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Katherine Johnson’s mathematical calculations helped guide some of America’s most important early space missions while she confronted the racial and gender barriers faced by Black women in twentieth-century America.
MORE →Reflects the personal views, recollections, and perspective of the author, Mike Davis.
This is a personal recollection on the Move fire on May 13, 1985
The Council of Ten (Italian: Consiglio dei Dieci; Venetian: Consejo de i Diexe), 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 patricians. The Council of Ten had a broad jurisdictional mandate over matters of state security. The Council of Ten and the Full College constituted the inner circle of oligarchical patricians who effectively ruled the Republic of Venice.
The Council of Ten was created in 1310 by Doge Pietro Gradenigo.[1] Originally created as a temporary body to investigate the plot of Bajamonte Tiepolo and Marco Querini, the powers of the council were made formally permanent in 1455.[2] The council was composed of ten patrician magistrates elected by the Great Council to one-year terms.[3] Until 1582, an additional zonta of around 15 to 20 members also served on the council.[2] No more than one member of the same family could serve on the Council at any one time,[1] and members could not be re-elected to successive terms.[4]
Elections took place annually in August and others in September.[3] The council, which met at least weekly, had the power to impose punishments upon nobles, including banishment and capital punishment. On the council's orders, Doge Marino Faliero was executed after the failed Faliero coup in 1355, and the Count of Carmagnola in 1432.[5] The body's deliberations were highly secretive, and members of the Council of Ten took an oath of secrecy.[6] Thomas Madden wrote: "The three capi of the Ten served for a month at a time and, to avoid any opportunity for bribery, were forbidden to leave the Ducal Palace during their tenure of office."[7]
Historian Edward Wallace Muir Jr. wrote: "The Council of Ten stood somewhat apart from the hierarchy of offices but was proverbially powerful. With its secret funds, system of anonymous informers, police powers, and broad jurisdictional mandate over matters of state security, the members of the Council of Ten, along with those of the Collegio, rotated offices among themselves and constituted the inner circle of oligarchical patricians who, in effect, ruled the republic."[2] During the War of the League of Cambrai, for example, the council had responsibility for finding ways to pay for the state's military expenses.[8]
From the 1490s through the 1530s, the Council of Ten and other Venetian authorities enacted sumptuary laws.[9][10] In 1506, the Ten enacted an anti-banqueting law, seeking to prevent ambitious noblemen from engaging in vote buying by hosting lavish dinner parties at the compaginie della calza (exclusive social societies). The law specifically prohibited women other than the wives of members from attending such dinners.[11]
The council was formally tasked with maintaining the security of the Republic and preserving the government from overthrow or corruption. However, its small size and ability to rapidly make decisions led to more mundane business being referred to it, and by 1457 it was enjoying almost unlimited authority over all governmental affairs. In particular, it oversaw Venice's diplomatic and intelligence services, managed its military affairs, and handled legal matters and enforcement. By the end of the sixteenth century, the Council of Ten had become Venice's spy chiefs, overseeing the city's vast intelligence network.[12]
The Council utilized bocche dei leoni ('lion's mouths') placed around the city which allowed Venetians to report suspected illegal activities by placing a written note into the mouth. The lion's mouths were seen by later observers such as Mark Twain to represent an oppressive autocratic government that spied on its citizens, but in reality the reports placed in lion's mouths were examined and only credible reports were investigated.[7]
In 1539 the council established the State Inquisitors, a tribunal of three judges chosen from among its members to deal with threats to state security. The Inquisitors were given equal authority to that of the entire Council of Ten, and could try and convict those accused of treason independently of their parent body. To further these activities, the Inquisitors created a large espionage network of spies and informants, both in Venice and abroad.[13] Inquisitors could conduct secret trials with a low standard of proof, and the inquisitors' practices bore strong similarities to those of the Roman Inquisition, which was established three years later. From 1624 onward, the Council of Ten was charged with the prosecution of all crimes involving the private lives of Venetian patricians.[14]
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Source: Wikipedia. Article content is retrieved live through the MediaWiki API.
The Council of Ten (Italian: Consiglio dei Dieci; Venetian: Consejo de i Diexe), 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 patricians. The Council of Ten had a broad jurisdictional mandate over matters of state security. The Council of Ten and the Full College constituted the inner circle of oligarchical patricians who effectively ruled the Republic of Venice.
The Council of Ten (Arabic: مجلس العشرة or أهل الجماعة) or The Companions of the Mahdi (Arabic: اصحاب المهدي) was a group of Ibn Tumart's earliest and closest disciples at the top of the hierarchy of the Almohad movement. Its name evoked an image of the Prophet Muhammad's ten companions, though sources indicate that "ten" was more of a name than a fixed number of members. The status of members of the Council of Ten was based on adherence to Almohad doctrine and proximity to Ibn Tumart rather than tribal origin. Members of the Council of Ten were appointed as governors and given military responsibilities from the conquest of Marrakesh in 1147 until 1157, when 'Abd al-Mu'min started appointing his heirs.
The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a maritime republic with its capital in Venice, on the northeastern coast of Italy. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 by Paolo Lucio Anafesto, over the course of its 1,100 years of history it established itself as one of the major European commercial and naval powers. Initially extended in the Dogado area (a territory currently comparable to the Metropolitan City of Venice), during its history it annexed a large part of Northeast Italy, Istria, Dalmatia, the coasts of present-day Montenegro and Albania as well as numerous islands in the Adriatic and eastern Ionian seas. At the height of its expansion, between the 13th and 16th centuries, it also governed Crete, Cyprus, the Peloponnese, a number of Greek islands, as well as several cities and ports in the eastern Mediterranean. The islands of the Venetian Lagoon in the 7th century, after having experienced a period of substantial increase in population, were organized into Maritime Venice, a Byzantine duchy dependent on the Exarchate of Ravenna. With the fall of the Exarchate and the weakening of Byzantine power, the Duchy of Venice arose, led by a doge and established on the island of Rialto; it prospered from maritime trade with the Byzantine Empire and other eastern states. To safeguard the trade routes, between the 9th and 11th centuries the Duchy waged several wars, which ensured its complete dominion over the Adriatic. Owing to its participation in the Crusades, Venice increasingly penetrated into eastern markets and, between the 12th and 13th centuries, managed to extend its power into numerous eastern emporiums and commercial ports. The supremacy over the Mediterranean Sea led the Republic to the clash with Genoa, which lasted until the 14th century, when, after having risked complete collapse during the War of Chioggia (with the Genoese army and fleet in the lagoon for a long period), Venice quickly managed to recover from the territorial losses suffered with the Treaty of Turin of 1381 and begin expansion on the mainland. Venetian expansion, however, led to the coalition of the Habsburg monarchy, Spain and France in the League of Cambrai, which in 1509 defeated the Republic of Venice in the Battle of Agnadello. While maintaining most of its mainland possessions, Venice was defeated, and the attempt to expand the eastern dominions caused a long series of wars against the Ottoman Empire, which ended only in the 18th century with the Treaty of Passarowitz of 1718 and which caused the loss of all possessions in the Aegean. Although still a thriving cultural centre, the Republic of Venice was occupied by Napoleon's French troops and its territories were divided with the Habsburg monarchy following the ratification of the Treaty of Campo Formio. Throughout its history, the Republic of Venice was characterized by its political order. Inherited from the previous Byzantine administrative structures, its head of state was the doge, a position which became elective from the end of the 9th century. In addition to the doge, the administration of the Republic was directed by various assemblies: the Great Council, with legislative functions, which was supported by the Minor Council, the Council of Forty and the Council of Ten, responsible for judicial matters, and the Senate.
Antonio Foscarini (c. 1570 in Venice – 22 April 1622) belonged to the Venetian nobility and was Venetian ambassador to Paris and later to London. He was the third son of Nicolò di Alvise of the family branch of San Polo and Maria Barbarigo di Antonio. In 1622 he was sentenced to death for high treason by the Council of Ten and executed. Ten months later, the same council rehabilitated Antonio Foscarini and explicitly informed the European courts of his posthumous exoneration, and the revocation of the guilty verdict and death sentence. Notwithstanding the about turn, mystery still remains as to why an art-loving nobleman was embroiled in a Venetian tale of political intrigue, that involved factional infighting, institutional disputes between Church and State, and religious hostilities over Protestantism and Catholicism at the beginning of the Thirty Years' War, that led to the death of an innocent man.
Before the 1921 destruction of Tulsa’s Greenwood District, Black residents had created a remarkable center of business and community life. The district included stores, professional offices, entertainment venues and homes owned by Black citizens. Understanding Greenwood means learning what was built—not only what was burned.
MORE →The Greenwood District.
