Original scientific paper
The Family of Nikola Bošković in the Records of the Criminal Court in Dubrovnik
Marinko Marić
orcid.org/0000-0002-3329-2463
Rina Kralj-Brassard
orcid.org/0000-0003-0312-6875
; Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, Dubrovnik, Hrvatska
Abstract
Based on official documents, notably the records of the Criminal Court, this article examines the everyday life of the family of Nikola Bošković, who settled in Dubrovnik from Orahov Do in Popovo (Herzegovina). The family history has been reviewed with regards to the wider historical and demographical context of the migrations from the Dubrovnik’s immediate hinterland. Also analysed are the issues concerning the family’s social integration and the shaping of its urban identity, as well as the so far unknown facts on the descendants of Nikola Bošković. Wealthy newcomers were generally welcome in Dubrovnik, yet the business success of Nikola Bošković did not necessarily imply his easy acceptance of the urban identity and his immediate integration into the society. The roughmannered world of the merchants to which Nikola belonged often reflected in his behaviour in conflict situations. Although Nikola’s wife descended from a prominent bourgeois family and their children were born in Dubrovnik, the father’s rural background was hardly overlooked and was occasionally even mentioned in an abusive context. Nikola’s eldest son Božo was sued at the Criminal Court as a father of an illegitimate child of the family maidservant Anica Bogišić from Konavle, but the case was settled out of court, and it did not hinder Božo and his brother Petar from being admitted to the prestigious confraternity of St Anthony.
Keywords
the family Bošković; Orahov Do; Popovo (Herzegovina); Dubrovnik; migrations; urban identity; Criminal Court; 18th century
Hrčak ID:
164595
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2016.
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