Preserved interstate treaties and other documents from the 12th century offer evidence that the authorities oversaw the work of the public notary and the chancellery already at that time. 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 (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 Senate, the Minor Council, as well as of those of the Major Council. This fonds contains primarily minutes of the sessions of the Senate. 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, issued state documents, such as certificates of the citizenship of the Dubrovnik Republic. According to the data, the influence of state secretaries increased substantially since the 17th century so that they could be considered as the main administrative officials of the Dubrovnik Republic.