Showing 207 results

Archival description
Advanced search options
Print preview View:

4 results with digital objects Show results with digital objects

Arboratica; Arboraggi; Arboracci (Maritime tax arboratica)

The maritime tax arboratica (Latin _arbo_r: wood, i.e., mast) was mentioned for the first time in the Dubrovnik Statute from 1272. Initially, this tax was paid only by foreign ships that used the port of Dubrovnik, and later it had to be paid also by domestic ships with a carrying capacity of more than 10 carrus (carrus: car, approximately 1900 kg). The tax arboratica was calculated according to the afore-mentioned unit of measurement for the carrying capacity of the ship and was paid to the treasury of the Maritime Office. The payment of this tax represented a type of constant state revenue which the Republic invested in the development of maritime affairs. The preserved books of payments of the tax arboratica date from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century.


The series is very important for researching the history of the involvement of Dubrovnik Jews in maritime affairs of the Republic in the 18th century. Many payments made by Jews were recorded in the books arboratica. The payments recorded indicate that the Jews in those books were referred to either as leaseholders of the tax arboratica or as co-owners of the ships. In years 1803-1806 the recorded data show that Jews fully took over the responsibility for collection of payment of this tax. Therefore, during that period only Jews were referenced as taxpayers. In one of the books from 1806, it is even specified that the list of tax debtors was entrusted to Jews for collection of arboratica (vol. 16, without numbering). The books of this series reference to Jews from Jewish Ragusan families such as Ambonetti, Campos, Coen, Levi, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Russo, Tolentino, Valenzin, Vitali.

Apolitiae depositorum; Polize di depositi (Monetary deposits)

There are no references to the Jewish people in the series.
The series contains registers of monetary deposits to the treasurers and legal representatives of the Cathedral. These transactions were either bequeathed to certain persons or were of some other origin (for example: references of payments of state revenue from taxes on wine trade). The first volume is entitled Libro de deposito osia versamento di denari in mani di Tesorieri et Procuratori di Santa Maria per titolo di legati e d'altri provenienti. The books cover the period from the end of the 16th to the beginning of the 19th century.

Depositi (Deposits)

  • HR-DADU-46
  • Fonds
  • 1599-1806

The content of this fonds has not been fully researched so far. It contains three volumes, and the first volume is completely empty, and it does not contain any documents. The remaining two volumes cover the period from 1778 to 1815 and contain entries of cash deposits made at the Chancellery. These deposits represent payments of debts and settlements of various bills. The data also indicate that only persons whose names were written on the receipts as recipients, could collect the money at the Chancellery. According to the information available, the debtor would deposit the money at the Chancellery in situations when it was necessary for the other party to perform a certain action before receiving the money.


The fonds contains very little information about Jewish people, and the data found primarily refer to various aspects of their business at that time. References to certain members of various Ragusans Jewish families such as Costantini, Janni, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Terni, Tolentino can also be found. For example: in 1804, Daniel Tolentino deposited 154 Ragusan ducats and 24 grossetti at the Chancellery to pay his debt to Sabato Terni, and Terni was also obliged to settle all accounts, or all his debts to Tolentino, before collecting the money deposited (vol. 2, f. 224v).

Chancellery of the Dubrovnik Republic

Provedimenta navigationis; Provedimenti della navigazione (Terms of navigation)

There are no references to Jewish people in this series.
After a new increase of the maritime affairs in the Dubrovnik Republic in the 40s of the 18th centuries, basic provisions for navigation were published in a so-called Book of Rules on National Navigation (Regolamenti della Republica di Ragusa per la navigazione nazionale; 1745). Over time, these provisions changed and were supplemented. This series, which consists of one volume, contains the Senate's provisions on navigation adopted for the period between 1745 and 1806 and specify working conditions of sea captains and crew members, working conditions of Dubrovnik consuls in the Ottoman ports, conditions for obtaining a citizenship of the Dubrovnik Republic, conditions for the navigation outside of the Adriatic, payments of port, customs and other maritime taxes, and conditions for the construction of new ships. The provisions of the Maritime Office for the period 1747 - 1804 were written a tergo.

Sultans’ Documents

  • HR-DADU-07-HR-DADU-07.2-HR-DADU-07.2.1
  • Subseries
  • 1458, 1460, 1462, 1468-1469, 1471-1473, 1475-1476, 1478-1493, 1495–1511, 1513-1521, 1523-1534, 1536-1541, 1543-1547, 1549-1687, 1689-1691, 1694-1698, 1701, 1703-1707, 1709-1713, 1715-1746, 1748-1772, 1774-1787, 1789-1795, 1797-1799, 1801, 1803-1805
  • Part of Acta et diplomata (Acts and documents)

The subseries consists of four types of sultans’ documents: charters (Tur. ahdname, ahitname), decrees (Tur. ferman), decrees of special importance (Tur. hatt-ı hümayun) and diplomas (Tur. berat), which were issued in the period from the middle of the 15th to the beginning of the 19th century. The documents of this subseries primarily deal with trade, shipping, customs, or the acquisition of cereals from the Ottoman Empire and other food for the needs of the Dubrovnik Republic. Documents also refer to other topics such as: land and sea bandits, espionage of the Dubrovnik Republic for the Ottomans, exchange of prisoners of war in neutral Dubrovnik, monopoly on the sale of Dubrovnik salt to Ottoman subjects, monopoly of neutral Dubrovnik ports for interstate trade, or transport of Ottoman goods and passengers by Dubrovnik ships. A fairly large number of sultans’ receipts for the tribute that the Republic paid to the Empire has also been preserved, as well as other sultans’ decrees according to which sea captains from the Republic were protected from attacks of North African corsairs in the second half of the 18th century.


An analytical inventory was made for this subseries, which indicates that only fifteen documents refer to Jews. In these documents Jews are referred to as: Ottoman customs officers (vol. 5, no. 214; vol. 8, no. 394; vol. 10, no. 459), as both debtors and creditors (vol. 10, no. 484; vol. 45, no. 1586; vol. 46, no. 1629) and as competitors to Dubrovnik merchants (vol. 59, no. 1952). In the first half of the 17th century and in the 20s of the 18th century, Dubrovnik government complained at the Porte about the Jews who damaged the house in Edirne owned by the Republic. When the house burned down, the Jews occupied the land on which it was located. In four of his decrees, the sultan demanded that the Jews should compensate the damage to Ragusans and return the land they had occupied (vol. 16, no. 799; vol. 20, no. 952; vol. 22, no. 1050; vol. 37, no. 1457). The Sultan Selim II asked the authorities of the Republic to organize a safe trip to Venice for the Jew Menachem and his servant (vol. 6, no. 299). Trade rights and prohibitions on trade for Jewish merchants can also be found in some documents of this subseries (vol. 18, no. 886; vol. 47, no. 1648).

Turkish Chancellery of the Dubrovnik Republic

Official documents of kadis

Given the fact that the Dubrovnik Republic bordered the Ottoman Empire along its entire border line, it is not surprising that there were many situations, such as robberies, murders, armed and physical conflicts, debts, usurpation of fields and pastures, in which both judicial authorities had to intervene, those of the Republic and those of the Ottoman Empire. For this reason, the State Archives in Dubrovnik is in possession of a large collection of reports, petitions, and investigations of kadis. Most official documents were written by the kadis from Ljubinje and Herceg Novi. The remaining documents were written by other Bosnian Herzegovinian kadis, as well as by the kadis from today’s areas of Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia, Egypt, Turkey, Hungary, Albania, Greece, and Bulgaria. The documents of this subseries cover a long-time span: from the last decades of the 15th century to the beginning of the 19th century. These documents are a first-class archival source for exploring all aspects of everyday life as well as other facts pertaining to the life or coexistence of people in the bordering countries.


Jewish people are mentioned in this subseries in only a small number of documents related to court investigations, for example in a document issued in 1580 by the kadi of Plovdiv on the trade conflict between two people named Vicko and Solomon, and in another document from 1571, issued by the kadi of Herceg Novi, on the murder of Menachem Maraz, who was killed in Dubrovnik by Benvenisti Nasci (vol. 4, no. 474; vol. 11, no. 796).

Strapazzo delle polizze (Drafts of monetary transfers)

There are no references to Jewish people in the series.
All the series of the fonds Apolitiae have not been fully researched and it is very difficult to establish the connection between them. The only possible connection found so far is to the documents of the Apolitiae series (HR-DADU-45.1). For each entry in the Apolitiae series a certain number is recorded indicating the existence of a more detailed description of the type of compensation made to state employees of the Dubrovnik Republic at the end of the 17th century, and in certain periods of the 18th century.

Apolitiae onerum; Polizze di caricho (Bills of lading)

There is no reference to any Jew in the series.
The series consists of only one volume in which bills of lading are bound. The receipts are in a printed form with the following information: date of loading the goods on the ship, names of traders to whom the goods belonged, type of goods, name of the ship's captain, type and name of the ship, destination of the ship and names of traders who would receive the goods.

Litterae et commissiones Levantis; Lettere di Levante (State letters and instructions to the Eastern countries)

The series contains state letters and instructions to Ragusan ambassadors, tribute ambassadors, consuls, administrators of Dubrovnik consulates, charges d’affairs, and merchants in the cities of the Ottoman Empire in the period from the middle of the 14th to the beginning of the 19th century. The cities that are mostly referred to in the series are: Istanbul, Jedrene, Belgrade, Vlora, Volos, Alexandria, Banja Luka, Sarajevo, Travnik, Mostar and Pljevlja. The series also includes letters from the authorities of the Dubrovnik Republic to various Ottoman dignitaries and officials, from Grand Viziers in Istanbul to kadis in the Dubrovnik neighbourhood.


The series is very important for the research of the history of the Jewish people in the Ottoman Empire, as well as for any attempted analysis of their cooperation with the Jews from the Republic. The series contains state letters to the consuls of the Republic in Vlora, who were Jewish (16th and 17th centuries). The following names of the consuls are referenced: Isach Trincha, who is only referenced to in one letter (vol. 20, f. 15v), Jacob Coduto, Daniel Coduto, Zacharia Graziano, Angiolo Coduto (vol. 28-34, 37, 42-45, 47-50). In addition to the names previously mentioned, there are several other Vlora Jews that are mentioned in the documents from the 16th century. The series also contains several letters from the authorities of the Republic to their tribute ambassadors, in which there are references to Gracia Mendes. In 1552, she travelled to Istanbul via Dubrovnik. The data shows that she conducted her business from Istanbul, using the port of Dubrovnik to trade with Western countries till she died. The ambassadors of the Republic would regularly visit her and bring her letters from the authorities. According to the records, she would lend money to the ambassadors and the authorities of the Republic would then reimburse the money to her representatives in Dubrovnik, Isaac Ergas and Abner Alfarin (vol. 26-29). Other Istanbul Jews also lent money to Dubrovnik tax collectors, and the authorities would then reimburse it to their relatives in Dubrovnik. For example, in 1576, Samuel Ergas wrote a letter of recommendation to two Jews from Istanbul, Judi Algasi and Samuel Celef, asking them to lend money to the emissaries of the Republic if that was deemed necessary (vol. 33, f. 67v). Dubrovnik merchants owned real estate in some Ottoman cities and would often rent it, especially in Sofia, to Jewish merchants. Related to this fact, there are several references to conflicts that occurred among those merchants. Even though the series provides evidence to some other conflicts in which Jewish merchants were involved, it also provides evidence of different forms of successful cooperation with Jewish merchants. The authorities of the Dubrovnik Republic evidently cooperated with Jewish merchants who were influential at the sultan's court (e.g., vol. 31, ff. 25v-26v). One of those merchants, Conort, whose name is not referenced in this series, worked in the 80s of the 18th century as a dragoman of Dubrovnik ambassadors at the Sublime Porte (vol. 103, ff. 113v, 121v).

Results 41 to 50 of 207