This measure divided the community into three great cate gories: (I) those who had never sat in the council themselves and whose ancestors had never sat ; these were of course the vast majority of the population, and they were excluded for ever from the great council; (2) those whose paternal ancestors had sat in the council ; these were eligible and were gradually admitted to a seat, their sons becoming eligible on majority: (3) those who were of the council at the passing of this act or had sat during the four preceding years ; their sons likewise became eligible on attaining majority. As all offices were filled by the great council, exclusion meant political disfranchisement. A close caste was created which very seldom and very reluctantly admitted new members to its body. The Heralds' college, the avvogadori di comun, in order to ensure purity of blood, were ordered to open a register of all marriages and births among members of the newly created caste, and these registers formed the basis of the famous Libro d'oro.
The closing of the great council and the creation of the patrician caste brought about a revolution among those who suffered disfranchisement. In the year 130o the people, led by Marin Bocconio, attempted to force their way into the great council and to reclaim their rights. The doors were opened, the ring leaders were admitted and immediately seized and hanged. Ten years later a more serious revolution, the only revolution that seriously shook the State, broke out and was also crushed. This conspiracy was championed by Bajamonte Tiepolo, and seems to have been an expression of patrician protest against the serrata, just as Bocconio's revolt had represented popular indignation. Tiepolo, followed by members of the Quirini family and many nobles with their followers, attempted to seize the Piazza on June 15, 131o. They were met by the Doge Pietro Gradenigo and crushed. Quirini was killed, and Tiepolo fled.
The chief importance of the Tiepoline conspiracy lies in the fact that it resulted in the establishment of the Council of Ten. Erected first as a temporary committee of public safety to hunt down the remnant of the conspirators and to keep a vigilant watch on Tiepolo's movements, it was finally made permanent in 1335. The secrecy of its deliberations and the rapidity with which it could act made it a useful adjunct to the constitution, and it gradually absorbed many important functions of the State.
With the creation of the Council of Ten the main lines of the Venetian constitution were completed. At the basis of the pyramid we get the great council, the elective body composed of all who enjoyed the suffrage, i.e., of the patrician caste.
Above the great council came the senate, the deliberative and legislative body par excellence. To the senate belonged all ques tions relating to foreign affairs, finance, commerce, peace and war. Parallel with the senate, but extraneous to the main lines of the constitution, came the Council of Ten. As a committee of public safety it dealt with all cases of conspiracy; for example, it tried the Doge Marino Falier and the General Carmagnola ; on the same ground all cases affecting public morals came within its extensive criminal jurisdiction. In the region of foreign affairs it was in communication with envoys abroad, and its orders would override those of the senate. It also had its own departments of finance and war. Above the senate and the Ten came the Collegio or cabinet, the administrative branch of the constitution. All affairs of State passed through its hands. It was the initiatory body; and it lay with the Collegio to send matters for deliberation either before the senate or before the Ten. At the apex of the pyramid came the doge and his council.