The statute was revised in 1291 and 1303 by the first Venetian Count, M.
Morosini, who collected the chapters into three volumes. The town
physician was not allowed to leave the town without permission from the
count under a fine of twenty-five lire di piccoli. No one could go about
at night without a light, and a fine of forty soldi was incurred by
gambling anywhere except in the piazza. Spinning was forbidden to the
saleswomen on the loggia--fine, five soldi. A servant who stole from his
lord had his nose cut off, or lost one or both eyes if the value was ten
to twenty-five lire. If the value was greater the thief was hung up till
he died. In Traù there was neither bridge-playing nor company-promoting.
Traù is tolerably rich in the remains of ancient houses, of which the
drawing shows an example. The most celebrated is the Casa Cippico facing
the cathedral, of late Venetian-Gothic verging on Renaissance. The court
inside was built in 1457. In the entrance hall are preserved two wooden
prow ensigns taken from the Venetian galleys during war between Traù and
Spalato; one is in the form of a cock standing on a clenched hand, the
other a fragment of a small figure of a man. Also an inscription flanked
by two shields with rampant lions, which are good. Opposite the Loggia,
on the other side of the street, is a highly decorative lintel, which
appears to have belonged to a palace of the Cippico, with two
contemplative lions and half-length angels in roundels with scrolls. The
caps have the same kind of foliage as is seen at Curzoia and Sebenico.
The Austrian-Lloyd office is on the ground floor of a tower of the
Venetian period, now a nunnery. It has a trefoiled ogee-window and a
great balcony above it, with trellises behind which the nuns can take
the air without being seen, recalling those of Sicilian nunneries. All
the other openings are square-headed.
[Illustration: A DECAYED PALACE, TRAÙ
_To face page 282_]
The ruined church of S. Giovanni, formerly belonging to a Benedictine
nunnery, has exactly the same patterns about it as the cathedral, and
must be of the same date. Along the nave walls, and ramping up the
gables, is a double-arched corbel cornice with pilasters at the angles,
and a bell turret consisting of a prolongation of the nave wall, gabled
and with three pointed arched openings, two below, and one above. In the
tympanum of the door is a pierced roundel with the Agnus Dei.
[Illustration: LATE GOTHIC LINTEL AT TRAÙ]
The Palazzo Comunale has been rebuilt, preserving the portions which
were of special interest, and also pieces of architectural carving from
other parts of the city. Its interest is therefore rather that of a
museum now. I was fortunate enough, on one of my visits, to have the
guidance of the podestà, Commendatore Madirazza, to whom I had been
introduced by Professor Bulic at Spalato. I have to thank him for
showing me several things I should otherwise have missed.
From Bua (Bavo or Boa), an island used by the Romans as a place of
exile, a comprehensive view of Traù may be obtained, with towers and
campanile breaking the line of the houses, with the strait in the
foreground, and with boats drawn up on the shore. In a private garden is
a palm-tree said to be the most northerly specimen in Dalmatia, though
there are several at Lussin Piccolo, which is much farther north.
Our first visit to Traù was made by carriage from Spalato, and occupied
the whole of a most delightful day, for we did not get back till long
after dark. The excellent road is due to the French, but follows the
line of that made by the Romans or before their time, passing quite near
the Castelli, some of which we were able to visit. It was spring: the
vines were making long shoots, and the fields and banks were gemmed with
flowers; on one side, the sapphire sea; on the other, the mountain
slopes, with scented breezes to cool the ardour of the sun. For the most
part the peasants, men and women, were busy in the fields, or washing by
the stream, and appeared well-to-do, though we passed one man half
naked, searching his garments upon a heap of stones. But he, we gathered
from a gendarme near, was considered weak in the head. Long before the
town is approached, the towers of Traù are silhouetted against the
horizon, emphasising the point of land which they terminate, grey walls
and dark trees running together into a mass, but contrasting with each
other on a nearer view. We started on our return a little before sunset,
while the sun's level rays cast long simplifying shadows across the
landscape, and enjoyed the glow upon flowery hillside and purple crag,
from which the houses flashed out like jewels, and the water beneath
changed its colour with the changing sky. The twilight faded while we
were passing Salona, and in the long climb to the crest of the rising
ground above Spalato we had only the light of the carriage lamps,
finally alighting outside the northern wall of the palace (for carriages
cannot enter within the town) weary, but filled with delightful
impressions and recollections. Another time we went by boat, starting at
6 o'clock, and enjoying the early morning freshness of effect. In this
trip also we had the opportunity of visiting some of the Castelli, which
are interesting generally rather for their picturesqueness than for
archæological reasons. In the chapter dealing with Spalato will be found
some details as to remains of the early Croatian period found along the
coast and in the environs. At Castel Vecchio we saw on the wall of the
churchyard a cross with a much damaged antique cap as base, and another
antique base on a larger scale beneath it. It was 6.40 a.m., and along
the shore, a little way off, a procession was passing with a tinkling
bell, two banners, and processional crosses, preceding a figure in a
cope of white and gold beneath a canopy. It was Low Sunday (called
Piccola Pasqua in Dalmatia), and the priest was bearing the Host either
to some sick person or to a neighbouring church. Such sights are
frequent in the country places, where religious observances are more
evident than in the towns.
Whichever way Traù is visited from Spalato (given pleasant weather) the
day may be looked forward to as giving a constant succession of
delightful experiences, of which the central point will be the
mediæval-looking city with its magnificent cathedral and glorious west
door, though the quaintness of the costume of the country people, very
individual and unlike other Morlacchi costumes, will count for
something.
The Castelli were built as defences against Turkish raids. Starting from
Traù the first is Castel Papali; Castelnuovo, Castel Vecchio, Castel
Vitturi, Castel Cambio, and Castel Abbadessa follow, and Castel Sucurac
is the nearest to Spalato and Clissa. These are the Sette Castelli, but
there are several others--Stafileo, Andreis, Cega, Quarco, and Dragazzo.
[Illustration: A QUAINT COSTUME, TRAÙ]
Castel Papali, or Nehaj, is three-quarters of an hour from Traù, and was
built in 1548 by Lodovico and Giovanni Celio. It was then called Celio
or Lodi. In 1680 it passed to the family of Francesco Papali, the Celi
having failed of heirs male. It now belongs to Count Fanfogna-Garagnin
of Traù.
Castel Stafileo was built in 1500 by Stefano Stafileo, of a family
established in Traù coming from Candia. He separated it from the
mainland, and it was entered by a drawbridge; the ditch is now filled
up. The concession is dated 1484.
Castel Dragazzo, or Dracic, founded by Matteo Dragazzo in 1543, on a
concession from the Venetian senate, was never finished, in consequence
of his death. The material of the walls was used to construct the port
of Castelnuovo. The Dragazzi appear in 1389. They were originally
butchers, but for about three centuries gave the country men of
intellect and valour.
[Illustration: THE QUAY, CASTEL VECCHIO
_To face page 287_]
Castel Quarco "in Bile," of which very little is left, was built in 1588
by Giovanni Quarco with a walled courtyard. The site was granted to
Matteo Dragazzo, who ceded it to Quarco.
The church at Castelnuovo inherited with the title of S. Pietro the
rights of S. Pietro di Klobucac, a little inland on the slope of the
hill (where remains of a monastery or palace of the ninth to the
eleventh century have been found). It was demolished in 1420. According
to tradition some of the objects there preserved came from the older
church. The _pala_ of the high-altar, a panel painting on gesso ground,
the Virgin and Child seated, on the right S. Peter with the keys, on the
left S. John the Baptist with scroll "Ecce Agnus Dei," half-length, is
one thing. The inscriptions are in Roman capitals. Also two
Romanesque-looking bronze candlesticks. The Castello has a square tower,
which has lost the balcony which surrounded it at the height of the
first floor. In the piazza is the Loggia, rebuilt in 1795, as an
inscription states. It was burnt in 1523 together with most of the
houses. The _provveditore_ granted materials for rebuilding, but it was
again burnt in 1575. Until recently this Castello belonged to the
Cippico. It was the birthplace of the historian Katalinic, born here in
1779.
Castel Vecchio was founded in 1481 by Coriolanus Cippico, with booty
gained in the war against Mahomet II. in 1471, as is testified by the
inscription over the gate, "Triremis ex manubiis Asiaticis hanc villam
ædificavit," with date 1481. Tradition says that a house on the left of
the eastern gate with a walled courtyard was also his work. He died here
in 1493, leaving it to his sons Alvise, bishop of Famagosta, and Zuanne,
archbishop of Zara. Over a door in the courtyard is the Cippico crest
with the motto "Omnia exalto." Opposite is a chapel dedicated to S.
Joseph and the Virgin, built by Coriolanus's son Lælius, according to
the inscription, with the incredibly late date of 1695. In 1480 Nicolò
Pisani, count of Traù, received a "ducale" from Giovanni Mocenigo, in
which Cippico was promised munitions of war and men-at-arms to preserve
the Castello, and, by the assurance of security, to attract cultivators
to the fertile country "for greater public usefulness." This seems to
support Karaman's statement that the Castello was founded in 1476. An
inscription of 1492 above the arch between the court and main street
records its ruin by fire and restoration by the senate. In 1500 the
Venetian Government completed Cippico's work at a cost of 500 ducats. It
was called Castel Vecchio because it was the first of the Castelli
founded.
Castel Vitturi, built in 1487 by Girolamo and Nicolò Vitturi of Traù, by
concession from Count Carlo di Pesaro, is now without drawbridge or
ditch. The founder of the family, Lampridio, son of Giacomo Vitturi, a
Venetian noble, came to Traù in 1213, and married Bona Cega. The
Castello is square, with two gates, one to the sea, and the other to the
north, apparently entirely rebuilt in 1563, except the north side, which
still has two turrets flanking the gate pierced for musketry, and traces
of the holes through which the chains of the drawbridge passed, also of
a balcony which was probably for defence.
The next one is Castel Rosani (Rusinac), built in 1482 by Michele
Rosani, under a concession from Count Francesco Ferro. The village was
surrounded with walls; but, fearing that they would not be able to beat
off the Turks, the inhabitants dismantled them, and sought refuge in
Castel Vitturi, which was larger and better fortified. It is still in
good preservation, however, with its little church, which contains the
tomb of the unfortunate lovers whose story has been told by Marco di
Casotti.
Castel Cambio (Kambelovac) was built in 1566 by Francesco Cambi of
Spalato. It is still partly preserved. At one time it formed one parish
with the adjacent Castel Abbadessa (Gomilica). It belonged to the
lordship of Sucurac, which embraced nine villages. The nuns in the
sixteenth century erected the Castello on an island, and here the
abbesses were wont to come for the summer; hence the name. The nuns
built the little church at the entrance of the village on the right of
the road; it was dedicated to SS. Cosmo and Damian, and consecrated by
Assalone, archbishop of Spalato, 1159-1160. It is suggested that the
Slav name Gomilica ("masses of masonry") comes from the fact that the
newer houses were built with the ruins of the village of Kozice,
destroyed by the Turks.
Castel Sucurac is the nearest of the Castelli to Spalato, the first to
which the Turks would come, descending from Clissa. The position and the
Roman remains found here are held to prove that it was a suburb of
Salona. It took its name from S. Giorgio, a little chapel upon the hill,
which in Croat is called Sut Juraj, corrupted into Sucuraj. The church
was built by the great zupan Miroslav; and the ruined walls which
surround the present chapel, showing a foot above the soil, are supposed
to be the remains of that church, since there are amongst them a few
pieces of carved stone. The most ancient Croat document existing is a
deed of gift of this place and church to the Archbishop of Spalato,
Pietro III., by the King Trpimir, in 837, in exchange for £11 given by
the archbishop for the construction of the church and monastery of S.
Peter, between the ruins of Salona and the fortress of Klis. In 1076
King Zvonimir confirmed the gift. One of the finest buildings in the
village is the palace of the archbishop, dated 1488 by an inscription
over the door. The Castello and walls round the village were built by
Andrea Gualdo, archbishop in 1392, by concession of Valchio, ban of
Croatia. In 1489 Archbishop Bartolommeo Averoldo of Brescia, built a
second wall. In 1503 it was further strengthened; but two years later
the Turks burnt it. In 1646, after being repulsed from Spalato, they
attacked Sucurac again, but were unsuccessful. The first summer palace
of the archbishops was in Vranjic; it was destroyed by the Venetian
fleet in 1204.
Castel Cega was built by Andrea di Celio Cega in 1487, and rebuilt by
Paolo Andreis. The Celio were an ancient family of Traù, said to date
from Roman times, and had many branches, one of which (extinct in 1511)
was called Celio-Morte, because a member of it had the habit of
threatening opponents with death, and used a skull for his crest.
The following privileges were enjoyed by the nobles of the Castelli, or
founders of the towns. The right to special contributions from the
country people, and the _jus patronato_ of the churches. The sacristan,
without their assent, could not give the third signal of the Mass, nor
of Vespers on festival days, a usage which is still observed at Castel
Cambio and Castel Vitturi. In the church they had their own benches, and
the space they occupied could not be taken by any one else, not even for
the erection of new altars. When the _provveditore_ was present at
solemn functions a bench was placed for him and the "padroni," as well
as for the authorities of the Castelli and the colonel of the district.
They were the first to receive incense after the priest at Mass; and
there were numerous other similar customs. If a child of the "padrone"
died, all the bells rang; if an adult, they were clappered; and all the
confraternities had to be present at the funeral, whether in the
village, at Spalato, or at Traù. The "padrone" was the medium of
communication between the higher authorities and the village headman,
who had to close the gates at night, and take him the key. He received
the tolls paid for living in the village; and there was a kind of
_corvée_ of forced work. Moreover, he had the right to buy the houses of
those who sold them, at a third less than their real value, to sell
again to fresh inhabitants. The oil-mills belonged to him, and a fifth
of the produce was divided between him and the customs. If the olives
were taken elsewhere a tenth of the oil was paid to him all the same.
Wine-presses were also his property; the oven, too, and a proportion of
the wine made and bread baked went to him. Nothing could be bought or
sold without his license. He received all the tongues of oxen killed,
and the heads of pigs. He covered the cistern in time of drought, and
water could only be drawn when he took the cover off. The streets were
ordered to be kept clean, and slops taken to the sea, not thrown out of
the window! At Christmas and Easter the country people still bring
presents to their lords.
The proverb "Wine of the Castelli, honey of Solta, and milk of Bua" is
still justified; and agents for wine merchants, especially French,
bargain for the wines before the grapes are ripe. Enormous hogsheads are
shipped on the boats, and the transhipping them is often a dangerous
business, if we may judge from our own experiences. At Castel Vecchio we
were nearly spectators of a serious accident when a cord slipped, and we
observed that the men crossed themselves each time one was safely
lowered into the hold.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 3: The last king to visit it was Sigismund in 1387.]
XXI
SPALATO
Spalato appears for the first time in the "Tavola Peutingeriana" under
the name Aspalathos, as a station on the shore road which led from the
promontory Ad Dianam (at the end of Monte Marjan) to Epetium (Stobrec)
below Salona, but appears at that time to have been a place of no
importance. It, however, is thus proved to have existed before the end
of the third century, which makes the accepted derivation of the name
from "ad Palatium" plainly erroneous. Its great celebrity is due to the
palace which Diocletian began to build for himself there shortly before
300 A.D. and to which he retired after his abdication in 305. Within its
walls fugitives from Salona, who had returned from the islands to which
they had fled at the time of the destruction of the city in 639, found
shelter, and so the existing city began its mediæval course. The palace
faced the sea to the south, and along this side were the imperial
apartments with the open loggia of fifty arches raised above the water
upon massive substructures. The plan is not quite square, but imitates a
Roman camp, with great square towers at the angles, a gate in the centre
of each of three sides flanked with octagonal towers, and with smaller
square towers between gates and angles. Towards the sea was a water gate
on a lower level. The material is marble from Traù and Brazza
limestone. The sea façade is about 550 ft. long, the north about 530
ft., the east and west some 620 ft. The external walls are double
throughout, of worked stone filled in with concrete, the thickness being
6 ft. 6 in., and the height from 60 to 80 ft. On the three land façades
are double-arched windows 20 ft. from the ground, 6 ft. 6 in. broad, and
a little over 11 ft. high. Only three of the angle towers remain, the
fourth having fallen in 1555. The principal gateway is towards Salona,
and is known as the Porta Aurea. Above the gate itself is an open arch
flanked by niches on each side; above them are brackets which sustained
the columns of a higher row of seven niches, the whole forming a
grandiose architectural composition, of which the illustration shows the
effect. The passage-way is 13 ft. high by 11 ft. 3 in. wide. The other
gates are known as the Porta Ferrea and Porta Argentea. The latter has
practically disappeared; the former is over 14 ft. high, and the same
width as the Porta Aurea, but without its architectural magnificence.
These gates gave entrance to streets which divided the palace into
quarters, that from the Porta Aurea leading to the great peristyle,
around and beyond which were the public buildings and the imperial
apartments, while the women's quarter was probably to the west of this
street, and the officials' rooms to the east, the street at right angles
separating them from the more important parts of the palace.
[Illustration: THE PORTA AUREA, SPALATO
_To face page 293_]
[Illustration: DOOR OF THE "ATRIO ROTONDO," PALACE OF DIOCLETIAN,
SPALATO
_To face page 294_]
The colonnade of the peristyle, which is 114 ft. by 50 ft., consists of
six free-standing columns of red granite on each side and four at the
end. Those at the sides support arches beneath an architrave continued
across the end and rising into an arched form over the central space
beneath the pediment. This portion is raised several steps above the
general level. To the left is the cathedral, an octagonal building which
was the mausoleum of Diocletian, with the campanile standing between it
and the peristyle, through which a flight of steps leads; these will
again form the entrance when the restorations are completed. Towards the
sea steps give entrance to the "atrio rotondo," a circular ante-room,
once decorated with precious statues, paintings, and other costly
ornaments, while the lantern of the roof was covered with purple
hangings. The decoration has vanished, leaving mere construction except
for the fine door of entry. To the right, at the end of a narrow alley,
is the baptistery, formerly probably the emperor's private temple or
chapel, as one may say, which now contains a very interesting font made
up of fragments of ninth-century carving, and the beautiful doors of the
cathedral, stored there temporarily. The base blocks of the cathedral
are nearly 20 ft. high, and there are twenty-two steps in the flight of
approach. The portico which surrounds it has columns of marble and
granite 21 ft. high. Only nineteen remain of the original twenty-four.
The caps are Corinthian, and they sustain the usual architrave, frieze,
and cornice. The octagon within has alternate semicircular and
rectangular niches, except on the side which opens into the late
Renaissance choir; at each angle stands a column of Egyptian granite
with Corinthian cap, and a highly decorated but rather heavy order runs
round the interior. Above this is a second smaller row of columns of
porphyry with a shallower order, reaching to the springing of the dome,
which is built of Dalmatian tiles, arranged in imbrications. Round the
upper frieze are _putti_ hunting, bearing garlands, &c. The height to
the dome is 68 ft., and the internal diameter 42 ft. A couple of niches
in the upper order are so arranged that a word spoken low in one is well
heard in that opposite, an arrangement supposed to have been connected
with oracular responses. Before the restoration there were galleries
on the columns, both below and above.
[Illustration: PLAN OF CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE, SPALATO ]
The high-altar stands under the niche which has been opened to give
access to the choir. At each side of it are the altars of S. Ranier and
S. Anastasius, the latter made by George of Sebenico in 1448 to match
the former, made in 1427 by the Milanese Gasparo Bonino, and both
Gothic. To the left is the very beautiful pulpit shown in the
illustration. It bears considerable resemblance to that at Traù, but is
superior to it both in design and execution. The lower capitals are
worked as if in wood, which makes the tradition all the more probable
that Guvina (who made the beautiful doors in 1214) had to do with the
making of it. The very original stalls in the choir, with their curious
combination of Eastern and Western _motifs_, have also been ascribed to
him; brought hither, as is thought, from S. Stefano de Pinis when it was
destroyed.