“THIS IS MARINO FALIERO’S PLACE, BEHEADED FOR HIS CRIMES.”
THE IMAGE PAINTED OVER FALIERO’S PORTRAIT IN THE GREAT COUNCIL CHAMBER
The case of Marino Faliero
Marino Faliero was the only sitting Doge ever beheaded for treason. He was also the only Doge who unquestionably plotted to murder his peers and declare himself Prince.
He had been elected to the highest office for life. He was rich. His family sprang from 6th c. Maritime Tribunes. He was a triumphant general, admiral, and diplomat. He was 76 when elected Doge. Why would he do what he did?
Two schools of thought prevail, based on the scanty evidence of hearsay, rumor, lost testimony, and chronicles with points of view to advance or axes to grind.
Both views may be true, or neither, entirely. Neither fully explains why a man of Faliero’s position and stature would plot to murder a thousand nobles and climb to his throne over their bodies.
14th century Venetian law examined crimes as to their intent. “Crimes of reason” were considered far more dangerous as they implied criminal intent. Crimes of passion pushed a person beyond rationality into madness, a state beyond legal responsibility for one’s actions, and were tried and sentenced differently.
Unless the criminal was doge.
Version 1
A CRIME OF REASON
“In Marino Faliero we have a fine figure of a Venetian noble in the Middle Ages—active, capable, respected, enjoying a great position and displaying striking ability.” (Horatio Brown)
He was also short-tempered and irascible. When he was made Governor of Treviso, he was said to have smacked the Bishop to the ground for being late to Mass. He was also said to nurture a deep resentment of the new aristocracy who seized control of the Republic, closed the Great Council, and created a nobility defined by membership in the Great Council.
“In the naval office, which was on the ground floor of the Ducal Palace…one of the paymasters, Giovanni Dandolo, a noble, struck in rage a commoner named Bertuccio Isarello... Isarello went to the waterfront and had no trouble collecting a gang which kept walking back and forth threateningly waiting for Dandolo to emerge. Feeling in danger, Dandolo went to the Doge who summoned Isarello into the palace and admonished him severely. But later that night the doge called Isarello back to the palace and enlisted him in a plot to overthrow the ruling nobles and establish Marino Falier as Lord and Master, Master with the Rod... as the saying went. ”
Doge Faliero, for all his accomplishments, honors, and wealth, was consumed with contempt for the nobles who had made the republic their own private club. His last and greatest wish was to extinguish them forever, come what may. For him, the only way to save Venice from itself was to amputate the gangrenous limbs.
The beheading of Faliero by Eugene Delacroix
Version 2
A CRIME OF PASSION
When Faliero came to the throne the condition of Venice was deplorable. General discontent was rife among all classes. The Genoese war was raging and Venice was losing. Venetian trade was being ravaged by Genoese galleys. The merchants were in an uproar, desperate for peace and they thought the nobles were not. Faliero had barely sat on the throne when the Venetian fleet under Nicolò Pisani was destroyed by the Genoese, shattering the hopes of the people. Faliero blamed the weakness and inefficiency of the inept nobles who prosecuted the war and failed to win.
At a gathering in the Doge’s Palace a young noble, Michael Steno, joked loudly that Faliero’s young wife was frequently unfaithful. Faliero had him thrown out, but Steno snuck back and left a message on the Doge’s throne: “Marino Faliero has a beautiful wife, other men enjoy her while he pays the price”. The enraged Doge brought charges against Steno. The slap on the wrist Steno was given by the court was the old doge’s last straw.
Exit the Doge. Enter the mass murderer.
The old doge, his younger wife, and the noble youth.