Marcantonio Memmo (

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, 11 November 1536 - 31 October 1615) was the 91st

Doge of Venice The Doge of Venice ( ) – in Italian, was the doge or highest role of authority within the Republic of Venice (697–1797). The word derives from the Latin , meaning 'leader', and Venetian Italian dialect for 'duke', highest official of the ...

, reigning from 24 July 1612 until his death.

Background, 1536–1612

The son of Giovanni Memmo and Bianca Sanudo, he was born into a family of average wealth. He went into business as a merchant and made a fortune through his careful management. As a prominent Venetian, he traversed the Venetian ''

cursus honorum The , or more colloquially 'ladder of offices'; ) was the sequential order of public offices held by aspiring politicians in the Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. It was designed for men of senatorial rank. The comprised a mixture of ...

'', becoming in turn, ''

provveditore The Italian title ''prov ditore'' (plural ''provveditori''; also known in ; ), "he who sees to things" ( overseer), was the style of various (but not all) local district governors in the extensive, mainly maritime empire of the Republic of Venice. ...

'', ''

podestà (), also potestate or podesta in English, was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of central and northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a c ...

'', and Procurator of St Mark's. He was set to become doge in 1606, but was not helped by the fact that the Memmo were one of the "''vecchie''" ("old"), Venetian noble families and every doge from 1382 on had been a member of one of the "''nuove''" ("new") Venetian noble families. He was thus unable to win support for his election in 1606, and lost out to

Leonardo Donato Leonardo Donà, or Donato (Venice, 12 February 1536Venice, 16 July 1612) was the 90th Doge of Venice from his election on 10 January 1606 to his death in 1612. His reign is chiefly remembered for Venice's dispute with the papacy, which resulted ...

Reign as Doge, 1612–1615

Memmo used the years of Donato's reign to maneuver behind the scenes, swinging into high gear following Donato's death on 16 July 1612. When the election was held on 24 July 1612, Memmo was elected on the first ballot, with 38 of the 41 votes, a shock to the ''nuove'' faction that had dominated the position of Doge for centuries. Great festivals were organized to celebrate Memmo's victory, and, like previous Doges, he would use the celebrations that attended great holidays as a way to curry favor with the population of Venice. Little of note happened in Memmo's reign as Doge, except for an incursion of

Uskoci The Uskoks (, , singular: ; notes on naming) were irregular soldiers in Habsburg Croatia that inhabited areas on the eastern Adriatic coast and surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Bands of Uskoks fought a guerrilla wa ...

pirates Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

in 1613. He died on 31 October 1615.

References

This article is based on this article from

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. 1536 births 1615 deaths 16th-century Venetian people 17th-century Venetian people 17th-century Doges of Venice Procurators of Saint Mark {{Italy-noble-stub