Original scientific paper
Gospari practising rebellion
Antun Pavešković
Abstract
In collective consciousness Dubrovnik continues to live thanks primarily to the memory of a tiny but glorious republic. By the start of the nineteenth century, however, that state had lost its inner strength necessary for survival, as evidenced by both primary and secondary records on the rebellion against the French. Historiography, with the exception of the most recent, ignores this insurrection, whereas some publicistic works with literary ambition tend to accord it a status worthy of a myth. More objective historical approaches, such as that of Robin Harris, show that underneath the Republic was simply doomed to decay. The literary presentation of Dubrovnik’s fall by Ivo Vojnović implicitly and only to a certain extent considers, while the publicistic approach of Lujo Vojnović completely neglects the fact that the much-needed modernisation was virtually hindered by the nobility, the latter becoming de facto the main reason of the Republic’s fall. Thus shifting the focus of the problem to the French and their role in abolishment of the Republic clouds the issues of the social and political organisation of old Dubrovnik as the main causes of the decline and final fall of the Ragusan state. The fact that one of the rebellion ringleaders, nobleman Pijerko Bona (Bunić) Luković, later dramatist and poet, in his literary works never mentioned the events that marked the fall of the Republic speaks indirectly of how anachronistic and illusory the idea of Ragusan statehood actually was in the new epoch.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
85357
URI
Publication date:
10.7.2012.
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