[414] Rački, _ibid._; _Dipl. Rag._, April 30, 1463. [415] Engel, § 40. According to the legend, while Mohammed was riding towards Ragusa with hostile intentions he was stopped by the appearance of a venerable old man, and his horse refused to go forward; the Sultan was frightened by the omen and abandoned the enterprise. The city’s saviour was, of course, San Biagio. [416] The name is a Turkish form of Alexander, with the designation _beg_ added. [417] Razzi, lib. ii. cap. v. [418] _Dipl. Rag._, _Ref._, Dec 2, 7, and 28, 1465; Jan. 3, 1466. [419] _Dipl. Rag._, Ref., Feb. 5, 1466, to Sept. 16, 1470. [420] Počić, _Spomenici Srpski_, ii. 130, Dec. 9, 1466. [421] Resti, 1470-1471. [422] Engel, § 40. [423] Hammer-Purgstall, iii. 191. [424] Hammer-Purgstall, iv. 4. [425] Engel, § 40. [426] Engel, _ibid._ [427] _Dipl. Rag._, 412. [428] An exiled prince of the Imperial family, and a pretender to the throne. He was a notable figure at the court of Pope Alexander VI. [429] Valentinelli, extracts from Marin Sanudo, p. 31, April 10, 1499. [430] Engel, § 41. [431] Razzi. [432] Engel, § 42. [433] Razzi, _ad ann._, 1526. [434] _Dipl. Rag._, 441. [435] Engel, § 43. [436] Valentinelli’s extracts from Sanudo, i. 297. [437] Theiner, _Mon. Slav. Mer._, i. 805. [438] Ragnina. [439] Tafel und Thomas, Kais. Wiener Akad. der Wissensch.; Heyd, _Histoire du Commerce du Lévant_, ii. 292 _sqq._; Makushev, _Mon. Hist. Slav. Mer._, p. 111. [440] I have spelt the names as they are in that book, inserting the modern spelling in brackets. [441] Jireček, _op. cit._, p. 61. [442] This is the celebrated Sutjeska gorge. [443] At present they are nearly all Muhamedans, having abjured Christianity, together with most of the inhabitants of Albania and many of those of Bosnia and other Balkan lands, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. [444] In the Balkans there are many shrines worshipped by Christians and Turks alike, especially in Albania. [445] The present capital of Bulgaria. [446] Makushev, _op. cit._, 345. [447] _Ibid._, 440. [448] G. Müller, _Documenti sulle Relazioni delle Città Toscane coll’ Oriente_, p. 227. [449] Makushev, p. 477. [450] I. von Düringsfeld, _Aus Dalmatien_. [451] Gelcich, _I Conti di Tuhelj_, 68-70. [452] _Ref., Cons. Rog._, Oct. 23, Nov. 22, and Dec. 2, 1468. [453] Gelcich, _Ragusa_, 70. [454] This is the case at Ragusa to this day. In other Dalmatian towns, where the men are bilingual, the women often speak only Italian. [455] This characteristic is alluded to by Pouqueville (_Voyage de la Grèce_), who wrote 250 years later (see _infra_, chap. xii.). [456] This last statement is probably an instance of the wish being father to the thought, for there is no doubt that in the sixteenth century Ragusa was a first-class fortress, almost impregnable for those times. But Rambuti, being a Venetian, hoped to see the city one day fall under the power of the Lion of St. Mark. [457] I., 1884, pp. 131 _sqq._