Bartolomeo Minio

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Bartolomeo Minio was a Venetian captain and commander (provveditor e capitanio) of Nauplion in the Venetian Morea (modern Nafplion, Greece) from 1479 to 1483 AD. He wrote numerous reports (dispacci) to Venice, which have been used as a valuable historical source about the political and social situation in southern Greece in the 15th century.

[edit] The Minios

The Minios were an old family in Venice whereby their records begin with a Paolo Minio who moved to Rialto in 904. Members of this family were listed in the Great Council in the 1290's and held a myriad of office positions in the 1300's. Minios were also counted in the estimo of 1379. Nine members of the Minio family are listed in Hopf's catalogues of governors for Greece and the Aegean islands.

Bartolomeo Minio was born in Venice in around 1428 to Marco Minio and Cristina Storlado. He was the youngest of five sons and was named after his mother's father. Cristina died when Bartolomeo was only two years old and Marco remarried in 1431. In 1455, Bartolomeo married Elena Trevisan who was the daughter of Silvestro Nicoló whose family had men that commanded galleys. Bartolomeo's family lived in the San Tomà parish of the San Polo sestiere of Venice. Three sons are known to have reached adulthood (Marco, the first son, who was born around 1460, Alvise, born in 1461, and Francesco).

[edit] Military and political career

In 1462, Bartolomeo was a consiliere to the rettor of Corfu during his early career in the terra mar. Minio spent over forty-two months in Nafplion after his arrival in the area in November of 1479. His successor replaced him in April of 1483. In 1497, he was a councillor for water issues in the terrafirma. In 1499, he was a captain stationed in Cyprus. He became a nominee for Captain General in 1500.

Between 1500 and 1502, he was a vice-doge, captain, and consiliere stationed in Crete. A collection of 60 reports which he made during that time has survived. These reports, combined with the 90 from Nauplion, form an incomparable collection of letters by a single person. In 1503, he was a consiliere and capo of the Dieci. He was podestà for a difficult term at Cremona from 1504 up until 1505. In 1506, he was a member of the Signoria and was also the consiliere to the Senato Terra. In that same year up until 1507, he was podestà in Padua. In 1509, at the age of 80, he was sent to Julius II in order to discuss the matter pertaining to the papal interdict placed on Venice for the capture of Ravenna and Faenza. In 1510, he once again became podestà in Padua. In 1511, Bartolomeo was elected consiliere for San Polo whereby his own son Marco took a census of the area in 1509.

Bartolomeo had periods of illness and he missed vespers on April 25, 1512. A week later, he sent a message to the Collegio whereby he rejected his position as vice-doge as a result of his illness. He was sick again and missed two major ceremonial events in May and June of 1513. Bartolomeo served again as podestà of Padua in 1514. In October of 1515, he became consiliere of Padua at a meeting of the Dieci that endured until the eleventh hour. In August or September of 1518, Bartolomeo Minio died at around the age of ninety.

[edit] References

• Wright, Diana Gilliland (1999): Bartolomeo Minio: Venetian administration in 15th-Century Nauplion. Doctoral dissertation, The Catholic University of America, Washington DC. Online version