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Commandamenta (Decrees)

There are no references to Jews in the series.
The series mainly consists of various lawsuits and evidentiary proceedings for court investigations in the field of civil law, which were registered at the Chancellery in Ston from the middle of the 15th century to the end of the 17th century.

Commandamenta et sententiae navigationis; Commandamenti e sentenze della navigazione (Lawsuits and judgments in maritime affairs)

The series contains civil lawsuits, investigations and judgments related to maritime affairs, and covers the period from the 60s of the 18th centuries to the early 19th century. The topics of these of lawsuits are diverse: various types of debts (most often irregular repayments or terminations of maritime loan repayment), disagreements over the payment of crew salaries, damage to merchandise, loss of shipping books, suspicions of misrepresentation of ship maintenance costs, avoidance of maritime insurance payment after shipwreck, etc.


The series contains a considerable amount of information about Jews, which is deemed relevant for researching the involvement of Ragusan Jews in maritime affairs during the 18th century. Most references indicate Jews who were members of some Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Cittanova, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Pardo, Terni, Tolentino, Venturra. These Jews are in most cases referenced as providers of so-called maritime loans who filed a lawsuit against those who had borrowed the money from them (e.g., vol. 3, f. 259c). The loans referenced in the series were usually taken by sea captains who wanted to purchase various equipment for their ships. In such a case, and as a guarantee for the regular payment of the loan, the sea captains would sign a bill of exchange by pledging the ship, equipment or shares in that ship (if they owned any of them). Agreements on maritime loans are registered in the fonds Diversa Notariae Fund (HR-DADU-9) and in the series Diversa de Foris (HR-DADU-30.1) and Diversa navigationis (HR-DADU-56.9). In this series, Ragusan Jews sometimes appear as legal representatives of defendants and sometimes as members of insurance companies. The series also records the text of an oath that was taken by the Jews during their testimonies. This specific oath was taken at the request of the French authorities in 1810 by Sabato Vita Levi Mandolfo (vol. 11, ff. 294v-295v).

Copia litterarum diversarum; Copia lettere diverse (Copies of various state letters)

The series contains letters sent by the authorities of the Republic in the 18th century primarily to the Ottoman authorities in the neighbourhood of the Republic.


There are very few documents in which Jewish people are referenced to in the series. For example, the records show that in 1757 Ragusan authorities wrote to the governor of the Bosnian eyalet about a certain Jew by the name of Samuel who had to pay some customs duties to the authorities, and about another Dubrovnik Jew, Hai Tolentino, who was imprisoned by the authorities of the Republic because of his debts to Ottoman merchants (vol. 4, ff. 97, 122, 123).

Debita Notariae (Debts registered with the Public Notary)

The series mainly contains data on commercial credits, which were registered in the period from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 19th century. The records include date of the credit agreement, name of the creditor, name of the borrower, amount of the credit, duration of the credit, and contractual clauses of the credit agreement. The interest amount is not entered. Those who wanted to take a loan and did not reside in the Republic, and still wanted to register the credit agreement at the Public Notary of the Republic, could do this through their legal representative.

The series is very important for researching business transactions of Jewish people in the Balkans and the Mediterranean, as well as for a possible historical reconstruction of their commercial network, especially since the period of the early 70s of the 16th centuries, when the Jewish population in Dubrovnik significantly increased. Some well-known and very prominent members of the local Jewish community are referenced to in the series, such as Aron Coen and Abraham Coen de Herrera (i.e., vol. 96, f. 20v). In general, the series refers to members of the Dubrovnik Jewish community such as Abenun, Coen, Danon, Lanciano, Maestro, Miranda, Oef. Some Jews who were referenced did not live in Dubrovnik, but, overall, all Jews who are referenced in the documents occur in both functions: as creditors and as borrowers. In an attempt to better understand the significance of this series for the overall history of the Sephardim, it is advisable to refer to the doctoral thesis of Benedetto Ligorio (Roma, Sapienza, 2017), in which the author analysed the existing archival data on credits referencing the Jewish population between 1560 and 1654. The analysis of Ligorio provides relevant data that prove that in most of these documents Christians (primarily Dubrovnik noblemen) were stated as creditors for Jewish people.


Debita Notariae pro Comuni (Debts to the Dubrovnik commune registered at the Public Notary)

The series contains data on various debts and other types of obligations of individual citizens towards the Republic, which were registered in the period from the middle of the 15th to the beginning of the 17th century.


The only reference to Jewish people in this fonds dates to 1503. Benedict Levi, Aron Alemanus and Abraham Alemanus confirmed in this document that they had received 126 and 3/4 of gold Venetian ducats from the Rector of the Dubrovnik Republic and the Minor Council as the equivalent of 130 ducats (gold coins) they had previously lent to the Dubrovnik archbishop John (de Sacchis) (vol. 1, f. 110).

Diplomata et acta (Documents and acts)

The series consists of subseries Diplomata et acta, until 12th century (HR-DADU-7.3.1), Diplomata et acta, 12th century (HR-DADU-7.3.2), Diplomata et acta, 13th century (HR-DADU-7.3.3), Diplomata et acta, 14th century (HR-DADU-7.3.4), Diplomata et acta, 15th century (HR-DADU-7.3.5), Diplomata et acta, 16th century (HR-DADU-7.3.6), Diplomata et acta, 17th century (HR-DADU-7.3.7), Diplomata et acta, 18th century (HR-DADU-7.3.8) and Diplomata et acta, 19th century (HR-DADU-7.3.9)

Office of the Secretary of the Dubrovnik Republic

Diplomata navigationis (Maritime documents and certificates)

There are no references to Jewish people in the series.
The series consists of documents that were handed over to the State archives in 1941 from a legacy of a private person. These are mainly health certificates issued to Ragusan sea captains in Dubrovnik and in Dalmatian, Italian, Ottoman, French, Spanish and Portuguese cities. Other documents in this series are navigation permits (patenti), navigation permits for sailing outside the Adriatic (congedi), lists of ship's crews and shipowners (ruoli), health certificates (fedi di sanità), consignment notes, contracts on ship insurance, ship charter agreements, permits to build a new ship, etc.

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