Chapter 10 Politics, Diplomacy and Religious Dissent. The Activity of the Inquisition in Early Modern Venice
Federico Barbierato1
The chapter aims to examine the activities of the Venetian Inquisition, espe- cially in terms of its political, social and cultural consequences. Therefore, it is not focused primarily on the institutional aspects – which will be analyzed by other essays in this volume; instead, it will highlight the complex relation- ship that developed between Rome and the Republic of Venice, which found a privileged place of conflict and political recomposition in the Inquisition’s Tribunal. Therefore, the focus will be placed in the first instance on the most “hidden” aspects of the inquisitorial operations, and secondly on both the con- crete activity of the inquisitors – their fields of action and interest, strategies, etc. – and on the “resistance” and the strategies of the people under investiga- tion as well as the witnesses. In other words, we will analyze the main areas of intervention of the Sant’Uffizio [Holy Office] in Venice and through the Inqui- sition’s papers, we will try to offer an overview of the religious dissent (whether conscious or not) set in the early modern Italian city. In the 16th century the urgency of religious issues had suggested to the Ve- netian government prudential support towards inquisitorial activity; instead, in the course of the seventeenth and 18th centuries such urgency seemed to have worn off. This situation was not connected to daily struggle against hot- beds of Reformed sentiment that could jeopardize the social stability of the Republic. The Sant’Uffizio was certainly at the center of the jurisdictional bat- tle, it was therefore a particular object of observation and thus a tool for politi- cal and institutional comparisons. However, in this essay I will focus on a later period, when inquisitorial activity is considered to be declining throughout Europe, and not only in the Republic of Venice. I would like to show how the Sant’Uffizio continued to maintain an important role as a political and dip- lomatic mediation site in the course of the 17th and 18th centuries. Once the urgency of the threat represented by the new reformed doctrines had ended, the inquisitorial action focused on a more fragmented situation, where danger was merely perceptible, but certainly not as visible as it had been previously.
1 Translated by Mara Giollo.
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As for the level of control over heterodoxy, Venice had overcome the Refor- mation years, the threats of the Anabaptist Radicals and the controversies with Rome that had led to the Interdict.2 In those years it seemed that, under certain conditions, it was possible to choose to separate from Rome, which would have brought the fate of the Venetians closer to that of the English or, at least, more proximate to French Gallicanism. Those years were difficult for both the Inqui- sition and the Venetian authorities. With heresy at the door, supported by the governing class and widespread in many areas of the State, the Republic had to choose whether to adopt a policy to maintain a balance or to sever the ne- gotiations with the papacy. The choice to maintain the continuity with Rome seemed to be inevitable, even if respecting the jurisdictional traditions limited the ecclesiastical demands.3 On the other hand, over all of Europe Venice con- tinued to inspire hope – or fear – that new denominations would be welcomed in the Venetian territory. But, as I said, hopes were soon dashed and fears were partially allayed: with the collapse of the Schmalkaldic league in 1547 the Lutheran hypothesis, for Venice, was no longer a practical alternative from a political and diplomatic point of view.4 In the meantime in Rome the reaction against the new confessional proposals was gaining strength, and – above all – a new project was being organized that involved deep persuasive activity of consciences that was supposed to include both States and the Church in the attempt to teach obedience and to control the faithful. It took a few decades to do so but, starting at least from the 1560s, the Venetian government appeared to want to follow the direction set by Rome, using an openly repressive ten- dency against heresy – although the fact that the Venetian government usually showed tolerance towards students and transalpine merchants still aroused the people’s hopes and fears. As Nuncio Facchinetti wrote in 1567, the Hugue- nots in France went about saying that “Venice, the key of Italy, is a friend of
2 In 1606 the Pope excommunicated the Venetian government and forbade Venetian clergy to dispense the sacraments as a reaction against the arrest of two priests. They had been charged with homicide and other “common” crimes: both Venice and Rome claimed jurisdic- tion over them and, in the face of the refusal of Venetian government to give them to Rome, the Pope decided to declare the Interdict. The crisis ended almost a year later, after a diplo- matic struggle that was perhaps the most open act of rupture against Rome ever perpetrated by an Italian State. Venice entrusted its reasons and its strategy to the servant friar Paolo Sarpi, who became a Consultor in law and an ideological guide of a real movement of break with Rome. On the importance of the episode and its repercussions, I refer to Filippo De Vivo, Patrizi, informatori, barbieri. Politica e comunicazione a Venezia nella prima età moderna (Milan: 2012). 3 Federica Ambrosini, Storie di patrizi e di eresia nella Venezia del ’500 (Milan: 1999), 81. 4 On the importance of 1547 as a turning point, see Adriano Prosperi, Tribunali della coscienza. Inquisitori, confessori, missionary (Turin: 1996), 85–101.