Venetian nobility
The Venetian patriciate was one of the three social bodies into which the society of the Republic of Venice was divided, together with citizens and foreigners. Patrizio was the noble title of the members of the aristocracy ruling the city of Venice and the Republic. The title was abbreviated, in front of the name, by the initials N.H., together with the feminine variant N.D.. Holding the title of a Venetian patrician was a great honour and many European kings and princes, as well as foreign noble families, are known to have asked for and obtained the prestigious title.
The patrician houses, formally recorded in the Golden Book, were primarily divided into Old Houses and New Houses, with the former being noted for traditionally electing the first Doge in 697 AD. The New Houses were no less significant, as many became very prominent and important in the history of the Republic of Venice. The families were furthermore divided into several other "categories", including Ducal Houses, Newest Houses raised to the patriciate in 1381, non-Venetian patrician families, and "Houses made for money".
Although there were numerous noble houses across Venice's Mainland Dominions and the State of the Sea, the Republic was in fact ruled as an aristocratic oligarchy by about 20 to 30 families of Venice's urban nobility, who elected the Doge of Venice, held political and military offices, and directly participated in the daily governing of the state. They were predominantly merchants, with their main source of income being trade with the East and other entrepreneurial activities, on which they became incredibly wealthy. The most important families, who dominated the politics and the history of the state, included the Contarini, Cornaro, Dandolo, Giustinian, Loredan, Mocenigo, Morosini and the Venier families. Nobles were forbidden by law to marry outside of the nobility, so the families intermarried within themselves, and from a young age followed the cursus honorum of Venetian noblemen, training in the army, the naval fleet, the law, and the affairs of state.
Characteristics
The basic foundation of belonging to the patriciate was the exclusive possession of political power. Starting from the Great Council Lockout of 1297 and the law of 1320 which precluded the inclusion of new families, this social body became the only one to have the privilege of sitting in the Great Council, the highest governing body of the city and the state. Privilege concretised with the right for each male member of noble families, starting from the age of majority, to participate in the sessions.Within the patriciate, all members enjoyed absolute political equality. Each vote, including that of the Doge, had the same value during the voting of the councils. Everyone had, at least theoretically, the same chance of accessing any public office, up to becoming a Savio del Consiglio, Procurator of Saint Mark or the Doge. Reflection of this principle was the equal title of "Nobleman" recognized to the patricians, without any distinction, throughout the Republic. Whoever wore it carried within himself a portion of that sovereignty in which every patrician was a participant, together with the other members of his class. This made the Venetian patricians, in the noble hierarchy, of a rank equal to that of the Princes of the Blood.
The importance of this social body was such that every aspect of the Venetian noble's life was carefully monitored and regulated by the State, which took care to carefully verify all family ties and deeds necessary to prove the registration of the nobles into the Golden Book, the register of nobles strictly guarded in the Doge's Palace. There was also a Silver Book, which registered all those families that not only had the requisites of "civilization" and "honour", but could also show that they were of ancient Venetian origin; such families furnished the manpower for the State bureaucracy – and particularly, the chancellery within the Doge's Palace itself. Both books were kept in a chest in the Scrigno room of the Doge's Palace, inside a cupboard that also contained all the documents proving the legitimacy of claims to be inscribed therein.
The robe of the nobles was the toga of black cloth with wide sleeves, lined in red for the Savi, the Avogadori and the leaders of the Quarantia. The toga became completely red for the senators and the ducal councilors. The whole was completed by the squat beret and the fur indicating the rank within the magistracy. It was an absolute obligation to wear the regalia during the exercise of one's office, in the councils and in the entire area of Saint Mark's Square.
Alongside this political aspect, however, the Venetian nobility had another peculiar character in their mercantile vocation. Contrary to the feudal nobility, in fact, the patriciate in Venice based its power not on the possession of land, but on the wealth of trade with the East as the basis of the entire economy. This stimulated this social class to a remarkable dynamism and resulted in incredible wealth.
The patricians thus served themselves and the state as captains of galleys, merchants, ambassadors, governors, public officials, and in every other form of civil and military organisation of the Republic.
Being Venetian patricians was an honour for all of European nobility and it was common with princes and kings of other states to ask for and obtain the title of N.H., including, among others, the kings of France, the Savoy, the Mancinis, the Rospigliosi, and the papal families of the Orsini and the Colonna.
Noble houses
These very ancient families died out before the Great Council Lockout of 1297, but nevertheless played a leading role in the politics of the Republic. Given their historical distance, the information and knowledge about these families is very scarce and steeped in legend.| Arms | Family | Notable members | Description |
| Pietro I, Pietro II, Pietro III, Pietro IV, Vitale | Originally from Padua, they gave five Doges to the Republic in the 9th and 10th centuries. | ||
| Centranico | Pietro | Sometimes also called Barbo or Barbolano. | |
| Flabanico | Domenico | ||
| Galbaio | Giovanni, Maurizio | The surname came from the family's reputed descent from the ancient Roman emperor Galba. | |
| Ipato | Gioviano, Orso, Teodato | The surname is thought to be derived from imperial honorific hypatos, granted to Orso by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. | |
| Monegario | Domenico | The surname may derive from monegarium, that is, a friar or monk, or monetarium, that is, a minter. | |
| Orseolo | Frozza, Giovanni, Otto, Peter, St. Pietro I, Pietro II | Descended from Orso and Teodato Ipato, they gave three Doges to the Republic and are notable for leading the Venetian expansion into Dalmatia. | |
| Agnello, Giovanni I, Giovanni II, Giustiniano, Orso I, Orso II, Pietro | A dynasty originally from Eraclea, they gave seven Doges to the Republic in the 9th and 10th centuries, also moving the capital from Malamocco to Rialto. | ||
| Tradonico | Pietro | Originally from Pula, Istria, they came to Rialto via Jesolo. | |
| Tribuno | Pietro |
Old houses
The group of Old houses, whose members were called "longhi", has been well defined since the 1350s. In the so-called "pseudo-Giustinian" Chronicle, drawn up at that time, the group is distinguished from the already substantial corpus of patricians of twenty-four families more powerful and constantly engaged in Venetian political life. In the Chronicle these patrician houses are divided into two further groups: the first includes the families Badoer, Baseggio, Contarini, Corner, Dandolo, Falier, Giustinian, Gradenigo-Dolfin, Morosini, Michiel, Polani and Sanudo; the second includes the families Barozzi, Belegno, Bembo, Gauli, Memmo, Querini, Soranzo, Tiepolo, Zane, Zeno, Ziani and Zorzi.The author of the paper justifies this situation by listing in detail the deeds performed by their ancestors in the foundation of Venice. Although imaginative, the information contained in the Chronicle served to distinguish an elitist nucleus from the large mass of families included after the Serrata, above all those New houses that during the fifteenth century would contend with the "longhi" for the ducal throne.
It should also be noted that tradition defined twelve "apostolic" families and four other "evangelical" ones ; the history of Venice evidently wanted to be compared to that of the Church, founded on the Twelve Apostles and advocated by the Four Evangelists.
| Crest | Name | Notable members | Member portrait |
| Badoer | Alvise, Andrea, Giacomo, Giacomo, Giovanni Alberto, Luca, Marino | ||
| Baseggio | Cesco, Pietro | ||
| Contarini | Albano, Alvise, Alvise, Ambrogio, Andrea, Bartolomeo, Bartolomeo, Carlo, Cecilia, Domenico I, Domenico II, Enrico, Francesco, Gasparo, Giovanni, Giovanni Matteo, Jacopo, Maddalena, Marino, Nicolò, Piero, Polissena | ||
| Cornaro | Andrea, Andrea, Andrea, Caterina, Elena, Federico, Federico, Federico, Felicia, Francesco, Francesco, Francesco, Giorgio, Giorgio, Giorgio, Giorgio, Giovanni, Giovanni I, Giovanni II, Laura, Luigi, Luigi, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco, Marco Antonio, Pietro, Pisana, Vitsentzos | ||
| Dandolo | Andrea, Andrea, Anna, Emilio, Enrico, Enrico, Enrico, Francesco, Giovanna, Giovanni, Marino, Raniero, Zilia | ||
| Dolfin | Caterina, Dolfin, Gentile, Giampaolo, Giovanni, Giovanni, Giovanni, Giovanni, Giovanni, Giovanni, Giovanni, Pietro | ||
| Falier | Marino, Ordelaffo, Vitale | ||
| Giustinian | Alicia, Giacomo, St. Lawrence, Marcantonio, Marco, Marco, Olimpia, Pantaleone, Paul, Pompeo, Sebastian, Zorzi | ||
| Aluycia, Bartolomeo, Bartolomeo, Giovanni, Pietro | |||
| Morosini | Agostino, Aliodea, Dana, Domenico, Francesco, Giovan Francesco, Giovan Francesco, Bl. John, Lodovico, Marco, Marieta, Marino, Michele, Morosina, Sergio, Thomas, Tomasina | ||
| Domenico, Giovanni, Marcantonio, Vitale I, Vitale II | |||
| Giovanni, Pietro | |||
| Sanudo | Angelo, Cristina, Fiorenza, Fiorenza I, Guglielmazzo, John I, Marco, Marco, Marco I, Marco II, Maria, Marino, Marino, Nicholas I, Nicholas II, William I |
| Crest | Name | Notable members | Member portrait |
| Barozzi | Andrea I, Andrea II, Angelo, Elena, Francesco, Francesco, Giovanni, Iacopo I, Iacopo II, Pietro | ||
| Bembo | Bernardo, Gianfrancesco, Giovanni, Petronilla, Pietro | ||
| Gaulo | Galla | ||
| Andrea, Marcantonio, Tribuno | |||
| Querini | Angelo Maria, Elisabetta, Marina, Pietro | ||
| Giovanni, Vittore | |||
| Bajamonte, Giovanni Battista, Giovanni Domenico, Jacopo, Lorenzo, Lorenzo | |||
| Lorenzo, Matteo, Paolo | |||
| Zeno | Antonio, Antonio, Apostolo, Carlo, Giovanni Battista, Nicolò, Nicolò, Pietro, Pietro, Reniero | ||
| Marc'Antonio, Pietro, Pietro Andrea, Sebastiano | |||
| Zorzi | Alvise, Bertolome, Chiara, Francis, Jacob, Marino, Marino, Marino Giovanni, Nicholas I, Nicholas II, Nicholas III |
Later, the Bragadin replaced the Belegno and the Salamon replaced the Ziani, following the two families' extinctions.
| Crest | Name | Notable members | Member portrait |
| Bragadin | Marcantonio, Marcantonio, Marcantonio | ||
| Salamon | Bl. James, Marina |