Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 13th century - 19th century (Creation)
Level of description
Series
Extent and medium
31 volumes; textual records
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
Preserved interstate treaties and other documents from the 12th century indicate that authorities would already at that time oversee the work of the public notary and the chancellery. Based on key provisions made during the 15th century, the central administration consisted of five offices located in the Rector's Palace. These were: 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. The secretaries oversaw the process of taking minutes of the sessions of the Senate, the Minor Council, as well as of those of the Major Council. In addition, secretaries would also compile the entire state correspondence as instructed by the Senate and the Minor Council. They also created diplomatic codes and deciphered diplomatic mail, issued state documents such as certificates of the citizenship of the Dubrovnik Republic. The influence of secretaries increased so much in the 17th century that, from that moment onwards, they could be considered as the main administrative officials of the Dubrovnik Republic.
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 moved to the Sponza Palace in 1952, where it is still located today.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
There are no references to Jewish people in the series.
The series consists of transcripts and translations of rulers’ charters and various other documents. These documents are mainly issued by Ottoman sultans. Other documents in the fonds are issued by the rulers of some states such as Spain or Hungary and the Papal States.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
- Croatian
- Italian
- Latin
Script of material
- Cyrillic
- Latin
Language and script notes
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
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
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Publication note
Franc Miklošič, Monumenta Serbica Spectatia Historiam Serbiae, Bosniae, Ragusii, Beč, 1858. Ljubomir Stojanović, Stare srpske povelje i pisma, I.1, Beograd-Sremski Karlovci: SKA, 1929. Milan Rešetar, Nikša Zvijezdić, dubrovački srpski kancelar XV. vijeka, Beograd: 1936. Vesna Miović, Nikša Selmani, »Turska kancelarija i Acta Turcarum od vremena Dubrovačke Republike do danas.« (summary: Turkish Chancellery and Acta Turcarum from the period of the Dubrovnik Republic until the Present) Anali Zavoda za povijesne znanosti HAZU u Dubrovniku 45 (2007): 235-284. Vesna Miović, Dubrovačka Republika u spisima osmanskih sultana (summary: Dubrovnik Republic in the Documents of the Ottoman Sultans), with analytical inventory, Dubrovnik: Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku, 2005. Rade Mihaljčić, »Isprava kojom Dubrovčani kralju Ostoji vraćaju zemlju i kuću i primaju ga za svog vlastelina.« Građa o prošlosti Bosne 6 (2013): 25-35.
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Old reference code
Access points
Subject access points
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Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
2021
Language(s)
- English