Oath of Office [Venice, c.1600]

OATH OF OFFICE of Marco Antonio Memmo (1556-1615), in Italian, illuminated manuscript on vellum [Venice, after 1600, before 1612]

An illuminated and handsomely bound Oath of Office for the appointment of the future Doge Marcantonio Memmo to the role of Consigliere of Venice.

230 x 160mm. i + 60 + iii leaves, complete, contemporary foliation 1-48 followed here, 23 lines, ruled space: 154 x 100mm, illuminated headpiece with the lion of St Mark on f.1v (slight offsetting to f.2). Contemporary Venetian gilt-tooled binding with the Lion of St Mark and the coat of arms of the Memmo family (lightly scuffed, lacking silk ties).

Provenance: Marco Antonio Memmo (1556-1615), Doge of Venice from 1612 until his death in 1615, was a member of one of the old patrician families of Venice. A successful merchant and skilful politician, he completed the Venetian political cursus honorum, becoming capitano in Vicenza in 1568, then in Brescia in 1575; podestà in Verona in 1584 and Padova in 1586, provveditore in Palma in 1597 and again podestà in Brescia in 1601; and Procurator of St Mark's in 1602. It was sometime after his appointment as Procurator that he was also made Consigliere of the sestiere of Santa Croce in Venice. On July 24, 1612, Memmo was elected Doge on the first ballot, with 38 of the 41 votes.

Content: Oath of Office, duties and respective penalties for not observing said duties, ff.1-48; Index ff.48v-52v; ruled blanks ff.53-60.

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