Republic of Ragusa
Encyclopedia
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik
(Ragusa in Italian and Latin) in Dalmatia
(today in southernmost modern Croatia
), that existed from 1358 to 1808. It reached its commercial peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries, under the protection of the Ottoman Empire
, before being conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire
in 1808. It had a population of about 30,000 people, of whom 5,000 lived within the city walls. It had the motto, Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro (Latin
for "Liberty is not well sold for all the gold").
for "Ragusan municipality" or "community"), in the 14th century it was renamed Respublica Ragusina, first mentioned in 1385 http://books.google.cl/books?id=Ws1pAAAAMAAJ&q=respublica+ragusina&dq=respublica+ragusina&hl=es&ei=MdGiS_DuHcm0tge1272ECg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBw (Latin for Ragusan Republic). In Italian it is called Repubblica di Ragusa; in Croatian
, it is called Dubrovačka Republika.
The Croatian name Dubrovnik is derived from the word dubrava, an oak grove; by a strange folk etymology, the Turks have corrupted this into Dobro-Venedik, meaning Good-Venice. It came into use alongside Ragusa as early as the 14th century.
The Latin, Italian and Dalmatian
name Ragusa derives its name from Lausa (from the Greek
ξαυ: xau, "precipice"); it was later altered in Rausium (Appendini says that until after AD 1100, the sea passed over the site of modern Ragusa, if so, it could only have been over the Placa or Stradun) or Rausia (even Lavusa, Labusa, Raugia and Rachusa) and finally into Ragusa.
– its final borders were formed by 1426 – comprising the mainland coast from Neum
to the Prevlaka
peninsula as well as the Pelješac
peninsula and the islands of Lastovo
and Mljet
, as well as a number of smaller islands off Lastovo and Dubrovnik such as Koločep
, Lopud
, and Šipan
.
In the 15th century the Ragusan republic also acquired the islands of Korčula
, Brač
and Hvar
for about eight years. However they had to be given up due to the resistance of local minor aristocrats sympathizing with Venice which was granting them some privileges.
and Slavic
raiders destroyed the Roman city of Epidaurus
, today's Cavtat
. Some of the survivors moved 25 kilometers north to a small island near the coast where they founded a new settlement, Lausa. It has been claimed that a second raid by Croats in 656 resulted in the total destruction of Epidaurus.
Epidaurus had earlier been destroyed in AD 265 by the Goths
and, according to English writer John Gardner Wilkinson
, "Rausium (Ragusa) probably was founded long before Epidaurus was finally destroyed, and that the various eruptions of barbarians, in the third and succeeding centuries, had led to the original establishment of this place of refuge".
The refugees from Roman Epidaurus built their new settlement on the small island (some sources say peninsula) of Lausa off the shore while other populations (primarily Croats
) settled along the coast in the following centuries, directly across the narrow channel, and named their settlement Dubrovnik. Initially the populations were skeptical of each other. Over time they grew closer and finally in the 12th century the two settlements merged. The channel that divided the city was filled creating the present-day main street (the Stradun
) which became the city centre. Thus, Dubrovnik became the Slavic name for the united town.
Recently another theory appeared, based on new archaeological excavations. New findings, including a chapel and part of the city walls, were dated to the 5th century, clashing with earlier theories. The size of the old chapel indicates that there was quite a large settlement at that time. A new theory appeared dating construction of Dubrovnik back to Greek times. The Greek theory was boosted with recent findings of numerous Greek artifacts during excavations in the Port of Dubrovnik.
Antun Ničetić, in his book Povijest dubrovačke luke ("History of the Port of Dubrovnik") explains his theory that Dubrovnik was established by Greek sailors. The key element in this theory is the fact that ships in ancient time traveled about 45 to 50 nautical mile
s per day, and required a sandy shore to pull their ships out of the water for the rest period during the night. An ideal combination would have a fresh water source in the vicinity. Dubrovnik had both, being half way between the Greek settlements of Budva
and Korčula
, which are 95 nmi (175.9 km; 109.3 mi) apart.
, who sent a fleet under Niketas Oryphas
in relief. With the weakening of Byzantium
, Venice
began to see Ragusa as a rival which needed to be brought under her control, but the attempt to conquer the city in 948 failed. The citizens of the city attributed this to Saint Blaise
whom they adopted as the patron saint.
Ragusa in those early medieval centuries had a population of Latinized Illyrians, who spoke their own romance Dalmatian language
and was an island
In 1050, Croatian
king Stjepan I, ruler of Bosnia and Dalmatia, made a grant of land along the coast which extended the boundaries of Ragusa to Zaton
, 16 km north of the original city, giving the republic control of the abundant supply of fresh water which emerges from a source vauclusienne at the head of the Ombla inlet. Stephen's grant also included the harbour of Gruž, which is now the commercial port for Dubrovnik.
In the 11th century, Dubrovnik and the surrounding area were described in the work of the famous Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi
. In his work, he mentioned Dubrovnik as the southernmost city of "the country of Croatia and Dalmatia".
In 1191, the city's merchants were granted the right to trade freely in Byzantium
by Emperor Isaac II Angelos
. Similar privileges were obtained several years earlier from Serbia
(1186) and from Bosnia
(1189). The treaty with Bosnian Ban Kulin
is also the first official document where the city is referred to as Dubrovnik
.
invaded Dalmatia
with the forces of the Fourth Crusade
, Ragusa was forced to pay a tribute and became a source of supplies for Venice (hides, wax, silver and other metals). Venice used the city as its naval base in the southern Adriatic Sea
. Unlike with Zadar
, there was not much friction between Ragusa and Venice as the city had not yet begun to compete as an alternate carrier in the trade between East and West; in addition, the city retained most of its independence. The people, however, resented the ever growing tribute and an almost epic hatred between Ragusa and Venice began to grow.
In the middle of the thirteenth century the island of Lastovo
was added to the original territory. Then in 1333, the Pelješac Peninsula
was purchased from Serbia
with the blessing of Bosnia
; the island of Mljet
was acquired in 1345. In January 1348, the Black Death
visited the city.
between Louis and the Archbishop
Ivan Saraka. The city recognized Hungarian
sovereignty, but the local nobility continued to rule with little interference from Buda
. The Republic profited from the suzerainty of Louis of Hungary, whose kingdom was not a naval power, and with whom they would have little conflict of interest. The last Venetian rector left, apparently in a hurry.
In 1399, the city acquired the area between Ragusa and Pelješac
, called the Primorje. Moreover, between 1419 and 1426, the Konavle region south of Astarea, including the city of Cavtat
, was added to the republic's possessions. In the first half of the 15th century Cardinal Ivan Stojković (Johannes de Carvatia) was active in Dubrovnik as a Church reformer and writer.
In 1458, the Republic signed a treaty with the Ottoman Empire
which made it a tributary of the sultan
. Moreover, it was obliged to send an ambassador to Istanbul
by 1 November of each year in order to deliver the tribute.
When in 1481 the city passed into Ottoman protection, it was to pay an increased tribute of 12,500 ducat
s. For all other purposes, however, Ragusa was virtually independent. It could enter into relations with foreign powers and make treaties with them, and its ships sailed under its own flag. Ottoman vassalage also conferred special rights in trade that extended within the Empire. Ragusa handled the Adriatic trade on behalf of the Ottomans, and its merchants received special tax exemption
s and trading benefits from the Porte
. It also operated colonies that enjoyed extraterritorial rights in major Ottoman cities.
Merchants from Ragusa could enter the Black Sea
which was otherwise closed to non-Ottoman shipping. They paid less in customs duties
than other foreign merchants, and the city-state enjoyed diplomatic support from the Ottoman administration in trade disputes with the Venetians.
For their part, Ottomans regarded Ragusa as a port of major importance. After all, most of the traffic between Florence
and Bursa (an Ottoman port in northwestern Anatolia
) was carried out via Ragusa. Florentine cargoes would leave the Italian ports of Pesaro
, Fano
or Ancona
to reach Ragusa. From that point on they would take the land route Bosnasaray
(Sarajevo)–Novibazar
–Skopje
–Plovdiv
–Edirne
.
When in the late 16th century, Ragusa placed its merchant marine at the disposal of the Spanish Empire
, on condition that its participation in the Spanish military ventures would not affect the interest of the Ottoman Empire, the latter tolerated the situation as the trade of Ragusa permitted the importation of goods from states with which the Ottoman Empire was at war.
Along with England, Spain and Genoa, Ragusa was one of the Venice's most damaging competitors in the 15th century on all seas, even in the Adriatic. Thanks to its proximity to the plentiful oak
forests of Gargano
, it was able to bid cargoes away from the Venetians.
explorations which opened up new ocean routes, the spice trade
no longer went through the Mediterranean sea. Moreover, the discovery of America started a crisis of Mediterranean shipping. That was the beginning of the decline of both the Venetian and Ragusan Republics.
Charles VIII of France
granted trading rights to the Ragusans in 1497. These rights were also granted by Louis XII in 1502. In the first decade of the 16th century, Ragusan consuls were in France while their French counterparts were sent to Ragusa. Prominent Ragusans were in France during this period and include such dignitaries as Simon Benessa, Lovro Gigants, D. Bondić, Ivan Cvletković, Captain Ivan Florio, Petar Lukarić, Serafin Gucetić, Luka Sorkočević. The Ragusan aristocracy was also well represented at the Sorbonne University in Paris at this time.
The fate of Ragusa was linked to that of the Ottoman Empire. Ragusa and Venice lent technical assistance to the Ottoman–Egypt
ian–Zamorin's Calicut–Gujarati alliance that was defeated by the Portuguese in the Battle of Diu
in the Indian Ocean (1509).
On 6 April 1667, a devastating earthquake
struck and killed over 5,000 citizens, including many patricians and the Rector Šišmundo Getaldić, and levelled most of public buildings, leaving only the outer walls intact. Buildings in the Gothic and Renaissance styles – palaces, churches and monasteries – were all in ruins, with only the Sponza Palace and the front part of the Rector's Palace at Luza Square surviving. Gradually the city was rebuilt in the more modest Baroque style. With great effort Ragusa recovered a bit, but still remained a shadow of the former Republic.
In 1677 Marin Kabužić (1630–1692) and Nikola Bunić (ca 1635–1678) arrived in Istanbul
in an attempt of aversion of the imminent threat to Ragusa: Kara-Mustafa's pretensions for the annexation of Ragusa to the Ottoman Empire
. The Grand-Vizier, struck with the capacity Marin showed in the arts of persuasion, and acquainted with his resources in active life, resolved to deprive his country of so able a diplomat, and on 13 December he was imprisoned, where he was to remain for several years. In 1683, Kara-Mustafa was killed in the attacks on Vienna
, and Marin was soon free to return to Ragusa.
In 1684, the emissaries renewed an agreement contracted in Višegrad
in the year 1358 and accepted the sovereignty of the Austrian Emperor over Ragusa as a Hungarian King, with an annual tax of 500 ducats. At the same time Ragusa continued to recognize the sovereignty of Turkey; which was nothing unusual in those days. After this even greater opportunities opened up for Ragusa ships in ports all along the Dalmatian coast, in which they anchored frequently.
In 1683 the Turks were defeated in the Battle of Kahlenberg
outside Vienna. The Field marshal of the Austrian army was Ragusan Frano Đivo Gundulić. In the Treaty of Karlowitz
of 1699, the Ottomans ceded all of Hungary
, Transylvania
, Slavonia
, Dalmatia
and Podolia
to the victorious Habsburgs
, Venetians, and Poles
.
The Ottoman Empire was no longer a threat to Christian Europe. After this, Venice captured a part of Ragusa's inland area and approached its borders. They presented the threat of completely surrounding and cutting off Ragusa's trade inland. In view of this danger and anticipating the defeat of the Turks in 1684 Ragusa sent emissaries to the Austrian Emperor Leopold in Vienna, hoping that the Austrian Army would capture Bosnia. Fortunately for the Republic, the Ottomans retained their control over their hinterland. With the 26 January 1699 peace agreement, the Republic of Ragusa ceded two patches of its coast to the Ottoman Empire so that the Republic of Venice would be unable to attack from land, only from the sea. One of them, the northwestern land border with the small town of Neum
, is today the only outlet of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina
to the Adriatic Sea. The southeastern border village of Sutorina later became part of Montenegro
, which has coastline to the south. Ragusa continued its policy of strict neutrality in the War of Austrian succession (1741–48) and in the Seven Years' War
(1756–63).
In 1783 the Ragusan Council did not answer the proposition put forward by their diplomatic representative in Paris, Frano Favi, that they should establish diplomatic relations with the USA, although the Americans agreed to allow Ragusan ships free passage in their ports.
The first years of the French war were in recent times the most prosperous for Ragusa. The flag of Saint Blaise
being neutral, the Republic became one of the chief carriers of the Mediterranean. The Continental blockade was the life of Ragusa; and before the rise of Lissa the manufactures of England, excluded from the ports of France, Italy, Holland, and Germany, found their way to the centre of Europe through Saloniki and Ragusa. But this state, which had managed the Turks so skilfully, which had survived the Greek and Serbian Empires as well as the Republic of Venice
, was unable to stand upright in the terrible contest which included the extremities of Europe in its sphere. The philanthropic republicans of France offered to fraternise with all other republics; and we shall see that Napoleon, with the Imperial Crown on his head, did not despise the small Republic of Ragusa.
The Battle of Austerlitz
, and the consequent Treaty of Presburg, having compelled Austria to hand over Dalmatia to France, Ragusa was put in a novel dilemma. Kotor
held by the Venetians against the Turks, was always accessible to Venice, which was a naval power. But while France held the land, England and Russia held the sea; and while France was marching her troops from Austerlitz to Dalmatia, eleven Russian sail of the line entered the Bay of Kotor
, and landed 6000 men. As 5000 Frenchmen under Marshal Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor
marched southwards, and took pacific possession, one after another, of the fortresses of Dalmatia, the Russians pressed the senators of Ragusa to allow them to occupy their city, as it was an important fortress, – thus anticipating France might block the further progress to Kotor, as the reader will see by an examination of the map that there is no way from Dalmatia to Kotor but through Ragusa. Marshal Gabriel Molitor was equally abundant in friendly professions, pressing instances, and solemn pledges, to respect the integrity of the Republic, in his passage to Kotor. Ragusa felt herself without the power of causing her neutrality to be respected, and long and anxious were the debates that ensued.
"Dear as this land is to me," said Count Vlaho Kabužić, "consecrated as it is to our affections by its venerable institutions, its wise laws, and the memory of illustrious ancestors, it will henceforth cease to deserve the name of patria, if its independence be subverted. With our large fleet of merchantmen, let us embark our wives and our children, our state treasures and our laws, and ask of the Sultan an island in the Archipelago, which may become a new Epidaurus, and the sanctuary of our time-honoured institutions."
Serious as the dilemma was, the senators were unprepared for so desperate a remedy. A large majority were for opening the gates to Russia; but the echoes of Austerlitz
had scarce died away, and such an act would have at once exposed them to the vengeance of Napoleon, then in the zenith of his lawless ambition and military power. So the occupation of the city was assigned to the French under General Jacques Lauriston
. No sooner did this take place than the Russian force moved to the siege of the city, and unhappily for Ragusa a barbarous and undisciplined horde of Montenegrins accompanied the regular Russian troops; and such a scene of horror had not been seen since the Huns
and the Avars
swept round Aquileia
. The environs were studded thickly with villas, the results of a long prosperity; and the inhuman scenes of rapine with which the wars of the Montenegrines with the Turks were accompanied were transferred to these abodes of ease and luxury. Accustomed to the poverty of their own mountains, these invaders could scarce believe their own eyes when, passing Cavtat
, the smiling villa
s and well-filled store-houses of Breno
Ombla and Pile were presented to their cupidity, and the siege of Ragusa commenced by the burning and plundering of the villas, involving the irretrievable loss of above half a million sterling
.
The city was in the utmost straits; General Gabriel Molitor, who had advanced within a few days' march of Ragusa, made an appeal to the Dalmatians to rise and expel the Russians
and Montenegrins, which met with a feeble response, for only three hundred men joined his standard; but a stratagem made up for his deficiency of numbers. A letter, seemingly confidential, was despatched to General Lauriston in Ragusa, announcing his proximate arrival to raise the siege with such a force of Dalmatians as must overwhelm Russians and Montenegrins; which letter was, as intended by Molitor, intercepted and believed by the besieging Russians. With his force thinly scattered, to make up a show, Molitor now advanced towards Ragusa, and turning the Montenegrin position in the valley
behind, threatened to surround the Russians who occupied the summit of the hill between him and the city; but seeing the risk of this, the Russians retreated back towards the Bay of Kotor
, and the city was relieved.
Around the year 1800, the Republic had a highly organized network of consulates and consular offices in more than eighty cities and ports around the world. In 1806, the Republic surrendered to forces of the Empire of France
to end a months-long siege by the Russian fleets (during which 3,000 cannonballs fell on the city). The French lifted the siege and saved Ragusa. The French army, led by Napoleon, entered Ragusa in 1806. In 1808, Marshal Marmont abolished the Republic of Ragusa and amalgamated its territory into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, himself becoming the "Duke of Ragusa" (Duc de Raguse). In 1810 Ragusa, with all Dalmatia
, went to the newly created French Illyrian Provinces
. Later, in the 1814 Battle of Paris
, Marmont abandoned Napoleon and was branded a traitor. The word ragusade was coined in French to signify treason and raguser meant a cheat.
The Ragusan nobility were disunited in their ideas and political behavior. Article "44" of the 1811 Decree abolished the centuries-old institution of fideicommissum
in inheritance law, by which the French enabled younger noblemen to participate in that part of the family inheritance, which the former law had deprived them of. The annulment of fideicommissum struck at Antonio Degl’Ivellio. According to a 1813 inventory of the Dubrovnik district, 451 land proprietors were registered, including ecclesiastical institutions and the commune.
Although there is no evidence of the size of their estates, the nobles, undoubtedly, were in possession of most of the land. Eleven members of the Sorkočević family, eight of Gučetić, six of Getaldić, six of Pucić, four of Džamanjić and three members of the Saraka family were among the greatest landowners. Ragusan citizens belonging to the confraternities of St. Anthony
and St. Lazarus owned considerable land outside the City. Regardless of the events taking place in the City, army generals Todor Milutinović and Montrichard
settled the French surrender of the City under honorable terms. With the aim of avoiding greater conflict, the Austrian
s agreed to the French conditions. General Todor Milutinović promised that the victorious army would not march into the city before the last Frenchman was evacuated from the city by ship.
On 27 January, the French capitulation was signed in Gruž
and ratified the same day. It was then that Vlaho Kabužić openly sided with the Austrians, dismissing the rebel army in Konavle
. Meanwhile, Đivo Natali and his men were still waiting outside the Ploče Gates. After almost eight years of occupation, the French troops marched out of Dubrovnik on 27 and 28 January 1814. On the afternoon of 28 January 1814, the Austrian and British troops made their way into the city through the Pile Gates, denying admission to the Ragusa rebels. Intoxicated by success, and with Vlaho Kabužić's support, Milutinović ignored the Gruž agreement he had made with the nobility in Gruž. The events which followed can be best epitomized in the so-called flag episode.
The Flag of Saint Blaise
was flown alongside the Austrian and British colors, but only for two days because, on 30 January, General Milutinović ordered the Mayor Savo Đurđević to lower it. Overwhelmed by a feeling of deep patriotic pride, Đurđević, the last Rector of the Republic and a loyal francophile, refused to do so "jer da ga je pripeo puk" ("for the masses had hoisted it"). Subsequent events proved that Austria took every possible opportunity to invade the entire coast of the eastern Adriatic, from Venice to Kotor
. The allies did everything in their power to eliminate the Ragusa issue at the Vienna Congress of 1815. The Ragusa representative, Miho Bona
, was denied participation in the Congress, while Milutinović, prior to the final agreement of the allies, assumed complete control of the city.
In his 1908 book The Fall of Dubrovnik (Pad Dubrovnika), Lujo Vojnović, the younger brother of Ivo Vojnović
, makes every effort to justify the popular actions and prove the solidarity of all social groups in achieving their common goal to restore the Republic. The records, however, seem to indicate a different situation. There was in fact little understanding between the nobility, the bourgeoisie, and the peasantry, and slim chances of these groups of having any common basis for further activities. The three groups had different reasons to be dissatisfied with the French government, and the moment when they rejoiced together over their victory was not strong enough to unite all the segments of Dubrovnik society in a struggle to restore the Republic. After Ragusa suffered a political breakdown, it was brought to the verge of economic ruin, and was forsaken by the international community; the City and its territories were handed over to the Habsburg Monarchy
in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna
. In 1814, led by general Todor Milutinović, the Austrian army marched into Dubrovnik. With them came the British army
and the local insurgents against the French occupation. At the Congress of Vienna
in 1815, Ragusa was made a part of the crown land
of the Kingdom of Dalmatia
, ruled by Austria-Hungary
, which it remained a part of until 1918.
In 1815, nobles of the former Ragusan Government met for the last time, with their efforts to re-establish the Republic of Ragusa eventually failing. After the fall of the Republic most of the aristocracy died out or emigrated overseas; around one fifth of the noble families were recognized by the Austrian empire. Some of the families that were recognized and survived were Getaldić-Gundulić, Gučetić, Kabužić, Sorkočević, Zlatarić, Džamanjić, Pucić, Gradić, and Bunić. The Greater Council met for the last time on 29 August 1814 in the Vila Đurđević (the home of Sabo Đurđević) in Mokošica
.
The Republican Constitution of Ragusa was strictly aristocratic. The population was divided into three classes: nobility
, citizens, and artisans or plebeians. All effective power was concentrated in the hands of aristocracy. The citizens were permitted to hold only minor offices, while plebeians had no voice in government. Marriage between members of different classes of the society was forbidden.
The organization of the government was based on the Venetian model: the administrative bodies were the Grand Council (supreme governing body) and the Small Council (executive power) (from 1238) and the Senate (from 1253). The head of the state was the Rector, elected for a term of office for one month, the inscription on the Council's offices said: Obliti privatorum publica curate (Manage the public affairs as if you had no private interests), In the nineteenth century, the undertones of this political epigraph must have struck the Austrian governors of Ragusa as potentially dangerous, for they had it removed. The new government was probably irritated by its air of republicanism, a reminder of the statehood that was to be extirpated in integrating Ragusa into a new Habsburg frame. As a pregnant expression of civic virtue and republican values, this political maxim has been frequently cited ever since. Hardly can a popular text on the heritage of Ragusan statehood or political history of the Republic be found printed, online or spoken, in which this motto does not appear. It is usually glorified as a home-made distillate of political reality.
The Grand Council (Consilium Maior) consisted only of members of the aristocracy; every noble took his seat at the age of 18. Every year, 11 members of the Small Council (Consilium minus) were elected. Together with a duke, the Small Council had both executive and representative functions. The main power was in the hands of the Senate (Consilium rogatorum) which had 45 members elected for one year. This organization prevented any single family, unlike the Medici in Florence, from prevailing. Nevertheless the historians agree that the Sorgo family was all the time among the most influential.
The Small Council (Consilium Minor) consisted first of 11 members and after 1667 of seven. The Small Council was elected by the Rector. The Senate was added in 1235 as a consultative body. It consisted of 45 invited members (over 40 years of age). While the Republic was under the rule of Venice the Rector was Venetian, but after 1358 the Rector was always a person from the Republic or Ragusa. The length of the Rector's service was only one month and a person was eligible for reelection after two years. The rector lived and worked in Rector's Palace but his family remained living in their own house. The government of the Republic was liberal in character and early showed its concern for justice and humanitarian principles, e.g. slave trading was abolished in 1418.
The government of the Republic was liberal in character and early showed its concern for justice and humanitarian principles. The Republic's flag had the word Libertas (freedom
) on it, and the entrance to the Saint Lorenz fortress (Lovrijenac
) just outside the Ragusa city walls bears the inscription "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro, meaning "Liberty can not be sold for all the gold of the world." The Republic imposed some restrictions on the slave trade in 1416. However, the Republic was a staunch opponent of the Eastern Orthodox Church
and only Roman Catholics could acquire Ragusan citizenship
.
The city was ruled by the aristocracy
, and marriage between members of three different social classes was strictly forbidden. The nominal head of state
was the Ragusan Duke, while during the period of Venetian suzerainty the rector
held considerable influence. Real power, however, was in the hands of three councils that were held by the nobility.
The Ragusan archives document, Speculum Maioris Consilii Rectores, lists all the persons that were involved in the Republic's government between September 1440 to June 1860. There were 4397 rectors elected; 2764 (63%) were from "old patrician" families: Gučetić, Bunić, Kabužić, Crijević, Gundulić, Getaldić, Đorđić, Gradić, Pucić, Saraka, Sorkočević, and Džamanjić.
A big problem of Ragusan noble families was also that because of the decrease of their numbers and lack of noble families in the neighborhood (the surroundings of Dubrovnik was under Turkish control) they were becoming more and more closely related, the marriages between relatives of the third and fourth degree were frequent.
An 1802 list of Dubrovnik Republic's governing bodies showed that six of the eight Small Council and 15 of the 20 Great Council members were from the same 11 families.
The Ragusan aristocracy
evolved in the 12th century through the 14th century. It was finally established by statute in 1332. New families were accepted only after the earthquake in 1667. In the Republic of Ragusa all political power was owned by noble males older than 18 years. They were formed the Great Council (Consilium majus) which had the legislative function. Every year, 11 members of the Small Council (Consilium minus) were elected. Together with the duke
(who was elected for a period of one month) it had both executive and representative functions. The main power was in the hands of the Senate (Consilium rogatorum) which had 45 members elected for one year. This organization prevented any single family, unlike the Medici
in Florence
, from prevailing. Nevertheless the historians agree that the Sorgo family was consistently among the most influential.
Original patriciate:
Families that joined the patriciate after the 1667 earthquake
:
It is peculiar that the nobility survived even when the classes were divided by internal disputes. When Marmont arrived in Dubrovnik in 1808, the nobility was divided into two blocks, the "Salamankezi" (Salamanquinos) and the "Sorbonezi" (Sorboneses). These names alluded to certain controversy arisen from the wars between Charles V
of Spain and Francis I of France
, which happened some 250 years previously. It was in the 1667 earthquake that a great part of the nobles were annihilated, it was necessary for him to retain the control and so he did with the inclusion of certain plebeians into noble class. To these the "salamanquinos", those in favor of Spanish absolutism
, did not treat like equals; but the inclined "sorboneses", sided with the French and to a certain liberalism accepted them without reserves. Another factor that could have taken part in this conduct is that the "sorboneses" had been very decreased by the great earthquake and they did not want to lose their wealth and status. In any case, both sides retained their status and they seated together in the Council, but they did not maintain social relations and were not even greeting each other in the streets; an inconvenient marriage between members of both groups was of so serious consequences as if it occurred between members of different classes. This social split was also reflected in the inferior layers: “The plebeians, as well, were divided in the brotherhoods of Saint Antony and Saint Lazarus, who were so unfriendly in their relations as "salamnaquinos" and "sorboneses". But the nobility was always the essence of the Republic that always had to be defended from the neighboring empires – “first Hungary, soon Venice, later Turkey” – and that was structured for a reduced number of people, around the 33 original noble families from the 15th century.
until 1472 was Latin
. Later, the Senate of the Republic decided that the official language of the Republic would be the Ragusan dialect of the Romance Dalmatian language
(as opposed to Croatian), and forbade the use of the Slavic language in senatorial debate. The gospari (the aristocracy) held on to their language for many a century, while it slowly disappeared.
Although the Latin language was in official use, inhabitants of the republic were mostly native speakers of the Croatian language
(as confirmed by P. A. Tolstoj in 1698, when he noted In Dalmatia... Dubrovnikans... called themselves as Croats). Dalmatian
was also spoken in the city. Italian
, as spoken in the republic, was heavily influenced by Venetian language
and Tuscan dialect
. Italian took root among the Dalmatian Romance
-speaking merchant upper classes, as a result of Venetian influence.
When Ragusa was part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, between 1808 and 1810, the Italian language
was in official use.
The Ragusan literature in which Latin, Italian and Croatian languages coexisted blossomed in the 15th and 16th century.
According to Graubard:
Croatian language was normally used among lower classes, Italian in the upper. Ragusans were in general bilingual: speaking Croatian in common day to day duties and Italian in official occasions or mixing both. Literary works of famous Ragusans were written in both Croatian and Italian language.
Among them are the works of writers Džore Držić
, Marin Držić
, Ivan Bunić Vučić
, Ignjat Đurđević, Ivan Gundulić
, Šišmundo (Šiško) Menčetić
, Dinko Ranjina; and following writers, beside others from the 16th to the 19th century (before the Age of Romantic National Awakenings) were explicit in declaring themselves as Croats and theirs language as Croatian : Vladislav Menčetić, Dominko (Dinko) Zlatarić (see above), Bernardin Pavlović
, Mavro Vetranović
, Nikola Nalješković, Junije Palmotić
, Jakov Mikalja
, Joakim Stulli
, Marko Bruerović
, Peter Ignaz Sorgo, Antun Sorkočević
(1749–1826), Giovanni Francesco Sorgo (1706–71).
The Croatian-language works from republic of Dubrovnik had a large role in the developing of Croatian literature, as well as modern Croatian language.
The inhabitants of the Republic of Ragusa were chiefly of South Slavic
ethnicity. They were Catholics and spoke the local variant of the Shtokavian dialect
(the same dialect upon which all modern regional languages are based). Among the modern South Slavic nations, Ragusans are mostly attributed to Croats
in modern literature. However, discussions on the subject of Ragusan ethnicity are mainly based on revised concepts which developed after the fall of the Republic; in particular, the time of Romantic Nationalism
resulting from the French Revolution
. Before this, states in general were not based on the contemporary unifying concepts such as nation, language or ethnicity; loyalty was chiefly to family, city, and (among Catholics such as the Ragusans) the Church.
The great cartographer, Muhammad al-Idrisi
(in 1154), considered Dubrovnik
as a part of the Croatian (Grwasiah) entity (mentions it as "the last Croatian coastal city") in his book Nuzhat al-Mushataq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq (Joy for those who wish to sail over the world).
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
(Ragusa in Italian and Latin) in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
(today in southernmost modern Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
), that existed from 1358 to 1808. It reached its commercial peak in the 15th and the 16th centuries, under the protection of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, before being conquered by Napoleon Bonaparte's French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
in 1808. It had a population of about 30,000 people, of whom 5,000 lived within the city walls. It had the motto, Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro (Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "Liberty is not well sold for all the gold").
Names
Originally named Communitas Ragusina (LatinLatin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
for "Ragusan municipality" or "community"), in the 14th century it was renamed Respublica Ragusina, first mentioned in 1385 http://books.google.cl/books?id=Ws1pAAAAMAAJ&q=respublica+ragusina&dq=respublica+ragusina&hl=es&ei=MdGiS_DuHcm0tge1272ECg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBw (Latin for Ragusan Republic). In Italian it is called Repubblica di Ragusa; in Croatian
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
, it is called Dubrovačka Republika.
The Croatian name Dubrovnik is derived from the word dubrava, an oak grove; by a strange folk etymology, the Turks have corrupted this into Dobro-Venedik, meaning Good-Venice. It came into use alongside Ragusa as early as the 14th century.
The Latin, Italian and Dalmatian
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
name Ragusa derives its name from Lausa (from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
ξαυ: xau, "precipice"); it was later altered in Rausium (Appendini says that until after AD 1100, the sea passed over the site of modern Ragusa, if so, it could only have been over the Placa or Stradun) or Rausia (even Lavusa, Labusa, Raugia and Rachusa) and finally into Ragusa.
Coat of arms
Today the coat of arms of Ragusa can still be seen in the coat of arms on the Croatian flag as it constitutes a historic part of Croatia.Territory
The Republic ruled a compact area of southern DalmatiaDalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
– its final borders were formed by 1426 – comprising the mainland coast from Neum
Neum
Neum is the only coastal town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It comprises of coastline, the country's only access to the Adriatic Sea. As of 2009, municipal population was of 4,605 and the one of Neum main town was of 4,268 .-Features:Neum has steep hills, sandy beaches, and several large tourist...
to the Prevlaka
Prevlaka
Prevlaka is a small peninsula in southern Croatia, at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor in the eastern Adriatic. The word prevlaka means portage. The cape Oštro, located at the tip of the peninsula, is the southernmost point of mainland in Croatia....
peninsula as well as the Pelješac
Pelješac
Pelješac is a peninsula in southern Dalmatia in Croatia. The peninsula is part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and is the second largest peninsula in Croatia...
peninsula and the islands of Lastovo
Lastovo
Lastovo is an island municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The municipality consists of 46 islands with a total population of 792 people, of which 93% are ethnic Croats, and a land area of approximately . The biggest island in the municipality is also named Lastovo, as is the...
and Mljet
Mljet
Mljet is the most southerly and easterly of the larger Adriatic islands of the Dalmatia region of Croatia. The National Park includes the western part of the island, Veliko jezero, Malo jezero, Soline Bay and a sea belt 500 m wide from the most prominent cape of Mljet covering an area of...
, as well as a number of smaller islands off Lastovo and Dubrovnik such as Koločep
Kolocep
The island of Koločep is one of the three inhabited Elaphiti Islands situated near the city of Dubrovnik. Koločep is the southernmost inhabited island in Croatia and is locally known as Kalamota.-Location and access:...
, Lopud
Lopud
Lopud is a small island off the coast of Dalmatia, southern Croatia. Lopud is one of the Elaphiti Islands, and can be reached by boat from Dubrovnik, Orasac and Zaton. The island is famous for its sandy beaches, in particular the bay of Šunj....
, and Šipan
Šipan
Šipan also Sipano is the largest of the Elaphiti Islands, 17 km northwest of Dubrovnik, Croatia; separated from the mainland coast by the Kolocepski Channel; area 16.22 km²; population 500 . It is the largest island in this group and its highest point is 243 m...
.
In the 15th century the Ragusan republic also acquired the islands of Korčula
Korcula
Korčula is an island in the Adriatic Sea, in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. The island has an area of ; long and on average wide — and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 16,182 inhabitants make it the second most populous Adriatic island after Krk...
, Brač
Brac
Brač is an island in the Adriatic Sea within Croatia, with an area of 396 km², making it the largest island in Dalmatia, and the third largest in the Adriatic. Its tallest peak, Vidova Gora, or Mount St. Vid, stands at 778 m, making it the highest island point in the Adriatic...
and Hvar
Hvar
- Climate :The climate of Hvar is characterized by mild winters and warm summers. The yearly average air temperature is , 686 mm of precipitation fall on the town of Hvar on average every year and the town has a total of 2800 sunshine hours per year. For comparison Hvar has an average of 7.7...
for about eight years. However they had to be given up due to the resistance of local minor aristocrats sympathizing with Venice which was granting them some privileges.
Origins
The city was established in the 7th century (circa 614) after AvarEurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
and Slavic
Slavic peoples
The Slavic people are an Indo-European panethnicity living in Eastern Europe, Southeast Europe, North Asia and Central Asia. The term Slavic represents a broad ethno-linguistic group of people, who speak languages belonging to the Slavic language family and share, to varying degrees, certain...
raiders destroyed the Roman city of Epidaurus
Epidaurus (Dalmatia)
Epidaurus was an ancient Greek colony in Dalmatia founded sometime in the 6th century BC.The town changed its name to Epidaurum during Roman rule in 228 BC....
, today's Cavtat
Cavtat
Cavtat ) is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic seacoast 15 km south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality.-History:...
. Some of the survivors moved 25 kilometers north to a small island near the coast where they founded a new settlement, Lausa. It has been claimed that a second raid by Croats in 656 resulted in the total destruction of Epidaurus.
Goths
The Goths were an East Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin whose two branches, the Visigoths and the Ostrogoths, played an important role in the fall of the Roman Empire and the emergence of Medieval Europe....
and, according to English writer John Gardner Wilkinson
John Gardner Wilkinson
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson was an English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology".-Childhood and education:...
, "Rausium (Ragusa) probably was founded long before Epidaurus was finally destroyed, and that the various eruptions of barbarians, in the third and succeeding centuries, had led to the original establishment of this place of refuge".
The refugees from Roman Epidaurus built their new settlement on the small island (some sources say peninsula) of Lausa off the shore while other populations (primarily Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
) settled along the coast in the following centuries, directly across the narrow channel, and named their settlement Dubrovnik. Initially the populations were skeptical of each other. Over time they grew closer and finally in the 12th century the two settlements merged. The channel that divided the city was filled creating the present-day main street (the Stradun
Stradun (street)
Stradun or Placa is the main street of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The limestone-paved pedestrian street runs some 300 metres through the Old Town, the historic part of the city surrounded by the Walls of Dubrovnik....
) which became the city centre. Thus, Dubrovnik became the Slavic name for the united town.
Recently another theory appeared, based on new archaeological excavations. New findings, including a chapel and part of the city walls, were dated to the 5th century, clashing with earlier theories. The size of the old chapel indicates that there was quite a large settlement at that time. A new theory appeared dating construction of Dubrovnik back to Greek times. The Greek theory was boosted with recent findings of numerous Greek artifacts during excavations in the Port of Dubrovnik.
Antun Ničetić, in his book Povijest dubrovačke luke ("History of the Port of Dubrovnik") explains his theory that Dubrovnik was established by Greek sailors. The key element in this theory is the fact that ships in ancient time traveled about 45 to 50 nautical mile
Nautical mile
The nautical mile is a unit of length that is about one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian, but is approximately one minute of arc of longitude only at the equator...
s per day, and required a sandy shore to pull their ships out of the water for the rest period during the night. An ideal combination would have a fresh water source in the vicinity. Dubrovnik had both, being half way between the Greek settlements of Budva
Budva
Budva is a coastal town in Montenegro. It has around 15,000 inhabitants, and it is the centre of municipality...
and Korčula
Korcula
Korčula is an island in the Adriatic Sea, in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. The island has an area of ; long and on average wide — and lies just off the Dalmatian coast. Its 16,182 inhabitants make it the second most populous Adriatic island after Krk...
, which are 95 nmi (175.9 km; 109.3 mi) apart.
Early centuries
The Saracens laid siege to Dubrovnik in 866 and 867, which lasted for fifteen months and was raised due to the intervention of the Byzantine Emperor, Basil the MacedonianBasil I
Basil I, called the Macedonian was a Byzantine emperor of probable Armenian descent who reigned from 867 to 886. Born a simple peasant in the Byzantine theme of Macedonia, he rose in the imperial court, and usurped the imperial throne from Emperor Michael III...
, who sent a fleet under Niketas Oryphas
Niketas Oryphas
Niketas Oryphas or Oöryphas was a distinguished Byzantine official, patrician and admiral under the emperors Michael III and Basil I the Macedonian , who achieved several naval victories against the Saracen raiders....
in relief. With the weakening of Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
, Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
began to see Ragusa as a rival which needed to be brought under her control, but the attempt to conquer the city in 948 failed. The citizens of the city attributed this to Saint Blaise
Saint Blaise
Saint Blaise was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea . According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded...
whom they adopted as the patron saint.
Ragusa in those early medieval centuries had a population of Latinized Illyrians, who spoke their own romance Dalmatian language
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
and was an island
In 1050, Croatian
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
king Stjepan I, ruler of Bosnia and Dalmatia, made a grant of land along the coast which extended the boundaries of Ragusa to Zaton
Zaton
Zaton can refer to:* Zaton, Dubrovnik-Neretva County, a village located northwest of Dubrovnik, Croatia* Zaton, Šibenik-Knin County, a village located northeast of Vodice, Croatia* Zaton, Zadar County, a village located south of Nin, Croatia...
, 16 km north of the original city, giving the republic control of the abundant supply of fresh water which emerges from a source vauclusienne at the head of the Ombla inlet. Stephen's grant also included the harbour of Gruž, which is now the commercial port for Dubrovnik.
In the 11th century, Dubrovnik and the surrounding area were described in the work of the famous Arab geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi
Muhammad al-Idrisi
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani al-Sabti or simply Al Idrisi was a Moroccan Muslim geographer, cartographer, Egyptologist and traveller who lived in Sicily, at the court of King Roger II. Muhammed al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta then belonging to the Almoravid Empire and died in...
. In his work, he mentioned Dubrovnik as the southernmost city of "the country of Croatia and Dalmatia".
In 1191, the city's merchants were granted the right to trade freely in Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
by Emperor Isaac II Angelos
Isaac II Angelos
Isaac II Angelos was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204....
. Similar privileges were obtained several years earlier from Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
(1186) and from Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
(1189). The treaty with Bosnian Ban Kulin
Ban Kulin
Ban Kulin was a notable Ban of Bosnia who ruled from 1180 to 1204 first as a vassal of the Byzantine Empire and then of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was brought to the power by Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Comnenus. He had a son, Stjepan Kulinić who succeeded him as Bosnian Ban...
is also the first official document where the city is referred to as Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
.
Venetian suzerainty (1205–1358)
When, in 1205, the Republic of VeniceRepublic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
invaded Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
with the forces of the Fourth Crusade
Fourth Crusade
The Fourth Crusade was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christian city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire...
, Ragusa was forced to pay a tribute and became a source of supplies for Venice (hides, wax, silver and other metals). Venice used the city as its naval base in the southern Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
. Unlike with Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
, there was not much friction between Ragusa and Venice as the city had not yet begun to compete as an alternate carrier in the trade between East and West; in addition, the city retained most of its independence. The people, however, resented the ever growing tribute and an almost epic hatred between Ragusa and Venice began to grow.
In the middle of the thirteenth century the island of Lastovo
Lastovo
Lastovo is an island municipality in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County in Croatia. The municipality consists of 46 islands with a total population of 792 people, of which 93% are ethnic Croats, and a land area of approximately . The biggest island in the municipality is also named Lastovo, as is the...
was added to the original territory. Then in 1333, the Pelješac Peninsula
Pelješac
Pelješac is a peninsula in southern Dalmatia in Croatia. The peninsula is part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and is the second largest peninsula in Croatia...
was purchased from Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
with the blessing of Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
; the island of Mljet
Mljet
Mljet is the most southerly and easterly of the larger Adriatic islands of the Dalmatia region of Croatia. The National Park includes the western part of the island, Veliko jezero, Malo jezero, Soline Bay and a sea belt 500 m wide from the most prominent cape of Mljet covering an area of...
was acquired in 1345. In January 1348, the Black Death
Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...
visited the city.
Independence from Venice and establishment of the Republic (1358)
After Venice was forced in 1358, by the Treaty of Zadar, to yield all claims to Dalmatia, the city accepted the mild hegemony of King Louis I of Hungary and Croatia. On 27 June 1358, the final agreement was reached at VisegrádVisegrád
Visegrád is a small castle town in Pest County, Hungary.Situated north of Budapest on the right bank of the Danube in the Danube Bend, Visegrád has a population 1,654 as of 2001...
between Louis and the Archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
Ivan Saraka. The city recognized Hungarian
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
sovereignty, but the local nobility continued to rule with little interference from Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
. The Republic profited from the suzerainty of Louis of Hungary, whose kingdom was not a naval power, and with whom they would have little conflict of interest. The last Venetian rector left, apparently in a hurry.
In 1399, the city acquired the area between Ragusa and Pelješac
Pelješac
Pelješac is a peninsula in southern Dalmatia in Croatia. The peninsula is part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and is the second largest peninsula in Croatia...
, called the Primorje. Moreover, between 1419 and 1426, the Konavle region south of Astarea, including the city of Cavtat
Cavtat
Cavtat ) is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic seacoast 15 km south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality.-History:...
, was added to the republic's possessions. In the first half of the 15th century Cardinal Ivan Stojković (Johannes de Carvatia) was active in Dubrovnik as a Church reformer and writer.
Ottoman suzerainty
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
which made it a tributary of the sultan
Sultan
Sultan is a title with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic language abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", and "dictatorship", derived from the masdar سلطة , meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be used as the title of certain rulers who...
. Moreover, it was obliged to send an ambassador to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
by 1 November of each year in order to deliver the tribute.
When in 1481 the city passed into Ottoman protection, it was to pay an increased tribute of 12,500 ducat
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s. For all other purposes, however, Ragusa was virtually independent. It could enter into relations with foreign powers and make treaties with them, and its ships sailed under its own flag. Ottoman vassalage also conferred special rights in trade that extended within the Empire. Ragusa handled the Adriatic trade on behalf of the Ottomans, and its merchants received special tax exemption
Tax exemption
Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...
s and trading benefits from the Porte
Porte
The Sublime Porte, also Ottoman Porte or High Porte , is a synecdoche for the central government of the Ottoman Empire, by reference to the High Gate of the Divan of the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul.The particular term was used in the context of diplomacy by Western states, as their diplomats were...
. It also operated colonies that enjoyed extraterritorial rights in major Ottoman cities.
Merchants from Ragusa could enter the Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...
which was otherwise closed to non-Ottoman shipping. They paid less in customs duties
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods including animals, transports, personal effects and hazardous items in and out of a country...
than other foreign merchants, and the city-state enjoyed diplomatic support from the Ottoman administration in trade disputes with the Venetians.
For their part, Ottomans regarded Ragusa as a port of major importance. After all, most of the traffic between Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
and Bursa (an Ottoman port in northwestern Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
) was carried out via Ragusa. Florentine cargoes would leave the Italian ports of Pesaro
Pesaro
Pesaro is a town and comune in the Italian region of the Marche, capital of the Pesaro e Urbino province, on the Adriatic. According to the 2007 census, its population was 92,206....
, Fano
Fano
Fano is a town and comune of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort 12 km southeast of Pesaro, located where the Via Flaminia reaches the Adriatic Sea...
or Ancona
Ancona
Ancona is a city and a seaport in the Marche region, in central Italy, with a population of 101,909 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region....
to reach Ragusa. From that point on they would take the land route Bosnasaray
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
(Sarajevo)–Novibazar
Novi Pazar
Novi Pazar is a city and municipality located in southwest Serbia, in the Raška District. According to the official census in 2011, number of inhabitants of municipality is 92,776, while the city itself has a population of 60,638...
–Skopje
Skopje
Skopje is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Macedonia with about a third of the total population. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre...
–Plovdiv
Plovdiv
Plovdiv is the second-largest city in Bulgaria after Sofia with a population of 338,153 inhabitants according to Census 2011. Plovdiv's history spans some 6,000 years, with traces of a Neolithic settlement dating to roughly 4000 BC; it is one of the oldest cities in Europe...
–Edirne
Edirne
Edirne is a city in Eastern Thrace, the northwestern part of Turkey, close to the borders with Greece and Bulgaria. Edirne served as the capital city of the Ottoman Empire from 1365 to 1453, before Constantinople became the empire's new capital. At present, Edirne is the capital of the Edirne...
.
When in the late 16th century, Ragusa placed its merchant marine at the disposal of the Spanish Empire
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time of Habsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power....
, on condition that its participation in the Spanish military ventures would not affect the interest of the Ottoman Empire, the latter tolerated the situation as the trade of Ragusa permitted the importation of goods from states with which the Ottoman Empire was at war.
Along with England, Spain and Genoa, Ragusa was one of the Venice's most damaging competitors in the 15th century on all seas, even in the Adriatic. Thanks to its proximity to the plentiful oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
forests of Gargano
Gargano
Gargano is a historical and geographical Italian sub-region situated in Apulia, consisting of a wide isolated mountain massif made of highland and several peaks and forming the backbone of the Gargano Promontory projecting into the Adriatic Sea. The high point is Monte Calvo at . Most of the upland...
, it was able to bid cargoes away from the Venetians.
Decline of the Republic
With the great PortuguesePortuguese Empire
The Portuguese Empire , also known as the Portuguese Overseas Empire or the Portuguese Colonial Empire , was the first global empire in history...
explorations which opened up new ocean routes, the spice trade
Spice trade
Civilizations of Asia were involved in spice trade from the ancient times, and the Greco-Roman world soon followed by trading along the Incense route and the Roman-India routes...
no longer went through the Mediterranean sea. Moreover, the discovery of America started a crisis of Mediterranean shipping. That was the beginning of the decline of both the Venetian and Ragusan Republics.
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII of France
Charles VIII, called the Affable, , was King of France from 1483 to his death in 1498. Charles was a member of the House of Valois...
granted trading rights to the Ragusans in 1497. These rights were also granted by Louis XII in 1502. In the first decade of the 16th century, Ragusan consuls were in France while their French counterparts were sent to Ragusa. Prominent Ragusans were in France during this period and include such dignitaries as Simon Benessa, Lovro Gigants, D. Bondić, Ivan Cvletković, Captain Ivan Florio, Petar Lukarić, Serafin Gucetić, Luka Sorkočević. The Ragusan aristocracy was also well represented at the Sorbonne University in Paris at this time.
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian–Zamorin's Calicut–Gujarati alliance that was defeated by the Portuguese in the Battle of Diu
Battle of Diu (1509)
The Battle of Diu sometimes referred as the Second Battle of Chaul was a naval battle fought on 3 February 1509 in the Arabian Sea, near the port of Diu, India, between the Portuguese Empire and a joint fleet of the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Kozhikode...
in the Indian Ocean (1509).
On 6 April 1667, a devastating earthquake
1667 Dubrovnik earthquake
The earthquake in Dubrovnik in 1667 was one of the two most devastating earthquakes to hit the area of modern Croatia in the last 2,400 years, since records began. The earthquake destroyed almost the entire city and killed around 5,000 people...
struck and killed over 5,000 citizens, including many patricians and the Rector Šišmundo Getaldić, and levelled most of public buildings, leaving only the outer walls intact. Buildings in the Gothic and Renaissance styles – palaces, churches and monasteries – were all in ruins, with only the Sponza Palace and the front part of the Rector's Palace at Luza Square surviving. Gradually the city was rebuilt in the more modest Baroque style. With great effort Ragusa recovered a bit, but still remained a shadow of the former Republic.
In 1677 Marin Kabužić (1630–1692) and Nikola Bunić (ca 1635–1678) arrived in Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
in an attempt of aversion of the imminent threat to Ragusa: Kara-Mustafa's pretensions for the annexation of Ragusa to the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
. The Grand-Vizier, struck with the capacity Marin showed in the arts of persuasion, and acquainted with his resources in active life, resolved to deprive his country of so able a diplomat, and on 13 December he was imprisoned, where he was to remain for several years. In 1683, Kara-Mustafa was killed in the attacks on Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, and Marin was soon free to return to Ragusa.
In 1684, the emissaries renewed an agreement contracted in Višegrad
Višegrad
Višegrad is a town and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is part of the Republika Srpska entity. It is on the river Drina, located on the road from Goražde and Ustiprača towards Užice, Serbia.-History:...
in the year 1358 and accepted the sovereignty of the Austrian Emperor over Ragusa as a Hungarian King, with an annual tax of 500 ducats. At the same time Ragusa continued to recognize the sovereignty of Turkey; which was nothing unusual in those days. After this even greater opportunities opened up for Ragusa ships in ports all along the Dalmatian coast, in which they anchored frequently.
Battle of Vienna
The Battle of Vienna took place on 11 and 12 September 1683 after Vienna had been besieged by the Ottoman Empire for two months...
outside Vienna. The Field marshal of the Austrian army was Ragusan Frano Đivo Gundulić. In the Treaty of Karlowitz
Treaty of Karlowitz
The Treaty of Karlowitz was signed on 26 January 1699 in Sremski Karlovci , concluding the Austro-Ottoman War of 1683–1697 in which the Ottoman side had been defeated at the Battle of Zenta...
of 1699, the Ottomans ceded all of Hungary
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary comprised present-day Hungary, Slovakia and Croatia , Transylvania , Carpatho Ruthenia , Vojvodina , Burgenland , and other smaller territories surrounding present-day Hungary's borders...
, Transylvania
Transylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
, Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
and Podolia
Podolia
The region of Podolia is an historical region in the west-central and south-west portions of present-day Ukraine, corresponding to Khmelnytskyi Oblast and Vinnytsia Oblast. Northern Transnistria, in Moldova, is also a part of Podolia...
to the victorious Habsburgs
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
, Venetians, and Poles
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a dualistic state of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch. It was the largest and one of the most populous countries of 16th- and 17th‑century Europe with some and a multi-ethnic population of 11 million at its peak in the early 17th century...
.
The Ottoman Empire was no longer a threat to Christian Europe. After this, Venice captured a part of Ragusa's inland area and approached its borders. They presented the threat of completely surrounding and cutting off Ragusa's trade inland. In view of this danger and anticipating the defeat of the Turks in 1684 Ragusa sent emissaries to the Austrian Emperor Leopold in Vienna, hoping that the Austrian Army would capture Bosnia. Fortunately for the Republic, the Ottomans retained their control over their hinterland. With the 26 January 1699 peace agreement, the Republic of Ragusa ceded two patches of its coast to the Ottoman Empire so that the Republic of Venice would be unable to attack from land, only from the sea. One of them, the northwestern land border with the small town of Neum
Neum
Neum is the only coastal town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It comprises of coastline, the country's only access to the Adriatic Sea. As of 2009, municipal population was of 4,605 and the one of Neum main town was of 4,268 .-Features:Neum has steep hills, sandy beaches, and several large tourist...
, is today the only outlet of present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
to the Adriatic Sea. The southeastern border village of Sutorina later became part of Montenegro
Montenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
, which has coastline to the south. Ragusa continued its policy of strict neutrality in the War of Austrian succession (1741–48) and in the Seven Years' War
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...
(1756–63).
In 1783 the Ragusan Council did not answer the proposition put forward by their diplomatic representative in Paris, Frano Favi, that they should establish diplomatic relations with the USA, although the Americans agreed to allow Ragusan ships free passage in their ports.
The first years of the French war were in recent times the most prosperous for Ragusa. The flag of Saint Blaise
Saint Blaise
Saint Blaise was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea . According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded...
being neutral, the Republic became one of the chief carriers of the Mediterranean. The Continental blockade was the life of Ragusa; and before the rise of Lissa the manufactures of England, excluded from the ports of France, Italy, Holland, and Germany, found their way to the centre of Europe through Saloniki and Ragusa. But this state, which had managed the Turks so skilfully, which had survived the Greek and Serbian Empires as well as the Republic of Venice
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
, was unable to stand upright in the terrible contest which included the extremities of Europe in its sphere. The philanthropic republicans of France offered to fraternise with all other republics; and we shall see that Napoleon, with the Imperial Crown on his head, did not despise the small Republic of Ragusa.
The Battle of Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...
, and the consequent Treaty of Presburg, having compelled Austria to hand over Dalmatia to France, Ragusa was put in a novel dilemma. Kotor
Kotor
Kotor is a coastal city in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of the municipality....
held by the Venetians against the Turks, was always accessible to Venice, which was a naval power. But while France held the land, England and Russia held the sea; and while France was marching her troops from Austerlitz to Dalmatia, eleven Russian sail of the line entered the Bay of Kotor
Bay of Kotor
The Bay of Kotor in south-western Montenegro is a winding bay on the Adriatic Sea. The bay, sometimes called Europe's southernmost fjord, is in fact a submerged river canyon of the disintegrated Bokelj River which used to run from the high mountain plateaus of Mount Orjen...
, and landed 6000 men. As 5000 Frenchmen under Marshal Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor
Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor
Gabriel-Jean-Joseph, comte Molitor , was a Marshal of France, born in Hayingen in Lorraine.Upon the outbreak of the French Revolution, Molitor joined the French revolutionary armies as a captain in a battalion of militia. In 1793 he was given command of a brigade and served under Hoche under whom...
marched southwards, and took pacific possession, one after another, of the fortresses of Dalmatia, the Russians pressed the senators of Ragusa to allow them to occupy their city, as it was an important fortress, – thus anticipating France might block the further progress to Kotor, as the reader will see by an examination of the map that there is no way from Dalmatia to Kotor but through Ragusa. Marshal Gabriel Molitor was equally abundant in friendly professions, pressing instances, and solemn pledges, to respect the integrity of the Republic, in his passage to Kotor. Ragusa felt herself without the power of causing her neutrality to be respected, and long and anxious were the debates that ensued.
"Dear as this land is to me," said Count Vlaho Kabužić, "consecrated as it is to our affections by its venerable institutions, its wise laws, and the memory of illustrious ancestors, it will henceforth cease to deserve the name of patria, if its independence be subverted. With our large fleet of merchantmen, let us embark our wives and our children, our state treasures and our laws, and ask of the Sultan an island in the Archipelago, which may become a new Epidaurus, and the sanctuary of our time-honoured institutions."
Austerlitz
- People :* Austerlitz * Fred Astaire, born Frederick Austerlitz* Robert Austerlitz , linguist, specialist in the Proto-Finno-Ugric language- Places :...
had scarce died away, and such an act would have at once exposed them to the vengeance of Napoleon, then in the zenith of his lawless ambition and military power. So the occupation of the city was assigned to the French under General Jacques Lauriston
Jacques Lauriston
Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law, marquis de Lauriston was a French soldier and diplomat of Scottish descent, the son of Jacques François Law de Lauriston , and a general officer in the French army during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born in Pondicherry in India...
. No sooner did this take place than the Russian force moved to the siege of the city, and unhappily for Ragusa a barbarous and undisciplined horde of Montenegrins accompanied the regular Russian troops; and such a scene of horror had not been seen since the Huns
Huns
The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...
and the Avars
Eurasian Avars
The Eurasian Avars or Ancient Avars were a highly organized nomadic confederacy of mixed origins. They were ruled by a khagan, who was surrounded by a tight-knit entourage of nomad warriors, an organization characteristic of Turko-Mongol groups...
swept round Aquileia
Aquileia
Aquileia is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso , the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times...
. The environs were studded thickly with villas, the results of a long prosperity; and the inhuman scenes of rapine with which the wars of the Montenegrines with the Turks were accompanied were transferred to these abodes of ease and luxury. Accustomed to the poverty of their own mountains, these invaders could scarce believe their own eyes when, passing Cavtat
Cavtat
Cavtat ) is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic seacoast 15 km south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality.-History:...
, the smiling villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
s and well-filled store-houses of Breno
Breno
Breno is an Italian comune of 5.014 inhabitants in Val Camonica, province of Brescia, in Lombardy.-Geography:It is bounded by other communes of Bagolino, Bienno, Braone, Ceto, Cividate Camuno, Condino , Daone , Losine, Malegno, Niardo, Prestine.The village of Breno stands in a ravine by the...
Ombla and Pile were presented to their cupidity, and the siege of Ragusa commenced by the burning and plundering of the villas, involving the irretrievable loss of above half a million sterling
Sterling
Sterling may refer to:* Sterling silver, a grade of silver* Pound sterling, the currency of the United Kingdom- Businesses :* Hotel Sterling, a former hotel in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States* Sterling Airlines...
.
The city was in the utmost straits; General Gabriel Molitor, who had advanced within a few days' march of Ragusa, made an appeal to the Dalmatians to rise and expel the Russians
Russians
The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
and Montenegrins, which met with a feeble response, for only three hundred men joined his standard; but a stratagem made up for his deficiency of numbers. A letter, seemingly confidential, was despatched to General Lauriston in Ragusa, announcing his proximate arrival to raise the siege with such a force of Dalmatians as must overwhelm Russians and Montenegrins; which letter was, as intended by Molitor, intercepted and believed by the besieging Russians. With his force thinly scattered, to make up a show, Molitor now advanced towards Ragusa, and turning the Montenegrin position in the valley
Valley
In geology, a valley or dale is a depression with predominant extent in one direction. A very deep river valley may be called a canyon or gorge.The terms U-shaped and V-shaped are descriptive terms of geography to characterize the form of valleys...
behind, threatened to surround the Russians who occupied the summit of the hill between him and the city; but seeing the risk of this, the Russians retreated back towards the Bay of Kotor
Bay of Kotor
The Bay of Kotor in south-western Montenegro is a winding bay on the Adriatic Sea. The bay, sometimes called Europe's southernmost fjord, is in fact a submerged river canyon of the disintegrated Bokelj River which used to run from the high mountain plateaus of Mount Orjen...
, and the city was relieved.
End of the Republic
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
to end a months-long siege by the Russian fleets (during which 3,000 cannonballs fell on the city). The French lifted the siege and saved Ragusa. The French army, led by Napoleon, entered Ragusa in 1806. In 1808, Marshal Marmont abolished the Republic of Ragusa and amalgamated its territory into the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, himself becoming the "Duke of Ragusa" (Duc de Raguse). In 1810 Ragusa, with all Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, went to the newly created French Illyrian Provinces
Illyrian provinces
The Illyrian Provinces was an autonomous province of the Napoleonic French Empire on the north and east coasts of the Adriatic Sea between 1809 and 1816. Its capital was established at Laybach...
. Later, in the 1814 Battle of Paris
Battle of Paris (1814)
The Battle of Paris was fought during the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. The French defeat led directly to the abdication of Napoleon I.-Background:...
, Marmont abandoned Napoleon and was branded a traitor. The word ragusade was coined in French to signify treason and raguser meant a cheat.
The Ragusan nobility were disunited in their ideas and political behavior. Article "44" of the 1811 Decree abolished the centuries-old institution of fideicommissum
Fideicommissum
The fideicommissum was one of the most popular legal institutions in Roman Law for several centuries. It translates from the Latin word fides and committere , meaning that something is committed to one's trust.-Text and translation:...
in inheritance law, by which the French enabled younger noblemen to participate in that part of the family inheritance, which the former law had deprived them of. The annulment of fideicommissum struck at Antonio Degl’Ivellio. According to a 1813 inventory of the Dubrovnik district, 451 land proprietors were registered, including ecclesiastical institutions and the commune.
Although there is no evidence of the size of their estates, the nobles, undoubtedly, were in possession of most of the land. Eleven members of the Sorkočević family, eight of Gučetić, six of Getaldić, six of Pucić, four of Džamanjić and three members of the Saraka family were among the greatest landowners. Ragusan citizens belonging to the confraternities of St. Anthony
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great or Antony the Great , , also known as Saint Anthony, Anthony the Abbot, Anthony of Egypt, Anthony of the Desert, Anthony the Anchorite, Abba Antonius , and Father of All Monks, was a Christian saint from Egypt, a prominent leader among the Desert Fathers...
and St. Lazarus owned considerable land outside the City. Regardless of the events taking place in the City, army generals Todor Milutinović and Montrichard
Montrichard
Montrichard is a town and commune in the Loir-et-Cher département, in France.-Geography:The town lies on the north bank of the Cher river. south of Blois, west of Vierzon and east of Tours...
settled the French surrender of the City under honorable terms. With the aim of avoiding greater conflict, the Austrian
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
s agreed to the French conditions. General Todor Milutinović promised that the victorious army would not march into the city before the last Frenchman was evacuated from the city by ship.
On 27 January, the French capitulation was signed in Gruž
Gruž
Gruž is modern day neighborhood in the greater city of Dubrovnik, Croatia. The main port for Dubrovnik is in Gruž as well as its largest market and the main bus station "Libertas". Around 15,000 people currently live in Gruž...
and ratified the same day. It was then that Vlaho Kabužić openly sided with the Austrians, dismissing the rebel army in Konavle
Konavle
Konavle is a small region and municipality located southeast of Dubrovnik, Croatia.It is administratively part of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County and forms a municipality with its center at Gruda with a total population of 8,250 people split in 32 villages, in which 96.5% are Croats...
. Meanwhile, Đivo Natali and his men were still waiting outside the Ploče Gates. After almost eight years of occupation, the French troops marched out of Dubrovnik on 27 and 28 January 1814. On the afternoon of 28 January 1814, the Austrian and British troops made their way into the city through the Pile Gates, denying admission to the Ragusa rebels. Intoxicated by success, and with Vlaho Kabužić's support, Milutinović ignored the Gruž agreement he had made with the nobility in Gruž. The events which followed can be best epitomized in the so-called flag episode.
The Flag of Saint Blaise
Saint Blaise
Saint Blaise was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea . According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded...
was flown alongside the Austrian and British colors, but only for two days because, on 30 January, General Milutinović ordered the Mayor Savo Đurđević to lower it. Overwhelmed by a feeling of deep patriotic pride, Đurđević, the last Rector of the Republic and a loyal francophile, refused to do so "jer da ga je pripeo puk" ("for the masses had hoisted it"). Subsequent events proved that Austria took every possible opportunity to invade the entire coast of the eastern Adriatic, from Venice to Kotor
Kotor
Kotor is a coastal city in Montenegro. It is located in a secluded part of the Gulf of Kotor. The city has a population of 13,510 and is the administrative center of the municipality....
. The allies did everything in their power to eliminate the Ragusa issue at the Vienna Congress of 1815. The Ragusa representative, Miho Bona
House of Bona
The House of Bona, or House of Bunić, was a noble family from the city of Dubrovnik.- History :The origins of the family remain largely unclear, but according to the two oldest traditions, they would have originated from Kotor in the Venetian Albania, where as the second would be sourced from the...
, was denied participation in the Congress, while Milutinović, prior to the final agreement of the allies, assumed complete control of the city.
In his 1908 book The Fall of Dubrovnik (Pad Dubrovnika), Lujo Vojnović, the younger brother of Ivo Vojnović
Ivo Vojnovic
Ivan "Ivo" Vojnović was a Croatian and Serbian writer from Dubrovnik. He is often nicknamed "The last great Dubrovnik writer".-Biography:...
, makes every effort to justify the popular actions and prove the solidarity of all social groups in achieving their common goal to restore the Republic. The records, however, seem to indicate a different situation. There was in fact little understanding between the nobility, the bourgeoisie, and the peasantry, and slim chances of these groups of having any common basis for further activities. The three groups had different reasons to be dissatisfied with the French government, and the moment when they rejoiced together over their victory was not strong enough to unite all the segments of Dubrovnik society in a struggle to restore the Republic. After Ragusa suffered a political breakdown, it was brought to the verge of economic ruin, and was forsaken by the international community; the City and its territories were handed over to the Habsburg Monarchy
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
. In 1814, led by general Todor Milutinović, the Austrian army marched into Dubrovnik. With them came the British army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
and the local insurgents against the French occupation. At the Congress of Vienna
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...
in 1815, Ragusa was made a part of the crown land
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
of the Kingdom of Dalmatia
Kingdom of Dalmatia
The Kingdom of Dalmatia was an administrative division of the Habsburg Monarchy from 1815 to 1918. Its capital was Zadar.-History:...
, ruled by Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
, which it remained a part of until 1918.
In 1815, nobles of the former Ragusan Government met for the last time, with their efforts to re-establish the Republic of Ragusa eventually failing. After the fall of the Republic most of the aristocracy died out or emigrated overseas; around one fifth of the noble families were recognized by the Austrian empire. Some of the families that were recognized and survived were Getaldić-Gundulić, Gučetić, Kabužić, Sorkočević, Zlatarić, Džamanjić, Pucić, Gradić, and Bunić. The Greater Council met for the last time on 29 August 1814 in the Vila Đurđević (the home of Sabo Đurđević) in Mokošica
Mokošica
Mokošica is a district in the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia. The suburb consists of Old and New Mokošica . According to the census of 2001, it has a population of 7528 residents...
.
Government
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, citizens, and artisans or plebeians. All effective power was concentrated in the hands of aristocracy. The citizens were permitted to hold only minor offices, while plebeians had no voice in government. Marriage between members of different classes of the society was forbidden.
The organization of the government was based on the Venetian model: the administrative bodies were the Grand Council (supreme governing body) and the Small Council (executive power) (from 1238) and the Senate (from 1253). The head of the state was the Rector, elected for a term of office for one month, the inscription on the Council's offices said: Obliti privatorum publica curate (Manage the public affairs as if you had no private interests), In the nineteenth century, the undertones of this political epigraph must have struck the Austrian governors of Ragusa as potentially dangerous, for they had it removed. The new government was probably irritated by its air of republicanism, a reminder of the statehood that was to be extirpated in integrating Ragusa into a new Habsburg frame. As a pregnant expression of civic virtue and republican values, this political maxim has been frequently cited ever since. Hardly can a popular text on the heritage of Ragusan statehood or political history of the Republic be found printed, online or spoken, in which this motto does not appear. It is usually glorified as a home-made distillate of political reality.
The Grand Council (Consilium Maior) consisted only of members of the aristocracy; every noble took his seat at the age of 18. Every year, 11 members of the Small Council (Consilium minus) were elected. Together with a duke, the Small Council had both executive and representative functions. The main power was in the hands of the Senate (Consilium rogatorum) which had 45 members elected for one year. This organization prevented any single family, unlike the Medici in Florence, from prevailing. Nevertheless the historians agree that the Sorgo family was all the time among the most influential.
The Small Council (Consilium Minor) consisted first of 11 members and after 1667 of seven. The Small Council was elected by the Rector. The Senate was added in 1235 as a consultative body. It consisted of 45 invited members (over 40 years of age). While the Republic was under the rule of Venice the Rector was Venetian, but after 1358 the Rector was always a person from the Republic or Ragusa. The length of the Rector's service was only one month and a person was eligible for reelection after two years. The rector lived and worked in Rector's Palace but his family remained living in their own house. The government of the Republic was liberal in character and early showed its concern for justice and humanitarian principles, e.g. slave trading was abolished in 1418.
The government of the Republic was liberal in character and early showed its concern for justice and humanitarian principles. The Republic's flag had the word Libertas (freedom
Freedom (political)
Political freedom is a central philosophy in Western history and political thought, and one of the most important features of democratic societies...
) on it, and the entrance to the Saint Lorenz fortress (Lovrijenac
Lovrijenac
Fort Lovrijenac or St. Lawrence Fortress, often called "Dubrovnik's Gibraltar", is a fortress and theater located outside the western wall of the city of Dubrovnik in Croatia, 37 m above sea level. Famous for its plays and importance in resisting Venetian rule, it overshadows the two entrances to...
) just outside the Ragusa city walls bears the inscription "Non bene pro toto libertas venditur auro, meaning "Liberty can not be sold for all the gold of the world." The Republic imposed some restrictions on the slave trade in 1416. However, the Republic was a staunch opponent of the Eastern Orthodox Church
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...
and only Roman Catholics could acquire Ragusan citizenship
Citizenship
Citizenship is the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, national, or human resource community. Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities...
.
Patrician families
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
, and marriage between members of three different social classes was strictly forbidden. The nominal head of state
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
was the Ragusan Duke, while during the period of Venetian suzerainty the rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
held considerable influence. Real power, however, was in the hands of three councils that were held by the nobility.
The Ragusan archives document, Speculum Maioris Consilii Rectores, lists all the persons that were involved in the Republic's government between September 1440 to June 1860. There were 4397 rectors elected; 2764 (63%) were from "old patrician" families: Gučetić, Bunić, Kabužić, Crijević, Gundulić, Getaldić, Đorđić, Gradić, Pucić, Saraka, Sorkočević, and Džamanjić.
- in the 17th century, 50% of the dukes and senators were from the following families: Bunić, Gundulić, Gučetić, Menčetić, Sorkočević.
- in the 18th century, 56% of senators were from these families: Sorkočević, Gučetić, Džamanjić, Kabužić, Đorđić.
- in the last eight years of the Republic, 50% of dukes were from the Sorkočević, Gučetić, Gradić, Bunić, or Ranjina families.
A big problem of Ragusan noble families was also that because of the decrease of their numbers and lack of noble families in the neighborhood (the surroundings of Dubrovnik was under Turkish control) they were becoming more and more closely related, the marriages between relatives of the third and fourth degree were frequent.
An 1802 list of Dubrovnik Republic's governing bodies showed that six of the eight Small Council and 15 of the 20 Great Council members were from the same 11 families.
The Ragusan aristocracy
Aristocracy
Aristocracy , is a form of government in which a few elite citizens rule. The term derives from the Greek aristokratia, meaning "rule of the best". In origin in Ancient Greece, it was conceived of as rule by the best qualified citizens, and contrasted with monarchy...
evolved in the 12th century through the 14th century. It was finally established by statute in 1332. New families were accepted only after the earthquake in 1667. In the Republic of Ragusa all political power was owned by noble males older than 18 years. They were formed the Great Council (Consilium majus) which had the legislative function. Every year, 11 members of the Small Council (Consilium minus) were elected. Together with the duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...
(who was elected for a period of one month) it had both executive and representative functions. The main power was in the hands of the Senate (Consilium rogatorum) which had 45 members elected for one year. This organization prevented any single family, unlike the Medici
Medici
The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...
in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, from prevailing. Nevertheless the historians agree that the Sorgo family was consistently among the most influential.
Original patriciate:
- House of Bobaljević (DalmatianDalmatian languageDalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
: Bobali) - House of Bunić (Bona)
- House of Bondić (Bonda)
- House of Crijević (Cerva)
- House of Đurđević (Giorgi)
- House of Džamanjić (Zamagna)
- House of Getaldić (Ghetaldi)
- House of GradićHouse of GradicThe House of Gradić was one of the oldest and one of the most recognized among the patrician families in the Republic of Ragusa. Many of its members were Princes of the Republic...
(Gradi) - House of Gučetić (Gozze)
- House of Gundulić (Gondola)
- House of Kabužić (Caboga)
- House of Lukarić (Luccari)
- House of Menčetić (Menze)
- House of Pucić (Pozza)
- House of Saraka (Saraca)
- House of Sorkočević (Sorgo)
- House of TudiševićHouse of TudiševićThe House of Tudišević were a noble family from the Republic of Ragusa.Tudišević is a Slavonic spelling, while the Romance spelling of their name was Tudisi.- See also :* Republic of Ragusa* Dubrovnik* Dalmatia* Post-Roman patriciates...
(Tudisi)
Families that joined the patriciate after the 1667 earthquake
1667 Dubrovnik earthquake
The earthquake in Dubrovnik in 1667 was one of the two most devastating earthquakes to hit the area of modern Croatia in the last 2,400 years, since records began. The earthquake destroyed almost the entire city and killed around 5,000 people...
:
- House of BinčolaHouse of BinčolaThe House of Binčola were a noble family from the Republic of Dubrovnik.- See also :* Republic of Dubrovnik* Dubrovnik* Dalmatia* Post-Roman patriciates...
(Binciola) - House of Božidarević (Bosdari)
- House of BučićHouse of BučićThe House of Bučić was one of the most important noble families of Kotor...
(Bucchia) - House of NataliHouse of NataliThe House of Natali is an old noble family from the Republic of Ragusa. The family originated in Italy and moved to Dubrovnik in 1667. On July 30, 1667 Đivo Natali was admitted to the council of Dubrovnik.- Genealogy :...
- House of PavlićHouse of PavlićThe House of Pavlić were a noble family from the Republic of Dubrovnik.- See also :* Republic of Dubrovnik* Dubrovnik* Dalmatia* Post-Roman patriciates...
(Pauli) - House of RanjinaHouse of RanjinaThe House of Ranjina or Ragnina were an old noble family from Dubrovnik. The family traces its origins from Taranto, Italy.- See also :* Republic of Ragusa* Dubrovnik* Dalmatia* Post-Roman patriciates...
(Ragnina) - House of Restić (Resti)
- House of Zlatarić (Slatarich)
Relations between the nobility
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...
of Spain and Francis I of France
Francis I of France
Francis I was King of France from 1515 until his death. During his reign, huge cultural changes took place in France and he has been called France's original Renaissance monarch...
, which happened some 250 years previously. It was in the 1667 earthquake that a great part of the nobles were annihilated, it was necessary for him to retain the control and so he did with the inclusion of certain plebeians into noble class. To these the "salamanquinos", those in favor of Spanish absolutism
Absolutism (European history)
Absolutism or The Age of Absolutism is a historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by all other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites...
, did not treat like equals; but the inclined "sorboneses", sided with the French and to a certain liberalism accepted them without reserves. Another factor that could have taken part in this conduct is that the "sorboneses" had been very decreased by the great earthquake and they did not want to lose their wealth and status. In any case, both sides retained their status and they seated together in the Council, but they did not maintain social relations and were not even greeting each other in the streets; an inconvenient marriage between members of both groups was of so serious consequences as if it occurred between members of different classes. This social split was also reflected in the inferior layers: “The plebeians, as well, were divided in the brotherhoods of Saint Antony and Saint Lazarus, who were so unfriendly in their relations as "salamnaquinos" and "sorboneses". But the nobility was always the essence of the Republic that always had to be defended from the neighboring empires – “first Hungary, soon Venice, later Turkey” – and that was structured for a reduced number of people, around the 33 original noble families from the 15th century.
Languages
The official languageOfficial language
An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration. However, official status can also be used to give a...
until 1472 was Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
. Later, the Senate of the Republic decided that the official language of the Republic would be the Ragusan dialect of the Romance Dalmatian language
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
(as opposed to Croatian), and forbade the use of the Slavic language in senatorial debate. The gospari (the aristocracy) held on to their language for many a century, while it slowly disappeared.
Although the Latin language was in official use, inhabitants of the republic were mostly native speakers of the Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
(as confirmed by P. A. Tolstoj in 1698, when he noted In Dalmatia... Dubrovnikans... called themselves as Croats). Dalmatian
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
was also spoken in the city. Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
, as spoken in the republic, was heavily influenced by Venetian language
Venetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
and Tuscan dialect
Tuscan dialect
The Tuscan language , or the Tuscan dialect is an Italo-Dalmatian language spoken in Tuscany, Italy.Standard Italian is based on Tuscan, specifically on its Florentine variety...
. Italian took root among the Dalmatian Romance
Dalmatian language
Dalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
-speaking merchant upper classes, as a result of Venetian influence.
When Ragusa was part of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, between 1808 and 1810, the Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
was in official use.
Ragusan literature
According to Graubard:
Croatian language was normally used among lower classes, Italian in the upper. Ragusans were in general bilingual: speaking Croatian in common day to day duties and Italian in official occasions or mixing both. Literary works of famous Ragusans were written in both Croatian and Italian language.
Among them are the works of writers Džore Držić
Džore Držic
Džore Držić was a Croatian poet and playwright, one of the fathers of Croatian literature.This respectable citizen of Dubrovnik, the uncle of the greatest Croatian playwright Marin Držić, the rector of the Church of All Saints, the chancellor of the Dubrovnik chapter, a contemporary of the poet...
, Marin Držić
Marin Držic
Marin Držić is considered the finest Croatian Renaissance playwright and prose writer.- Life :Born into a large and well to do family in Dubrovnik, Držić was trained and ordained as a priest — a calling very unsuitable for his rebel temperament...
, Ivan Bunić Vučić
Ivan Bunic Vucic
Đivo Sarov Bunić , now known predominantly as Ivan Bunić Vučić, was a Croatian politician and poet from the Republic of Ragusa .-Biography:...
, Ignjat Đurđević, Ivan Gundulić
Ivan Gundulic
Ivan Franov Gundulić is the most celebrated Croatian Baroque poet from the Republic of Ragusa. His work embodies central characteristics of Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: religious fervor, insistence on "vanity of this world" and zeal in opposition to "infidels." Gundulić's major...
, Šišmundo (Šiško) Menčetić
Šiško Mencetic
Šišmundo Menčetić Vlahović, , or Sigismondo Menze was a poet from the Republic of Ragusa, chiefly creating his opus in the 15th century.-Biography:...
, Dinko Ranjina; and following writers, beside others from the 16th to the 19th century (before the Age of Romantic National Awakenings) were explicit in declaring themselves as Croats and theirs language as Croatian : Vladislav Menčetić, Dominko (Dinko) Zlatarić (see above), Bernardin Pavlović
Bernardin Pavlovic
Bernardin Pavlović was a Franciscan writer from Dubrovnik, born in Ston. He had two works printed in Venice in 1747 which he wrote were "in the Croatian language". The title of the second work runs as follows: Salves for the dying...new and revised edition printed in Croatian for the benefit of the...
, Mavro Vetranović
Mavro Vetranovic
Mavro Vetranović was a prolific Croatian writer and Benedictine friar from Dubrovnik.Born in Dubrovnik in 1482, he entered the Benedictine Order in 1507 on the island of Mljet, and after a period of education in Monte Cassino in Italy returned to Mljet as the abbot of the monastery...
, Nikola Nalješković, Junije Palmotić
Junije Palmotic
Junije Palmotić, was a Croatian baroque writer, Ragusan patrician, and dramatist from the Republic of Ragusa...
, Jakov Mikalja
Jakov Mikalja
Jakov Mikalja in Croatian, also Giacomo Micaglia in Italian, , was a linguist and lexicographer, born in Peschici, in the Italian region of Apulia, at that time under the Kingdom of Naples...
, Joakim Stulli
Joakim Stulli
Joakim Stulić, also Joakim Stulli, was a lexicographer from the Republic of Ragusa, the author of the biggest dictionary in the older Croatian lexicography....
, Marko Bruerović
Marc Bruère Desrivaux
Marko Bruerović, also Marc Bruère Desrivaux, was a Croatian writer and dramatist of French origin.Son of the French consul to Republic of Ragusa René Bruere-Desrivaux...
, Peter Ignaz Sorgo, Antun Sorkočević
Antun Sorkocevic
Antun Sorkočević , was a diplomat, writer, composer and member of Ragusan nobility . He was a good friend of Marko Bruerović.Sorkočević was born in Dubrovnik. His father was Luka Sorkočević. Like his father he was also composer...
(1749–1826), Giovanni Francesco Sorgo (1706–71).
The Croatian-language works from republic of Dubrovnik had a large role in the developing of Croatian literature, as well as modern Croatian language.
Ethnicity
South Slavs
The South Slavs are the southern branch of the Slavic peoples and speak South Slavic languages. Geographically, the South Slavs are native to the Balkan peninsula, the southern Pannonian Plain and the eastern Alps...
ethnicity. They were Catholics and spoke the local variant of the Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian dialect
Shtokavian or Štokavian is the prestige dialect of the Serbo-Croatian language, and the basis of its Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin standards...
(the same dialect upon which all modern regional languages are based). Among the modern South Slavic nations, Ragusans are mostly attributed to Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
in modern literature. However, discussions on the subject of Ragusan ethnicity are mainly based on revised concepts which developed after the fall of the Republic; in particular, the time of Romantic Nationalism
Romantic nationalism
Romantic nationalism is the form of nationalism in which the state derives its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs...
resulting from the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. Before this, states in general were not based on the contemporary unifying concepts such as nation, language or ethnicity; loyalty was chiefly to family, city, and (among Catholics such as the Ragusans) the Church.
The great cartographer, Muhammad al-Idrisi
Muhammad al-Idrisi
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani al-Sabti or simply Al Idrisi was a Moroccan Muslim geographer, cartographer, Egyptologist and traveller who lived in Sicily, at the court of King Roger II. Muhammed al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta then belonging to the Almoravid Empire and died in...
(in 1154), considered Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
as a part of the Croatian (Grwasiah) entity (mentions it as "the last Croatian coastal city") in his book Nuzhat al-Mushataq fi ikhtiraq al-afaq (Joy for those who wish to sail over the world).
See also
- DubrovnikDubrovnikDubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
- List of notable Ragusans
- Walls of DubrovnikWalls of DubrovnikThe Walls of Dubrovnik are a series of defensive stone walls that have surrounded and protected the citizens of the afterward proclaimed maritime city-state of Dubrovnik , situated in southern Croatia, since the city's founding prior to the 7th century as a Byzantium castrum on a rocky island...
- Septinsular RepublicSeptinsular RepublicThe Septinsular Republic was an island republic that existed from 1800 to 1807 under nominal Ottoman sovereignty in the Ionian Islands. It was the first time Greeks had been granted even limited self-government since the fall of the last remnants of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in the...
- Dubrovnik HighlandsDubrovnik HighlandsDubrovnik Highlands comprises three areas of interest, Trebinjska Krajina , Ravno, & Neum all of which can be found in the southern tip of Bosnia & Herzegovina....
External links
- Historical facts about Dubrovnik, from Dubrovnik Online
- Flags of Ragusa
- Storia e monetazione di Ragusa, oggi Dubrovnik (Dalmazia)
- Dalmatia and Montenegro by John Gardner WilkinsonJohn Gardner WilkinsonSir John Gardner Wilkinson was an English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology".-Childhood and education:...
, on Google Books - Aus Dalmatien, by Ida Reinsberg-Düringsfeld (1857), on Google Books
- Universal Geography: Republic of Ragusa, on Google Books
- Bibliografia della Dalmazia e del Montenegro, by Giuseppe Valentinelli, on Google Books
- Bibliografia hrvatska, Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski, on Google Books
- Geschichte des Freystaates Ragusa by Johann Christian von Engel, on Google Books
- The Ethnology of Europe by Robert Gordon LathamRobert Gordon LathamRobert Gordon Latham FRS was an ethnologist and philologist.Born at Billingborough, Lincolnshire, Latham studied philology in Scandinavia. He graduated from King's College, Cambridge in 1833, becoming a Fellow of King's...
, on Google Books - Austria in 1848–49: Dalmatia by William Henry StilesWilliam Henry StilesWilliam Henry Stiles was a United States Representative and lawyer from Georgia. He was the grandson of Joseph Clay.-Biography:...
, on Google Books - Ragusa, the American Revolution, and Diplomatic Relations, 1763–1783
- Francesico Favi, the Treaty of Paris of 1783, and Ragusan Commercial Trade with the United States
- Notizie Istorico-Critiche Sulle Antichita Storia de Letteratura dei Ragusei by Francesco Maria AppendiniFrancesco Maria AppendiniFrancesco Maria Appendini was an Italian, born at Poirino, near Turin, in 1768. Poirino was then part of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. He received his early education in his native country after which he went to Rome, where he entered the order of the Scolopj or Scholarum...
.