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 second _Via de Zenta_ started from the three harbours of Antivari
_via_ the Sutorman Pass, Budua by the bridle path to Cetinje (still in
use), and Cattaro by the road to Cetinje. A little further east the
three branches met, and the route proceeded over well-wooded mountains,
now, alas, bare and desolate, past the ruins of Doclea to Podgorica
(a day and a half from Cattaro); then to the Plava lake, one of the
fairest spots in Albania, but now also one of the most dangerous, on
the shores of which, according to Professor Stojan Novaković, stood
the well-known Servian trading centre of Brskovo. Professor Jireček,
however, who has had access to further materials, places it in the
upper Lim valley. Brskovo (Brescoa or Brescoua in Venetian and Ragusan
documents) was the chief commercial city of Servia, and is mentioned
as early as the days of King Stephen the First-Crowned (1196-1228). It
was principally frequented by the people of Ragusa and Cattaro, and to
a lesser extent by the Venetians. The various products of the districts
were collected here for export to the coast, while the caravans from
the coast brought foreign goods for distribution throughout Servia.
The customs, which were usually farmed out to Ragusans, were a source
of considerable revenue to the Servian kings. Here, as in some
other mining towns, was also a mint, where the _grossi di Brescova_
were coined.[243] The Ragusan colony was numerous and influential,
containing members of some of the noblest families.[244] Beyond Brskovo
came Peč (Ipek in Turkish), an archiepiscopal, and later patriarchal,
see (until 1766). Peč, too, enjoyed considerable traffic, and had a
Ragusan colony in the fourteenth century.
The post from Venice to Constantinople went by this route in the
sixteenth century. As soon as the ship arrived the despatches were
handed to the messengers (they were always natives from two Montenegrin
villages), who rode off with them _via_ Plava, Peč, Novoselo, Priština,
Samokov, and Philippopolis, reaching the Bosporus in eighteen days.[245]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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