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| Photo: www.renaissancestudies.com |
During the late fifth century and early sixteenth century, Venice suffered some military setbacks. Turkish forces seized many of Venice's eastern territories and forced the Venetian people to pay a yearly fee to trade in Turkish ports. Because of this, an alliance was formed between Italy, Germany, France, and Spain to recapture some of the mainland Italian territories Venice had conquered earlier.
This alliance, headed by Pope Julius II, succeeded in getting some land back, but it cost them many lives and a great deal of money.
The government of Venice was a Republic, controlled by the city-state's leading families. The leader of this government was called the doge (dohj), which is Latin for "leader". The doge was chosen by the members of the Greater Council, to serve for life. Although the doge was the elected leader, real power lay with the council.
One of the rules put in place by the council stated that only male descendants of men who had sat in the council before 1297 could be a member of the council. This narrowed the number of people allowed to rule Venice. The members names were written in a book called the Book of Gold.
Besides wealth from trading, Venice was also rich in displaced scholars. These scholars who had fled or been sent out of their own countries came to Venice with their knowledge and Ancient Greek manuscripts.
These scholars, along with architects and artists made a lasting impact on Venice and the entire Western Civilization.
Venice is especially remembered for encouraging the development of printing. By 1500, this city-state had more than 200 printing presses.
Question:
What pros and cons can you see in allowing only members of certain families service on the council?
Write your answer as a comment below and submit it along with your name. Answer in a full paragraph. This paragraph should include your opinion (answer to the question) along with three or four full sentences supporting that opinion. The final sentence should restate your opinion in some way (Not the same exact words). You will be graded on spelling, punctuation, and paragraph contents.
