Fonds HR-DADU-38 - Libri affictuum comunis; Affitti (Books of communal leases)

Identity area

Reference code

HR-DADU-38

Title

Libri affictuum comunis; Affitti (Books of communal leases)

Date(s)

  • 1590-1807 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

99 volumes; 2.7 linear metres; textual records

Context area

Archival history

The books of this fonds were kept by state administrative officers of the Republic, three noblemen (senators) in charge of administrating leases of state-owned real estate (or any state-owned property in the form of land or buildings).

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

The fonds has been linked to the archive since its inception. In times of the Dubrovnik Republic, the books of the fonds were stored in the Rector's Palace. They remained in the Rector’s Palace even after the fall of the Republic (1808). In 1891, the archives were consolidated and became available to researchers. The archive in the Rector's Palace has been functioning as an independent institution since 1920 and it was dislocated to the Sponza Palace in 1952, where it is still located today.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The fonds contains volumes of documents on the rent collection for state-owned buildings primarily in the northern area of Dubrovnik, as well as documents regarding the rent collection for the buildings located on the main city street called Placa. Preserved documents show data until the earthquake in 1667 thus allowing researchers to monitor renting of land and buildings owned by state. According to the existing data, the reconstruction of Dubrovnik after the earthquake began precisely with the reconstruction of state-owned buildings. At the same time, the city authorities tried to restore the system of rent collection. However, financial difficulties forced them to sell most renovated houses and, in this way, raise funds for the renovation of the main buildings of the most important secular and ecclesiastical institutions in the city. The data also show that only a few buildings on the street Placa and in the northern part of the city of Dubrovnik were state-owned after 1667.


This fonds is very important for the research of the history of the ghetto in Dubrovnik, and it also provides data on buildings outside the ghetto in which the Jewish population lived, as well as on the business premises they would lease. The ghetto of the Dubrovnik Republic was in the northern part of the city, and it was established in 1546, in the Street Lojarska. The data in the fonds allow researchers to reconstruct precisely which buildings were a part of the city ghetto and it also further indicates how, with time passing, this ghetto gradually increased or decreased in size. The Jewish community paid the rent for all the buildings that belonged to the ghetto so the precise information on actual persons who lived in those buildings was never recorded. However, the recorded data provide the names of Jews who lived outside the ghetto, specifying as well as the buildings in which they lived, or the premises in which they worked, as well as the amount of the rent they paid (e.g., vol. 14, f. 105). The data thus clearly show that Jews originally lived and did business only in the buildings or premises near the ghetto. This changed in the 18th century, when the records indicate that more Jews lived or worked in the area that encompassed the streets from the ghetto towards the street Antuninska, and there are also references to some Jews who lived in the street of Prijeko. Since a large part of the city was destroyed in the earthquake of 1667, when many buildings on Placa Street collapsed, the authorities allowed businessmen to build improvised wooden shops on the main street, several of which were evidently run by Jews.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

The fonds is fully accessible to researchers in accordance with the Ordinance on the work in the reading room of the State Archives in Dubrovnik and the Law on Archival Materials and Archives NN 61/18 (Pravilnik o radu u čitaonici Državnog arhiva u Dubrovniku and Zakon o arhivskom gradivu i arhivima NN 61/18).

Conditions governing reproduction

Taking photographs and scanning are allowed, for a fee.

Language of material

  • Italian

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Paper. The archival material is well preserved.

Finding aids

Građa za generalni katalog Državnog arhiva u Dubrovniku, box 17, folder 31.

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

State Archives in Dubrovnik

Existence and location of copies

The fonds has been completely transferred to microfilms, but the microfilms are not available to the users of archives.

Related units of description

Legata (HR-DADU-12.4), Cathasticum (HR-DADU-33), Diversa thesaurorum (HR-DADU-39.1), and Archivum Operum piarum (HR-DADU-50).

Related descriptions

Publication note

Vesna Miović, The Jewish Ghetto in the Dubrovnik Republic (1546-1808)., Dubrovnik-Zagreb: HAZU Zavod za povijesne znanosti, 2005. Irena Benyovsky Latin and Danko Zelić, Knjige nekretnina dubrovačke općine (13-18. st.); Libri Domorum et Terrenorum Communis Ragusii Deliberatis ad Affictum (saecc. XIII-XVIII), (Summary: The Books of Communal Real Proprety and the System of Rent of the Dubrovnik Republic) I, II, Zagreb-Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2007. Nella Lonza, »For the salvation of the souls, for the welfare of the state: Ragusan Treasurers and perpetual trusts for pious purposes from thr thirteenth to the fifteenth century.«, in: Knjiga rizničarskih najmova; Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547), ed. Danko Zelić. Zagreb - Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2012: 25-41. Danko Zelić, »Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547): The Book of the Treasurers' rents (1428-1547); Perpetual legacies providing funding for pious purposes.«, in: Knjiga rizničarskih najmova; Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547), ed. Danko Zelić. Zagreb - Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2012: 69-95. Danko Zelić, »Knjiga rizničarskih najmova: Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547).«, in: Knjiga rizničarskih najmova; Liber affictuum Thesaurarie (1428-1547), ed. Danko Zelić. Zagreb - Dubrovnik: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2012: 97-300.

Notes area

Alternative identifier(s)

Old reference code

Fonds of the Dubrovnik Republic and the territory of the former Republic under the French Administration, series 47

Access points

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Name access points

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Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Descriptions of fonds, series and sub-series are made according to the ISAD (G) standard (general international standard archival description).

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

2021

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

Archivist's note

Description prepared by Vesna Miović (Fonds, Series, Subseries) Croatia [The Institute for Historical Sciences in Dubrovnik, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (CASA)] Translation to English by Zrinka Friganović Sain

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