<論説>近世ヴェネツィアの貴族階級における新家系の成立

Abstract

トルコとの戦争によって財政状況が悪化した一七世紀のヴェネツィアでは、貴族身分が「売却」され、厳格な閉鎖性を維持していた貴族階級に新家系が成立した。本稿では、約三世紀ぶりとなるこの現象を「社会的上昇」の観点から捉え、新家系の社会的・地理的出自や旧家系への統合の過程、権力構造における新家系の位置づけなどについて検討した。また、一五世紀中葉に始まる書記局官僚層形成からの一連の過程をエリート層の再編として考えることで、近世を通じての社会的上昇の類型としての連続性や類似性が看取される一方、権力構造に対する影響に関しては両者の意義に大きな差異がみられることが明らかとなった。しかし、この再編によっても都市・領域国家両面における二元的な権力構造は克服されず、それぞれを統合する単一のエリート層形成や上昇を保障するシステムが欠如していたことに、近世ヴェネツィアの構造的特質や限界を指摘することができるのである。

In 1646, new families were aggregated to the Venetian patriciate, which had been a closed entity for nearly three centuries. This article investigates how the addition of these newcomers to the ruling class influenced the power base and social mobility of early modern Venetian society. Although many members of the patrician Great Council opposed this aggregation, Venetian leaders, pleading an extraordinary need for revenue to finance the war of Candia against the Turks, persuaded them to offer this status and its ensuing privileges to each applicant who paid the princely sum of 100, 000 ducats to the government. This expanding patriciate reflected the oligarchical nature of Venetian politics, and the newcomers were given the lowest possible place, and excluded from all influential council posts. These new families arose from the following groups : the nobility of Terraferma, Venetian territory in the Italian peninsula ; chancellery secretaries belonging to cittadini originari, citizens by birth ; and merchants. Terraferma nobility and chancellery secreteries were welcomed into the patriciate, but the old families reserved special opprobrium for immigrant merchants who had amassed wealth through 'vulgar trades, ' just like alchemy. In spite of this distinction, chancellery secretaries and merchants arose from similar social strata. Most chancellery secretaries came from merchant families. Hence this process of social mobility represented a continuation of fifteenth- century practices. Nevertheless, a geographical distinction can be drawn between the two groups. Most of the older secretaries originated in the east Mediterranean coastal areas of the Venetian territories. while most of the new merchants arose from Terraferma. Thus, one can say that Venice shifted from being an international maritime city to one more insular in character, centered in the Veneto. The reorganization of the elites of early modern Venice limited, however. The duality of the ruling structure, with the patrician oligarchy supported by bureaucratic secretaries remaining members of cittadini, unchanged. Likewise, within the regional state of Venice, the Venetian patriciate failed to aggregate Terraferma nobility as a whole. Venetian leaders missed a chance to create a unified elite until the end of the Republic.