Original scientific paper
Problems with Bequests for Redemption of Christian Slaves in the 18th Century (Last Will of Bishop Nicholas Vladagni)
Lovorka Čoralić
orcid.org/0000-0002-9333-7221
; Croatian Institute of History, Zagreb, Croatia
Zdenko Dundović
orcid.org/0000-0003-1772-1675
; University of Zadar, Department of Theology and Catechism , Zadar, Croatia
Abstract
Based on the last will of the bishop of Lezhë Nicholas Vladagni (1692 – app. 1728) authors of this study tried to describe how the legacies in the last wills, noted by the Venetian notaries, were used to rise funds for the redemption of Christian slaves in the eighteenth century. Namely, testamentary bequests represented a notable income in the state treasury, especially regarding the redemption of Christian slaves, and this business was handled by the Venetian magistrate Provveditori Sopra ospedali e light pii. The example of the last will of bishop Nicholas Vladagni revealed to what extent Venetian legislative affected the execution of testamentary bequests, and what were the obstacles in the complicated network of the Venetian hereditary legislative, credit-debit relations, and dotal rights. Moreover, these normative problems were influenced by the fact that many patrician families in Venice became impoverished during the eighteenth century, and many of them were involved in long-term hereditary trials, trying to secure their inalienable part of the legacy, which was endangered by numerous lease contracts and financial annuities. Consequently, the execution of legacies was often delayed until the money bequeathed for the redemption of Christian slaves, which was part of such long-term hereditary trials, was liberated from all the inheritance claims. Bearing in mind, the length of such hereditary court proceedings and the firm stance of the Venetian government in such matters, one can only conclude that the sole victims of these legal quirks were Christian slaves, who waited for freedom, which could not be achieved without money gathered from the testamentary bequests.
Keywords
Redemption of slaves; Albania; Lezhë; bishop Nicholas Vladagni; ecclesiastical history; history of early modern times.
Hrčak ID:
225262
URI
Publication date:
27.6.2019.
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