Doge. A doge was an elected lord and head of state in several Italian city-states, notably Venice and Genoa, during the medieval and renaissance periods.
Such states are referred to as crowned republics. The word is from the Venetian language, reaching English via French., along with the related English word duke and the Italian, and all descend from the Latin, meaning either spiritual leader or military commander.
However, the words duce and duca are not interchangeable. Moreover, duca is an aristocratic and hereditary title.
The wife of a doge is styled a Dogaressa and the office of the doge is termed dogeship. The title of doge was used for the elected chief of state in a number of Italian crowned republics.
The two best known such republics were Venice and Genoa which rivalled each other, and the other regional great powers, by building their historical city-states into maritime, commercial, and territorial empires. Other Italian republics to have doges were Amalfi and the small town of Senarica. In several of his writings, Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, proposed that the future Jewish State take the title of Doge for its head of state-but this was not taken up by the actual state of Israel. After 1172 the election of the Venetian doge was entrusted to a committee of forty, who were chosen by four men selected from the Great Council of Venice, which was i
Such states are referred to as crowned republics. The word is from the Venetian language, reaching English via French., along with the related English word duke and the Italian, and all descend from the Latin, meaning either spiritual leader or military commander.
However, the words duce and duca are not interchangeable. Moreover, duca is an aristocratic and hereditary title.
The wife of a doge is styled a Dogaressa and the office of the doge is termed dogeship. The title of doge was used for the elected chief of state in a number of Italian crowned republics.
The two best known such republics were Venice and Genoa which rivalled each other, and the other regional great powers, by building their historical city-states into maritime, commercial, and territorial empires. Other Italian republics to have doges were Amalfi and the small town of Senarica. In several of his writings, Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, proposed that the future Jewish State take the title of Doge for its head of state-but this was not taken up by the actual state of Israel. After 1172 the election of the Venetian doge was entrusted to a committee of forty, who were chosen by four men selected from the Great Council of Venice, which was i
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