Provveditore Generale da Mar
The Provveditore generale da Mar ("Superintendent general of the Sea") was a senior office in the Venetian navy and in the Venetian overseas empire.
The Provveditore generale da Mar was the supreme commander of the Venetian fleet in peacetime. In wartime, he was replaced by the Capitano generale da Mar, with more ample powers.[1] As a sign of his command, the poop deck of his galley bore three lanterns.[2]
From the first half of the 16th century, he also appears as the governor of the Venetian Ionian Islands. Eventually this appointment became regularized, as the Provveditore generale del Levante; with his seat at Corfu, the Provveditore generale da Mar was the senior civil and military governor of the Ionian Islands in peacetime.[3][4]
In wartime, due to his absence at the head of the fleet, he was sometimes replaced by a Provveditore generale delle Tre Isole ("Superintendent general of the Three Islands"), renamed to Provveditore generale delle Quattro Isole after the addition of Lefkada to the Venetian domains in 1684.[3][4]
The office was abolished after the Fall of the Republic of Venice and the start of French rule in the Ionian Islands in June 1797.
References
- ↑ Da Mosto 1940, pp. 5, 19.
- ↑ Da Mosto 1940, p. 5.
- 1 2 Da Mosto 1940, p. 19.
- 1 2 Arbel 2013, p. 152.
Sources
- Arbel, Benjamin (2013). "Venice's Maritime Empire in the Early Modern Period". A Companion to Venetian History, 1400–1797. BRILL. pp. 125–253. ISBN 978-90-04-25252-3.
- Da Mosto, Andrea (1940). L'Archivio di Stato di Venezia. Indice Generale, Storico, Descrittivo ed Analitico. Tomo II: Archivi dell'Amministrazione Provinciale della Repubblica Veneta, archivi delle rappresentanze diplomatiche e consolari, archivi dei governi succeduti alla Repubblica Veneta, archivi degli istituti religiosi e archivi minori (PDF) (in Italian). Rome: Biblioteca d'arte editrice. OCLC 889222113.