Giovanni I. Cornaro

Sebastiano Ricci : Giovanni I. Cornaro

Giovanni I. Cornaro also called Giovanni I. Corner (born November 11, 1551 in Venice ; † December 23, 1629 there ) was the 96th Doge of Venice . He ruled from 1625 to 1629.

family

The Corner were among the oldest, richest and most influential families in town. They had made their fortunes mainly by lending money. Four doges had emerged from the family, apart from Giovanni I Corner , the Doges Marco Corner , Francesco Corner and Giovanni II Corner . A famous member of the family was Caterina Cornaro , adopted by the Serenissima as a daughter and Queen of Cyprus between 1474 and 1489 .

In the 17th century, the family stood out for their unscrupulousness and shameless favoritism.

Life

Giovanni Corner was married to Chiara Dolfin, who also came from a Doge family ( Giovanni Dolfin was the 57th Doge). They had six sons and six daughters.

The Doge's Office

After violent arguments between the old and the new families ( case vecchie and case nove ), Corner was only elected Doge in the 42nd ballot, but then unanimously.

He provided his sons with influential and lucrative posts. After his election, Alvise and Francesco, who was married to the daughter of the former Doge Antonio Priuli , kept their offices as senators , which was not allowed under the laws of Venice. Son Federico became bishop of Vicenza and cardinal after his father intervened at the Vatican , with whom the Corner traditionally enjoyed good relations . The fourth son, Marcantonio, was a priest at San Marco . The youngest son Giorgio stood out for his criminal energy in evading Venetian trade laws. Finally, one of his cousins ​​was the Doge's consigliere .

The accumulation of offices in the family has been publicly criticized by a member of the Council of Ten , Renier Zen . Zen, who had already exposed Doge Priuli's illegal practices, threatened to bring the Doge to justice. On December 30, 1627, Zen was attacked and seriously injured while leaving the Doge's Palace; one of the assassins is said to have been Giorgio Corner. This fled from the city. He was banished to the Terraferma and his real estate was confiscated. In return for Zen’s attacks on the family, the Corner brought together a majority in the city’s Grand Council, which banished the relentless " Inquisitor " from Venice. As a result, there was unrest in the city and the danger of civil war loomed. As a result, the Quarantina General's court met on September 17, 1629 , which overturned the judgment against Zen. So the Doge had suffered a severe defeat and the Doge offered to resign, which he was not allowed to do.

Corner died a few months later and was buried in the family chapel of the Church of San Nicola da Tolentino .

literature

• Andrea da Mosto: I Dogi di Venezia. Florence 1983.
• Helmut Dumler: Venice and the Doges. Düsseldorf 2001.

predecessor	Office	successor
Francesco Contarini	Doge of Venice 1625–1629	Nicolò Contarini