The Great Council and Minor Council were the two chambers of the political system of the Republic of Genoa that elected the Doge from 1528 to 1797.
21-648: In 1528, the Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria reformed the constitution of the Republic of Genoa. Before 1528, there was a closed circle of three institutions that kept each other in balance: a Doge elected for life, a Senate of eight senators, and the College of Prosecutors. The College of Prosecutors was a group of attorneys and governors; these were respectively concerned with finances and the administration of justice. With Doria's reformation, this form of government
42-698: A Greek Christian, known as George of Antioch , who previously had served as a naval commander for several North African Muslim rulers. Roger styled George in Abbasid fashion as Amir of Amirs , or Amīr al-Umarāʾ, with the title becoming Latinized in the 13th century as ammiratus ammiratorum . The Sicilians and later the Genoese took the first two parts of the term from their Aragon opponents and used them as one word, amiral . . The French gave their sea commanders similar titles while in Portuguese and Spanish
63-463: A news article published by an Arabic news outlet: On 24 May 2012, in a change of command ceremony aboard aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) , while docked at Khalifa Bin Salman Port, Bahrain , U.S. Marine Corps Gen . James Mattis , Commander, U.S. Central Command , introduced Vice Admiral Mark I. Fox as "Admiral Fox, the prince of the sea, emir of the sea – to translate 'admiral' from
84-652: Is expressly defined as "of the sea, Lat. marinus, epith. of sea-gods , nymphs , etc." Though there are multiple meanings for the Arabic Amīr (أمير), the literal meaning of the phrase Amīr al-Baḥr (أمير البحر) is "Prince of the Sea." This position, versus "commander of the sea," is demonstrated by legal practices prevailing in the Ottoman Empire , whereas it was only possible for Phanariots to qualify for attaining four princely positions, those being grand dragoman , dragoman of
105-522: Is pronounced "naúarkhēs," existed from very ancient times in Greece. While ναύαρχος may be defined as "admiral" as used by Plutarch in his Parallel Lives , the very pronunciation of ναύαρχος demonstrates that it is not a part of the etymology for the English word "admiral." The word "admiral" has come to be almost exclusively associated with the highest naval rank in most of the world's navies , equivalent to
126-616: Is ranked differently depending on the country. John Minsheu John Minsheu (or Minshew ) (1560–1627) was an English linguist and lexicographer . He was born and died in London . Little is known about his life. He published some of the earliest dictionaries and grammars of the Spanish language for speakers of English. His major work was the Ductor in linguas ( Guide into tongues ), an eleven-language dictionary. With his Ductor in linguas he
147-511: The Arabic amīral ( أمير الـ ) – amīr ( أمير ) [ʔmjr] ( listen ), " king , prince , chief, leader, nobleman , lord , a governor , commander , or person who rules over a number of people" and al ( الـ ), the Arabic definite article meaning "the." In Arabic, admiral is also represented as Amīr al-Baḥr ( أمير البحر ), where al-Baḥr (البحر) means the sea . The 1818 edition of Samuel Johnson 's A Dictionary of
168-501: The Arabic to English;" On 04 Feb 2021, in an announcement of his coronavirus -related death, the Arabic news website Saudi 24 News referred to Admiral Edmond Chagoury by the title "Prince of the Sea." One alternate etymology proposes that the term admiral evolved, instead, from the title of Amīr al-Umarā ʾ (أمير الأمراء). Under the reign of the Buyid dynasty (934 to 1062) of Iraq and Iran ,
189-656: The English Language , edited and revised by the Rev. Henry John Todd , states that the term "has been traced to the Arab. emir or amir, lord or commander, and the Gr . ἄλιος , the sea, q. d. prince of the sea . The word is written both with and without the d, in other languages, as well as our own. Barb. Lat. admirallus and amiralius. V. Ducange. Barb. Græc. ἄμηρχλιος. V. Meursii Gloss. Græco-Barbarum, edit. 1610. p. 29. Fr. admiral and amiral. Dan.
210-571: The Minor Council on any legislation; without the agreement of one of them, no new laws were introduced. These three institutions were also jointly responsible for warfare, the making of international treaties and alliances. The Doge was bound by what the three institutions agreed. The main authority of the Grand Council and Minor Council was to elect the Doge every 2 years. This importance was reflected in
231-462: The Republic, not necessarily of the nobility. Most of them were bankers, cloth merchants, captains, doctors, magistrates, notaries and scholars. 300 of them were selected from hundreds of names by the Great Council, while the last 100 were selected by the Minor Council. The Minor Council consisted of a dozen nobles. They appointed each other. The Senate and the College of Prosecutors had to work with
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#1733085256166252-653: The Republic. Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies . In the Commonwealth nations and the United States , a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet , or fleet admiral. The word admiral in Middle English comes from Anglo-French amiral , "commander", from Medieval Latin admiralis , admirallus . These evolved from
273-416: The army rank of general . However, this was not always the case; for example, in some European countries prior to the end of World War II , admiral was the third highest naval rank after general admiral and grand admiral . The rank of admiral has also been subdivided into various grades, several of which are historically extinct while others remain in use in most present-day navies. The Royal Navy used
294-470: The colours red, white, and blue, in descending order to indicate seniority of its admirals until 1864; for example, Horatio Nelson 's highest rank was vice-admiral of the white. The generic term for these naval equivalents of army generals is flag officer . Some navies have also used army-type titles for them, such as the Cromwellian "general at sea". While the rank is used in most of NATO countries, it
315-541: The definition of Amīr (أمير), as given in Edward William Lane 's Arabic-English Lexicon , concurs, in part, with Minsheu's definition, stating that the term means "One having, holding, or possessing, command; a commander; a governor; a lord; a prince, or king." While other Greek words of the period existed to indicate "belonging to the sea," or "of the sea," the now obsolete Gr. ἄλιος mentioned in Johnson's Dictionary
336-454: The fact that both electoral colleges met in the Doge's Palace . The Great Council drew up a list of candidates. The list went to the Minor Council, which selected a few candidates. The Minor Council sent its list to the Great Council for the final round of voting. Member after member in the Grand Council stood up and voted until a majority was found around one candidate, finally electing the new Doge of
357-585: The fleet , and the voivodees of Moldavia and Wallachia . Those Phanariots who attained the princely position of dragoman of the fleet served under the Ottoman admiral having administration of the Aegean islands and the Anatolian coast. Modern acknowledgement of the phrase Amīr -al-Baḥr (أمير البحر) meaning "Prince of the Sea" includes a speech made in an official U.S. military ceremony conducted in an Arabic port, and
378-517: The same. Germ. ammiral. Dutch, admirael or ammirael. Ital. ammiraglio. Sp. almirante. Minsheu, in his Spanish Dictionary, says 'almiralle is a king in the Arabian language.' Amrayl is used by Robert of Gloucester, in the sense of a prince, or governour." The quote from John Minsheu 's Dictionarie in Spanish and English (1599), given in Johnson's Dictionary, has been confirmed as being accurate. Additionally,
399-609: The title of Amīr al-Umarāʾ, which means prince of princes, came to denote the heir-apparent , or crown prince . This alternate etymology states that the term was in use for the Greco-Arab naval leaders (e.g. Christodulus ) in the Norman-Arab-Byzantine culture of Norman Sicily , which had formerly been ruled by Arabs, at least by the early 11th century. During this time, the Norman Roger II of Sicily (1095–1154) employed
420-510: The word changed to almirante . As the word was used by people speaking Latin or Latin-based languages it gained the "d" and endured a series of different endings and spellings leading to the English spelling admyrall in the 14th century and to admiral by the 16th century. It is important to note that the etymology of a word does not suggest the antiquity of the word as it may have appeared in other languages with entirely different pronunciations. The Greek ναύαρχος, for instance, which
441-470: Was replaced by the Great Council and the Minor Council, and the doge's term of office was shortened from life to two years. The reformation ended the closed circle of aristocratic families of doges, that ruled the Republic for centuries. The Great Council and Minor Council lasted until 1797, when the Genoese Republic was conquered by Napoleon . The Great Council was made up of 400 influential people from
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