria che può servire alla storia politica degli ultimi otto anni della Repubblica di Venezia , F. Rivington, London [Venice] 1798. ( digitized version )
• Cristoforo Tentori: Raccolta cronologico-ragionata di documenti inediti che formano la storia diplomatica della rivoluzione e caduta della Repubblica di Venezia corredata di critiche osservazioni , 2 vols., Florence 1799, vol. II, passim. ( Digitized, Vol. I , Vol. II )
• Iacopo Morelli: Lettere familiari dell'abate Natale Lastesio , Bassano 1805, pp. 65, 76 f. ( Digitized version )
• Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna : Delle Inscrizioni Veneziane , Vol. I, Venice 1824, p. 279 f.

literature

• Dorit Raines: Manin, Lodovico Giovanni , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani 69 (2007).
• Andrea Da Mosto : I dogi di Venezia nella vita pubblica e privata , Florence 1977, pp. 531-545.
• Samuele Romanin : Storia documentata di Venezia , vol. X, Venice 1861, p. Xx.
• Giuseppe Lorenzetti: Ludovico Manin ultimo doge ovvero La caduta della Veneta Repubblica , Venice 1867.
• Attilio Sarfatti: Il doge Ludovico Manin , Venice 1886.
• Carlo Cipolla : Provvedimenti presi dal Consiglio di Verona in occasione della piena dell'Adige del 1757 , in Archivio veneto , XXIV (1882) 280–289.
• Giacomo Di Prampero: Il passaggio pel Friuli di Maria Amalia principessa di Polonia regina delle Due Sicilie, 1738 , Udine 1911.
• Sante Valentini: Piccole memorie nell'incontro che l'infelice doge Lodovico Manin sta per morire, li 2 ott. 1802 , [Udine] 1911 (transcription of ms. Cicogna, 3145/15 of the Biblioteca del Civico Museo Correr ).
• Ricciotti Bratti: La fine della Serenissima , Milan 1919 (ND 1998).
• Annibale Alberti , Roberto Cessi (ed.): Verbali delle sedute della Municipalità provvisoria di Venezia 1797 , Vol. I, 1, Bologna 1928.
• Annibale Bozzola: L'ultimo doge e la caduta della Serenissima , in: Nuova Rivista storica XII (1934) 3-32.
• Antonio D'Alia: Ludovico Manin, ultimo doge di Venezia , Rome 1940.
• Gianfranco Torcellan: Una figura della Venezia settecentesca, Andrea Memmo. Ricerche sulla crisi dell'aristocrazia veneziana , Venice, Rome 1962, pp. 206-210.
• Amelio Tagliaferri (ed.): Relazioni dei rettori veneziani in Terraferma , VII, Podestaria e capitanato in Vicenza, Milan 1976, pp. 481-487.
• Jean Georgelin: Venise au siècle des lumières , Mouton, Paris 1978, pp. 493-502.
• Giuseppe Gullino: La congiura del 12 ott. 1797 e la fine della Municipalità veneziana , in Critica storica XVI (1979) 545–622, here: p. 553 f.
• Mario Massironi, Giovanni Distefano: L'ultimo dei dogi , Helvetia, Venice 1986.
• Renzo Derosas: Dal patriziato alla nobiltà. Aspetti della crisi dell'aristocrazia veneziana nella prima metà dell'Ottocento , in: Les noblesses européennes au XIXe siècle. Actes du Colloque organisé par l'École française de Rome et le Centro per gli studi di politica estera e opinione pubblica de l'Université de Milan, en collaboration avec la Casa de Velázquez (Madrid), le German Historical Institute in Rome, l ' Istituto svizzero di Roma, le Netherlands Instituut te Rome et l'Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Rome 21-23 November 1985) 1985 , Rome 1988, pp. 333-363.
• Piero Del Negro: La memoria dei vinti. Il patriziato veneziano e la caduta della Repubblica , in: Renzo Zorzi (ed.): L'eredità dell'Ottantanove e l'Italia , Florence 1992, pp. 351-370, here: pp. 355 f.
• Lorenza Perini: Per la biografia di Francesco Pesaro (1740-1799) , in Archivio veneto CXLV (1995) 65-98.
• Martina Frank: Virtù e fortuna. Il mecenatismo e le committenze artistiche della famiglia Manin tra Friuli e Venezia nel XVII e XVIII secolo , Venice 1996.
• Alvise Zorzi : La caduta della Repubblica nelle lettere di Bernardino Renier , in Ateneo veneto, ns, XXXIV (1996) 7-38.
• Piero Mainardis de Campo: Il grande disegno della famiglia Manin , in: Gilberto Ganzer (Ed.) Splendori di una dinastia. L'eredità europea dei Manin e dei Dolfin , Mondadori, Milan 1996, p. 58.
• Dorit Raines: La famiglia Manin e la cultura libraria tra Friuli e Venezia nel '700 , Udine 1997.
• Dorit Raines (Ed.): Al servizio dell'amatissima patria. Le Memorie di Lodovico Manin e la gestione del potere nel Settecento veneziano , Venice 1997.
• Giovanni Scarabello: Venezia dal 1797 al 1802 e le Memorie dell'ultimo doge , introduction to Ludovico Manin, Io, l'ultimo doge di Venezia, Venice 1997, pp. IX – LVI.
• Elio Comarin: La mort de Venise. Bonaparte et la cité des doges, 1796-1797 , Perrin, Paris 1998, p. 110 f.
• Michele Gottardi: Il trapasso , in: Gino Benzoni, Gaetano Cozzi (eds.): Venezia e l'Austria , Venice 1999, p. 93 f.
• Michele Gottardi: Da Manin a Manin: istituzioni e ceti dirigenti dal 1797 al '48 , in: Mario Isnenghi, Stuart Woolf (ed.): Storia di Venezia , Vol. IX, 1: L'Ottocento e il Novecento , Rome 2002, P. 75 f.

Web links

Commons : Ludovico Manin  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Chronology of the last days of the republic (Italian)

Remarks

1. ^ Andrea Da Mosto : I dogi di Venezia nella vita pubblica e privata , Florence 1977, pp. 531-545, here: p. 536.

predecessor	Office	successor
Paolo Renier	Doge of Venice 1789–1797	- ( Franz [I.] as Duke of Venice)