Serrata del Maggior Consiglio
Constitutional process in medieval Venice
The Great Council Lockout (Italian: Serrata del Maggior Consiglio) was a constitutional process, started with a 1297 ordinance, by means of which membership of the Great Council of Venice became hereditary. Since it was the Great Council that had the right to elect the Doge, the 1297 ordinance marked a significant change in the constitution of the Republic. This resulted in the exclusion of minor aristocrats and plebeians from participating in the government of the Republic. Although formerly provisional, the ordinance later became a permanent act, and since that time it was disregarded only at times of political or financial crisis (e.g. after the war against the League of Cambrai).
History
Historical background
When the Commonwealth of Venice was formed, the Doge was assisted by a Council of Wise Men (Consilium Sapientium) elected by the people's assembly (Concio). Once it obtained sovereign power in 1172, the Council came to be known as Great Council. It originally functioned as an extension of the people's assembly, and its members were elected on a yearly basis, with the general election usually falling on the day of Saint Michael (29 September). Later, in 1207 the election system was changed; the Concio was required to elect three representatives (up to seven since 1230), who had the duty to nominate the Councillors.
Over the years, the Great Council became the bone of contention between the people's party, which aimed to preserve the status quo, and the aristocratic party, which aimed to exclude up-starts from the government.
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This entry incorporates text from “Serrata del Maggior Consiglio” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.