著者

和栗 珠里

出版者

桃山学院大学

雑誌

桃山学院大学人間科学 (ISSN:09170227)

巻号頁・発行日

no.36, pp.197-222, 2009-03-10

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It is said that the nobility of the Republic of Venice was a caste, because the noble status was a hereditary privilege of certain families. A series of decrees issued in 1297-1323 defined its Serrata (closure), which continued until the middle of the 17th century, when noble status became purchasable, although at a very high price. However, if the nobility was inaccessible to the Venetian non-nobles, foreigners could obtain Venetian noble status. In fact a large number of foreigners, especially condottieri (mercenaries), were accepted into the Venetian nobility even under the Serrata system. In this article I examine some cases in which condottieri came to be ennobled. These were agents in wars to whom Venice turned in fighting against the Terraferma (mainland) powers such as the Scaligeri of Verona, the Carraresi of Padua and the Visconti of Milan, against the king of Hungary, and even in the wars against Turkey. Those appointed to the rank of Captain General of the Venetian army found it easy to be ennobled. It is not always easy to determine whether a condottiero obtained a hereditary status in the Venetian nobility instead of a personal one, but not a few condottieri did so. Moreover, some families kept a special relation with the Republic of Venice. The Malatesta of Rimini provided Venice with many able men of arms, and Venice in return protected them from their enemies. The Martinengo of Brescia also contributed military talent to Venice and weaved a matrimonial network with other condottieri families with Venetian noble status. Interestingly enough, we find a dozen condottieri members in the Compagnie della Calza, fete-organizing associations composed of young members of prominent noble families, which had much to do with the growing self-consciousness of the Venetian nobility in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The ennoblement of condottieri may have been, in the first place, a reward to military commanders. But it had another function; namely, to give more `nobleness' to the Venetian nobility who had non-feudal origin. Most of the condottieri were already nobles with feudal titles (duke, marquis, count, etc.), or at least semi-nobles with rule over a dominion. Thus they helped not only to conquer the Terraferma but also to establish a substantive definition of the Venetian nobility after the Serrata.