The Republic of Ragusa: An Episode of the Turkish Conquest — John Shaqi
The Republic of Ragusa: An Episode of the Turkish ConquestVillari, Luigi
History
The Republic of Ragusa: An Episode of the Turkish Conquest
Villari, Luigi
Dubrovnik (Croatia) -- History
“The Ragusans, who, like the others (Dalmatians), were under oath of
fealty to the lord Doge, would not go forth to do him homage, but they
came out in arms as though to insult the host. Wherefore the Venetians,
in high dudgeon, marched against them, and pursued them even to the
gates of the city. The same day, at the ninth hour, they began the
attack with so much vigour that many of the citizens were killed, and,
having stormed the battlements, they captured some of the towers, on
which they raised the ducal standards. The assault was kept up with
great energy until evening. At dawn on the following morning, while
men and machines were being prepared for the battle, Tribuno Michiel,
the Archbishop of Ragusa, issued forth from the city with the clergy
and the nobles bearing crosses, and they cast themselves at the feet
of the Doge, imploring mercy for themselves and all the citizens, and
declaring that they and their city made full submission. The Doge, calm
and prudent, was moved by pity, and on the advice of his followers
received them. And all the citizens sang the praises of the Doge, and
all who were above twelve years of age swore the oath of fealty to him
and his successors. In addition, they provided money and wine for each
galley, and in obedience to the Doge’s orders demolished part of their
walls, that tower which had been expressly built for the Emperor.
They consented that their archbishopric should be subject to the
Patriarchate of Grado, provided that the Pope permitted it.[63] When
these things had been accomplished the Doge appointed the noble youth
Raynerius Joannes (Renier Zane or Zen) as Viscount, and set sail with
his fleet for Romania.”[64]
[Illustration: ONOFRIO’S FOUNTAIN IN THE PIAZZA]
Dandolo’s account is almost identical, and so is that of Sabellico,
save that the latter does not mention the actual storming of the
town. He merely says that the Ragusans sued for peace through their
archbishop, and that they themselves demolished the tower on which the
Imperial standard had been raised. Whichever version we accept, it is
clear that Ragusa again made full submission to the ducal authority,
and came once more under Venetian supremacy. We must not forget that
Tribuno Michiel, the archbishop, was a Venetian, and probably there
was a Venetian party in the city as well as a Byzantine party. When
it became evident that the Venetians were in earnest, the faction
which favoured them at once prevailed. “Esadastes,” as usual, casts
doubts on the whole story, because Dandolo and Sabellico do not agree
as to the attack, but he does not even mention the account of the
_Cronaca Altinate_. Resti denies the submission altogether. It should
be remembered that whereas Dandolo and the author of the Altinate
Chronicle wrote barely a century after the events related, the Ragusan
historians flourished in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth
centuries, and wrote with the express purpose of combating all Venice’s
claims over Ragusa.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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