Paolo Renier

Alessandro Longhi : Paolo Renier, ca.1779

Paolo Renier (born November 21, 1710 in Venice ; † February 13, 1789 ibid) was the 119th and penultimate Doge of Venice . He ruled from 1779 to 1789.

family

The Renians belonged to the families that had only been admitted to the Great Council during the Chioggia War , but according to the tradition handed down in the family, they had been resident in Venice since 970. In the 18th century the family belonged to the poorer patricians, only Paolo Renier had succeeded in making a considerable fortune by trading grain with the Orient .

Life

Renier was born to Andrea Renier and Elisabetta Morosini. The Morosini had distinguished themselves in important offices in the history of Venice, three doges were named Morosini.

Renier was a very educated man who preferred literature and science to the life of a merchant or a military man. He had received a good education in history and the ancient languages ​​and he studied philosophy intensively. He wrote a Venetian edition of Plato's works , which he himself translated. He was considered an excellent speaker and a skilled tactician. As a politician he was considered a "clever fox"

Giustina Donà dalle Rose (1715–1751), 1st wife of Paolo Reniers

His first marriage was to Giustina Donà from the dalle Rose branch , with whom he had five children. During his time in Constantinople he had made the acquaintance of a young dancer, Giovanna Margherita Dalmet, whom he secretly married but did not have the marriage recorded in the Golden Book . As a doge, he allowed his eldest son's daughter to accompany him at official events.

At the beginning of his political career, he joined the reformers around Angelo Querini , who had recognized the need for fundamental changes in order to ensure the republic's survival in the catastrophic state of public finances and under the signs of social and political changes in Europe. After his tenure as ambassador at the Viennese court and as Bailò in Constantinople , he returned to Venice , distanced himself from the reformers and now, as a “conservative”, was elected to the Doge's office. He was successively consigliere of the Doge and several times state inquisitor .

The Doge's Office

Before the Doge election, his opponents raised the mood against Renier, and there were rumors of a planned assassination attempt. In order to prevent unrest in the city, he generously distributed donations to the people and foundations to the church and the brotherhoods. Renier was elected Doge on January 14, 1779, against the wishes of most Venetians. He is said to have got his office only with the massive use of corruption by the electors, which was obviously tolerated by the Inquisitori di Stato . As before his election, the biting Pasquinate continued to circulate in the city about Renier's corruption.

His choice was viewed by observers as symptomatic of the desolate state and decadence of the once proud and powerful Serenissima . Renier took office when the republic was once again heavily in debt. Nevertheless, during his reign, the construction of the dikes, the Murazzi , began to better protect Venice against flooding.

The usual parties and receptions of high-ranking visitors were celebrated with the usual pomp. During his tenure, Pope Pius VI visited , the Grand Duke of Russia, Pavel Petrovich , and King Gustav III. of Sweden the city.

Goethe , who visited Venice in 1786, describes his impressions of Paolo Renier on October 6th as follows:

“The doge is a beautifully grown and well-educated man who may be sick, but only stays upright under his heavy skirt for the sake of dignity. Otherwise he looks like the grandpa of the whole race, and is very kind and affable; the clothes look very good, the little cap under the cap is not offensive because it rests, very fine and transparent, on the whitest, clearest hair in the world. "

Paolo Renier died on February 13th, 1789. As Carnival was just being celebrated in Venice, his death was kept from the population until March 2nd, the beginning of Lent. He was buried in the church of San Nicola da Tolentino . His grave is a simple floor tomb covered with a marble slab.

literature

• Vittorio Mandelli:  Renier, Paolo. In: Raffaele Romanelli (ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 86:  Querenghi-Rensi. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 2016.
• Antonio Pilot (ed.): Versi satirici per l'elezione e la morte del doge Paolo Renier. Rome 1911.
• Claudio Rendina: I Dogi. Storia e segreti. Newton & Compton Books, Rome 2003, ISBN 88-8289-656-0 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Goethe's poetic works. Complete Ed. Vol. 9. Autobiographical writings. Tl. 2. Stuttgart 1960. p. 277.

predecessor	Office	successor
Alvise Mocenigo IV.	Doge of Venice 1779–1789	Ludovico Manin