Original scientific paper
Boundary Disputes Between the Venetian Authorities and the Krbava Counts During the Second Half of the XVth Century
Mislav Elvis Lukšić
Abstract
On the basis of published and unpublished historical sources the author describes and analyzes the development of the boundary disputes between the Venetian Republic and the Krbava counts (comites Corbavie) during the second half of the XVth century. These disputes marked in large part their neighborly relations between the 50ies and the 80ies of that century. At the same time these disputes reveal the interests which on the one hand the most powerful Adriatic aristocratic republic had in northern Dalmatia and on the other the interests of the eminent high-nobility family Kurjaković of Krbava which additionally felt powerful in the wake of the enfeeblement of kingly authority within the Hungarian- Croatian Kingdom. As original sources show the main disputes raged around the question of controlling fort Ostrovica, located at the key crossroads of northern Dalmatian routes, then over the newly-built Kurjaković’s boundary fort Kličevac near Benkovac and over Venetian fort Vrana, that is, the disputes concerned questions of security and the establishment of state boundaries on this territory. In addition, the cause of discontent and dispute was the inability of the Krbava counts to have if only partial authority over their subjects who had remained within the boundaries of the Republic after its conquests during the first decades of the XVth century as well as individual cases of violence and autocracy aimed against persons and goods from the other side of the border. When all is said, from the data supplied by historical sources it can be concluded that, despite temporary warm relations, the period we are dealing with here in the contacts between the Krbava counts and the Republic was marked by contentious issues. Even though, as can be expected, the Kurjaković dominion was in an emphatically inferior position in relation to Venice, the Croatian counts showed great decisiveness in the defense of their position and thusly of the interests of the Croatian Kingdom against foreign authority in Dalmatia.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
12077
URI
Publication date:
17.8.2004.
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