Francesco Molin
Francesco Molin , also Francesco da Molin , (born April 21, 1575 in Venice ; † February 27, 1655 ibid) was the 99th Doge of Venice . He ruled from 1646 to 1655. During his reign, the status of a nobile with the right to vote for Doges was available for sale.
Life
Francesco Molin was the son of Marino Molin and his wife Paola from the House of Barbarigo . Molin had had a brilliant military career. So he fought against the pirates in the Adriatic Sea and against papal troops near Ferrara . He was provveditore for Dalmatia and finally procurator di supra . In 1645 he was appointed captain general for the second time in his career , but could not take up the office due to illness. Despite his numerous health problems that plagued him throughout his tenure, he was elected Doge on January 20, 1646.
He was not married and left his fortune to his nephew.
The Doge's Office
Under Molin, the tensions with the Ottoman Empire , which, in addition to dominance over the eastern Mediterranean, primarily concerned the possession of Crete , continued unchanged. Venice's diplomacy tried again and again to come to an agreement with the Sultan , but since both parties were adamant on the Crete question, these attempts were all unsuccessful.
The republic's coffers had been exhausted from the constant skirmishes and fighting on land and sea. The usual means of squeezing more money out of the Jewish community in the ghetto failed because both the Jewish and the Venetian traders had to bear heavy losses because the familiar trade routes had changed disadvantageously: on the one hand, the Turks ruled the Black Sea and large areas the Levant, on the other hand the Mediterranean trade was increasingly carried out by English merchants via the port of Livorno .
A new source of money was discovered in the sale of nobility titles. If there was already plenty of money - up to 20,000 ducats - when the office of procurator was awarded , the price for admission to the Maggior consiglio is said to have been 100,000 ducats. Resistance to membership for sale was correspondingly fierce among the many impoverished aristocrats, who still had some influence and prestige left by membership in the Grand Council. They were accommodated pro forma and promised to make an agreement dependent on the individual case.
Venice's still glamorous external appearance became more and more a mere backdrop that covered the weakness and decadence of the Serenissima .
literature
- Claudio Rendina: I Dogi. Storia e segreti. Newton Compton, Rome 1984, ISBN 88-8289-656-0
- Riccardo Calimani: Storia del ghetto di Venezia. Mondadori, Milan 1995, ISBN 88-04-39575-3 .
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Francesco Erizzo |
Doge of Venice 1646 - 1655 |
Carlo Contarini |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Molin, Francesco |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | 99. Doge of Venice |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 21, 1575 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Venice |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 27, 1655 |
| Place of death | Venice |