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Officiales rationum; Officiali delle cinque ragioni (Main state accountants)

  • HR-DADU-35
  • Fonds
  • 15th century - 19th century

The series contains various accounting books and lists of state revenues from the 15th to the 19th century. In six volumes, the costs of missions to the sultan and Ottoman dignitaries from Bosnia to Istanbul were recorded, as well as the costs of missions to the Venetian general provider of Dalmatia (18th century). After a thorough consideration, accounting officers either accepted or rejected the costs, and recorded accordingly those expenditures in notebooks bearing the names Partite accetate and Partite ributtate. Rejected expenditures were sent to the Senate for further consideration.


There are only few references to Jews in this series. Those references can be only found in volumes no. 11 and 12, entitled Riscossioni dell'Officio (recoveries of state revenues, 1711-1740). In these references Jews are referred to mostly as tenants of residential and commercial premises belonging to the foundation Opera pia. A very prominent Dubrovnik merchant Raphael Coen, as well as his sons Abram and Aron (e.g. vol. 11, f. 28) are those Jewish people mostly referred to in these volumes.

Office of the main state accountant

Vineae; Vigne (Vineyards)

  • HR-DADU-34
  • Fonds
  • 16th century - 18th century

The fonds does not contain any data on Jews.
The fonds consists of registers covering the period from the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century, which were kept by the Wine Office and a commission in charge of controlling the planting of vines. The registers contain entries on cutting of the over-planted grape vines, on taxes on wine (gabella de vinni), data on wine smuggling and similar information (related to wine harvesting).

Wine office

Cathasthicum (Land Registry)

  • HR-DADU-33
  • Fonds
  • 13th century - 19th century

The fonds contains books on the distribution of land done among the nobility (and more prominent citizens) after the acquisition of new areas (Pelješac, Dubrovačko primorje and Konavle) in the 14th and the 15th centuries, as well as books containing documents on the collection of rental fees for state houses in the Republic. The system of renting real estate owned by the state was established at the end of the 13th century and was improved during the 14th century. The preserved volumes of the fonds enable researchers to obtain uninterrupted monitoring of data on renting state immovable property until the earthquake in 1667. The data shows that the reconstruction of the city after the earthquake in 1667 began precisely with the reconstruction of state-owned buildings. At the same time, the authorities tried to renew the system of rent collection. However, financial difficulties forced them to sell most of the renovated houses and thus raise funds for the renovation of the main buildings of the most important secular and ecclesiastical institutions in the Republic.


One of the volumes of the fonds is found to be relevant for determining exactly the places where the Jews in Dubrovnik lived and where their shops were located. This is volume 4, entitled Tute le chase del comun de Ragusa e tereni e fiti che apartinien al ditto comun 1481-1722. The volume contains data on shops, and, to a lesser extent, on residential premises, which the Jewish people of Dubrovnik held in property during the period from 1608 till 1716, on the main city street Placa, in Kovačka ulica (Street Kovačka), on the corner of Zeljarica (Street Zeljarica) and on the ground floor of the Archbishop's Palace. Residential and business premises in the ghetto are also referenced in the documents of this fonds. According to the data, most real estate properties were leased for a period of five years. The rental amount is stated next to each property.

State officials of the Dubrovnik Republic

Fabricae; Fabbriche (Constructions)

  • HR-DADU-32
  • Fonds
  • 16th century - 18th century

There are no references to Jewish people in the fonds.
Since the establishment of the Dubrovnik commune, the authorities have undertaken various construction projects, and the fonds contains data on public construction in the period from the 16th to the 18th century. The information provided is related to the construction, upgrading and repair of waterworks, fortresses, mills, churches, monasteries, and state-owned town houses, Lazarettos in the suburbs of Ploče, as well as of the town bell tower, and the slaughterhouse. Volume 131 is entitled Fabbrica della casa in piazza apresso il Gheto, 1687 and it refers to a palace located in front of the ghetto, on the main city street called Placa. The volume contains no information either about the ghetto, or about the Jewish people.

State officials of the Dubrovnik Republic in charge of construction projects

Dona Turcarum (Presents given by the Ottomans)

There is no reference to Jewish people in this series.
The series contains registers with entries of presents, most often in live stock such as cattle, which the authorities of the Republic had received from Ottoman dignitaries, mostly from Dubrovnik hinterland. The data shows that donors received monetary compensation from the Dubrovnik authorities in accordance with the value of the gift.

Registrum citationum de foris (The register of summons to a court hearing or to a court discussion sent to addresses outside of the Dubrovnik Republic)

The series contains invitations from consuls (civil law judges) which, at the request of the plaintiff, were addressed to persons (defendants) outside the Dubrovnik Republic. These persons were asked to come to Dubrovnik for a court hearing or a court discussion within a certain period, usually 2 or 3 months. The registers of this series date the 30s of the 15th centuries, and from the period from the beginning of the 17th century till the beginning of the 19th century.


The series contains a small number of records concerning Jews, and the data in the series are relevant for the analysis of the Jewish business network in the Balkans and in the Mediterranean. Some members of Dubrovnik Jewish families are referenced to in the series, as well as some members of Jewish families living in Italian (Ancona) and Ottoman cities (Sofia, Sarajevo). The records show references to the following families: Abeatar, Azubi, Barnathan, Benvenisti, Campos, Coen, Maestro, Oef, Pappo, Pardo, Usiel. For example, in April 1652, at the request of David Maestro, who was Solomon Oef's attorney, the consuls invited Achiva Barnathan from Sofia to come to Dubrovnik within two months' time or to send his representative. He was charged with a debt to the deceased Abraham Oef (vol. 4, ff. 56v, 57).

Diversa de foris (Various agreements settled outside the city walls of Dubrovnik)

The registers of the Diversa de Foris began to be kept in 1593 with the intention of registering the documents created outside Dubrovnik, which were of concern to the citizens of Dubrovnik in any way. There are also entries that should be filed in different fonds, the Diversa Notariae (HR-DADU-9) or Diversa Cancellariae (HR-DADU-15). Therefore, it can be concluded that the registers from this series and from the afore mentioned two fonds contain data on public-law and private-law affairs. The documents filed in these registers provide information on all aspects of political, economic and cultural, public and private life in Dubrovnik.


The series is very important for the research of the history of the Jewish people. It provides relevant data on business and private connections of Dubrovnik Jewish people with other countries in Europe, mostly in the Southeast, then with North Africa and the Middle East, in the period from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century. Among the first entries in this fonds is a ketubah registered in 1593, which was translated into Italian by Didacus Pyrrhus (vol. 1, ff. 71-75). According to the data, Jews who wished to register ketubahs in the books of the Public Notary or at the Chancellery would first have those translated into Italian. Almost all translated ketubahs were registered in this series, and they were written in Dubrovnik, Split, Ancona, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Thessaloniki and Sofia. This series also shows record of the will of Mira Alfandrino from 1614 (vol. 30, ff. 55v-62) as well as the record of the only existing translation of a divorce document (gett)) from 1692, between Bianca and Gabriel Valenzin (vol. 125, ff. 39v, 40). In addition to documents of private and legal matters, many business contracts were also registered, whether signed in Dubrovnik or outside of the Dubrovnik Republic. These include, for example, contracts by Dubrovnik shochets contracts on the division of labour, or trade contracts concluded between Jewish merchants and Dubrovnik sea captains. Some of the documents worth mentioning provide evidence to a very lively participation of Jewish people in the maritime affairs of the Dubrovnik Republic, primarily through co-ownership of ships belonging to the fleet of the Republic and through the granting of various maritime loans. As for important people from the history of the Sephardim, names that especially stand out are Abraham Coen de Herrera and the descendants of the famous Dubrovnik rabbi Aron Coen. A very important document from Antwerp from 1612, which was registered in Dubrovnik a year later, at the request of Abraham Coen de Herrera, states that his Christian name was Allonso Nuñes de Herrera (vol. 26, ff. 198-200). The series also references to other members of the Coen de Herrera family, as well as a very large number of other Jews from Dubrovnik, the Apennine Peninsula and the Ottoman Empire.

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