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
On June 27 the final treaty was signed by Lewis of Hungary and Giovanni
Saraca, Archbishop of Ragusa, at Višegrad. The Ragusans placed
themselves under Hungarian protection, but were allowed to retain
their own internal liberties more fully than under Venice. The King’s
praises, instead of those of the Doge, were to be sung in the churches
of Ragusa three times a year. The Hungarian standard was to be adopted
as well as the banner of San Biagio, and 500 _ipperperi_ a year were to
be paid to the King. Should Hungary be engaged in naval warfare Ragusa
must provide one galley for every ten Hungarian galleys whenever the
Dalmatian fleet put to sea; if the Royal fleet alone were employed,
Ragusa need only provide one for every thirty. The supreme government
of the State was no longer to be vested in a foreign count, but in
three native Ragusans (afterwards reduced to one) to be chosen by the
Council. The only representative of the King was the captain of the
Hungarian and Bosnian guard, but he too was really in the service of
the Republic, and had no political authority. From this moment Ragusa
may be considered an independent State, as Hungarian authority, save
for the tribute, was little more than a formality.
During the Venetian epoch the territory of the Republic had expanded
considerably, and when the last count departed it consisted of the
following districts:—In the immediate neighbourhood of the city it
possessed the valleys of Gionchetto (Šumet), Bergato (Brgat), and Ombla
(Rijeka), with the bay of Gravosa and the Lapad peninsula, but the
frontiers were very near, and on the crest of Monte Sergio, immediately
behind the city, watchmen were posted day and night. Part of this
territory had been acquired in the earliest times, but small additions
had been made at intervals. Beyond the Ombla the citizens owned the
stretch of coast known as Starea or Astarea.[183] Of the islands, they
possessed in the thirteenth century Mercana—a small rock opposite the
promontory of Ragusavecchia, with a monastery of St. Michael[184]—and
Isola di Mezzo, Calamotta, Daksa, and S. Andrea of the group known
to the ancients as the Elaphites Insulæ were added in 1080.[185] In
1218 the more distant island of Lagosta had been acquired, and at an
early date that of Meleda had been granted by the Servian king to
the Benedictine monks, with the condition that the civil government
should be entrusted to the Republic. Stephen the First-Crowned gave
them Giuppana in 1216. Between 1220 and 1224 Stephen, Nemanja’s son,
granted the same monks a stretch of land about Žrnovica and Ombla. As
a consequence of the Ragusan alliance with Michael Asen, the Bulgarian
Tsar, against Stephen Uroš I., King of Servia, in 1254, the Republic’s
southern frontiers were extended so as to include the vineyards of
Breno and the peninsula on which the ruins of Epidaurus are said to
lie.[186] Here a new town arose, which by a strange inversion of names
was called Ragusavecchia.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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