Medici Venice

I would think that not only would one have to be a citizen of Venice, but would have to be from one of the traditional Venetian noble families as well. While I've read that some Italian city-states would prefer to appoint an outsider to the executive office of Podesta, Doges on the other hand held their offices for life. In short, it would be improbable for a Tuscan-speaking resident of Florence to be elected as the head of state of the Serenisima Republica de Veneta where they spoke their own distinctive dialect.
 

Vitruvius

Donor
The Dogeship is limited to members of the Venetian Patriciate, the oligarchy of noble families listed in the Libro d'Oro. By the time of Lorenzo il Magnifico those families could trace their lineage back several centuries, the Medici couldn't even do that in Florence let alone of foreign city like Venice.

So you would need a POD far enough back to change the government of the Serenissima such that foreigners were elected rulers a la the old tradition of the Podesta' (never used in OTL Venice), but that would likely butterfly away Lorenzo or the Medici's rise to power. The other way would be to have Venice be conquered somehow by someone who would, for some reason, want to put Lorenzo in charge. I can't really think up such a scenario, at least not a particularly realistic one.

The bigger problem is that I doubt Lorenzo would even want to be Doge. In Florence he was de facto absolute ruler of the city, even though he rarely held elected office officially. But the powers of the Doge are extremely limited, checked by the Great Council among others. Venice was, after all, an oligarchic Republic not a dictatorship or monarchy. And perhaps most damning is that Venice had strict policies against developing a cult of personality or personal aggrandizement. Not just sumptuary laws but also things like forbidding statues of rulers in public places. The dignity of the Doge was tied to the office not the person holding the office in away that was more Byzantine or Late Roman than it was monarchical, in the Western European sense.

Though I suppose if we went with the second scenario and Venice was conquered Lorenzo could be made into a and absolute ruler type of Doge but again, I can't find a realistic way of making that happen.
 
Peiro Medici Lorenzo's father leaves Florence when Lorenzo is young and is welcomed into nobility of Venice....?

Still not good enough, you need to be in the Golden Book, which requires a POD several centuries earlier or for the eligibility requirements for the Dogeship changed.
 
Lorenzo's earliest recorded ancestor was Averardo d' Medici, who died a relatively poor man in 1363. His son, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici (1360-1429) was the founder of the Medici Bank, and apart from serving one term as the Gonfaloniere de Giuistizia, he didn't bother much with politics. His son Cosimo the Elder (1389-1464), was the first to establish the Medici's place in Florentine politics. Cosimo il Vecchio was Lorenzo il Magnifico's grandfather.

Venice's oligarchy's membership had long been an exclusive club before the Medici were even known to the world. Lorenzo may as well aspire to be King of England than have the Signoria of Venice accept him as one of their own.

And why would he want to exchange having the entire electorate of Florence, where men of his choosing get elected as the Florentine Republic's head of state for a term of two months, for the Venetian doge's constitutionally limited executive powers? Lorenzo has it made in Florence.
 
Not just sumptuary laws but also things like forbidding statues of rulers in public places.

Was that restricted to merely current/recent rulers, or did it extend further back?

Could, for example, the city of the 15th Century erect a statue of Enrico Dandolo from the beginning of the 13th Century?
 

Vitruvius

Donor
Was that restricted to merely current/recent rulers, or did it extend further back?

Could, for example, the city of the 15th Century erect a statue of Enrico Dandolo from the beginning of the 13th Century?

I'd have to look into the specifics, but I doubt they'd want to do that. The Venetians were very careful about separating the man from the office. So Dandolo was great Doge but he was still just a man. They really tried to avoid individual memorialization, though I suppose it was more by tradition than outright codification. Though it did work in reverse. I seem to remember there was one Doge who was condemned by the Great Council after his death, his remains were dug up/removed from his tomb so he could suffer sentence of 'execution' and he was unceremoniously reburied in a lesser location. His heirs were left to pay his fines.

As for the statues an amusing example, relevant to this discussion, was the case of Bartolomeo Colleoni. He was a powerful condottiere who had acquired great fiefs around Bergamo and amassed great wealth. He fought in many wars for Venice against the city states of the Terra Firma and died in 1475. In his will he left a large sum to the Senate of Venice if they would faithfully execute his will. He wanted them to ensure his sons inherited his fief, no problem for the Venetians, and to have an equestrian statue commissioned and placed in Piazza di San Marco. This was an affront to Venetian sensibilities because no one man should be given such an honor. Moreover as a condottiere from Bergamo Colleoni was something of a parvenu so it was a double affront against the Patrician families. Suddenly people began to talk disparagingly about him, there was a lot of mudslinging designed to tarnish his image and reinforce opposition to honoring the request.

In the end they kept his bequest, commissioned the statue and had it placed in the Campo (small piazza) in front of the church of the Confraternity of San Marco in the north of the city. A clever interpretation of his will that made sure Colleoni's legacy in death could never challenge the supremacy of the State as a traditional institution and its offices like the Doge as projecting authority and commanding respect.
 
Maybe Medici bank is in Venice? Or perhaps Medici bank is a force in Venice?:D:D:D:D:D

The Medicis apparently already had a branch in Venice. They had branches in Genoa, Rome, Naples, Pisa, Milan, Ancona, Avignon, Bruges, London, Lyons, Paris, Cologne, Geneva, Basel, and Seville. But since they had the popes as clients, I don't see what special need they would have for a place in the exclusive governing body of Venice. Even Popes Leo X and Clement VII were Medicis.

Why is it so important for you that Lorenzo becomes ruler of Venice anyway?
 
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