Fonds HR-DADU-36 - Grassia; Grassa (Food supplies)

Identity area

Reference code

HR-DADU-36

Title

Grassia; Grassa (Food supplies)

Date(s)

  • 1500-1590, 1595-1609, 1616, 1622-1625, 1627-1655, 1662-1809 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

58 volumes; 2.3 linear metres; textual records

Context area

Name of creator

Archival history

The State Office for Food Supplies was led by three senators, and their mandate lasted for three years. The main role of the office was to take care of food supplies for the inhabitants of the Republic. The most important food supplies were cereals which were purchased in the countries of the Ottoman Empire and in the south of the Apennine Peninsula.

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 State Office for Food Supplies. In 1891, the archives were relocated to the Rector’s Palace and were consolidated becoming available to researchers. The archive in the Rector's Palace has been functioning as an independent institution since 1920 and it was dislocated to the Sponza Palace in 1952, where it is still located today.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The fonds contains registers of expenses related to the purchase of various types of cereals (sorghum, millet, wheat, barley), as well as the purchase of olive oil, rice, or beans. Some registers in the fonds provide information on the distribution and sale of these food products to the inhabitants of the Republic. Among other documents in the fonds, there are also registers of debtors, and various transcripts of Senate decisions regarding the purchase and delivery of food products. According to the data, domestic and foreign traders would deliver food to the Republic and the authorities of the Republic would then organize the purchase of food abroad (primarily on the Apennine Peninsula and in the Ottoman Empire) as well as its delivery to Dubrovnik. One of the responsibilities of this office was also to provide food to the poor at lower prices, either on loan or even free of charge.


There is very little information about Jews in the fonds. The data in the fonds demonstrate how Jews participated in food procurement and provide information on different ways how they benefited from the services of this office. According to the data, some members of Dubrovnik Jewish families such as Cittanova, Levi Mandolfo and Terni were involved in the acquisition and delivery of food to Dubrovnik in the 18th century. The sons of a renown Dubrovnik merchant Raphael Coen, Aron, Abram and Moshe, distinguished themselves in the process of food acquisition from Ancona. The data show that Dubrovnik Jewish community procured food using the services of this office (e.g., vol. 28, under the letter S).

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

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

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Paper. The archival material is well preserved.

Finding aids

Građa za generalni katalog Državnog arhiva u Dubrovniku, box 17, folder 29.

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.

Related units of description

Consilium Rogatorum (HR-DADU-3), Consilium Minus (HR-DADU-4), Cassa comunis (HR-DADU-40), Thesaurarii Sanctae Mariae Maioris (HR-DADU-39)

Related descriptions

Publication note

Bogdan Krizman, »Memoire Bara Bettere austrijskom generalu T. Milutinoviću o dubrovačkoj republici iz 1815. godine.« (résumé: Memoire de Baro Bettera adressé au general austrichien T. Milutinović, sur la Republique de Raguse et datant de 1815) Anali Historijskog instituta u Dubrovniku 1 (1952): 423-464. Vesna Miović, Dubrovačka Republika u spisima osmanskih sultana (Summary: Dubrovnik Republic in the Documents of the Ottoman Sultans), Dubrovnik: Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku, 2005. Stefano d'Atri, »Adi 2 di marzo 1590 porta fornita: Rupe, il granaio di Ragusa (Dubrovnik).« Melanges de l'Ecole Française de Rome 120 (2008): 569-580. Stefano d'Atri, »Per conservare la Città tributtaria et divota: Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and the 1590-1591 crisis.« Dubrovnik Annals 14 (2010): 71-98. Stefano d'Atri, »'Le navi e il mar, invece di campi e d'oliveti, tengono la cittá abbondante d'ogni bene.' Il sistema annonario di Ragusa (Dubrovnik) in Età moderna.« Storia urbana 134 (2012): 31-56.

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Old reference code

Fonds of the Dubrovnik Republic and the territory of the former Republic under the French Administration, series 44

Access points

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Description control area

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

Accession area

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