_Dalmatia under Roman Rule_, A.D. 9-1102.--The history of Dalmatia may
be said to begin with the year 180 B.C., when the tribe from which the
country derives its name declared itself independent of Gentius, the
Illyrian king, and established a republic. Its capital was
Delminium[3]; its territory stretched northwards from the Narenta to the
Cetina, and later to the Kerka, where it met the confines of Liburnia.
In 156 B.C. the Dalmatians were for the first time attacked by a Roman
army and compelled to pay tribute; but only in the time of Augustus (31
B.C.-A.D. 14) was their land finally annexed, after the last of many
formidable revolts had been crushed by Tiberius in A.D. 9. This event
was followed by total submission and a ready acceptance of the Latin
civilization which overspread Illyria (q.v.). The downfall of the
Western Empire left this region subject to Gothic rulers, Odoacer and
Theodoric, from 476 to 535, when it was added by Justinian to the
Eastern Empire. The great Slavonic migration into Illyria, which wrought
a complete change in the fortunes of Dalmatia, took place in the first
half of the 7th century. In other parts of the Balkan Peninsula these
invaders--Serbs, Croats or Bulgars--found little difficulty in expelling
or absorbing the native population. But here they were baffled when
confronted by the powerful maritime city-states, highly civilized, and
able to rely on the moral if not the material support of their kinsfolk
in Italy. Consequently, while the country districts were settled by the
Slavs, the Latin or Italian population flocked for safety to Ragusa,
Zara and other large towns, and the whole country was thus divided
between two frequently hostile communities. This opposition was
intensified by the schism between Eastern and Western Christianity
(1054), the Slavs as a rule preferring the Orthodox or sometimes the
Bogomil creed, while the Italians were firmly attached to the Papacy.
Not until the 15th century did the rival races contribute to a common
civilization in the literature of Ragusa. To such a division of
population may be attributed the two dominant characteristics of local
history--the total absence of national as distinguished from civic life,
and the remarkable development of art, science and literature. Bosnia,
Servia and Bulgaria had each its period of national greatness, but
remained intellectually backward; Dalmatia failed ever to attain
political or racial unity, but the Dalmatian city-states, isolated and
compelled to look to Italy for support, shared perforce in the march of
Italian civilization. Their geographical position suffices to explain
the relatively small influence exercised by Byzantine culture throughout
the six centuries (535-1102) during which Dalmatia was part of the
Eastern empire. Towards the close of this period Byzantine rule tended
more and more to become merely nominal. In 806 Dalmatia was added to the
Holy Roman empire, but was soon restored; in 829 the coast was ravaged
by Saracens. A strange republic of Servian pirates arose at the mouth of
the Narenta. In the 10th century description of Dalmatia by Constantine
Porphyrogenitus (_De Administrando Imperio_, 29-37), this region is
called _Pagania_, from the fact that its inhabitants had only accepted
Christianity about 890, or 250 years later than the other Slavs. These
_Pagani_, or _Arentani_ (Narentines), utterly defeated a Venetian fleet
despatched against them in 887, and for more than a century exacted
tribute from Venice itself. In 998 they were finally crushed by the doge
Pietro Orseolo II., who assumed the title duke of Dalmatia, though
without prejudice to Byzantine suzerainty. Meanwhile the Croatian kings
had extended their rule over northern and central Dalmatia, exacting
tribute from the Italian cities, Trau, Zara and others, and
consolidating their own power in the purely Slavonic towns, such as Nona
or Belgrad (Zaravecchia). The Church was involved in the general
confusion; for the synod of Spalato, in 1059, had forbidden the use of
any but Greek or Latin liturgies, and so had accentuated the differences
between Latin and Slav. A raid of Norman corsairs in 1073 was hardly
defeated with the help of a Venetian fleet.
_Rivalry of Venice and Hungary in Dalmatia_, 1102-1420.--Unable amid
such dissensions to stand alone, unprotected by the Eastern empire and
hindered by their internal dissensions from uniting in a defensive
league, the city-states turned to Venice and Hungary for support. The
Venetians, to whom they were already bound by race, language and
culture, could afford to concede liberal terms because their own
principal aims was not the territorial aggrandizement sought by Hungary,
but only such a supremacy as might prevent the development of any
dangerous political or commercial competitor on the eastern Adriatic.
Hungary had also its partisans; for in the Dalmatian city-states, like
those of Greece and Italy, there were almost invariably two jealous
political factions, each ready to oppose any measure advocated by its
antagonist. The origin of this division seems here to have been
economic. The farmers and the merchants who traded in the interior
naturally favoured Hungary, their most powerful neighbour on land; while
the seafaring community looked to Venice as mistress of the Adriatic. In
return for protection, the cities often furnished a contingent to the
army or navy of their suzerain, and sometimes paid tribute either in
money or in kind. Arbe, for example, annually paid ten pounds of silk or
five pounds of gold to Venice. The citizens clung to their municipal
privileges, which were reaffirmed after the conquest of Dalmatia in
1102-1105 by Coloman of Hungary. Subject to the royal assent they might
elect their own chief magistrate, bishop and judges. Their Roman law
remained valid. They were even permitted to conclude separate alliances.
No alien, not even a Hungarian, could reside in a city where he was
unwelcome; and the man who disliked Hungarian dominion could emigrate
with all his household and property. In lieu of tribute, the revenue
from customs was in some cases shared equally by the king, chief
magistrate, bishop and municipality. These rights and the analogous
privileges granted by Venice were, however, too frequently infringed,
Hungarian garrisons being quartered on unwilling towns, while Venice
interfered with trade, with the appointment of bishops, or with the
tenure of communal domains. Consequently the Dalmatians remained loyal
only while it suited their interests, and insurrections frequently
occurred. Even in Zara four outbreaks are recorded between 1180 and
1345, although Zara was treated with special consideration by its
Venetian masters, who regarded its possession as essential to their
maritime ascendancy. The doubtful allegiance of the Dalmatians tended to
protract the struggle between Venice and Hungary, which was further
complicated by internal discord due largely to the spread of the Bogomil
heresy; and by many outside influences, such as the vague suzerainty
still enjoyed by the Eastern emperors during the 12th century; the
assistance rendered to Venice by the armies of the Fourth Crusade in
1202; and the Tartar invasion of Dalmatia forty years later (see Trau).
The Slavs were no longer regarded as a hostile race, but the power of
certain Croatian magnates, notably the counts of Bribir, was from time
to time supreme in the northern districts (see CROATIA-SLAVONIA); and
Stephen Tvrtko, the founder of the Bosnian kingdom, was able in 1389 to
annex the whole Adriatic littoral between Cattaro and Fiume, except
Venetian Zara and his own independent ally, Ragusa (see BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA). Finally, the rapid decline of Bosnia, and of Hungary
itself when assailed by the Turks, rendered easy the success of Venice;
and in 1420 the whole of Dalmatia, except Almissa, which yielded in
1444, and Ragusa, which preserved its freedom, either submitted or was
conquered. Many cities welcomed the change with its promise of
tranquillity.
_Venetian and Turkish Rule_, 1420-1797.--An interval of peace ensued,
but meanwhile the Turkish advance continued. Constantinople fell in
1453, Servia in 1459, Bosnia in 1463 and Herzegovina in 1483. Thus the
Venetian and Ottoman frontiers met; border wars were incessant; Ragusa
sought safety in friendship with the invaders. In 1508 the hostile
league of Cambrai compelled Venice to withdraw its garrison for home
service, and after the overthrow of Hungary at Mohacs in 1526 the Turks
were able easily to conquer the greater part of Dalmatia. The peace of
1540 left only the maritime cities to Venice, the interior forming a
Turkish province, governed from the fortress of Clissa by a _Sanjakbeg_,
or administrator with military powers. Christian Slavs from the
neighbouring lands now thronged to the towns, outnumbering the Italian
population and introducing their own language, but falling under the
influence of the Roman Catholic Church. The pirate community of the
Uskoks (q.v.) had originally been a band of these fugitives; its
exploits contributed to a renewal of war between Venice and Turkey
(1571-1573). An extremely curious picture of contemporary manners is
presented by the Venetian agents,[4] whose reports on this war resemble
some knightly chronicle of the middle ages, full of single combats,
tournaments and other chivalrous adventures. They also show clearly that
the Dalmatian levies far surpassed the Italian mercenaries in skill and
courage. Many of these troops served abroad; at Lepanto, for example, in
1571, a Dalmatian squadron assisted the allied fleets of Spain, Venice,
Austria and the Papal States to crush the Turkish navy. A fresh war
broke out in 1645, lasting intermittently until 1699, when the peace of
Carlowitz gave the whole of Dalmatia to Venice, including the coast of
Herzegovina, but excluding the domains of Ragusa and the protecting band
of Ottoman territory which surrounded them. After further fighting this
delimitation was confirmed in 1718 by the treaty of Passarowitz; and it
remains valid, though modified by the destruction of Ragusan liberty and
the substitution of Austria-Hungary for Venice and Turkey.
The intellectual life of Dalmatia during the 15th, 16th and 17th
centuries reached a higher level than any attained by the purely
Slavonic peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. Its chief monuments are
described elsewhere,--the work of the Ragusan poets and historians as a
part of Servian literature, the scientific achievements of R. G.
Boscovich and Marcantonio de Dominis in separate biographies.
Architecture and art generally have been discussed above. But this
intellectual development was the work of a small and opulent minority in
all the cities except Ragusa. Popular education was neglected; Zara had
no printing-press until 1796; Venetian Dalmatia possessed only one
public school, and that an ecclesiastical seminary; and even the sons of
the rich, though free to visit the universities of Italy, France,
Holland and England, ran the risk of exile or worse punishment if they
brought home too liberal a culture. Poorer students learned what they
could from the clergy, and the peasantry were wholly illiterate.
Although the secular power of the Church was strictly limited, the
country was overrun by ecclesiastics. When Fortis visited the island of
Arbe in the 18th century, he found a population of 3000, mostly
fishermen, contributing to the stipends of sixty priests. There were
also three monasteries and three nunneries. Heavy taxes, the salt
monopoly, reckless destruction of timber, and a deliberate attempt to
ruin the oil and silk industries, were among the means by which Venice
prevented competition with its own trade. Although justice was fairly
well administered and some show of municipal autonomy conceded, the
right of electing a chief magistrate had been withheld after 1420; and
the Grand Council or Senate of each city, losing its original democratic
character, had degenerated into a mere tool of the resident Venetian
agents (_provveditori_), officials who held their post for thirty-two
months and were subject to little effective control. Nevertheless, 150
years of war against the common Turkish enemy had drawn the Venetians
and their subjects closely together, and the loyalty of the Dalmatian
soldiers and sailors abroad, if not of their fellow-citizens at home,
rests beyond doubt.
_Dalmatia after 1797._--After the fall of the Venetian republic in 1797,
the treaty of Campo Formio gave Dalmatia to Austria. The republics of
Ragusa and Poglizza retained their independence, and Ragusa grew rich by
its neutrality during the earlier Napoleonic wars. By the peace of
Pressburg in 1805 the country was handed over to France, but its
occupation was ineffectually contested by a Russian force which seized
the Bocche di Cattaro and induced the Montenegrins to render aid.
Poglizza was deprived of its independence by Napoleon in 1807, Ragusa
in 1808. In 1809 the French troops were withdrawn, but in the same year
Dalmatia was restored to France and united to the Illyrian kingdom by
the treaty of Vienna. A British naval force under Captain Hoste, after a
successful engagement with a small French squadron off Lissa, occupied
the islands of Curzola, Lesina and Lagosta from 1812 to 1815, and
established a considerable overland trade through Dalmatia, Austria and
Germany. The allied British and Austrian forces drove out the last
French garrison in 1814, and in 1815 Dalmatia was finally incorporated
in the Austro-Hungarian empire, with which its history has since been
identified. Its subsequent tranquillity has only been disturbed by the
ineffectual risings of 1869 and 1881-1882, which took place near Cattaro
(q.v.). For an account of the development of Croatian nationalism among
the Dalmatians, during the 19th and 20th centuries, see
CROATIA-SLAVONIA.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--A minute and accurate account of Dalmatian history, art
(especially architecture), antiquities and topography, is given by T.
G. Jackson, in _Dalmatia, the Quarnero and Istria_ (Oxford, 1887), (3
vols. illustrated). E. A. Freeman, _Subject and Neighbour Lands of
Venice_ (London, 1881), and G. Modrich, _La Dalmazia_ (Turin, 1892),
describe the chief towns, their history and antiquities. Much
miscellaneous information is contained in the following mainly
topographical works:--P. Bauron, _Les Rives illyriennes_ (Paris,
1888); Sir A. A. Paton, _Highlands and Islands of the Adriatic_
(London, 1849); Sir J. G. Wilkinson, _Dalmatia and Montenegro_
(London, 1840); A. Fortis, _Travels into Dalmatia_ (London, 1778); and
the periodicals, _Rivista Dalmatica_ (Zara, 1899, &c.), and _Annuario
Dalmatico_ (Zara, 1884, &c.). The best maps are those of the Austrian
General Staff and Vincenzo de Haardt's _Zemljovid Kraljevine
Dalmacije_ (Zara, 1892). See also for trade, the Annual British
Consular Reports; for sport, "Snaffle," _In the Land of the Bora_
(London, 1897); for Roman and pre-Roman antiquities, R. Munro,
_Bosnia-Herzegovina and Dalmatia_ (Edinburgh, 1904). Besides the works
mentioned above, and those by Farlatus, Makushev, Miklosich, Theiner,
Shafarik, Orbini and du Cange, which are quoted under BOSNIA AND
HERZEGOVINA, the chief authority for Dalmatian history is G. Lucio
(Lucius of Trau), _De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae, a gentis origine ad
annum 1480_ (Amsterdam, 1666). To this edition are appended the works
of the Presbyter Diocleas, Thomas of Spalato and other native
chroniclers from the 12th century onwards. An Italian translation,
omitting the appendix, was published at Trieste in 1892, entitled
_Storia del Regno di Dalmatia e di Croazia_, and edited by Luigi
Cesare. Lucio's work is singularly trustworthy and scientific. See
also P. Pisani, _La Dalmatie de 1797 a 1815_ (Paris, 1893).
(K. G. J.)