Quarantia criminale o Quarantia o Consiglio di quaranta al criminal
Item
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Country
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IT
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Name of institution (English)
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State Archives of Venice
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Language of name of institution
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ita
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Contact information: postal address
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Campo dei Frari, San Polo 3002, 30125 Venice
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Contact information: phone number
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0039 0415222281
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Contact information: email
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as-ve@archivi.beniculturali.it
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Reference number
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Quarantia criminale
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Type of reference number
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Archival reference number
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Title (English)
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Council of Forty for crime or Council of Forty or Council of Forty for criminal justice
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Title (official language of the state)
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Quarantia criminale o Quarantia o Consiglio di quaranta al criminal
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Language of title
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ita
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Creator / accumulator
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Quarantia criminale
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Date(s)
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1342/1797
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Language(s)
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lat
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ita
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Extent
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475 storage units
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Physical condition
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Good
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Scope and content
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The Quarantia criminale fonds comprises documentation produced by this institution between the 14th and the 18th centuries. Initially, the Quarantia Criminale had jurisdiction over a wide range of areas, concerning not only judicial matters, but also economic, monetary and political ones, resulting in the production of different types of documents. With the foundation of new courts and the increasing complexity of the structures of governance, especially from the 14th century onwards, its activity became mostly related to criminal processes, including the granting of pardons and liberation of convicts. It also kept jurisdiction over some economic matters, such as the approval of creditors agreements and the establishment of taxes, often related to the Jewish community of Venice.
In this fonds, it is possible to find 18 storage units with hundreds of documents related to the Jewish community of Venice, most of them produced exclusively in the 18th century, except for four from the 17th century. There is several references to the "banchi di pegno" (pawnshop) of the Jewish Ghetto (453, fols. 6-8 or 449, fols. 6-7), as well as information regarding deposits (459) or judicial processes against Jews (465).
These documents concerning the Jewish community are available online on:
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Judaica Europeana Project
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Archival history
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Initially, the documentation of the Quarantia, as well as the archives of all other major institutions of governance, was part of the Cancelleria Ducale (ducal chancellery), located in the palace of the Doge of Venice.
After the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797, document collections faced many challenges as they were separated to different areas of the city, while others were transported to other cities, such as Paris, Vienna and Milan. In 1807, the fonds were divided in three main buildings: the Scuola di S. Teodoro for political documentation, the Convent of S. Giovanni Laterano for judicial documentation and the S. Provolo for State for financial matters. On December 13, 1815, Francesco I determined the reunification of the archival collections and, in 1822, the Convent of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari was chosen to become the main building of the archive. In the last decades of the 19th century, some additional structures were added. At the same time, a successful negotiation process allowed for the return of almost all archival collections that had been sent to other cities in the first decades of the 19th century. The Convent of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari remains the location of the Archivio do Stato today.
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Sources:
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Guida generale degli Archivi di Stato Italiani
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Caravale, Mario. 1997. “Le Istituzioni Della Repubblica.” In Storia Di Venezia. Dalle Origini Alla Caduta Della Serenissima, edited by Girolamo Arnaldi, Giorgio Cracco, and Alberto Tenenti, 3 (La formazione dello stato patrizio):299–364. Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani.
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The Quarantia Criminale had its origins between 1179 and 1223, and was one of the most important institutions of Venice, with jurisdiction over a broad field of political, economic and legislative subjects. It also interfered in administrative, monetary and financial issues, along with the Great Council of Venice.
In the 14th and 15th centuries, its power was gradually reduced as a consequence of the creation of other institutions and courts, including a second Quarantia (Council of forty) for civil matters in 1441, and a third one in 1492.
Then, the Quarantia focused its activity mostly on matters of criminal justice that were not subject to the Consiglio di dieci (Council of ten), or as a court of appeal for civil or criminal justice for the city and state of Venice. It also kept jurisdiction over matters of credit activity and confirmation of taxes, as well as over the local Jewish community and the "banchi di pegno" (pawnshop) of the Jewish Ghetto.
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(source: Guida generale degli Archivi di Stato italiani)
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System of arrangement
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As a result of the large jurisdiction and the longevity of the Quarantia, the documentation is divided by both subjects and types of documents. The existence of internal finding aids for each documentary series is variable.
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Author of the description
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Kevin Soares, 2022
Linked resources
Items with "Collections (official language of the state): Quarantia criminale o Quarantia o Consiglio di quaranta al criminal"
| Title |
Class |
| Archivio di Stato di Venezia |
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