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Venetians and Greeks - The War for Candia previous 3/9 next

The 'Ordini' of Giacomo Foscarini
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Emphasis was placed on the crucial issue of food provisioning  in Foscarini's 'Ordini' ('Orders'). The government intended to reduce the economic dependency of the island of Venice by strengthening its political links. Wheat reserves turned out to be indispensable in feeding the population during recurrent food shortages, and these reserves actually represented the primary food resource for the military. Renovation and renewal did not take place only through urban solutions: food provisioning policy served as a privileged channel for declaring the superiority of Venetian justice, and functioned as a negotiating ploy for appeasing the arrogant behaviour of the island's barons and feudal nobility. They viewed this control of local resources as a confirmation of their ability to dominate rural populations, which sanctioned the separate nature of the ruling Venetian class. In the period stretching from the 'Ordini' up to the war for Candia (1573-1645), there were a great many entreaties from locals. The reports of Provveditori Generali , from Marco Loredan, Benedetto Moro, and Gerolamo Trevisan to Lorenzo Contarini, describe the difficulty (and perhaps the impossibility) of finding an efficient solution to this problem.


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Venezia e il mare
Le isole, le fortezze, le difese contro i Turchi
© 1997 by the VENIVA consortium