Fonds HR-DADU-13 - Pacta matrimonialia (Marriage contracts and dowry agreements)

Identity area

Reference code

HR-DADU-13

Title

Pacta matrimonialia (Marriage contracts and dowry agreements)

Date(s)

  • 14th century - 19th century (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

36 volumes; 2.2 linear metres; textual records

Context area

Name of creator

Archival history

Until the 13th century, public notaries were private persons (Dubrovnik priests) who were recognized by the public as having legal and credible authority. The public notary office was established in 1278, when an Italian Tomasino de Savere was employed as the public notary. From that moment on, the Republic began to keep the records of the official activities of its services and store uninterruptedly books and documents which lasted until the fall of the Republic in 1808. During the 15th century, the authorities made several key decisions on the organization of the central administration of the Republic, the offices of which were in the Rector's Palace. Based on the decisions that were made at that time, the central administration consisted of the following offices: The Public Notary (legal private affairs), the State Chancellery (legal public affairs), the Judicial Chancellery (criminal justice affairs), the Office of the State Secretary (legal state affairs) and the Slavic Chancellery, which would eventually be transformed into the Turkish Chancellery.

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 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 in 1952 to the Sponza Palace, where it is still located today.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

The fonds consists of the series Libri dotium Notariae (HR-DADU-13.1) and Pacta matrimonialia (HR-DADU-13.2).

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
  • Latin

Script of material

  • Latin

Language and script notes

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Parchement. The archival material is well preserved.

Finding aids

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

Related descriptions

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 32, 33

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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

Accession area

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