Doge (title)

A doge (/ˈdoʊdʒ/;Italian pronunciation: [ˈdɔːdʒe], plural dogi or doges) was an elected lord and chief of state in many of the Italian city-states during the medieval and renaissance periods. Such states are referred to as "crowned republics".

The word is from the Venetian dialect, reaching English via French. Doge, along with the related English word duke and the Italian duce, descends from the Latin dux, meaning "leader", especially in a military context. The wife of a doge is styled a dogaressa and the office of the doge is termed dogeship.

The title of doge was used for the elected chief of state in a number of Italian "crowned republics". The two best known such republics were Venice (where in Venetian he was called doxe [ˈdɔːze]) and Genoa (where he was called a duxe [dyːʒe]) which rivalled each other, and the other regional great powers, by building their historical city-states into maritime, commercial, and territorial mini-empires. Other Italian republics to have doges were Amalfi and the small town of Senarica.

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