[Paper Review] What is a good doge? Analyzing the patrician social network of the Republic of Venice

J. J. Merelo-Guervós|arXiv (Cornell University)|Sep 12, 2022

Historical Economic and Social Studies4 citations

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the Venetian patrician social network through marriage alliances from 1200 to 1600 to explain the Republic’s political stability. Using social network analysis, it shows that power was concentrated in a few elite families—especially the 'apostoliche' and 'evangeliche' lineages—whose strategic intermarriages enabled dynastic succession and long-term dominance, with network centrality strongly correlating to political office-holding.

ABSTRACT

The Venetian republic was one of the most successful trans-modern states, surviving for a millennium through innovation, commercial cunning, exploitation of colonies and legal stability. Part of the success might be due to its government structure, a republic ruled by a doge chosen among a relatively limited set of Venetian patrician families. In this paper we analyze the structure of the social network they formed through marriage, and how government was monopolized by a relatively small set of families, the ones that became patrician first.

Motivation & Objective

• To understand the structural basis of political stability in the Republic of Venice over its millennium-long existence.
• To investigate how marriage networks among patrician families influenced the selection and longevity of doges.
• To examine whether social network centrality correlates with political power and office-holding across generations.
• To assess the role of elite families in maintaining institutional continuity through intermarriage and alliance formation.
• To explore how the transition from 'vecchie' (old) to 'nuove' (new) families occurred without political upheaval.

Proposed method

• Constructed a historical social network based on documented marriages among Venetian patrician families from 1200 to 1600.
• Applied social network analysis techniques, including betweenness and closeness centrality, to identify key families and structural roles.
• Classified families into categories: 'vecchie' (old), 'apostoliche', 'evangeliche', and 'nuove' (new) based on historical and genealogical criteria.
• Mapped the evolution of network structure over time, particularly focusing on shifts in power from 'vecchie' to 'nuove' families.
• Correlated network centrality measures with historical data on office-holding and doge appointments.
• Used R and Raku for data processing, network visualization, and statistical analysis, with code and data publicly available on GitHub.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 How did marriage networks among Venetian patrician families contribute to the stability of the Republic’s government over time?
• RQ2 To what extent did network centrality—measured by betweenness and closeness—predict political influence and office-holding in the Republic?
• RQ3 How did the transition from 'vecchie' to 'nuove' families occur, and what role did intermarriage play in this succession?
• RQ4 Why did the Republic avoid coups or depositions of doges despite concentrated power, and how did social networks mediate this?
• RQ5 What was the relationship between familial alliances and the number of doges produced by individual patrician families?

Key findings

• The 'apostoliche' and 'evangeliche' families, part of the 'vecchie' elite, held the highest network centrality, especially in betweenness, indicating their role as key connectors across the patriciate.
• Families with high betweenness centrality were disproportionately represented among those producing doges, suggesting strategic control over political access.
• The Dandolo family, though historically prominent, declined by the 16th century and functioned more as a conduit than a dominant force, with its influence channeled through alliances with other elite families.
• The 'nuove' families rose to power only after forming alliances with the 'vecchie', particularly the 'apostoliche', ensuring a peaceful transfer of power without institutional disruption.
• There was a strong correlation between a family’s position in the social network and the number of political offices held over centuries, indicating that network integration was a primary mechanism of political ascent.
• The absence of violent political transitions and the consistent election of doges over a millennium were underpinned by a stable, networked elite that maintained cohesion through intermarriage and institutionalized alliances.