Original scientific paper
Refuge as Destiny: the Denizens of Bar in Venice (from the Fourteenth to the Seventeenth Century)
Lovorka Čoralić
Abstract
There are only a few cities on the eastern Adriatic coast about whose history so little is today known as is the case with Bar in pre-Ottoman times. This city was in medieval times, according to all its characteristics, very close to other Dalmatian communes; in the time of its flourishing it had more than 3,000 inhabitants and 74 patrician families, with around 400 members; it was a commune with rich and yielding surroundings; it was a city that minted its own coins and had its own statute, and one in which there existed numerous palaces and dozens of ecclesiastical buildings, indeed one that was, from the end of the eleventh century, the metropolitan seat… and this is a city in which the former historical development came in 1571 to an abrupt end. The fact that Bar’s city archive, whose documents would certainly corroborate an exceptionally important role of Bar in the history of cities on the Adriatic coast, is not extant is the reason why the medieval history of the city today may be reconstituted (in spite of the valuable and, for a historian, exceptionally important contributions of archaeological excavations and studies by art historians) exclusively on the basis of data extant in the archival collections of cities, regions and countries with which this city had developed communication. It is based precisely on the analysis of data from Venetian archives, which may undoubtedly be counted among the most important sources of documents for the pre-Ottoman history of Bar, that this article has been made. Basic archival data used in this article are kept in the State Archive of Venice (notarial deeds, in the first place last wills, acts of court magistrates, acts of artisan and trade corporations, and so on) and in the Seat of the Croatian Confraternity of SS. George and Tryphon (books of annual reports from the Confraternity assemblies, books of incomes and outcomes, as well as the Cadastre, the book containing the most important documents regarding the history of the Confraternity). Following the trail of the aforementioned sources, as well as the results of previous historiography, the article analyses the main components of the history of the Bar immigrant community in Venice: the chronological scope of immigration of the denizens of Bar in Venice according to the particular periods; the way in which they were mentioned in sources; the places of their residences according to Venetian urban areas and parishes, as well as in Venetian mainland and insular surroundings; the professions and economic potential of Bar immigrants; their connections and communications with their families and friends, and their relationships towards Venetian ecclesiastical institutions and members of the clergy.
Particular attention has been directed towards the relationships of the Bar immigrants with other Croatian immigrants, and the inclusion of the Bar immigrants into the Croatian Confraternity of SS. George and Tryphon, as well as their testamentary bequests to the members of their families and ecclesiastical institutions left behind in the old homeland. Based on the acts of Venetian court magistrates, the component of an undesired presence on the part of the denizens of Bar in Venice has also been briefly discussed. Finally, following the traces of previous, still incomplete and unsatisfactory, results of historiography, the connections of some famous denizens of Bar (men of letters, artists and intellectuals) to Venice, as well as the activities of diplomats of Bar – representatives of their city before the central organs of the Republic of St. Mark – in Venice have been also presented.
In the concluding part of the article it is emphasised that the analysis of all these particular components from the history of Bar immigrant community in Venice points to the conspicuous integration of Bar immigrants into the Croatian immigrant corpus, thus making them as an important and inseparable part of this community.
Keywords
Bar; the Archdiocese of Bar; Venetian Republic; Venice; migrations; the Middle Ages; Early Modern Age; ecclesiastical history
Hrčak ID:
7449
URI
Publication date:
19.12.2005.
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