Ragusan dependence on Hungary now ceased, and the Republic refused to recognise any claim to allegiance on the part of either John Zapolya, who succeeded to what remained of the kingdom, or of Ferdinand of Austria, the German Emperor. In 1527 Ferdinand wrote to the Senate, requesting them to remain faithful to him as overlord of Hungary, as they had been to his predecessors. But no attention was paid to this demand, and the Republic remained more or less under Turkish protection until its fall.[434] But it obtained from the Turks all the commercial privileges granted by the King of Hungary, and its trade in the latter country flourished under the Crescent as well as under the Cross. After the capture of Buda some Ragusans actually farmed the taxes of the city.[435] [Illustration: BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF RAGUSA AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD (_From an Old Map_, 1670)] CHAPTER IX TRADE AND INTERNAL CONDITIONS DURING THE HUNGARIAN PERIOD In spite of Ottoman raids, piracy, plagues, and earthquakes, the Republic prospered exceedingly in every direction. According to Palladius Fuscus, there were three hundred Ragusan merchantmen on the sea, visiting every port. Ragusa was the starting-point for journeys into Turkey, and the ambassadors of foreign Powers passed through the city on their way to Constantinople. Its traders were to be found in every part of the Mediterranean. At the end of the period of Venetian domination, in 1358, we have seen that “marineritia Rhacusii erat amissa.” But after the proclamation of independence it revived and increased to a far greater degree than ever before, and to this the permission granted by the Popes to trade with the Infidel contributed not a little. In 1434 the Bull _Cœna Domini_, based on the decrees of the Council of Bâle, was issued as follows:—