Conflicting Masculinities: Gender and Politics in Fifteenth-Century Venice

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The conflict between the private and public persons of the doge forms the crux of the proposed PhD thesis. This conflict formed a central - but as yet unstudied - part of the centuries-long struggle between communal republicanism and the monarchical tendencies which characterised the Venetian polity that belied its claims to be "the most Serene Republic". Consequently, the dissertation provides an original contribution to the history of politics in Venice, and to the history of premodern political life more broadly, by viewing the doge through the prism of gender. Utilising an interdisciplinary approach, marrying gender theory and more traditional historical approaches with constitutional history and political thought, my work will assess how Venice's fifteenth-century doges, through public civic rituals and their own personal expressions of identity, became increasingly embroiled in a battle of alternate visions of the ideal Renaissance man. Throughout the life of the Venetian republic, on every Ascension Day the Venetian head-of-state, the doge, performed the ritual of the 'Marriage to the Sea'. During this ritual, the doge cast a ring into the sea and proclaimed it his spouse, confirming Venice's dominion over the Adriatic. In doing so, the doge embodied elite masculinity: as the 'father' of Venice and the spouse of the sea he reflected the central pillars of Venetian masculinity - the roles of father and husband. The person of the Doge thus combined 'two bodies': the private and public, the mortal man and enduring office imposed by the Venetian government. During the fifteenth century, and the Renaissance more broadly, there was a revival of classical republican language. The classical concept of 'virtus' - or the medieval Italian 'virtu' - was revived as the epitome of masculinity. In the classical period, 'virtus' was perceived as embodying largely martial characteristics. 'Virtu', however, was a highly contested term. In merchant-republican cities, such as Venice, 'virtu' became a vision of the merchant or banking elite. To others, such as Nicolo Machiavelli in his seminal sixteenth-century work 'Il Principe', 'virtu' was a certain ruthlessness, one of pride, bravery, and military skill. With 'virtu' came an inherent anxiety of effeminacy, especially in relation to the luxuries created by wealth. Consequently, I believe the conflict between the communal-republicanism of the Venetian government and the doge was centred on competing visions of this masculine 'virtu'; whereas the Venetian political elite expected the doge to be depicted as first among equals, sharing the characteristic 'virtu' of the merchant elite, many of the doges instead idealised themselves as having attained the 'virtus' of the classical republics.