Fonds HR-DADU-11 - Procurae Notariae; Procure de Notaria (Notarized Powers of Attorney)

Identity area

Reference code

HR-DADU-11

Title

Procurae Notariae; Procure de Notaria (Notarized Powers of Attorney)

Date(s)

  • 1434-1439, 1446-1449, 1459-1463, 1467-1497, 1502-1569, 1573-1590, 1592-1595, 1600-1602, 1607-1814 (Creation)

Level of description

Fonds

Extent and medium

39 volumes; 2.6 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 authorities began to keep uninterruptedly record of the activities of this service in 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, 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 Office. Nevertheless, the data show that this division of activities and responsibilities of the offices was not fully respected so, the books of this fonds, which were kept by notaries, cannot be strictly separated from the books of the fonds Procurae Cancellariae (HR-DADU-17), which were kept by chancellors.

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

Content and structure area

Scope and content

The fonds contains various types of powers of attorney registered in the period from the 15th to the beginning of the 19th centuries, in which, in addition to citizens of the Republic of Dubrovnik other non-resident citizens are also referenced, either in the roles of proxies or principals. The content of these documents was mainly related to various types of business activities conducted both in Dubrovnik and in foreign countries.


The fonds is very important for the historical reconstruction of the Jewish business network in the Mediterranean and in the Balkans. The references in the fonds provide information on Jews who lived not only in the Dubrovnik Republic but also in other countries, mainly in the countries of the Ottoman Empire and the countries of the Apennine Peninsula (most often in the Italian cities of Ancona and Venice). The content of these powers of attorney mainly relate to collection of debts, conduct of commercial affairs, representation in court, and out-of-court settlements of commercial disputes. According to the data in the fonds, Jews would mostly choose other Jews as their legal representatives and would seldom choose Catholics in this role. One of the exceptions is Jacob Tobi, who in 1594 authorized a famous Florentine merchant Bartolomeo Borgiani to conduct business on his behalf in Florence (vol. 31, ff. 104, 104v). Jewish people are referenced less in this fonds than in similar fonds Procurae di Cancellaria (HR-DADU-17). The most relevant difference between these fonds is that there is very scarce data on Jewish women in this fonds. Among the women referenced to in this fonds, for example, there is a reference to Mira, the widow of Moshe Alfandrino, who in 1585 authorized Moshe Malamed to collect debts in Sarajevo that remained unpaid after the death of her son Jacob (vol. 28, ff. 106v, 107). Another woman referenced in the fonds is Simha, the wife of Samuel Maestro. In 1613, with the permission of her guardians Jacob Coen de Herrera and David Senior, she authorized her husband to conduct all her business affairs on her behalf (vol. 34, ff. 132, 132v). Apart from Jacob Coen de Herrera, his brother Abraham Coen de Herrera is also referenced to in this fonds (vol. 33, f. 187, 187v). Some members of other Jeiwish families such as Abeatar, Abenun, Abenmelech, Abuaf, Azubi, Baruch, Bencastiel, Bendanon, Calderon, Calvo, Cidi, Cohen, Gaon, Graciano, Israel, Jeshurun, Lanciano, Luzzena, Maestro, Miranda, Mursa, Sasson, and Sarfatin are also referenced to in the fonds.

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
  • Latin

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 13, folder 6. Josip Gelčić,»Catalogus i. r. Archivii Ragusini.« Glasnik Zemaljskog muzeja u Bosni i Hercegovini 22 (1910): 537-588.

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

Consilium Minus (HR-DADU-4), Diversa Notariae (HR-DADU-9), Procurae Notariae (HR-DADU-11), Tutores Notariae (HR-DADU-12.3), Diversa Cancellariae (HR-DADU-15)

Related descriptions

Publication note

Toma Popović, »Dubrovnik i Ankona u jevrejskoj trgovini XVI veka.« (summary: Dubrovnik and Ancona in the Jewish Trade of the 16th Century) Zbornik Jevrejskog istorijskog muzeja 1 (1971): 41-53. Vesna Miović, Židovke u Dubrovačkoj Republici, (summary: Jewish Women in the Dubrovnik Republic) Zagreb-Dubrovnik: HAZU Zavod za povijesne znanosti, 2013. Vesna Miović, Židovski rodovi u Dubrovniku (1546-1940) (summary: Jewish Families of Dubrovnik (Ragusa) (1546-1940), Dubrovnik - Zagreb: Zavod za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku, 2017.

Notes area

Note

Most registers contain alphabetical indexes according to the first name of the principal and indicate the number of the page on which the case begins.

Alternative identifier(s)

Old reference code

Fonds of the Dubrovnik Republic and the territory of the former Republic under the French Administration, series 30

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

Accession area

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