Administrative Staff in the Town of Pula from the 17th to the 19th Century

Abstract

On the basis of a detailed analysis of the documents relating to the registers of births, marriages and deaths of the town of Pula (all preserved in the State Archives in Pazin) the author has presented precious data referring to the presence of the administrative staff in town. As it made up a very large portion of the population, it also greatly contributed to a more intensified social life in the southernmost town of Istria. The town of Pula was ruled by the Venetian princes or superintendents (provveditori) who used to live in their own palaces in town. The palace of the prince or superintendent of Pula used to bring together a great number of office workers. Among others there was a great presence of guards, the personal guards of the prince, as well as guards of his clerks. It was not seldom that these people actually had their own professions, but at a certain point of their life they decided to put themselves at service of the prince in his palace. Considering that the princes were merely temporary at service, i.e. upon the end of the service term they used to go back to Venice, the same happened to the people of their immediate entourage who at the end of the service term usually went away from Pula. This is why they do not really represent the town population, but only a small portion of the population who stayed in town for a longer or a shorter period of time. Out of a rich source of registers of births, marriages and deaths of the town of Pula we can easily come to know their names, the places they came from prior to their arrival in Pula, their professions and age (provided that they died in Pula) etc. However there was a small number of members of this class of people who decided to stay in town upon marrying a local woman. In these cases the parish registers refer to their children who were born and baptized (sometimes even confirmed) in Pula.