The ''Savi agli Ordini'' or ''Savi ai Ordini'' () were senior magistrates of the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

, charged with supervision of maritime matters, including commerce, the

Venetian navy The Venetian navy () was the navy of the Venetian Republic which played an important role in the history of the republic and the Mediterranean world. It was the premier navy in the Mediterranean Sea for many centuries between the medieval and ea ...

and the Republic's oversees colonies ().

History

The five were the earliest board of experts (, 'sages') to be established to help the leadership of the Venetian Republic—the Signoria of Venice—prepare legislation for submission to the Venetian Senate, the Council of the Forty, or the Great Council. As such, along with the other boards of established in the 14th/15th centuries, they sat on the Full College (), the Republic's effective cabinet. In 1442, they were aggregated to the Senate, becoming ''ex officio'' members of it. They were originally elected every November for a term of a month, simply to formulate commercial policy—on the size and destination of the trade convoys that sailed each spring—and naval policy—the outfitting of the 'guard fleet', intended for operations in the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...

, the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

, and the

Eastern Mediterranean The Eastern Mediterranean is a loosely delimited region comprising the easternmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, and well as the adjoining land—often defined as the countries around the Levantine Sea. It includes the southern half of Turkey ...

. By the had become a fixture of the government, and their terms of office were extended to cover an entire year. In the 15th century, as with other higher magistracies of Venice, restrictions were placed on the eligibility to the office: the members were elected by the Senate, served a term of six months, beginning on 1 April or 1 October, and could not be re-elected to the same office for six months thereafter. Their significance declined considerably after the end of the disastrous Second Ottoman–Venetian War in 1503. The office was increasingly used as a political training position, usually given to younger and less experienced patricians than those chosen for the other boards of ; they sat in a lower place in the hall where the Full College's sessions took place, and when the heads of the

Council of Ten The Council of Ten (; ), or simply the Ten, was from 1310 to 1797 one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice. Elections took place annually and the Council of Ten had the power to impose punishments upon Venetian nobility, patric ...

entered the chamber, they had to depart it. As the 16th-century political thinker Donato Giannotti put it, "their office is to be silent and listen". Like all , the office did not carry a salary, but could be held in tandem with other public offices.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{Venetian navy Stato da Màr Government of the Republic of Venice Venetian navy