ABSTRACT

Like other early modern European states, Venice ruled by correspondence. The letters to and from officials preserved in Venetian and regional archives reflect the structure of the composite state. Just as Venetian rule layered centralized control onto areas of local autonomy, local archives contain series of documents created by governors and captains over centuries of Venetian rule and archived locally, as well as documentation produced by local elites. In Venice itself, letters about daily governance and sensitive intelligence passed through an interlocking system that was designed to manage correspondence about spies and supply chain problems through the same central institutions. This article uses the Council of Ten’s involvement in the dramatic circumstances of the Ottoman Jem Sultan’s rebellion, escape and time as a hostage in the West to examine the particularities of how the Ten gained power through their control of correspondence. Juxtaposing the Ten’s use of sensitive and timely information in a single case with the daily machinery for sending, receiving and archiving correspondence in Venice and in regional archives allows us to understand the internal dynamics of a particular ‘letterocracy’ and how one government council uses information to place itself at the centre of a republican polity.

摘要

与其他早期现代欧洲国家一样，威尼斯以通信统治。威尼斯和地区档案馆中保存的官员之间的信件反映了复合国家的结构。正如威尼斯统治对地方自治地区进行分层集中控制一样，当地档案馆包含了威尼斯统治几个世纪以来总督和船长创建并在当地存档的一系列文件，以及当地精英制作的文件。在威尼斯本身，有关日常治理和敏感情报的信件通过一个连锁系统，该系统旨在通过同一中央机构管理有关间谍和供应链问题的信件。本文利用十人委员会参与奥斯曼杰姆苏丹叛乱的戏剧性情况，逃亡和在西方作为人质的时间，以研究十人如何通过控制通信来获得权力的特殊性。将十人在单一案件中对敏感和及时信息的使用与威尼斯和地区档案馆中发送、接收和归档信件的日常机制并置，使我们能够了解特定“文字统治”的内部动态以及政府委员会如何使用信息将自己置于共和政体的中心。