Fonds HR-DADU-04 - Consilium Minus (The Minor Council)

HR-DADU-4.1, vol. 4, f. 192v

Identity area

Reference code

HR-DADU-04

Title

Consilium Minus (The Minor Council)

Date(s)

  • 15th century - 19th century (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

119 volumes; 9 linear metres; textual records

Context area

Name of creator

Archival history

Preserved interstate treaties and other documents from the 12th century show that the authorities would already oversee the work of the public notary and the chancellery. Based on key provisions made during the 15th century, the central administration consisted of five offices located in the Rector's Palace. These were: The Public Notary (legal private affairs), the State Chancellery (legal public affairs), the Judicial Chancellery Office (criminal justice affairs), the Office of the State Secretary (legal state affairs) and the Slavic Chancellery, which would eventually be transformed into the Turkish Chancellery. The secretaries oversaw the process of taking minutes of the sessions of the Major Council, the Senate, as well as of those of the Minor Council. In addition, secretaries would also compile the entire state correspondence as instructed by the Senate and the Minor Council. They also created diplomatic codes and deciphered diplomatic mail, and issued state documents, such as certificates of the citizenship of the Dubrovnik Republic. The influence of secretaries increased so much since the 17th century, that they could be considered as the main administrative officials of the Dubrovnik Republic.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

The fonds has been linked to the archive since its inception. In times of the Dubrovnik Republic, the books of the fonds were stored in the Rector's Palace. They remained in the Rector’s Palace after the fall of the Republic (1808). In 1891, the archives were consolidated and became available to researchers. The archive in the Rector's Palace has been functioning as an independent institution since 1920, and it was moved in 1952 to the Sponza Palace, where it is still located today.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

The fonds consists of series Acta Minoris Consilii (HR-DADU-4.1) and Adnotationes (HR-DADU-4.2)

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

The fonds is fully accessible to researchers in accordance with the Ordinance on the work in the reading room of the State Archives in Dubrovnik and the Law on Archival Materials and Archives NN 61/18 (Pravilnik o radu u čitaonici Državnog arhiva u Dubrovniku and Zakon o arhivskom gradivu i arhivima NN 61/18).

Conditions governing reproduction

Taking photographs and scanning are allowed, for a fee.

Language of material

  • Italian
  • Latin

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Paper. The archival material is well preserved.

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

State Archives in Dubrovnik

Existence and location of copies

The fonds has been completely transferred to microfilms, but the microfilms are not available to the users of archives.

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Notes area

Note

Decisions made at the sessions of the Major Council, the Minor Council and the Senate were initially recorded in joint volumes entitled Reformationes (HR-DADU-1). Starting in 1415, the decisions of these three administrative bodies were recorded in separate registers. Therefore, the decisions of the Minor Council were filed in the registers of this fonds since 1415 until the fall of the Republic in 1808.

Alternative identifier(s)

Old reference code

Fonds of the Dubrovnik Republic and the territory of the former Republic under the French Administration, series 5

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Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Descriptions of fonds, series and sub-series are made according to the ISAD (G) standard (general international standard archival description)

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

2021

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Archivist's note

Description prepared by Vesna Miović (Fonds, Series, Subseries)
Croatia [The Institute for Historical Sciences in Dubrovnik, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (CASA)]
Translation to English by Zrinka Friganović Sain

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