their economic capacity, and the poor ones (the so-called Barnabites). The latter may have gradually or suddenly lost their wealth, but continued to maintain the hereditary right to sit in the Great Council. This often took the two sides of the nobility to clash in council and opened the possibility to cases of vote buying. It was the Great Council, on 12 May 1797, that declared the end of the Republic of Venice, by deciding - upon the Napoleonic invasion - to accept the abdication of the last Doge Ludovico Manin and dissolve the aristocratic assembly: despite lacking the required quorum of 600 members, the board voted overwhelmingly (512 votes in favor, 30 against, 5 abstentions) the end of the Venetian Republic and the transfer of powers to an indefinite provisional government. Gallery See also Minor Council Council of Forty Signoria of Venice Concio (Venice) Serrata del Maggior Consiglio Venetian nobility Seven Noble Houses of Brussels Notes The first volume of Annali Veneti e del Mondo written by Stefano Magno describes the origins of the Venetian noble families and presents the alphabetically arranged list with dates of their admission to Great Council. References Sources Government of the Republic of Venice 1172 establishments in Europe 12th-century establishments in the Republic of Venice 1797 disestablishments in the Republic of Venice Historical legislatures