doge (doj)

[F. doge = Sp. Pg. doge = D. G. Dan. Sw. doge, Venice the office was established in the eighth century; the doge was chosen for life, at first by the citizens, but toward the end of the twelfth century the election was restricted to a small committee of the Great Council. The power and dignity of the doges were originally very great, but gradually became limited through the jealousy of the Venetian aristocracy. In Genoa the dignity was established in the fourteenth century; the doge was at first elected for life, but from the first part of the sixteenth century the term was restricted to two years, and the authority of the doge became more limited. The office disappeared in Venice in A 1797, at the overthrow of the republic, and in Genoa in the same year, although there was a temporary restoration of it in the latter city a few years later.