in the 2nd half of the 16th century. Preserved by the
Ghent University Library. The title of
doge was used for the elected chief of state in several
Italian "
crowned republics". The two best known such republics were
Venice (where in
Venetian he was called ) and
Genoa (where he was called a ) which rivalled each other, and the other regional great powers, by building their historical city-states into maritime, commercial, and territorial empires. Other Italian republics to have doges were
Amalfi and the small town of
Senarica.
Selection After 1172 the election of the
Venetian doge was entrusted to a committee of forty, who were chosen by four men selected from the
Great Council of Venice, which was itself nominated annually by 12 persons. After a
deadlocked tie at the election of 1229, the number of electors was increased from forty to forty-one. New regulations for the
elections of the doge introduced in 1268 remained in force until the end of the republic in 1797. Their object was to minimize as far as possible the influence of individual great families, and this was affected by complex elective machinery. Thirty members of the Great Council,
chosen by lot, were reduced by lot to nine; the nine chose forty and the forty were reduced by lot to twelve, who chose twenty-five. The twenty-five were reduced by lot to nine and the nine elected forty-five. Then the forty-five were once more reduced by lot to eleven, and the eleven finally chose the forty-one who elected the doge. None could be elected but by at least twenty-five votes out of forty-one, nine votes out of eleven or twelve, or seven votes out of nine electors. Initially, the
doge of Genoa was elected without restriction and by popular
suffrage. Following reforms in 1528,
plebeians were declared ineligible, and the appointment of the doge was entrusted to the members of the
Great Council, the '
. The ruling caste of Genoa tied them to executive committees, kept them on a small budget, and kept them apart from the communal revenues held at the '. ==Gallery==