In the Republic of Venice, a zonta was an extraordinary group of patricians chosen to serve alongside the elected members of the governing councils of the Republic.[1] The purpose of this measure was as a constitutional safeguard against the accumulation of power by individuals, and to broaden the decision-making circles on important issues.
The term is the Venetian variant of aggiunta, 'addition'.[2] The purpose of the institution was to prevent corruption and autocratic tendencies in the governing councils such as the powerful Council of Ten,[3] but, since its members were typically chosen among patricians who had not been elected to one of these councils, it was also a "'constitutional shortcut' for those noblemen who wished to actively participate in the Venetian oligarchy but had not achieved the necessary backing".[2] Zontas existed for the Council of Ten—originally 20 men, after 1529 reduced to 15, but the number could vary;[2] the Venetian Senate, where a zonta of 60 adjuncts was added to the 60 regularly elected senators, nominated by senators whose terms were coming to a close;[4][5] as well as extraordinary commissions of inquiry, such as the one convened to investigate the Faliero coup in 1355.[6]
References
edit- ^ Contarini 2020, p. xlv.
- ^ a b c Iordanou 2019, p. 13.
- ^ Iordanou 2019, pp. 12–13.
- ^ Contarini 2020, pp. xlv, 53.
- ^ Lane 1973, p. 254.
- ^ Lane 1973, p. 182.
Source
edit- Contarini, Gasparo (2020). The Republic of Venice: De magistratibus et republica Venetorum. Translated by Giuseppe Pezzini and Amanda Murphy. Edited and introduced by Filippo Sabetti. Toronto, Buffalo, London: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-1-4875-0584-4.
- Iordanou, Ioanna (2019). Venice's Secret Service: Organizing Intelligence in the Renaissance. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-879131-7.
- Lane, Frederic Chapin (1973). Venice, A Maritime Republic. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-1445-6.