Council of Ten

The Council of Ten, called Consiglio dei Dieci in Italian and simply the Ten, was one of the major governing bodies of the Republic of Venice from 1310 to 1797. Doge Pietro Gradenigo created it in 1310 as a temporary body to investigate the plot of Bajamonte Tiepolo and Marco Querini, and its powers were made formally permanent in 1455. It was made up of ten patrician magistrates elected annually by the Great Council, and no more than one member of a family could sit at a time. The council had power to impose punishments on nobles, including banishment and death, and held a broad mandate over state security, which grew to cover Venetian diplomacy, intelligence and military affairs. In 1539 it set up the State Inquisitors, a three-judge tribunal drawn from its members that could try treason cases independently.