Original scientific paper
Law Students in Dubrovnik in the Late Middle Ages
Nella Lonza
orcid.org/0000-0002-6387-1036
; Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU, Dubrovnik, Croatia
Abstract
Documents from the State Archive of Dubrovnik as well as the published materials related to the persons who studied or graduated law from foreign universities provided basis for a prosopographical analysis of the Ragusans who studied law in the second half of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth century, 18 in all. Each student has been examined by the social background and status, place of study, choice of subject (Roman law, canon law or utrumque ius), bursary status, whether he completed the studies or not, and his ensuing life and career. The analysis shows that students fall into three major types: patrician canon, non-patrician cleric and patrician layman. Law seemed to have been most popular among the canons (10 students), to whom doctorate would bring prestige and advancement in the church career. Their apparent preference to the study of law instead of theology may be accounted by the former’s reputation. Only a few laymen have been traced among the law students because the Ragusan state refused to consider the forming of a special professional elite performing judicial duties. At least two-thirds of the Dubrovnik students studied at the University of Padua, which flourished at the time. Comparing her results to those from some other milieus, the author pinpoints and interprets certain specific features of the Dubrovnik group (higher age, low mobility, high rate of successful completion of study).
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
65526
URI
Publication date:
8.7.2010.
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