Podestà

: "For information on the phantom island of the same name, see Podesta (island)."

Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state (like otherwise styled counterparts in other cities, e.g. "rettori" "rectors"), but also as a local administrator, the representative of the (Holy Roman) Emperor.

The term derives from the Latin word "potestas", meaning power. This development of a term meaning "Power" or "Authority" to be eventually the title of the person holding such power [There is a uncharacteristically early use of "potestas" in this sense, in Juvenal, "Satire" X, 99-101, an image of a magistrate in a little town, judging of weights and measures.] is parallel to the development of the Islamic term "Sultan".

Italian history

The first documented usage of "podestà" was in Bologna in 1151, when it was applied to Guido di Ranieri di Sasso of Canossa, brought in from Faenza to be "rettore e podestà", noted in numerous documents. [Savioli, "Annali Bolognesi" I, 225-31, noted by Born 1927:864 note 80.] Leander Albertus gives the particulars:

The citizens, seeing that there often arose among them quarrels and altercations, whether from favoritism or friendship, from envy or hatred that one had against another, by which their republic suffered great harm, loss and detriment; therefore, they decided, after much deliberation, toprovide against these disorders. And thus they began to create a man of foreign birth their chief magistrate, giving him every power, authority and jurisdiction over the city, as well over criminal as over civil causes, and in times of war as well as in times of peace, calling him praetor as being above the others, or "podestà"., as having every authority and power over the city." [Edith E.C. James, "Bologna, Its History, Antiquities, and Art" (London) 1909: 99f.]

Podestàs were first more widely appointed by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa when he began to assert the rights that his Imperial position gave him over the cities of northern Italy; at the second imperial diet at Roncaglia, November 1158, Frederick appointed in several major cities an imperial podestàs "as if having imperial power in that place" ["quasi habens potestatem imperialis in hac parte".] The elected consuls, which Frederick had claimed the right to ratify, he began to designate directly. The business of the podestà was to enforce imperial rights. From the start, this was very unpopular, and their often arbitrary behaviour was a factor in bringing about the formation of the Lombard League and the uprising against Frederick in 1167.

Although the Emperor's experiment was short-lived, the podestàs soon became important and common in northern Italy, making their appearance in most communes around the year 1200, with an essential difference. These officials were now appointed by the citizens or by the citizens' representatives, rather like the older consuls (but not collegial). The podestàs exercised the supreme power in the city, both in peace and war, and in foreign and domestic matters alike; but their term of office lasted only about a year. [Du Cange, "Glossarium mediæ et infimæ Latinitatis", vol 6, gives this sense and explores many ramifications of "potestas" in Late Latin and feudal usage.]

In order to avoid the intense strife so common in Italian civic life, it soon became the custom to hire a stranger to fill this position.A similarity could be drawn to modern CEOs.
Venetians were in special demand for this purpose during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. This was probably due to their lesser concern (at the time) than other Italians in the affairs of the mainland. Afterwards, in a few cases, the term of office was extended to cover a period of years, or even a lifetime.They were confined in a luxury palace to keep them from being influenced by any of the local families. The architectural arrangement of the Palazzo Pubblico at Siena, built starting in 1297, evokes the uneasy relation of the commune with the "podestà", who in Siena's case was a disinterested nobleman at the head of the judiciary. It provided a self-contained lodging round its own interior court for the podestà, separate but housed within the Palazzo Pubblico where the councillors and their committee of nine habitually met (Woo).

During the later part of the twelfth and the whole of the thirteenth century most Italian cities were governed by a podestà. Concerning Rome, with a history of civic violence, Gregorovius says that "in 1205 the pope Innocent III changed the form of the civic government; the executive power lying henceforward in the hand of a single senator or podest, who, directly or indirectly, was appointed by the pope." In Florence after 1180, the chief authority was transferred from the consuls to the podest, and Milan and other cities were also ruled by these officials. There were, moreover, podests in some of the cities of Provence (southeastern France, the former province Gallia Narbonensis).

An anonymous writer composed a short guide for the would-be "podestà" (though it would be unseemly to appear openly to run for the office), "Oculus pastoralis", of about 1222; [In full "Oculus pastoralis, sive libellus erudiens futurum rectorem populorum", "The Pastoral eye, or little book informing the future rector of the people"; the text was printed Muratori, "Antiquitates Italicæ Medi Ævi" iv 96-128.] in six simple and brief chapters it guides the novice through the requirements of the office, the salary, the address of welcome given by the retiring "podestà" to the new one, the choice of counsellors, the handling of money accounts. The fifth chapter offers some model speeches on public occasions, such as the death of prominent citizens. A final chapters touches upon making war (in a paragraph), and the training up of urban officials.

Gradually the podests became more despotic and more corrupt: the sale of public offices at Ferrara was a matter of public record, as Jakob Burckhardt noted: "At the new year 1502 the majority of the officials bought their places at "prezzi salati" (pungent prices) public servants of the most various kinds, custom-house officers, "massari"/bailiffs, notaries, podesta, judges, and even governors of provincial towns are quoted by name." Sometimes a special official was appointed to hear complaints against them. In the thirteenth century in Florence, in Orvieto (1251) and some other cities a "capitano del popolo" (literally, "captain of the people") was chosen to look after the interests of the lower classes. (To this day, the heads of government of the little independent republic of San Marino are still called "Capitani".) In other ways the power of the podests was reduced—they were confined more and more to judicial functions until they disappeared early in the sixteenth century.

The officials sent by the Italian republics to administer the affairs of dependent cities were also sometimes called podests. Into the 20th century the cities of Trento and Trieste gave the name of podest to their chief magistrate. In 1926, by a decree of Mussolini's Senate, [Lester K. Born, "What is the Podestà?" "The American Political Science Review" 21.4 (November 1927:863-871), esp. p 869-71.] Fascism tried to revive the term by calling the mayors of Italian cities "podestà"—a senate elected position. This use was abandoned after World War II and today Italian mayors are again called "Sindaco".

The example of Italy in the matter of podests was sometimes followed by cities and republics in northern Europe in the Middle Ages, notably by such as had trade relations with Italy. The officers elected sometimes bore the title of "podesta" or "podestat". Thus in East Frisia there were podests identical in name and functions with those of the Italian republics; sometimes each province had one, sometimes the federal diet elected a podest-general for the whole country, the term of office being for a limited period or for life¹.

Podesteria

Literally this derived word means the (term of) office of a podestà, but it can also designate also a district administered by one within a large state. In the "stato di terraferma" which the dogal republic of Venice gradually established in the basin of the river Po, annexing various former principalities and self governing cities, mostly in the fifteenth century, podesterias were one of the intermediate levels of the hierarchical administrative organization, the highest ('provincial') level being the "territorio" (roughly a modern administrative region).

Since the other dogal republic, Genoa, was in 1273 granted control of Pera and Galatea, commercial suburbs of Constantinople, by the Byzantine emperor, it had them governed by a common "podestà" until on 29 May 1453 all Constantinople was captured by the Ottoman Turks.

Frisian Potestaat

The concept of a local man "empowered" to represent the Emperor was also a feature of medieval Frisia. From apocryphal beginnings, important rights were granted or confirmed under the code of law known as the "Lex Frisionum". According to later tradition, it was Charlemagne who granted the Frisians the title of freemen and permitted them to choose their own podestat or imperial governor from among the chieftains, to organize and lead the defense of two of the three districts of Frisia, in Middle Frisia, from the Flie to the Lauwers and in East Frisia from the Lauwers to the Weser, later the Countship of Ostfriesland

The Frisians probably became aware of the Italian title of "podestà" (Dutch: "potestaat", German: "Potestat", English: "potestate") during the Sixth Crusade in 1228. According to privileges that were falsely ascribed to the Carolingian era, the "potestate" was chosen by council and he must be able to slay knights. Apocryphal historical writings mention the potestate as early as Norsemen times.

The only potestates chosen to lead Friesland between the Vlie and Lauwers were Juw Juwinga (1396) and Juw Dekema (1494), both were chosen by the Schieringers. However, in 1399 the districts of Westergo and Oostergo elected potestates, Haring Harinxma and Sjoerd Wiarda respectively, in the struggle against the count of Holland. The title only became well known outside of Friesland with the installation of Albrecht of Saxony as "hereditary potestate" in 1498; the Frisians chose Jancko Douwama as their imperial stadtholder (1522).

ee also

*Capitano reggente
*Gonfaloniere
*Doges of the 'crowned republics', Genoa and Venice
*Potentate

ources and references

¹ J.L. Motley, "Dutch Republic", i. 44, ed. 1903.
*Brouwer, J.H., J.J. Klama, W. Kok, and M. Wiegersma, eds., Encyclopedie van Friesland, (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1958) s.v. "Potestaat van Friesland".
*"Encyclopaedia Britannica" 1911: "Frisians"
* [http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~hwu/aessaysiena.htm Janet Hongyan Woo, "Tension in Siena : Site Selection and Room Arrangement of Piazza Pubblico"]
*Burckhardt, Jakob, "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy": "The State as a Work of Art"] , trans. 1878
*A. M. H. J. Stokvis, "Manuel d'histoire, de généalogie et de chronologie de tous les états du globe depuis les temps les plus reculés jusqu'à nos jours"; vol. iii
*Westermann, "Großer Atlas zur Weltgeschichte" (in German)
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Turkey.html WorldStatesmen - Turkey]
*William Francis Thomas Butler, "Lombard Communes: A History of the Republics of North Italy" (1982)

References