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Iudicatus et sententiae Officii navigationis; Giudicati e sentenze dell'Offizio della Navigazione (Presude Magistrata za pomorstvo/Judgements of the Office of Maritime Affairs)

Judgments of the Maritime Court have been preserved for the period from the 40s to the 60s of the 18th centuries. They were reached by senators who managed the Maritime Office (Signori Senatori Officiali alla Sopraintendenza della Navigazione). Their authorities were limited to civil lawsuits, which were mainly related to conflicts between co-owners of the ships, conflicts between crew members and the captain or the owners of the ships, conflicts between the captain and co-owners of the ships, or conflicts concerning the construction of new ships.


In this series, which consists of only one volume, there is only a small number of references to Jews. The data provided in the series are deemed suitable for the research of the involvement of Ragusan Jews in the maritime affairs of the Republic in the 18th century. The references to the Jewish population are primarily to members of Ragusan Jewish families such as Levi Mandolfo and Tolentino. In disputes cited these Jews are referenced as co-owners of ships (e.g., vol. 1, f. 58v-62v).

Ruoli (Popisi brodskih posada i vlasnika brodova/ Lists of crews and shipowners)

When leaving Dubrovnik, sea captains were obliged to hand over to the Office of Maritime Affairs the list of crew members. It was also mandatory to list the names of co-owners of the ships. The ownership of the ship was divided into 24 shares (karats). The value of one share was between 100 to 1600 ducats of the Ragusan ducats depending on the age, size, and equipment of the ship. The co-owners of the ship, that had to be identified by the captain of the ship in the Office for Maritime Affairs, were obliged to testify under oath and declare the exact number of shares in their ownership. All this information was recorded in specialized books called Ruoli. Preserved Ruoli books contain data for the period from the mid-18th century to the early 19th century, and only some years of that period are missing.


This series is very important for the research of the maritime affairs of Dubrovnik Jews in the 18th century because the existing data give evidence that almost all Jews were co-owners of Ragusan ships. Therefore, references to many Ragusan Jewish families, such as Ambonetti, Barafael, Campos, Costantini, Conort, Janni, Levi, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Maestro, Pardo, Russi, Terni, Tolentino, Valenzin, Venturra, Vitali can be found in the archival material. The data also show that it was extremely rare that the co-owners of the ships were Jews who did not reside in the Dubrovnik Republic. One of those rare cases refer to a Jew by the name of Danon, from Sarajevo (vol. 1, f. 4). Most Jews owned between one half of the share to 3 shares in one or more ships. Less common are those cases in which Jews owned the half of one ship or more (12 shares) (e.g., vol. 1, f. 81). The data also show that Ragusan Jews very rarely owned the entire ship, which was recorded in the fonds Diversa de Foris (HR-DADU-30).

Libri navigiorum; Libri di navigli (Certificates and books of navigation)

There are no references to Jewish people in this series.
According to the data, during the navigation, Ragusan sea-captains had to keep special books which they had to present to the authorities of the Office of Maritime Affairs upon their return to the port. Very few (only eight, in fact) of those books have been preserved in this series. Out of these eight books, two books provide data on trial proceedings conducted in Monaco against a Ragusan sea captain Ivan Maras (1766-1767).

Arboratica et scarmi; Arboracci e scarmi (Maritime fees arboratica and scarmi)

There are no references to the Jewish people in this series.
The series covers the period from 1729 to 1797, and the volumes have three titles: Arboracci e scarmi alla Ponta, Arboracci e scarmi alle Pile and Arboracci e scarmi del Porto. Regardless of these titles, it is evident that these volumes do not contain any data on the payment of the fee arboratica, but rather the payments of scarmi fee (Italian: scarmo: thumb, a wedge on a boat to which a paddle is attached). This fee had to be paid by smaller domestic and foreign ships that docked in the city port and in the suburbs of Pile.

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.

Diversa navigationis (Various documents regarding navigation)

The series contains transcripts of various documents issued in the consulates of the Dubrovnik Republic in the ports of the Mediterranean, as well as in the city of Dubrovnik itself. The files were registered in the books of this series at the request of the captain and some other persons, whose function was not defined, so that it can only be assumed that these were co-owners of ships, providers of maritime loans, and/or merchants. The content of the files is very diverse: from instructions of the co-owners of the ship to the captain, lists of merchandise, invoices, consignment notes, and lists of co-owners of the ships, to various powers of attorney, private letters and testimonies of shipwrecks.


The series contains a very small number of references to Jewish people, and the data can be used for the analysis of their involvement in the maritime affairs of the Republic. The referenced Jews are members of some Ragusan Jewish families, such as Ambonetti, Levi Mandolfo, Pardo, Tolentino, Venturra. The Jews referenced appear in these documents as co-owners of ships, merchants, providers of maritime loans, proxies of maritime captains (e.g. vol. 1, f. 255).

Diversae terminationes et notae Officii navigationis; Diverse terminazioni e note dell'Offizio della navigazione (Various provisions and notes of the Office for Maritime Affairs)

The series consists of two volumes of various decisions of the Maritime Office made between 1746 and 1811. These decisions are primarily permits for navigating beyond the Adriatic, permits for navigating in times of war, as well as different decisions, and/or regulations for the construction of new ships, decisions on legalizing the purchase of ships in foreign countries, decisions on payment of various maritime taxes, decisions on regulation of financial obligations between sea captains and ship co-owners, decisions on debt collection, or decisions on maritime insurance policies, etc.


There are only some references to Jews in the series, and the data can be used to analyse their involvement in maritime affairs. The Jews referenced in these documents appear in the role of co-owners of ships, owners of marine insurance policies, maritime lenders, and debtors. Certain members of Ragusan Jewish families such as Ambonetti, Cittanova, Curiel, Levi Mandolfo, Luzzena, Pardo are mostly referenced in the series (e.g., vol. 1, f. 41).

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