Izvorni znanstveni članak
BENEDICTINE ABBEY OF ST. MARY OF RATAC NEAR BAR ACTA DIPLOMATICA ET IURIDICA
Savo MARKOVIĆ
Sažetak
The Ratac Abbey, initially dedicated to St. Michael and then to the Virgin, established as early as the time of the first dinasty of Duklja, later Zeta, belonged to the Benedictine order as it is corroborated by all extant documents regarding that abbey. Grants to the Ratac Abbey, as well as documents issued by the Papal curia, point at its importance and significance during the Middle Ages, and private legal documents, especially last wills and bequests, confi rm its position in the spiritual life of numerous persons belonging to different social classes. Located on the boundaries of medieval states, districts and autonomous communes, the abbey was the center or the point of departure of many diplomatic activities, which significantly influenced the political relations of the time, even the more important historical events and processes. Diplomatic missions for dynasts of Zeta, Serbia, Bosnia, and Albania, its intermediary role towards Dubrovnik in the fourteenth, and especially towards Venice in the fifteenth century, influenced privileged position of the Abbey.
Extant documents speaking of Ratac point to the complexity of relations intra moenia of the Abbey, even though the sources speaking of it directly are rather dry and short. Considerably more eloquent are the sources referring to the privileges of the Abbey and
the institution of the commenda of the fi fteenth and the sixteenth century, as well as those speaking of boundaries of its property and the territories belonging to other jurisdictions, which reveal the facts that were object of disputes, speak of abbots, indicate directions of
social permeation, show that the process of Abbey’s dissolution went through the slower process of fading of monastic life, later than it was usually supposed in historical works. The importance of Ratac as pilgrimage destination and the economical power of the Abbey,
possibly having its roots in Late Antiquity, became an imposing support to the secular rulers, left an important mark on ethnic and religious structure of the area gravitating to it and influenced wider intercultural relations.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
103605
URI
Datum izdavanja:
16.6.2004.
Posjeta: 3.784 *