CHAPTER V

THE TRADE OF RAGUSA

The whole basis of Ragusa’s prosperity, as we have seen in the first chapter, was trade. The Republic’s territory was too small, and in part too arid, to provide sufficient foodstuffs for the population and three-quarters of the grain which it consumed annually were imported from abroad. Consequently it was upon trade and industry that the citizens had to depend for their means of livelihood. Manufactures, however, save shipbuilding, never assumed great importance at Ragusa, and it was not until the following century that any industries at all were established. Trade, on the other hand, both sea-borne and overland, received a great additional impetus from the extension of Venetian traffic and from the increasing civilisation of the Slave states. At Ragusa, as at Venice, Florence, Siena, and elsewhere in Italy, the aristocracy as well as the middle classes were all interested in trade. We find members of all the noble families in the Ragusan settlements in Servia and Bosnia and Albania, and no nobleman disdained to travel overseas with his own goods.

We have seen the division of Ragusan maritime trade into coastwise traffic, navigation _intra Culfum_, and navigation _extra Culfum_. This last now became of considerable importance, and Ragusan vessels were found in every port of the Eastern Mediterranean. A special form of trade which had now arisen is that described in the Statute-book as _ultra marinis partibus_, _i.e._ up the courses of navigable rivers like the Narenta and the Bojana.

The Levant trade became extremely active, and was no longer limited to the tract of sea between the Capo Cumano on one side, and Apulia and Durazzo on the other. From the commercial provisions contained in the various treaties between Ragusa and Venice, we learn that the former traded with all parts of the Eastern Empire. Syria, Tunis, Barbary, Italy, Sicily, and probably Egypt. At Constantinople the privilege granted by the Comneni were renewed by the Latin Emperors Baldwin I. and Henry. The Ragusans traded especially with the Morea and the feudal duchy of Chiarenza or Clarence,[196] whence they brought silk to Ancona and other parts of Italy. At the same time they kept up their connection with the Greek princes who held sway over the fragments of the Greek Empire, namely, the Emperors of Nicæa and Trebizond[197] and the despots of Epirus. After the capture of Constantinople by the Latins, Epirus continued to hold out against their arms, and was ruled by the despots Michael I. (who died in 1214), Manuel (1214-1241), and Michael II. (1241-1271), all of whom granted valuable privileges to the Ragusans.[198] When the Greek Empire was re-established in 1261 all the exemptions and privileges were reconfirmed, first by Michael Palæologus, and later, in 1322, by Andronicus II.[199]

With regard to Egypt, if for the word _Rakuphia_ in Benjamin of Tudela we should read Ragusa, the citizens of St. Blaize also frequented the market of Alexandria. In 1224 Egypt was placed under interdict, and the Venetians forbade the Ragusans to trade there; Ragusan merchants before starting on a journey had to swear that they would not visit Egypt, but in all probability the prohibition was often disregarded.[200] Subsequent attempts to enforce the interdict were equally unsuccessful. The object of the prohibition was above all to prevent the Egyptian Sultans from obtaining timber and iron, which were rare in their own country, for military purposes. Traders were attracted, however, by the enormous profits of the venture, for which they were willing to brave ecclesiastical thunders. In 1304 three Ragusans were captured whilst engaged in illicit traffic with Alexandria; they were granted absolution by the Pope on condition that they devoted part of their profits to building the Dominican monastery in their native town.[201]

Another country with which Ragusa had commercial intercourse was Bulgaria. In the early days of the second Bulgarian Empire (established in 1186) the Venetians could not trade with it, as they were the supporters of the Latin Empire at Constantinople in withstanding Bulgarian inroads; the Genoese were equally cut off because the Venetians excluded them from the Bosporus. The field therefore lay open to the Ragusans alone, and they were very favourably received by the Tsar John Asēn II. (1218-1241),[202] who called them “his well-beloved and trusted guests.” The Bulgarian trade was partly carried on by sea and partly overland through the Balkans.

From Italy and Sicily the Ragusans obtained most of their breadstuffs, and in exchange they brought Eastern and Slavonian goods to those countries. Among the new treaties with Italian towns we may mention those with Rimini (1235),[203] with Taddeo, Lord of Ravenna and Cervia (1218-1238),[204] with Ancona in 1256 and 1292,[205] with Fermo in 1288;[206] with Trani, Bari, Molfetta, and Barletta the old treaties were renewed at various times, and in the _Reformationes_ we find numerous allusions to the special envoys sent to Apulia to collect grain. A large storehouse was built in the city with fifteen large dry wells to contain an adequate provision of grain in time of war.[207] Constantinople, Smyrna, Durazzo, Antivari, the Bojana valley, and to a lesser extent the Slavonic principalities, were resorted to for the same purpose. With Florence, too, Ragusa traded, and although there was no regular commercial treaty between the two cities, the Bardis and other Florentine merchant princes sent agents to Ragusa from time to time.

Shipping was regulated by a number of minute enactments to ensure safety, to fix the relations between captain and crew, and to define the obligations and risks of the owner. The amount of cargo which each ship was to carry was established by statute and varied according to the seasons of the year, and the vessels were examined before starting on a voyage by special officers to see that these and other regulations, such as those concerning the necessary coatings of pitch and the proper amount of arms to be carried, were complied with. Piracy being very prevalent in the Adriatic, it was decreed in 1336 that each vessel employed for other than coastwise traffic should carry five cuirasses, four spears, four bows, a suitable number of arrows, and a sword, shield, and helmet for every person on board. The _personnel_ of these merchant ships consisted of the _nauclerius_ (captain or master), the _scribanus_ (accountant), the _mercator_ (the owner of the goods carried, or his representative), the _custodia_ (supercargo), the _marinarius_ (mate), the _conductus_ (ship’s boy), and a crew varying from eight to fourteen men for vessels up to a tonnage of eighty _miara_; for larger ships the necessary number was fixed in each particular case by the authorities. Members of noble families engaged in trade were constantly making voyages on their own ships, and later we find them even employed as _scribani_, and in fact a decree of 1462 in the _Liber Croceus_ established that no one could be a _scribanus_ unless he belonged to the Ragusan nobility.[208] At this time the ships were still small as compared with the great argosies[209] of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but they were swift and suitable for the purposes for which they were required. The war fleet and the mercantile marine, as at Venice, were interchangeable, and ships which in peace time served for commercial purposes were converted into warships simply by increasing the number of armed men, strengthening the bulwarks, and providing them with engines of war.

Shipbuilding from the earliest days of the Republic formed an important industry. The timber was obtained from the forests of Monte Sergio, now, alas, disappeared, and from those of Lagosta and Meleda, of which traces still remain, as well as from Bosnia. The iron came from the interior, and was manufactured at Venice or locally, the canvas from Ancona and the Marche, pitch from Dalmatia, cordage from Ragusa itself. So jealous was the Republic of the shipbuilding industry, that no native builder (_calafato_ or _marangone_) might lend his services to foreigners, under which heading the Slaves were included. In later times an exception was made in favour of the Turks. The harbour of Ragusa, which is too small for large modern steamers—these always land passengers and goods at Gravosa—in the Middle Ages was ever busy with arriving and departing ships, and the arsenal hands were always engaged in building or repairing craft of all kinds. Other shipping yards existed at the Isola di Mezzo, at Malfi, on Giuppana, and later at Stagno, Slano, and Ragusavecchia. The Ragusan vessels were famed throughout Illyria, and the Republic was frequently requested to lend some to this or that Slave potentate, to the Hungarians, and sometimes to the Venetians themselves.

The dangers of navigation, even in the Adriatic, were by no means trifling. The storms of that narrow sea, the sudden gusts of _bora_ or scirocco which sweep down among the countless islands, channels, and promontories of the east coast with terrific violence, are considered dangerous for small ships even to-day. In the Middle Ages the light sailing-craft ran much greater risks. But piracy was then the chief source of anxiety. We have already spoken of the Narentan corsairs in a previous chapter, but even after Venice had broken their power, piratical communities still survived. Almissa, between Stagno and the Narenta, was their chief centre, and its inhabitants were almost exclusively devoted to piracy. The Ragusan statutes contain numerous provisions forbidding all intercourse with them. A Ragusan who sold a ship to the Almissans was fined 100 _ipperperi_ besides the price of the vessel itself; nor could he buy one from them, as it was presumed to be stolen property.[210] Occasionally some arrangement was made with this community of freebooters, and in 1235 a treaty of perpetual peace was signed with Koloman, Count of Almissa.[211] But it proved to be of little avail, and the Ragusan annals are full of entries concerning the depredations of the pirates. The Almissans were not finally subdued by the Venetians until after they regained Dalmatia in 1409. Other piratical communities were found in Northern Dalmatia and Croatia—the district formerly known as the Kraina[212]—and from the ports of Apulia,[213] Sicily, and even from Cattaro pirate vessels often issued forth to ravage the Dalmatian coast or prey upon the Adriatic trade. With Cattaro in particular Ragusa was very often at war on account of the rivalry for the salt trade, and all intercourse with the Serbs on the shores of the Bocche was forbidden. On various occasions the Government issued decrees forbidding Ragusan merchantmen from setting sail without an armed convoy, and whenever news was brought to the city that corsairs had been sighted the armed galleys of the Republic were instantly got ready and sent in pursuit of the freebooters. The Venetians had undertaken the policing of the Adriatic, and the Ragusans were bound by treaty to contribute one or more ships for the purpose. Thus in 1326 they were thanked by the Venetian Senate for their past services in this direction, and requested to send two of their best galleys to the head of the Gulf.[214]

Another risk which Ragusan traders ran was that their ships and goods might be seized and confiscated in foreign ports by the local authorities. Antivari, Dulcigno, Durazzo, and Trani were the worst offenders in this respect, but even at Venice and Alexandria the citizens of St. Blaize were not always safe.

The sailor’s calling was consequently fraught with considerable danger and responsibility, and the return of a merchant ship from a long voyage was hailed as a great event, especially if it occurred at Christmastide or Easter. Then, as Prof. Gelcich says, “more than an occasion for domestic rejoicing, it was a national festival.... We can see with our mind’s eye the large crowd lining the quays watching the ships entering the harbour, each vessel trying to be the first to drop anchor, so as to receive the small gift of one _ipperpero_ awarded by the State for the achievement.”[215] On Christmas Eve all the sailors of the ships which happened to be in port that night carried a block of wood (_ceppum_)[216] to the castle, singing songs (_kolende_), and placed it on the Count’s hearth. The Count in return gave them each a cup of wine and two _ipperperi pro kolendis_. They also received two _ipperperi_ from the Salt Commission, and two more from the Cathedral treasury.[217] All ships, whether Ragusan or from cities with whom the Republic had a commercial treaty, “qui navigant more Raguseorum,” coming into port were exempt from the _stata_ or harbour dues, and only paid a small tax to the Count, the Archbishop, and the Cathedral treasury. With the proceeds of the latter the new Cathedral was built, declared by De Diversis and other writers to have been the finest church in all Illyria. Ships from countries with whom there were no treaties paid the _arboraticum_ and the _stata_.

The weakening of Venice in consequence of the Hungarian wars, although acceptable to the Ragusans for political reasons, produced a very deleterious effect on their commerce, as piracy revived; Ragusan unfriendliness was also punished on occasion by exclusion from the Venetian ports. Shipbuilding had declined to such an extent that in 1329 the Venetian Senate ordered the Ragusans to construct an arsenal where ships could be built or repaired.[218] A resolution added to the Statute-book in 1358 declares that “marineriza Racusii erat amissa.” Ragusan ships were now very few, and seaborne commerce was carried chiefly on foreign bottoms and in partnership with foreigners. With the separation from Venice, Ragusan trade came to be almost wholly in foreign hands. A series of statutes were enacted forbidding Ragusans from associating with foreigners, and various other measures were taken to revive national shipping; the results were very successful, and by the end of the fifteenth century the city had more than regained its old position.

The overland trade of the Balkans attained a remarkable development in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and regular trade routes were established from the Adriatic coast through the interior to Constantinople and the Black Sea. Of these routes which, together with that from Hungary, formed the connecting link between Western and Eastern Europe, there were several. One was from Spalato, one from the Narenta mouth, one from Ragusa, one from Cattaro, and one from the mouth of the Bojana. They all joined the Belgrad-Constantinople route at different points, and all had branch routes to the various mining and commercial centres of Servia, Bosnia, Hlum, Albania, and Bulgaria. Ragusa, owing to her geographical position, was always the chief market on the Adriatic for the hinterland, and Ragusan caravans were constantly travelling along the various routes. The chief exports from the Slavonic lands were cattle, cheese, dried fish from the lake of Scutari, skins, wool, honey, wax, timber, silver, and iron. Ragusa imported salt, manufactured cloths, clothes, brocades, arms, axes, horse-trappings, glass-ware, perfumes, sweetmeats, southern fruits, fish, oil, wine, and gold- and silversmiths’ wares.[219] The salt trade formed one of the Republic’s chief sources of income, as the interior, although rich in other minerals, was absolutely wanting in this necessary commodity. Salt-pans were established at four points along the Illyrian coast—the Narenta, Ragusa, the Bocche di Cattaro, and San Sergio on the Bojana. The Ragusans, by means of old treaties with the Slaves, had almost acquired a monopoly of the traffic, and they were often able to punish the depredations to which their territory was subjected by cutting off the supply. The largest salt-pans were in the neighbourhood of Ragusa itself, but after 1333 they were removed to Stagno, where the industry is carried on to this day, and continues to supply the saltless interior.[220] The Narenta salt-pans were monopolised by the Ragusans, who established a customs station at the river’s mouth, and those of the Bojana, although outside their territory, were also in their hands; their only rival was Cattaro, whence the innumerable quarrels with that city. Cloth was imported from Venice, Florence, Mantua, and later from the looms of Ragusa herself. The presents which the Ragusans gave to the Slave princes and nobles out of friendship or as blackmail and bribery often took the form of rich gold brocades, silks, and satins, which greatly delighted the splendour-loving barbarians. We can well imagine the semi-civilised and proud vojvods and župans gloating over a consignment of the choicest products of Florentine industry, and being thereby induced to concede almost any commercial or political privilege to the patient and cunning envoys from the Republic of St. Blaize. To this day the Slaves of Servia, Dalmatia, and Bosnia, even the very poorest, love to deck themselves out in the most gorgeous costumes and the brightest ornaments, which adds not a little to the picturesqueness of that country.

A large part of Ragusan territory, both on the mainland and on the islands, was covered with vineyards; wine was, in fact, the chief agricultural product of the country. No wine could be imported from abroad save by a special licence, occasionally granted to the Count, foreign ambassadors, or eminent ecclesiastics.

The land trade was carried on entirely by means of caravans. There were no carriage roads since the decay of those built by the Romans, and all goods travelled by caravan and were carried on the backs of pack-animals, chiefly horses. Each caravan, which was formerly called a _turma_, a word still used in Montenegro, consisted of 200 to 300 pack-animals under the charge of Vlach drovers. These Vlachs or Rumans of Dalmatia were nearly all shepherds or horse- and cattle-drovers, and had markedly nomadic habits. At an early date they became identified with the Slaves, but, as I have said, they were probably of Latin origin.[221] In the Middle Ages they were usually the subjects of the feudal chiefs and monasteries. The leader of the caravan, also a Vlach, provided an adequate armed escort, and undertook to protect his charge against the brigands. Most of the traders were Ragusans or natives of the other coast towns, but Slavonic merchants also took part in this trade, especially those who were settled at Ragusa, where some of them became naturalised so as to enjoy the same exemptions and privileges as the citizens. Even noble feudatories and kings did not disdain this kind of traffic, and employed their own Vlachs for the purpose. The journey was by slow stages, as the paths were steep and rocky, and many precautions were necessary. In Bosnia and the Herzegovina, in spite of the roads and railways, much of the traffic is still carried on on pony-back, the more valuable goods in gaily painted green boxes, the rest packed up in canvas, secured to clumsy wooden saddles. Save for the proportions of the caravans, which are now much smaller than in the heyday of the Ragusan Republic, and for the fact that armed escorts, so far as Bosnia and Dalmatia are concerned, are no longer necessary, but little has changed. The importance of this traffic was very considerable, as it was then, as I have said, the chief link between the Western world and the Slavonic lands; Ragusa probably did far more to civilise the latter than was attempted by the Greeks, with whom the Slaves have always been in eternal conflict.

The principal route from the coast was that from Ragusa to Niš, in Servia, where it joined the great road from Hungary to Constantinople _via_ Belgrad. The caravan left Ragusa by the Porta Ploce to the east, and ascended the slopes of the Monte Sergio to Bergato, the Ragusan frontier, situated on a ridge between the valleys of Breno and Gionchetto. A few minutes farther on the Slave customs station of Ledenici[222] was reached. Thence the path descends into the broad and fertile valley of Trebinjčica to the town of Trebinje in the land of Hlum, which was usually the first halting-place (five or six hours from Ragusa). The caravan encamped outside the town, and the merchants and part of the escort lodged in the inns. From Trebinje the march was resumed up the course of the Trebinjčica past Ljubomir to Bilek or Bileće; then along what is now the Montenegrin frontier through dense forests to Crnica, where in 1380 a Ragusan commercial colony was established; thence past the castle of Kljuć (= key), which was afterwards the stronghold of the Vojvod Sandalj Hranić into the basin of Gacko,[223] close to the watershed between the Adriatic and the Black Sea. The country about here is fertile, and offers good pasturage. The Sutieska or Sutiska gorge was next entered, one of the finest tracts of scenery in the Balkans, guarded by the two castles of Vratar; there was an important customs station here in the fifteenth century, at the time of Duke Stephen Kosača, who levied a toll on all caravans. The route is so narrow at this point that a small body of men could hold a whole army at bay. The French traveller Des Hayes de Courmenin, who wrote in 1621, mentions an iron chain by which the path could be closed in war time. On emerging from the gorge the swirling waters of the Drina are reached, on the banks of which were a number of castles and several trading stations; the most important of these was Chotča (now Foča), on the right bank, with a wooden bridge; under the Turks it was for a long time the residence of the Sandžakbeg of the Herzegovina, and is still a town of some consequence. Another station was Ustikolina, where there was a Ragusan colony, first mentioned in 1399. A day’s march farther on is the town of Goražda, guarded by the castle of Samobor, after which the route proceeds in a south-easterly direction over the finely wooded Metalka saddle, whence an extensive view of the mountains of Montenegro, Servia, Bosnia, and Albania is obtained, to Breznica.[224] This was an important centre in Roman times, and the remains of a large Roman settlement (name unknown) have been unearthed close by. In the Middle Ages it was the meeting point of three trade routes—one to Ragusa, one to Niš and Constantinople, and a third to Cattaro _via_ the Tara gorge, the source of the Piva, the castle of Onogošt, Nikšić, and Grahovo. From Plevlje the route travelled through what is now the Sandžak of Novibazar to Priepolje on the Lim, a favourite halting-place of the Ragusan merchants in the fourteenth century. On the opposite side of the river are the ruins of a fine large castle guarding the road, a stronghold of King Stephen Vladislav, who also built the adjoining monastery of Mileševa.[225] A few miles farther on was the point which was afterwards the eastern frontier of Stephen Kosača’s duchy. Another day’s march brings us to Senica or Senice, which was often the residence of the Nemanjid rulers of Servia. Here the route from Ragusa joined the one from Northern and Eastern Bosnia;[226] at Raška the two routes again separate, one going southwards to Salonica, the other eastwards to Niš. Just beyond Raška, in the latter direction, was Trgovište (market-place), often mentioned between 1345 and 1459 where a Ragusan colony was established. Two-thirds of the way from Ragusa to Niš were now accomplished. Trgovište was the centre of the great Servian Empire, and the surroundings abound in ruins and memories of the Nemanjid Tsars. At the end of the fifteenth century the town is alluded to as Novibazar (New Bazar, Yeni Bazar in Turkish). Not far off, in the valley of the Raška, are the remains of some Roman baths, and here was probably the site of the ancient Ras (mentioned in the tenth and eleventh centuries), which gave its name to the whole country (Rascia). From Trgovište the route proceeded by the Ibar valley through the mining district of the Monte Argentaro to Toplica, Prokoplje, and Niš. The whole journey took fifteen days in favourable weather. From Niš onwards the Ragusan caravans followed the great road to Constantinople or went to Bulgaria, where they had considerable trade and at least one colony at Vidin, in consequence of the privileges obtained from the Bulgarian Tsars.[227]

Another much frequented caravan route was that which started at the mouth of the Narenta and passed through Bosnia and Servia. Ragusan goods were transported either wholly by sea round Sabbioncello or _via_ Stagno to the little island of Osinj in the river delta, where a trading depôt was opened. Close by were several other depôts, the most important of which was the _Forum Narenti_ (called Driva by the Slaves), with a large customs station, salt stores, and a Ragusan colony. Later it was supplanted by the Venetian castle of Gabela or Gabella.[228] The caravans travelled from the mouth of the Narenta through the land of Hlum, following the course of the river to Blagaj, the residence of the lords of Hlum (afterwards Dukes of St. Saba or the Herzegovina), above the spot where the river Buna springs full-grown from the rocks.[229] The route continued up the Narenta valley, as the railway does to-day, past Konjica, which was to play an important part in later times, over the Ivan Pass to Visoko in the centre of Bosnia, the castle of the Bani. Below was the town of Podvisoko (Sotto-Visochi in Ragusan documents), on the banks of the river Bosna. Between 1348 and 1430 this was the commercial capital of the country and the seat of important trading communities. From Visoko the route proceeded to Olovo and Borač, near Vlasenica,[230] where it branched off into three. One led eastward to Srebrnica, the centre of the silver-mining district,[231] and Rudnik; another went northwards to Soli; the main route went to Kučlat, well known as a trading station in the fourteenth century, with a large Ragusan colony, to Zvornik and across the Drina to Sirmia and Belgrad. At Sirmia,[232] which was on the ruins of the Roman Syrmium, the Ragusans had a flourishing settlement protected by the Kings of Hungary, until the town was burnt by the Turks in 1396. Its importance was due to its position as a starting point for the Ragusan traders going to all parts of Hungary.[233]

These various routes were called collectively the _Via de Bossina_ in the Ragusan documents. The routes which started from the coast at points south of Ragusa were denominated the _Via de Zenta_.[234] Ragusan vessels sailed down the coast, and either discharged their goods at the towns of Antivari and Dulcigno, or sailed for some distance up the various rivers—the Bojana, the Drim, the Mat, the Išmi, the Vrego, the Devol, and the Vojussa. This stretch of coast, which had formed part of the Byzantine theme of Dyrrhachium, was under Servian rule from 1180 to 1440.

“In Servian times,” writes Prof. Jireček,[235] “this region, now so desolate, was in the most flourishing condition, and had a large population and numerous beautifully situated towns. Even in the sixteenth century Italian travellers who ascended the course of the Bojana compared this green land with its many villages to their own fair country. Large Latin and Oriental monasteries stood peacefully side by side. Servian, Albanian, and Italian were the principal languages spoken. The cities enjoyed important privileges, granted by the Servian Kings, Tsars, and Despots (later by the Balšići), and their citizens occupied important positions in the Government service; the ruling princes themselves often visited these districts. The ports plied a busy trade, for from hence goods were transported to the Byzantine districts of Macedonia and Thrace, as far as Bulgaria and the Mare Majus (_Mar Maggiore_) as the Italians in the Middle Ages called the Black Sea.”

The chief city off the coast of Zedda was Antivari, situated about four miles from the sea, where the open bay of Volovica served as a harbour. Its government, like that of Ragusa and Cattaro, was an oligarchical constitution, in the hands of a numerous and active aristocracy, under privileges granted by the Servian Tsars. The citizens were of Latin origin, and Latin and Italian were the official languages, but the inhabitants of the surrounding country were Serbs. It was the centre of the archiepiscopal see of Northern Albania. After the Turkish conquest its importance was reduced to _nil_, and nearly all the noble families either died out or emigrated to Ragusa. It is not easy to realise that the actual Montenegrin village was once a busy commercial city. Nothing but a few escutcheons on some of the houses bear witness to its past magnificence.

A few miles farther south is Dulcigno,[236] which was also an autonomous oligarchical Republic, albeit less important than Antivari. Here the Roman element was always mixed with the Albanian. After the Turkish conquest it became a nest of pirates. Close by was the Golfo dello Drino, into which the two rivers Bojana and Drim (Drino) flowed. Eighteen miles up the course of the former was the great Benedictine monastery of San Serge and St. Bacchus, round which stood warehouses, customs offices, salt stores, shops, and booths, forming a centre called San Sergio by the Italians, Sveti Srgj by the Serbs; it retained its importance until the sixteenth century.[237] At the time of Queen Helena, the widow of Stephen Uroš I., the settlement was under a “Bajulus Regine at Portum Sancti Sergii.”[238] Here the ships unloaded their cargoes, which were forwarded to all parts of the interior by caravan; goods designed for Scutari, however, were sometimes transhipped into smaller boats and thus carried up to the lake and town. The caravan route went past Scutari to the castle of Danj (now Daino) on the Drim, where the Servian kings sometimes resided, and where the route joined that from Alessio (Lissos, Alexium, Slav- and Alb-Lješ[239]) at the mouth of the Drim. Thence the caravans proceeded to Prizren, which they reached in thirty-three hours by a road reputed to be one of the most difficult in the Albanian mountains.[240] The chief halting-places were Pilot and Spas, where there was a custom house. Prizren, which is on the Bistrica, some distance east of the junction of that river with the White Drim, is still a large town, on the site of the Roman Therenda.[241] Nemanja conquered it from the Eastern Empire; in 1204 it was in Bulgarian hands; in the course of the century it came once more into Servian possession, and was one of the chief cities of the kingdom. King Milutin and the Tsars Dušan and Uroš frequently made it their residence, and many ruined castles are found in the vicinity. Here was the chief commercial factory of the Ragusans for Albania, and they erected two Latin churches. From Prizren the routes crossed a fertile and well-populated plain, over the watershed between the Adriatic and the Black Sea, and into the plain of Kossovo. At Lipljan (Ulpiana and Justiniana Secunda in Roman times) it crossed the route from Bosnia to Salonica, reached Novobrdo, and finally Sofia, one of the Bulgarian capitals. The first mention of a Ragusan merchant in this city is in 1376; the Ragusan colony became very important at the end of the century in Turkish times, when Sofia was the residence of the Beglerbeg of Rumelia.[242]

The second _Via de Zenta_ started from the three harbours of Antivari _via_ the Sutorman Pass, Budua by the bridle path to Cetinje (still in use), and Cattaro by the road to Cetinje. A little further east the three branches met, and the route proceeded over well-wooded mountains, now, alas, bare and desolate, past the ruins of Doclea to Podgorica (a day and a half from Cattaro); then to the Plava lake, one of the fairest spots in Albania, but now also one of the most dangerous, on the shores of which, according to Professor Stojan Novaković, stood the well-known Servian trading centre of Brskovo. Professor Jireček, however, who has had access to further materials, places it in the upper Lim valley. Brskovo (Brescoa or Brescoua in Venetian and Ragusan documents) was the chief commercial city of Servia, and is mentioned as early as the days of King Stephen the First-Crowned (1196-1228). It was principally frequented by the people of Ragusa and Cattaro, and to a lesser extent by the Venetians. The various products of the districts were collected here for export to the coast, while the caravans from the coast brought foreign goods for distribution throughout Servia. The customs, which were usually farmed out to Ragusans, were a source of considerable revenue to the Servian kings. Here, as in some other mining towns, was also a mint, where the _grossi di Brescova_ were coined.[243] The Ragusan colony was numerous and influential, containing members of some of the noblest families.[244] Beyond Brskovo came Peč (Ipek in Turkish), an archiepiscopal, and later patriarchal, see (until 1766). Peč, too, enjoyed considerable traffic, and had a Ragusan colony in the fourteenth century.

The post from Venice to Constantinople went by this route in the sixteenth century. As soon as the ship arrived the despatches were handed to the messengers (they were always natives from two Montenegrin villages), who rode off with them _via_ Plava, Peč, Novoselo, Priština, Samokov, and Philippopolis, reaching the Bosporus in eighteen days.[245]

Throughout Servia, Bosnia, Hlum, the Zeta, and Bulgaria there were thus numerous Ragusan colonies. As a rule mining was the chief industry, and it was in the mining districts that the commercial settlements were to be found. In Roman times the mines of Illyria were well known; they were abandoned at the time of the barbarian inroads, and it was not until the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, at the time of the rise of the Serb States, that the industry revived. Wonderful tales were told by mediæval travellers of the richness of the Balkan mines. As late as 1453 the Greek Critobulus asserted that gold and silver sprang from the earth like water, and that wherever you dug you found large deposits of the precious metals, in greater quantities than in the Indies.[246] King Stephen Uroš II. Milutin (1282-1320) was the first to summon in German miners, called Sasi (_i.e._ Saxons), so as to benefit by their superior skill, but the Ragusans were also numerous. Many of the technical terms relating to mining still used in Bosnia are of German origin: _orat_ = _Ort_; _hutman_ = _Hüttenmann_; _karan_ = _Karren_. The ore was extracted from galleries and shafts, many of which are still in existence. The refining of the metal was executed at Ragusa or Venice.

Gold, silver, lead, and iron were the chief products of the Bosnian and Servian mines. Gold, of which the earliest mention is in 1253, was found chiefly in the neighbourhood of Novobrdo (Novus Mons, Nouomonte, Νοβοπύργον), which was for a long time the largest city in the interior of the Balkan peninsula between the plain of Kossovo and the Bulgarian Morava, three miles east of Priština. Silver, however, was found in much larger quantities. Of this metal two kinds are mentioned in the Ragusan annals, _i.e._ _argento bianco_ (white silver) and _argento de glama_ (_glamsko srebro_ in Slavonic), which had a slight gold alloy. Srebrnica was the chief centre for the silver-mining industry. Lead was another important product, and was in much request for the roofing of houses and churches. Sometimes a whole caravan of 300 horses journeyed from the mining districts to Ragusa laden with nothing but lead. The iron output gave rise to various active industries, both locally and at Ragusa, where Bosnian iron-workers were often employed by the Republic. A certain amount of copper was also found, and there were tin and quicksilver mines in the Kreševo district. The principal mining centres thus were: Kreševo and Fojnica;[247] Srebrenica, near the Drina, chiefly for silver;[248] Zvornik on the Drina, for lead;[249] Rudnik, where there are traces of Roman mines mentioned by Ragusan documents of the thirteenth century; Kopaonik, for silver and iron;[250] Novobrdo, for gold and other metals;[251] Kučevo and Brskovo, which flourished at the end of the thirteenth century.[252]

Each mining centre usually consisted of a castle on a hill, wherein dwelt the Vojvod, or feudal lord, representing the King or Tsar, and a town below with a market, where the miners and merchants dwelt. In times of danger the whole community could take shelter in the castle.[253] The Saxons, as we have seen, were the most numerous of the foreign settlers, and the Ragusans came immediately after them. At Novobrdo early in the fifteenth century we find members of nearly all the noblest Ragusan families—Bobali, Benessa, Menze, Ragnina, Resti, Gozze, Caboga, &c. The Ragusans were the principal merchants and carriers, and the provision trade was almost wholly in their hands. They sold supplies in exchange for raw metal. There were also merchants from the other Dalmatian towns, from Italy, especially from Venice, and a few natives. The mining towns on the whole had a marked Latin character, and they were all provided with at least one Latin church,[254] under the authority of the Bishop of Cattaro. There were also several Franciscan monasteries, which afterwards ministered to the religious needs of the native Catholics in Turkish times; some of them still exist. The chief authority in the town was, as I have said, the Servian Vojvod, but the head of the mining and mercantile community was the Conte dei Purgari Vaoturchi.[255] The taxes and customs were farmed to Ragusan or Cattarine speculators, and in fact most of the higher financial officials in the South-Slavonic States, including the Protovestiars (Finance Ministers), were usually natives of those cities. The Ragusans who owned houses were bound to bear arms in defence of the castle and market-town, but the others were exempt. If a dispute arose between them and the Saxons or the Serbs the question was decided by an arbitration commission composed of six Ragusans and six Saxons or Serbs. Ragusan creditors enjoyed the privilege of being able to imprison their debtors, provided they too were Ragusans, in their own houses. The heads of the Ragusan community were the consul and two judges, usually noblemen appointed by the Republic. In 1332 a consul was appointed to reside at the Royal Court, which was at Prizren or Skopje (Üsküb).[256] This consul was to travel about the country, visiting all the market-towns, mining centres, and fairs, with a view to learning what openings there were for Ragusan trade, as well as all the towns where Ragusan colonies were already established. The different mints were under the superintendence of the Vojvods and of the _gabellotti_ (tax-farmers) or _aurifices_ (goldsmiths), usually Ragusans or Dalmatians. In the tenth century Constantine Porphyrogenitus alludes to the use of coinage by the Ragusans, but for a long time afterwards trade continued to be carried on by means of barter. Thus in 1280 we find a Ragusan selling a horse to a fellow-citizen for sixteen ells of cloth, and even as late as 1322, although mints were established in various places, a commercial treaty between Stephen, Banus of Bosnia, and Ragusa alludes to the fact that cattle were used for payments of indemnities.[257]

Communications between Ragusa and the settlements in the interior were carried on by means of couriers (_cursores_, _corrieri_, Slav. _knižnici_), who were instituted early in the fourteenth century, and lasted until the fall of the Republic. They carried official correspondence from the Republic to the ambassadors and consuls, and legal notices, writs, reports of judicial proceedings, &c., to the Ragusan traders. They were not allowed to convey private correspondence, which was usually sent by caravan, or in the case of the chief merchants by their own special messengers, save on the return journey. The time employed by these official messengers was usually two days from Ragusa to Blagaj (Mostar), four or five to Visoko or Sutieska, five or six to Prača, seven or eight to Srebrnica, ten to Zvornik, twelve to Syrmium, seven to Rudnik or Novobrdo, fifteen to Constantinople. In bad weather, when the passes were blocked with snow, double the time was often necessary to traverse the same distance, which was the time required by the caravans in favourable weather. The envoys sent to Constantinople with the tribute to the Sultan took as much as two months.[258] The official correspondence to the various Ragusan representatives in the East is preserved in the archives of Ragusa in 138 volumes, under the heading of _Lettere e Commissioni di Levante_.

This traffic proved to be a source of great wealth for the citizens, who in time came almost to enjoy a monopoly of the inland trade in this part of the Balkan peninsula. But great as were the privileges which they enjoyed, merchants and miners were subject to depredations and arbitrary confiscations at the hands of the Servian kings, the Bosnian Bani, or the various minor feudatories. Most of the quarrels between Ragusa and the Slavonic States were caused by these depredations, which after all were natural enough. The Ragusan merchants succeeded in accumulating large fortunes by intelligent management and indefatigable industry, which the less hard-working Slaves, devoted to the arts of war, were incapable of acquiring. Whenever the King or vassal lord was in need of money, what could be simpler than to pounce down upon a richly-laden caravan on its way to or from the coast and plunder it or take heavy toll of it, or to impose fresh taxes on the wealthy colonies of “Uitlanders” at Rudnik, Srebrnica, or Brskovo? Ragusa was often forced to pay tribute to this or that sovereign to ensure safety from depredation, and in those days the line of division between feudalism and brigandage was very vague. But the mercantile communities were quite willing to undergo the risks for the sake of the large profits which they made. There can be no doubt that in this way a certain amount of civilisation was introduced into these lands which would otherwise have remained quite without the pale. The currents of western thought and culture found their way into Bosnia and Servia by way of Ragusa and the other Dalmatian towns rather than by Constantinople.[259] These civilising influences increased and spread until the curse of the Turkish conquest fell on the land like a blight, from which it is only now beginning slowly and painfully to recover.

This mercantile development naturally led to the formation of numerous guilds or confraternities. Like other Ragusan institutions, they were based on Venetian models, and were really the beginnings of the modern mutual aid societies on a religious groundwork. Among the earliest of these are that of the joiners, founded in 1266; that of St. Michael, founded in 1290; that of the goldsmiths (1306), that of Rosgiato (1321), and that of St. Anthony the Abbot (1348). During the Venetian period they were under strict Government supervision, but after 1358 they were invested with political privileges and exemptions.[260]