Naturally, when the closing of the Grand Council was understood and the whole drift of the government apprehended, a demonstration was made, led by Marino Bocconio, who had already made himself prominent by his emphatic opposition to the election of Gradenigo. Early in 1300 Bocconio, with some of his followers, demanded admittance to the Great Council, in order to protest against recent measures of the government. The Doge was present at the Council when this demand was made, and after some hesitation the visitors were admitted. What occurred has never been known; but the next day Bocconio and ten others were tried for sedition, condemned to death, and immediately hanged between the columns in the Piazzetta. It will be easily understood that this immediate and extreme punishment of malcontents brought peace to Venice, in seeming at least. It is interesting to note one peculiar element in the policy of Gradenigo. By the changes in the Great Council the power of the Doge had been greatly lessened, and "The Forty," or the "Quarantia," was now the supreme power in the Republic. Gradenigo had thus strengthened the aristocrats to the prejudice of his own authority. Various reasons have been given for his course in this matter, the most reasonable one being that he thus redeemed his pledge to advance the policy of the aristocrats to the extent of his power. {102} During the preceding half-century the power of the Doge had been merely nominal; he was now simply the instrument of the officials about him. At the same time his pomp and circumstance had been augmented as much as his real power had declined, and the public occasions on which he appeared gradually increased in magnificence. Martino da Canale thus describes the Easter procession which could not have occurred later than 1268, as the Doge Renier Zeno died that year:--