THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
_All rights reserved_
[Illustration: _Marino Caboga._]
THE REPUBLIC
OF
RAGUSA
AN EPISODE OF THE
TURKISH CONQUEST
BY LUIGI VILLARI
[Illustration: BYZANTINE DOOR-KNOCKER, RECTOR’S PALACE]
WITH MANY ILLUSTRATIONS
BY WILLIAM HULTON
LONDON: J. M. DENT & CO.
29 & 30 BEDFORD STREET, W.C.
MCMIV
Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.
At the Ballantyne Press
PREFATORY NOTE
Various accounts of Dalmatia have been written in English, many of
which include a historical survey of Ragusa; but the only special
histories of the town itself are in German or Italian, and even those
are not by any means complete. The best is undoubtedly Professor
Gelcich’s little book, _Dello Sviluppo Civile di Ragusa_, a perfect
mine of valuable information, of which I have availed myself largely
in the present volume. But it deals principally with the internal
development, the archeology, and the architecture of the town, and does
not dwell on its international position, which for foreign readers is
its most important aspect. Engel’s _Geschichte des Freystaates Ragusa_
is useful and fairly accurate, but it is somewhat dry, and more in the
nature of a chronicle of events than a real history. The works of the
local historians and chroniclers, such as Resti, Ragnina, Luccari,
Gondola, and others, although they contain some interesting details and
picturesque descriptions, traditions, &c., are written without a notion
of historical accuracy, and are inspired by a strong bias which admits
no facts unfavourable to Ragusa. That of the Tuscan, Razzi, is more
reliable, but by no means wholly to be depended on, and it only brings
us down to the end of the sixteenth century. The safest guide to the
subject is to be found in the original records of the town, a large
portion of which have been published by the South-Slavonic Academy
of Agram, by the Hungarian Academy, and various other collections of
documents on the history of the Southern Slaves, such as Miklosich’s
_Monumenta Serbica_, Marin Sanudo, the works of Theiner, Počić,
Farlati, &c. The modern works on the history of Ragusa of which I
have made the most use, besides the above-mentioned work of Professor
Gelcich, are the same author’s pamphlets, _La Zedda_ and _I Conti di
Tuhelj_; T. Graham Jackson’s _Dalmatia_ for the chapters on Ragusan
architecture; Paul Pisani’s _Num Ragusini_, &c., for the Venetian
period, and his large work _La Dalmatie de 1797 à 1815_ for the end
of the Republic; Klaić’s _Geschichte Bosniens_ for the relations
between Ragusa and Bosnia; Heyd’s _Histoire du Commerce du Lévant_
and Professor Jireček’s _Handelsstrassen und Bergwerke_ for Ragusa’s
commercial development; Horatio Brown’s _Venice_ for Venetian history;
and Puipin and Spasowicz’ history of Slavonic literature. A fuller list
of authorities consulted is appended.
I must express my especial indebtedness to Professor Gelcich for the
assistance and encouragement which he afforded me in preparing this
volume. I also received valuable aid from Signor V. Adamović, who
kindly placed his library at my service during my stay at Ragusa; to
Signor A. de Serragli, who gave much information on the topography and
archeology of the town; to the Padre Bibliotecario of the Franciscan
Monastery, who assisted me in my researches; and to Signor Giovanni
Saraca. I may say that during my visits to Dalmatia I always found the
natives courteous and kindly, and willing to assist me in every way,
especially at Ragusa. Of the many features which Dalmatia has in common
with Italy, the one which I must call attention to is the fact that
in every Dalmatian town there is always at least one local antiquary
who has made a life-study of the history and archeology, working with
no other thought than the love of the subject, and always willing to
assist other students.
I am also indebted to Mr. Herbert P. Horne, who kindly assisted me in
the chapters dealing with architecture and painting.
In the spelling of the Slavonic names I have adopted the Croatian
orthography, as being the most convenient and the most accurate. The
following letters have a peculiar pronunciation:—
C = _ts_ in _bits_. Thus Cavtat is pronounced Tsavtat.
Č = _ch_ in _which_. Thus Miljačka is pronounced
Miljachka.
Ć is almost identical to the above, but is used only at
the end of a word when preceded by an _i_. Thus Gundulić
is pronounced Gundulich.
G is always pronounced hard, as in _gig_.
H is like the German _ch_ in _Buch_.
J = _y_ in _yet_. Thus Jajce is pronounced Yaytse. When
at the end of a word and preceded by the letters _l_ or
_n_ it softens them into something like the French _l_ in
_mouillé_ and the French _gne_ in _signe_. Thus Sandalj
and Sinj.
The letter _r_ is sometimes a semi-vowel, and is
pronounced like _eurre_ in French, but less definitely.
Many syllables have no other vowel. Thus the name
_Hrvoje_.
S = _s_ in _since_ (never like _s_ in _nose_).
Š = _sh_ in _shave_. Thus Dušan is pronounced Dushan.
U = _oo_ in _boot_.
Z = _z_ in _blaze_.
Ž is like the French _j_ in _jour_.
In the case of well-known names and words which are usually spelt
in another way, I have adhered to the common orthography. Thus I
have written Miklosich instead of Miklosić, and Tsar instead of Car.
Dalmatians of Italian sympathies, but having Slavonic names, invariably
use the _ch_ in the place of _č_ or _ć_.
For the spelling “Slave,” instead of the more common “Slav,” my
authority is Professor Freeman, who in a note on p. 386 of the Third
Series of his Essays gives the following reasons for it: “First, no
English word ends in _v_. Secondly, we form the names of other nations
in another way; we say a _Swede_, a _Dane_, and a _Pole_, not a _Swed_,
a _Dan_, or a _Pol_. Thirdly, it is important to bear in mind the
history of the word—the fact that _slave_ in the sense of δοῦλος is
simply the same word with the national name.”
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. INTRODUCTION 1
II. THE FOUNDATION AND EARLY HISTORY OF
THE CITY (656-1204) 15
III. VENETIAN SUPREMACY: I.—THE CONSTITUTION
AND THE LAWS (1204-1276) 58
IV. VENETIAN SUPREMACY: II.—SERVIAN AND
BOSNIAN WARS (1276-1358) 90
V. THE TRADE OF RAGUSA 115
VI. ART IN THE THIRTEENTH AND FOURTEENTH
CENTURIES 149
VII. RAGUSA UNDER HUNGARIAN SUPREMACY—THE
TURKISH INVASION (1358-1420) 163
VIII. THE TURKISH CONQUEST (1420-1526) 219
IX. TRADE AND INTERNAL CONDITIONS DURING
THE HUNGARIAN PERIOD 263
X. RAGUSA INDEPENDENT OF HUNGARY (1526-1667) 278
XI. RAGUSAN SHIPS AND SEAMEN IN THE SERVICE
OF SPAIN 306
XII. FROM THE EARTHQUAKE TO THE NAPOLEONIC
WARS (1667-1797) 317
XIII. ART SINCE THE YEAR 1358 339
XIV. LITERATURE 370
XV. THE FALL OF THE REPUBLIC 382
LIST OF BOOKS ON THE HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY
OF RAGUSA 417
INDEX 421
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PORTRAIT OF MARINO CABOGA (_Photogravure_)
(_From the Galleria di Ragusei Illustri_) _Frontispiece_
BYZANTINE DOOR-KNOCKER, RECTOR’S PALACE _Title-page_
PAGE
ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOUR OF RAGUSA 1
VIEW OF RAGUSA
(_From P. G. Coronelli’s “Views of Dalmatia,”_ 1680) _facing_ 15
ONOFRIO’S FOUNTAIN IN THE PIAZZA 41
THE QUAY AND HARBOUR GATE _facing_ 54
RAGUSA FROM THE EAST _facing_ 58
TORRE MENZE 66
GENERAL VIEW OF RAGUSA, FROM THE WEST 83
BAS-RELIEF OF ST. BLAIZE, NEAR THE PORTA PLOCE 95
PLAN OF RAGUSA _facing_ 97
FORTIFICATIONS OF STAGNO GRANDE 99
CLOISTER OF THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY _facing_ 108
COURTYARD OF THE SPONZA (CUSTOM HOUSE) 121
FAÇADE OF THE SPONZA (CUSTOM HOUSE), AND CLOCK
TOWER 131
CAPITAL IN THE FRANCISCAN CLOISTER 152
CAPITAL IN THE FRANCISCAN CLOISTER 153
FAÇADE OF THE RECTOR’S PALACE _facing_ 168
APOTHECARY’S GARDEN, FRANCISCAN MONASTERY 189
ENTRANCE TO THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY _facing_ 196
TERRACE OF THE FRANCISCAN MONASTERY, WITH THE
TORRE MENZE IN THE BACKGROUND 207
CLOISTER OF THE DOMINICAN MONASTERY 231
SKETCH MAP OF THE TERRITORIES OF THE RAGUSAN
REPUBLIC _facing_ 240
THE ORLANDO COLUMN 249
BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF RAGUSA AND THE NEIGHBOURHOOD
(_From an Old Map_, 1670) _facing_ 263
SKETCH MAP OF THE ENVIRONS OF RAGUSA _facing_ 272
FORTE SAN LORENZO 289
GARDEN NEAR RAGUSA 299
ISOLA DI MEZZO 313
COURTYARD OF THE RECTOR’S PALACE 325
MOSTAR, IN THE HERZEGOVINA 334
“ÆSCULAPIUS” CAPITAL, RECTOR’S PALACE 340
SCULPTURED IMPOST, RECTOR’S PALACE 345
SCULPTURED BRACKET, RECTOR’S PALACE 349
CHURCH OF THE CONFRATERNITY OF THE ROSARY 355
TRIPTYCH BY NICCOLÒ RAGUSEI IN THE DOMINICAN
MONASTERY _facing_ 363
GIOVANNI GONDOLA
(_From the Galleria di Ragusei Illustri_) _facing_ 375
TORRE MENZE AND THE WALLS 389
TERRACE OF THE VILLE BRAVAČIĆ, NEAR RAGUSA 405
MAP OF DALMATIA, BOSNIA, AND THE HERZEGOVINA _facing_ 417
MAP OF THE BALKAN PENINSULA _facing_ 418
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOUR OF RAGUSA]
THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
The eastern shore of the Adriatic from the Quarnero to the Bocche di
Cattaro is a series of deep inlets and bays, with rocky mountains
rising up behind, while countless islands, forming a veritable
archipelago, follow the coastline. The country is for the most part
bare and stony. The cypress, the olive, the vine grow on it, but never
in great quantities. Patches of juniper and other bushes are often the
only relief to the long stretches of sterile coast. Here and there more
favoured spots appear. At Spalato and in the Canale dei Sette Castelli,
on the island of Curzola, in the environs of Ragusa, the vegetation
is luxuriant, almost tropical. But Dalmatia is always a narrow strip,
and as one proceeds southwards it becomes ever narrower, the mountain
ranges at various points coming right down to the water’s edge. The
land is subject to intense heat in summer, and is free from great
cold, even in the middle of winter. But it suffers from fierce winds,
from the _bora_, which, whirling down from the treeless wastes of the
Karst mountains in the north-east, sweeps along the coastline with
terrific force. Another curse from which it suffers is the frequency
and severity of the earthquakes, which from time to time have wrought
fearful havoc among the Dalmatian towns.
But in spite of these disadvantages, along this shore a Latin
civilisation arose and flourished which, if inferior to that of
Italy, nevertheless played an important and valuable part in
European development. Many wars were fought for the possession of
Dalmatia. Roman, Byzantine Greek, Norman, Venetian, Hungarian, Slave,
and Austrian struggled for it, and each left his impress on its
civilisation, although the influence of two among these peoples far
surpassed that of all the others—the Roman and the Venetian.
Dalmatia has at all times been essentially a borderland. Geographically
it belongs to the eastern peninsula of the Mediterranean, to the
Balkan lands. But this narrow strip of coast, as Professor Freeman
said,[1] “has not a little the air of a thread, a finger, a branch
cast forth from the western peninsula.” In its history its character
as a march land is still more noticeable, and this feature has always
been manifested in a series of civilised communities in the towns,
with a hinterland of barbarous or semi-civilised races. Here were the
farthest Greek settlements in the Adriatic, settlements placed in the
midst of a native uncivilised Illyrian population. Here the Romans came
and conquered, but did not wholly absorb, the native races. Then the
land was disputed between the Eastern and the Western Empires, later
between Christianity and Paganism, later still between the Eastern and
Western Churches. The Slavonic invasion, while almost obliterating
the native Illyrian race, could not sweep away the Roman-Greek
civilisation of the coast. Again Dalmatia became the debating ground
between Venetian and Hungarian, the former triumphing in the end. When
Christianity found itself menaced by the Muhamedan invasion, Dalmatia
was the borderland between the two faiths. A hundred years ago it
was involved in one phase of the great struggle between England and
France. To-day, under the rule of a Power which may be said to be all
borderland, it is the scene of another nationalist conflict between two
races. As before we still have a civilised fringe, a series of towns,
with a vast hinterland inhabited by Slaves, by a race less civilised,
yet wishing to become civilised on lines different from those of
the Latin race. It is still the borderland between the Catholic and
the Orthodox religions, and also between the two branches of the
South-Slavonic people—the Croatians and the Serbs.
The Dalmatian townships had many features in their development similar
to those of the towns of Italy, especially of the maritime republics.
But, unlike their Italian sisters, they were always on the threshold
of barbarism, and this fact imparts to their history its peculiar
character. They were essentially border fortresses, keeping watch and
ward to save their civilisation from being swept into the sea by the
advancing tide of Slave and Turk.
Of all these towns, that in which this feature is most marked
is Ragusa. Ragusa’s development shows in every way a stronger
individuality than that of any other. For three characteristics above
all is this city remarkable, characteristics which enabled it to
attain and preserve such a peculiar position in the Adriatic. The
first is its geographical situation. Ragusa was, as it were, the gate
of the East, the meeting point of Latin and Slave, of the Eastern
and Western Churches, of Christian and Muhamedan. One of the chief
commercial highways from the coast to the interior had its terminus
at Ragusa, while the sheltered position of its harbour, and of that
of the neighbouring Gravosa, indicated it as meant by nature for a
great commercial centre. Here the Slaves from the interior found their
nearest market, and the nearest spot where civilisation and culture
flourished. Ragusa was the means of spreading the beginnings of
progress among the benighted Servian lands, for with the caravans of
Western goods which made their way into the Herzegovina, Bosnia, and
Servia, Western ideas penetrated as well, and to Ragusa came the sons
of Slavonic princelings and nobles to be educated. Here there were
schools where learned professors and famous men of letters from Italy
taught. Italy came to impart Italian culture to the Ragusans and the
Slaves.
Even to-day, when trade follows other routes, and Ragusa, no longer a
great commercial centre, is reduced to a humble position, it is still
the meeting point of many races. Italians, Bosnians, Herzegovinians,
Montenegrins, Albanians, Turks, and Greeks throng its streets and
piazzas on market days, filling them with brilliant costumes. Now that
the railway from Mostar and Sarajevo has reached Gravosa, there is
reason to hope that the ancient city of St. Blaize may once more become
a trading centre of some importance. The prosperity of the hinterland
which Austria-Hungary has reclaimed to civilisation cannot fail to have
a favourable effect on Ragusa. Had not the Turkish invasion swept over
the Balkans in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries,
Ragusa’s position as a civilising influence would have been still
more considerable. Later its rôle changed to that of intermediary
between the Christian Powers and the Sultan, and in its history we see
reflected on a small scale the vast struggle which convulsed Europe for
four hundred years.
The second characteristic of Ragusa is its natural position. It is one
of nature’s fortresses, being surrounded by the sea on three sides, and
the rocks on which it is built drop sheer down to the water’s edge. It
seemed indeed a suitable spot on which to erect a city, in days when
security was the first, almost the only, consideration. As we approach
Ragusa from the south, it stands out a mass of rocks rising up from the
sea, crowned with towers, bastions, and walls, which have defied ages
of storm and stress, still imposing, still beautiful.
A third feature intimately connected with the last is Ragusa’s
character as a haven of refuge. While all around there was chaos and
strife, at Ragusa there was peace. The original inhabitants had fled
from the ruins of Epidaurum and Salona, and fortified themselves here;
subsequently other refugees from all parts of the country helped to
increase the population, for the hospitality of its walls was denied
to none. The Ragusans were ever ready, as they proved many a time, to
undergo any risk rather than give up those who had placed themselves
under the protection of the rock-built city. Even in recent times
Ragusa remained true to its past; when in 1876-77 there was revolution
in the Herzegovina, and the savage Turkish soldiery were at their
accustomed work of massacre and torture, the luckless Christian rayahs
found shelter and protection at Ragusa, as their ancestors had done
before them.
Ragusa was a small city, and its history is all on a small scale. At
best she can only be regarded as a second-class city of the first rank.
In size, wealth, and intellectual and artistic development she was far
inferior to the city republics of Italy; but her close proximity to a
world of barbarism, and the vastly important events in which she played
a part, however small, make it loom large. Moreover, while the other
republics of Dalmatia, with the exception of the tiny Poljica, were all
absorbed by Venice, while those of Italy were a constant prey to civil
wars, and lost their freedom and even their independence after a few
centuries of chequered existence, Ragusa, after two hundred and fifty
years of Venetian tutelage with internal autonomy, remained free, now
under the nominal protection of this Power, now of that, for 450 years,
actually surviving her mighty rival of the Lagoons.
The beginnings of Dalmatian history are purely legendary, and very
little is known of the ethnographical character of its original
inhabitants. Wanderers from pre-Homeric Greece are said to have settled
along its shores, followed later by the Liburnii, who had been driven
from Asia, whence part of the country was called Liburnia by the
Romans. In the seventh century B.C. a Celtic invasion took place.[2]
In the fifth and fourth centuries B.C. a number of Greek colonies were
planted among the islands at Issa (Lissa), Pharos (Lesina), and Kerkyra
Melaina (Curzola), and others along the coast at Epidamnos (Durazzo),
Epidauron (Ragusavecchia), and Tragyrion (Traù). In the third century
Illyria[3] was welded by a native ruler into a powerful kingdom,
which ere long came into contact with the Romans. The latter made
several attempts to conquer the country, but met with a most stubborn
resistance before they finally subdued it. In the year 180 B.C. the
Dalmatians, a people inhabiting the middle part of modern Dalmatia,[4]
revolted from the Illyrian kingdom and became independent. Their
territory was comprised between the rivers Naro (Narenta) and Titius
(Kerka); beyond the latter Liburnia began. During the second and first
centuries B.C. the Romans waged no less than ten wars in Illyria,
which was not completely reduced until the year A.D. 9.
In the meanwhile a number of Latin colonies had been settled along the
coast, supplanting those of the Greeks. Their splendour and importance
may be gauged from the magnificent Roman remains, especially those of
the great palace built by Diocletian, himself an Illyrian, at Spalato,
and of Salona,[5] the ancient capital of the province.
Roman Dalmatia included besides the modern region of that name the
whole of Bosnia, the Herzegovina, Montenegro, and parts of Croatia and
Albania. Diocletian divided it into two provinces, Dalmatia proper to
the north, and Prævalis or Prævalitana to the south. At the time of the
partition of the Roman Empire Dalmatia was apportioned to the Western
division, the neighbouring provinces of Dardania, Mœsia Superior, and
Prævalis to the Eastern. When the barbarian hordes began to pour down
into Southern Europe the latter province remained under Roman rule
until early in the sixth century, but Dalmatia was conquered in 481 by
Odovakar, and added to the Gothic kingdom of Italy. Both these facts
emphasise Dalmatia’s character as an outpost of the West in the Eastern
world. But the Slaves, the last of the barbarians to march westwards
and southwards, soon began to press ever more closely against the
Roman settlements, and the colonists were driven from the interior
to the coast towns. From the letters of Pope Gregory I. we see that
at his time (590-603) Epidaurum, Salona, Doclea, and a few other
Roman cities still survived. But in 600, in a letter to the Bishop
of Salona, he expressed great sorrow that Dalmatia was hard pressed
by the barbarians. “De Sclavorum gente, quae vobis imminet, affligor
vehementer et conturbor.”[6] The whole province was becoming desolate.
In 535 the Byzantine Greeks reconquered it from the Goths together
with Pannonia. In 539 it was overrun by Huns, Bulgarians, and Slaves,
liberated by Narses in 552, and added to the Exarchate of Ravenna.
Later it was made into a separate Exarchate; but after the death of the
Emperor Maurice the Slaves became masters of the greater part of the
country.
When the Eastern Empire was divided into themes, the remaining
fragments of the Roman colonies on the Illyrian shore were erected
into the Themes of Dalmatia and Dyrrhachium. The former is described
at length by Constantine Porphyrogenitus in his _De Administrando
Imperio_,[7] written in 949; it consisted of little more than a
few cities and islands, all the rest of the land being peopled by
barbarians.
The capital of the Dalmatian theme was no longer Salona, which together
with Epidaurum had been destroyed by the Avars in the seventh century,
but Jadera or Zara. The other towns of the theme were: Veglia, Arbe,
and Opsara (comprising Cherso and Lussino) in the Quarnero; Tragurium,
Spalatum or Aspalathum, and Rhagusium, founded by refugees from Salona
and Epidaurum; Decatera (Cattaro), Rosa (Porto Rose), and Butova
(Budua). The theme was governed by a Greek Strategos residing at Zara
(Jadertinus Prior), and by inferior officials (dukes) in the smaller
centres. But their authority hardly extended beyond the town walls.
The inhabitants of these cities in the themes of Dalmatia and
Dyrrhachium were the remains of the Roman provincials from all parts
of Illyria. Porphyrogenitus calls them Romans, as distinguished from
the Ῥωμαῖοι or Byzantine Greeks. In spite of all subsequent Slavonic
incursions Latin, and later Italian, always remained the official
language; it was also the common language of the people all down the
coast, save at Ragusa, where Slavonic was also spoken at an early
date.[8] Other fragments of the Roman population were to be found
perhaps among the shepherds of the mountains, who were either Latins
or Latinised descendants of the native Illyrians. The Slaves speak of
them as together with the town-dwellers as Vlachs, which word signifies
Italians or Rumanians to this day. The townsmen described these
shepherds as Maurovlachs, _i.e._ “Sea Vlachs” or “Black Vlachs.”[9]
The other Dalmatian towns and all the country outside the towns were
occupied, as we have said, by the Southern Slaves. Of these the two
principal tribes were the Serblii or Serbs and the Chrobatians or
Croatians. The latter settled in the northern part of the country;
their frontiers were the Save, the Kulpa, the Arsia, and the Četina.
Their settlement seems to have preceded that of the Serbs. They came
from the land beyond the Carpathians, with the name of which theirs
may have been connected. Croatia was divided into fourteen _Župe_
or counties, each governed by a _Župan_. The various _Župans_ owed
a somewhat shadowy allegiance to a Grand Župan, whose title was
afterwards changed to that of king. The Serbs, who issued forth from
what is now Galicia, settled in the land to the south and east of that
of the Croatians, _i.e._ the modern kingdom of Servia, Old Servia,
Montenegro, Northern Albania, and Dalmatia south of the Četina. For
many centuries they recognised no central authority, but were divided
into tribes, of which the most important were the Diocletiani or
Docletiani, who occupied what is now Montenegro and part of Albania;
the Terbuniotae, whose country, called Terbunia or Tribunia or
Travunia, centres round the modern Trebinje, with the semi-independent
southern district of Canale or Canali;[10] the coast north of Ragusa
up to the Narenta was occupied by the Zachloumoi of Constantine
Porphyrogenitus, and was called Zachlumje, Zachulmia, Hlum, or Chelmo.
It corresponds to the Herzegovina.[11] About the Narenta was the
land of the Narentani (the Ἀρεντάνοι or Παγάνοι of Porphyrogenitus),
notorious for their piratical exploits. This tribe was converted to
Christianity much later than the other Serbs, whence their name of
Pagani. Inland was Bosnia, inhabited by various tribes. Still deeper in
the interior was the territory of the Serbs proper.[12]
Thus by the eighth century we have a series of coast towns and a few
islands peopled by Latins still under the rule of the Eastern Roman
Empire set in the midst of a country whose inhabitants, if we except
the Latin or Latinised shepherds, were all Slaves. Imperial influence
over these townships gradually declined, and at an early date they
constituted themselves into city-states of the Italian type.[13] As
they grew rich and powerful they acquired territory, developed their
trade, both sea-borne and with the interior, until they were finally
absorbed by the Venetian Republic. Their conditions are, therefore, in
many respects similar to those prevailing in the maritime republics
of Italy during this period. In Italy there was a Latin civilisation,
overwhelmed by hordes of pagan or partly pagan barbarians. Italy, like
Dalmatia, is reclaimed to Latin culture by Greek arms, and the Greeks
rule over it, although constantly fighting the armies of the invaders
with varying success. There, too, city-communities arise on or near
the sites of Roman cities, modelling their institutions and their
laws on those of Rome, with certain modifications due to barbarian
influences. But here the parallel ends. In Italy the barbarian hordes
never settled in such large numbers as wholly to absorb the Latins,
whereas the Slaves in Dalmatia far outnumbered the colonists, and, save
for the Latin fringe, the land soon became a Slavonic land. Whereas
in Italy, Latins and barbarians soon amalgamated—in fact, one may say
that the former absorbed the latter—in Dalmatia, Latins and Slaves have
remained distinct and separate to this day, in language, character,
and ideals. The Latin cities were like islands in a Slavonic sea. The
relations between the Latins and the barbarians in Italy, even before
they amalgamated, were different from what they were in Dalmatia. In
Italy the feudal system arose among the Germanic peoples, and Germanic
lords had Latin subjects and serfs, whereas the Slavonic chieftains
of Dalmatia had no Latin dependents to speak of. The causes of this
division of race and language, which exercised so deep an influence on
the history and development of the Dalmatian _municipia_, are not very
apparent. They are probably to be sought in the different proportions
of barbarians to Latins in the two countries. In Italy the number of
invaders who settled permanently in the country was never very great
compared with that of the Latin inhabitants. The conquered were,
therefore, soon able to absorb the conquerors, having civilisation as
well as numbers on their side. But in Dalmatia the Slaves were, as we
have said, far more numerous than the Latin burghers; and while the
former could not absorb the communities of the coast, because they
were more civilised, the latter, being so few in numbers, failed to
absorb the Slaves. It should, moreover, be remembered that even the
Latins were originally colonists from another land, and that the native
Illyrians, of whom no trace now remains in Dalmatia, may perhaps have
been merged in the Slaves, and helped to swell their numbers.
[Illustration: VIEW OF RAGUSA
(_From P. G. Coronelli’s “Views of Dalmatia”_, 1680)]