A symbol of Hungarian suzerainty, possibly connected with the May festival, is the so-called statue of Orlando. In many mediæval towns a pillar was erected in the chief square, from the summit of which the public crier proclaimed the enactments of the Government. Here, too, the people were wont to gather when their consent was required, and near this spot capital sentences were sometimes executed. The pillar also served as a support for the city standard. It was usually adorned with a statue of a warrior, whence it was called in German towns the _Rolandssäule_ or _Rolandsbild_, Roland being the symbol of Imperial authority. Such a monument did not exist at Ragusa until the fifteenth century, when Sigismund, King of Hungary, the city’s protector, was elected Emperor of Germany. The Roland column at Ragusa is a square pier in the piazza opposite the church of the Patron Saint, with a statue of a knight in full armour on one side and a flagstaff on top, from which the banner of the Republic floated on grand occasions. The right arm of the figure, from the elbow downwards, served as a standard of measurement for the cloth merchants.[363] From the platform on the summit political orations and funeral discourses were held and public announcements proclaimed. In 1825 the monument was upset by a terrific hurricane, and among its foundations a brass plate was discovered with the following inscription:— MCCC....III . DE . MAGGIO . FATTO . NEL . TEMPO . DI . PAPA . MAR TINO . V . E . NEL . TEMPO . DEL . SIGNOR . NOSTRO . SIGISMONDO . IMPERA TOR . ROMANORVM . ET. SEM(per Augustus) . ET . RE . D’ONGARIA . E . DALMATIA . E . CROATIA . ET . CETERA . FO . MESSA . QVESTA . PIE TRA . ET . STENDARDO . QVI . IN . HONOR . DI . DIO . ET . DI . SANTO . BLA SIO . NOSTRO . GONFALON . LI . OFFICIALI.... Part of the figures of the date are erased, but as Martin V. was Pope from 1417 to 1431, and Sigismund Emperor from 1411 to 1437, the full date should be MCCCC_XV_III, or MCCCC_XX_III, or MCCCC_XX_ with the III as the day of the month. There is no mention of Sigismund’s title of King of Bohemia, which he assumed in 1419, so that the earlier date seems more probable, according to Professor Gelcich. On the other hand, in this case the day of the month would not be mentioned, and as the year 1420 was that of the end of Hungarian rule in Dalmatia (the Convention of Cattaro was signed on March 8, 1420), it is likely that this column was erected to reconfirm Ragusa’s allegiance to the Hungarian crown, as well as to proclaim its independence from Venice. The date, May 3, may have some connection with the aforementioned festival. CHAPTER VIII THE TURKISH CONQUEST (1420-1526)