Officium navigationis (Office for maritime affairs)
- HR-DADU-56
- Fondi
- 16th century -18th century
Office for maritime affairs of the Dubrovnik Republic
Officium navigationis (Office for maritime affairs)
Office for maritime affairs of the Dubrovnik Republic
Assembleae et Consulatus maris; Assemblee e Consolato di mare (Maritime consulate)
There are no references to Jewish people in the fonds.
The Maritime Consulate recorded statements about damage at sea caused by natural disasters, and attacks by pirates and corsairs. Testimonies were given by captains, crew members and passengers of both Dubrovnik and foreign ships, whose first port of call after the accident was Dubrovnik. Based on these statements, cases of a property-legal nature were resolved, primarily due to the need to collect maritime insurance. The fonds covers the period dating from the 20s of the 17th centuries to the beginning of the 19th century.
Maritime consulate of the Dubrovnik Republic
Chancellery and the Public Notary of the Dubrovnik Republic
Consulatus; Consolati (Consulates of the Dubrovnik Republic)
The books of this fonds are mainly from the second half of the 18th century. The fonds primarily contains books kept by the Office for Maritime Affairs and those kept by the Office for Consulates in the Ottoman Empire. The documents in the books contain lists of accepted and rejected expenses of consulates in Alexandria, Arta, Chania (Canea), Istanbul, Smyrna and Thessaloniki, a book of Senate decisions on consulates in the Ottoman Empire, a book with a list of Dubrovnik consulates and consuls and a book of letters written by the consuls to the authorities of the Republic. The collection also includes books that do not belong to this fonds, such as the expenditure lists of the ambassadors of the Republic in Istanbul and in Belgrade (17th century). The fonds also contains one expenditure list of a Ragusan ambassador in Vienna (1772), and one travelogue of an ambassador in Istanbul (1792), as well as a list of Ragusan trade intermediaries (sensali) (1572-1575).
Two volumes of the fonds are important for researching the cooperation of Jewish population with the Dubrovnik Republic. Volume 1, entitled Tasse per sansaria imposte à Sensali pubblici dell 'anno 1572-1575, shows that 72 official trade intermediaries operated in Dubrovnik during this period. Among them there were approximately twenty Jews, from Jewish families such Adaroch, Barochas, Berubi, Celebi, Chatinela, Cohen, Crispin, Flores, Gabai, Gratiano, Jachar, Mazza, Moscato, Nasin, Nahem, Oef, Pardo, Sabatai, Trincha and Zafarana. A particularly significant name referenced in the fonds is the name of Isaia Coen, a nephew of Didacus Pyrrhus (vol. 1, f. 32). The data also contain names of the merchants who used the services of trade intermediaries. Volume 2, entitled Consolati nationali 1752-1796, contains a list of Dubrovnik consulates and consuls at the time. Among them there are members of Jewish families Bussara and Busnaco, who served as administrators (amministratori) of the Dubrovnik consulate in Algeria (vol. 2, f. 77).
Office for Maritime Affairs
Sanitas (Office of Public Health)
The fonds consists of two parts. The first part contains 14 registers of the movement of people and goods through the Lazarettos in Ploče, in the eastern suburb of Dubrovnik (18th century). Those registers were kept by the Captain of Lazarettos. The registers contain the following information: the date of the passenger's entry into the Lazarettos, the name and surname of the passenger, the name of the place from which the passenger arrived, the list of merchandise the passenger had brought, the number of the specific lazaretto where the passenger would be quarantined and the date of release from quarantine. The second part of the fonds (16th-18th centuries) consists of volumes with the following data: provisions of the Office of Public Health and the Senate which were related to the protection against the plague, expenses of the Office, investigations conducted by the Office of Public Health against persons who violated the measures for the protection against plague, and lists of health officials who were deployed throughout the territory of the Republic at the time of the danger of the plague.
The registers containing data of the movement of people and goods through the Lazarettos in the 18th century are very important to the research of the business affairs of the Jews from Sarajevo as well as for understanding their relationships with the Jews from Dubrovnik. Many of these records testify about the arrival of Jews in the Lazarettos almost all of whom came from Sarajevo (e.g., vol. 11a, ff. 10v, 39, 39v, 41v, 48v, 59, 64, 74v, 76, 80, 81, 82c, 85, 91c, 97, 101c, 102c, 103, 104, 109, 116c, 127). The records show that most of these Jews were originally from Dubrovnik and were returning home from Sarajevo, and there are also records of Jews from Sarajevo who would come to Dubrovnik for private or business reasons. There are also references to members of the following Jewish families: Abinun, Abramović, Altarac, Asser, Atias, Campos, Cohen, Danon, David, Escenasi, Fermo, Finzi, Forte, Franco, Gabai, Gaon, Haion, Joel, Jona, Levi, Montiglio, Musafia, Musafir, Papić (Pappo), Pinto, Saba, Saltiel, Seferović, Tedeschi, Tolentino, Vitali and Zevi. Apart from the Lazarettos, other facilities located in the suburbs of Ploče were also used for the purposes of quarantine. Among those buildings was the house of a famous Dubrovnik merchant Samuel Ambonetti. His house has been used as a quarantine area since the late 1750s, and the data shows that it was named the “old Ambonetti lazaretto” (e.g., vol. 7, f. 13v). There are less references to Jews in the second part of the fonds. Those references are primarily to Jewish bookbinders who bound books for the needs of the Office of Public Health. There are also references to the taxes imposed on the Dubrovnik Orthodox community and sea captains from Dubrovnik as well as taxes imposed on the Jewish community for the costs of protection against a very strong plague epidemics that ravaged the Dubrovnik hinterland in the 60s and the 80s of the 18th centuries (e.g., vol. 2, August 20, 1767). Particularly interesting is the reference to Abram Abuaf, who in 1691 during the epidemic, treated plague patients in the city of Dubrovnik (vol. 7, f. 12).
Office of Public Health for the Dubrovnik Republic
Misericordia (The foundling home of the Dubrovnik Republic)
The fonds contains accounting records of the expenses of the orphanage such as the payment of fees to breastfeeding mothers and other employees as well as the expenditures for the purchase of clothing for orphans, the baptismal records of orphans, books of agreements on breastfeeding and foster care, books containing lists of names of children living in the institution, books with records of the arrival of pregnant women at the institution (without mentioning the names of these women). These books date from the late 16th to the early 19th centuries.
The fonds contains very little data on Jews that can be used for the analysis of their work in the public and state services of the Republic. Namely, there are references to Jewish bookbinders who in the 18th century made books for the needs of this institution. The bookbinders were members of some Ragusan Jewish families such as Coen, Fermi, and Vitali (e.g., vol. 14, f. 1).
Foundling home of the Dubrovnik Republic
Archivium Operum piarum (Foundation Opera Pia)
The fonds consists of treasury journal and accounting books of the Foundation from the 14th to the 19th centuries. These documents contain data on calculations of income from principal invested in foreign banks; calculations of income from renting residential premises, business premises and land. They also contain books of expenditures and income and accounting books of individual foundations that were an integral part of the Foundation Opera pia. The fonds also contains books with official letters written by the state treasurers and legal representatives of the Cathedral to Dubrovnik consular and diplomatic representatives, agents and confidants in Italian and Ottoman cities and in Vienna (Copia lettere dei Signori Tesorieri e Procuratori di Santa Maria Maggiore). Primarily, the topics of these letters were financial investments in Italian and Viennese banks, or investments in the Venetian mint and companies in charge of customs leasing, or in charge of the purchase of expensive Italian fabrics and fragrant oils intended for diplomatic gifts to Ottoman dignitaries; financial transactions for the settlement of the tribute to the Ottoman sultan; and for slave redemption.
The fonds does not contain a large amount of data on Jews, but the data in the fonds primarily relate to the private and business lives of the Dubrovnik Jews, as well as to their cooperation with the authorities of the Republic. Part of the data can be found in the income books of the foundation, in which the revenue from renting apartments, business premises and land is stated. References to Jews can also be found in the books of maritime affairs (18th and 19th centuries). The books contain references to Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Cittanova, Costantini, Janni, Levi Mandolfo, Maestro, Pardo, Russo, Tolentino, Valenzin (vols. 25, 58, 36, 111, 118, 119, 125, 134, 135). In these documents the Jewish community appears as a debtor for business premises (1811-1812) (vol. 135, index, letter S). Two volumes are particularly important for the research of business affairs of the Jewish population in Dubrovnik: vol 125 (Conti Marittimi del 1789; Arboracci, Divisioni e Rimese), which lists the co-owners of Dubrovnik ships and their co-ownership shares in the period from 1789 to 1794, and vol. 134 (Libro di Negotio del 1781) in which Salvator Levi Mandolfo and Benedict Volterra are repeatedly mentioned as traders in leather, wool, and rice (e.g., vol. 134, f. 29). One part of the data that provides the information about the Jews, which speaks of their cooperation with the state authorities, is found in the books that contain letters of the treasurers of the Cathedral to the agents and confidants of the Republic in Ancona. There are references to Jews in the 18th century, mostly to Aaron and Moshe, who were the sons of an eminent Dubrovnik merchant Raphael Coen. Reference is also made to Raphael's grandson Felix. Aaron, Moshe, and Felix lived in Ancona and performed various jobs for the Opera Pia Foundation (e.g., vol. 40, August 30, 1790).
Foundation Opera Pia
Ecclesiae et monasteria; Chiese e monasteri (Churches and monasteries)
There are no references to Jewish people in the fonds.
The fonds contains monastery accounting books, books of the Dubrovnik Archdiocese and various decisions of church administrative bodies (e.g., decisions on the organization and daily activities of monasteries). The books of the fonds were created in the period from the 14th to the beginning of the 19th century.
Various religious institutions
Fratriae; Fratrie (Fraternities)
Fraternities of the Dubrovnik Republic
Custodiae et armamentum; Guardie ed armamento (Guards and weaponry)
There are no references to Jewish people in the fonds.
The documents of the fonds consist of an inventory of weaponry and ammunition, a list of soldiers, a list of foreigners in the Dubrovnik military service (barabanti), some documents with cost estimates for purchase of weaponry, payment of military salaries, or maintenance of fortifications and warships. The registers cover the period from the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century.
Guards Proveditori