IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT a society can be learned from studying its institutions, government, industries, art, and culture. This is also true if we want to learn the way these societies lived in the past. For example, much can be learned about the Venetian society between the 13thand 18th centuries by investigating its glassmaking industry. At that time, being involved in this sector determined where you could live in Venice, your social status, whom you could marry, and whether you could travel abroad. Glassmaking was one ofthe two largest industries ofthe early modern Venetian economy—the manufacturing of silk was the other—and it employed a substantial portion ofthe city's corporate labor force: in the late 18th century about 30 percent ofthe Venetian artisans were glassmakers.

During the 12th century, the Venetian Republic became active in regulating the activity of artisans and merchants operating within its commonwealth. The making of glass, one of the Republic's most lucrative industries, was clearly a source of great interest to the Venetian government, and regulations specific to this sector were issued by the Senato, the Maggior Consiglio, and the Consiglio dei Dieci. The goal ofthis regulatory activity was, in large part, to ensure the quality of the Venetian glassware and maintain the reputation ofthe Republic's products in international markets. However, they were also, and perhaps more importantly, designed to keep glassmaking knowledge within Venice's borders; for example, in 1173 the Venetian Republic enacted legislation that granted to guilds the exclusive right to practice “mechanical trades.” Consequently, the glassmaking industry became the domain of a system of four or five guilds that restricted their art to Venetian, male glassmakers. Foreigners and women were generally excluded from membership.

Although it was strongly protectionist, the 13th-century Venetian Republic also energetically promoted innovation, and specifically sought to attract inventors from abroad.