Thread by @MalvagioMarco

Since some people enjoy random fact about italian history, I'm starting a series of threads about venice, byzantium and other old stuff I like.
I'm starting with Venice, and specifically with the Doge. Buckle up for some #Dogeposting and #Italianhistory.

So, let's talk about the Doge, aka the supposed ruler of the Republic of Venice, aka a man with a surprising sucky job, but a cool hat.
Here an entirely accurate portrait (1253, colorized).
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The doge (who was elected, but ruled for life) was the head of the Republic, and the job had its perks. The most obvious is the cool hat, but a fancy house (which was also the seat of venetian government) went with it.
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And he got the coolest car- err, boat in the city. This was the bucintoro, the super-fancy dogal boat.
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The doge also got an impressive array of titles! My favourites (from different times) are "most serene prince", "lord of one-and-a-half quarter of the Roman Empire", "first sword [of the roman emperor]".
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The "first sword" one actually went with an oversized sword that was led in procession behind the doge. (who was unlikely to stab anyone since he was usually in his 60s or 70s).
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"Doge" itself is just venetian for "duke", a relic of venice's byzantine origin - the "doux" was the military commander of byzantium forces in the province. Venice more-or-less seceded from the empire, but kept the title and nominal loyalty to Costantinople.
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So far, the job looks great. But there were surprising downsides.
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First and most glaring: for all his prestige and pomp, the Doge had almost no power! He had a single vote in some of the (many, complex) venetian assemblies, but no veto or any other special role. He was mostly a figurehead ruler, with a lot of prestige but little power.
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(incidentally, the President of modern Italy is a similar role. Actual power is with the Prime Minister, while the President - who is the Head of State - has extremely limited agency)
BEHOLD THE PRESIDENT OF ITALY IN HIS GLORY

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Being the Doge was also *costly*! He got no money from the Republic, and had to pay for a good share of the (extreme) pomp required by his role. Of course, Venice had no shortage of rich old men, but even a noble household could be ruined to mantain a dogal lifestyle!
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He couldn't even console himself with a debauched private life. The doge had to preside a zillion public assemblies and weird rituals, and represent Venice with foreign ambassadors. But even his spare time and private life were tightly regulated, and more so for every new doge.

At the beginning of a doge's tenure, he had to take a series of oaths which amounted to "I won't do [bad thing someone thought a doge could do]". The list became longer every dogal election, and never became shorter.
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After 1400, doges were virtual prisoners of the city. The oaths were so restrictive, doges *and their families* couldn't engage in trade, their children couldn't hold most offices, and they couldn't even *meet friends in private!*
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"well, if he didn't like it, he could step down!". Err, no, turns out he couldn't. The doge's job was for life, and didn't allow abdication!
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Two questions jump to the mind: why did people still want the job, and how did a supposed ruler become little more than a very respected prisoner to his own state?
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As for the first: status, even with little real power, is its own lure, and anyonw who could hope to become Doge would be quite old, filthy rich and politically successful. The enormous prestige of the doge would also bolster their families, despite the limitations.
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How, and why, the Doge's office became so restricted is a longer story, which needs some context about the unholy mess that was the rest of Italy. Since this is a long-ass thread already, I'll leave that for next week.

Fuck how did I get the number of tweets so wrong AAAAA

Well you get a bonus random fact. Since most ppl on this site are USians. In the doge's apartments is a hall of maps. A rough outline of North America is depicted there.
On it is written "terra incognita d'antropofagi" =>"uknown land of men-eaters."