The Doge of Venice. The Symbolism of State Power in the Renaissance by A. Boholm (review)

Book Reviews 323 the rich is hidden to suit the egalitarian ideology of the workers. The only way to get extricate Andalusian ethnography from the quagmire of the sterile debate of recent years is to avoid the pola­ rized positions of the past leading to a devel­ opment of new ideas, not the entrenchment of the old. It is clear that honour and kinship play an important part in class politics which have dominated Andalusian history. One must look at how the superstructure affects the infrastructure, but one must not fall into the trap of believing the dominant ideology oneself. This would seem to remove any of the benefits of anthropological research. Ideologies are not created out of nothing: they have a purpose and use to a section of the population. The anthropologist must see how and why a particular ideology affects a population in a given way and make deduc­ tions. This includes listening to actors’ evaluations of themselves, seeing their actions and viewing their position from ‘objective’ criteria. However ethnocentric this may be, it does provide a valuable way of looking at society. The Corbin’s approach, though elegant and well thought out, does not really tell us anything new about Andalusian society. It orders these ideas in a systematic framework, but probably oversimplifies these beliefs and gives them a primacy over material conditions which they probably do not deserve. Mario Guarino University of Cambridge Boholm, A. 1990: T h e D oge o f Venice. T h e Sym bolism o f S ta te P ow er in the R enaissance. Gothenburg: IASSA, 298 pp. ISBN: 91-6300135 -7. Price: SEK 150. Boholm’s T h e D oge o f Venice is a study of the rituals and myths that surround the office of Doge, the highest in the Republic of Venice, ‘from the point of view of contemporary culture and its interpretive and evaluative standards’(p. 264). The author aims to demon­ strate that the ceremonies of which the Doge was protagonist were ‘manoeuvres in a long­ term political strategy’ to ‘establish his image as figurehead of the Republic’ (p. 4). This study is a ‘new reading’ of well- known secon­ dary sources (p. 7). The book opens with a brief account of political events and structural transforma­ tions in pre- and Renaissance Italy, and with a description of Venetian ‘institutions’ in the Renaissance. The rest of the text is devoted to the rituals associated with the person and office of the Doge in the 14th to 16th century. Installation and funeral ceremonies, and sea­ sonal rituals like the ‘Marriage to the Sea’ 1 and the Holy Week cycle are examined, care­ fully laying out the stages, settings, parti­ cipants, attires and paraphernalia involved. The details of each ritual event are then interpreted with reference to contemporary legends and beliefs, both local and from other parts of Italy and Christendom (particularly Byzantium); to other practices and rituals which ‘appear to be related’ (p. 7); and to the symbolism and ritual prescriptions of Chris­ tian doctrine. On the basis of this material, the author suggests that, at his installation, the person to be Doge underwent a process of ‘symbolic death’, that turned a living citizen into the relics of St. Mark, the Republic’s patron saint (pp. 264-5). This bestowed upon the Doge a divine mandate as ‘sacred ruler’ (p. 270). Many of the rituals stressed the status of the Doge as a prim us inter pares, coinciding with his limited political influence and executive power in the Republic, controlled by patri­ cian councils (see pp. 26 ffw.). The Doge’s rule was ‘periodically revitalised’ (p. 277) during the seasonal festivals. In the Easter cycle, the Doge was cast at different times as patrician, as king, as priest and as emperor. The speci­ ficity of Dogeship lay, according to Boholm, in this ‘unique capacity to metamorphose from one such type of rulership to another’ (p. 273). The author concludes that the office of Doge was ‘semantically multifaceted’ (p. 279). It compounded a secular, ‘egalitarian’ model of rulership, derived from the ancient Roman Republican tradition (the Doge as ordinary citizen elevated to high office, and...