Original scientific paper
Masons and Masonic Lodge in Zadar (18th and 19th C.)
Zdenko Dundović
orcid.org/0000-0003-1772-1675
; University of Zadar, Department of Theology and Catechism , Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
The study contains a historical overview of the foundation of the first Masonic Lodge in Zadar (1806), which is based on the analysis of the relevant published sources. Similarly, based on the analysis of the unpublished sources kept in the State Archives in Venice and in Biblioteca del Civico Museo Corer, the author discusses the presence of Masons in Zadar and the attitude of the Venetian authorities towards Masons during the eighteenth century. A comparison of the research results with the facts about the prosecution of the French physician Nicholas Bresson in Hvar, because of his Masonic activities, has revealed some new information about this court trial, too. The investigation procedure against French marquise and cavalier Ludovic from Lussan, held before the Inquisition Court in Zadar in 1751, presently is the oldest known trial against a member of the Masonic organization in the realm of the Venetian Dalmatia in the eighteenth century. Based on the relevant literature and extant primary sources, the author discusses the policy of the Venetian authorities towards Masonic Lodges in the realm of Serenissima and subsequently points out certain new questions regarding the influence of Masons on some social and political turmoil at the end of the eighteenth century.
Keywords
Masons; Masonic Lodge; Zadar; Venetian Dalmatia; 18th and 19th centuries.
Hrčak ID:
219491
URI
Publication date:
23.12.2018.
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