CHAPTER IX

TRADE AND INTERNAL CONDITIONS DURING THE HUNGARIAN PERIOD

In spite of Ottoman raids, piracy, plagues, and earthquakes, the Republic prospered exceedingly in every direction. According to Palladius Fuscus, there were three hundred Ragusan merchantmen on the sea, visiting every port. Ragusa was the starting-point for journeys into Turkey, and the ambassadors of foreign Powers passed through the city on their way to Constantinople. Its traders were to be found in every part of the Mediterranean. At the end of the period of Venetian domination, in 1358, we have seen that “marineritia Rhacusii erat amissa.” But after the proclamation of independence it revived and increased to a far greater degree than ever before, and to this the permission granted by the Popes to trade with the Infidel contributed not a little. In 1434 the Bull _Cœna Domini_, based on the decrees of the Council of Bâle, was issued as follows:—

“To the city of Ragusa, situated on a hard rock, on the coast of the sea and therefore exposed to its ire, and in a most sterile land, wholly devoted to the Church of Rome and ever obedient to her, constantly faithful to the King of Hungary ... is granted permission to navigate with its ships even unto the Holy Land and to the ports of the Infidel, for the purpose of conveying pilgrims thither, and of trading; to maintain consuls, erect churches, and establish cemeteries in those countries.” That Ragusan trade extended as far as England is proved by the letter of Barbarigo, the Venetian ambassador to the Porte, who in 1513 passed through the city on his way to Constantinople. He wrote that in the harbour was a ship which “had come from England laden with 9000 pieces of cloth worth 85,000 ducats, besides tin and various kinds of stuff valued at 13,000 ducats, all belonging to Ragusans; and to-day, the third day, another ship of 5000 _botti_ has departed laden with silks and _Zambeloti_ worth 100,000 ducats, besides 12,000 ducats’ worth of _gropi_, all belonging to Ragusans and Florentines.” He adds that the wealth of Ragusa was very great and incredible.[436] In 1526 Clement VII. addressed a Brief to the Chancellor and Councillors of the Duchy of Brittany, who had seized a Ragusan ship coming from England laden with English goods, believing it to be English property.[437] Part of the cargo was recovered, but the loss amounted to 70,000 ducats, which caused a number of bankruptcies at Ragusa.[438]

Ragusan trade with the Greeks continued down to the fall of the last Greek despotates in the Morea. In June 1451, only two months before the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the Republic received a Golden Bull from the Emperor Constantine Palæologus, decreeing that the Ragusans in the capital might build themselves a church and an official residence for the consul whom they elected; if a Greek claimed a debt of a Ragusan he was to appeal to the latter’s consul, while in the inverse case the Ragusan would appeal to the local authorities; Ragusan merchants might import and export goods free of duty save for a 2½ per cent. tax on the sale of imports; there was to be no limit to the number of Ragusans residing at Constantinople; if a Ragusan left the city owing money to natives, none of his compatriots might be arrested in his place. The same year two Silver Bulls of a similar character were issued to the Ragusans by Thomas Palæologus, Despot of Achaia, at Misithia, and by his brother Demetrius, Despot of the Peloponnesus, at Chiarenza. The treaties were negotiated by Volzo Bobali, who in 1451 made a journey through the remnants of the Greek Empire to improve commercial relations with his own city; but they were merely the renewal of old-established connections, for since the fourteenth century Ragusan traders had brought the famed silks of Chiarenza to Ancona[439] and Italy. In the treaty with Ancona of 1372 allusion is made to the Ragusan trade in spices, sugar, and silks from Tartary and “Gazaria,” which shows the wide extent of the city’s sea-borne trade.

At the same time, as we have seen, the Republic’s relations with the Turks and the Egyptians were by no means unfriendly, and every opportunity was seized to ensure a good understanding with the Court of Brusa and afterwards of Adrianople. The Turkish trade was chiefly carried overland, especially after the establishment of the Ottomans in Europe, and Ragusa’s friendly relations with the Slave princes gave her easy access to the Balkan trade-routes, and therefore an advantage over her Italian rivals. After the conquest of the Slave States by the Turks the Ragusans were granted the fullest privileges, although they were liable as before to attacks from brigands and arbitrary impositions on the part of the Pashas and Sandjakbegs. Some of their old settlements in the Balkans were destroyed, but others arose in their place. Of the older towns, only Belgrad maintained its former importance under the new rulers. But now Vrnbosna (Sarajevo, _Bosna Serai_ in Turkish) arose, founded, it is said, before the invasion by Ragusan merchants. Instead of Novobrdo we find Novibazar and Prokopje (Prokuplje), Skoplje (Üsküb), Sofia, Travnik, and Mostar. In all these towns there were wealthy Ragusan colonies, each with its church and its consul. Some were found even at the mouths of the Danube.[440] The inland trade in Turkish times was carried on by caravan as before, and along the same routes. Turkish guard-houses were only two miles from the town, but the traffic became more active in the sixteenth century than it had ever been previously. Benedetto Ramberti, Venetian ambassador to the Porte, gives an interesting account of the journey from Venice to Constantinople _via_ Ragusa in his _Libri Tre delle Cose dei Turchi_.[441] He took exactly one month to go from Venice to Ragusa, owing to the _bora_ and the _scirocco_, which drove the ship back continually and forced her to remain in various ports for several days at a time. From Ragusa it took him thirty-four days to reach the Turkish capital, by the following stages:—

_February 8th._—From Ragusa to Trebinje, 16 miles, by “a very bad and dangerous road, over steep and precipitous mountains, which we had to ascend more on foot than on horseback.... All this country formerly belonged to the Duke Stephen Herzeg, father of the young Herzeg who is now in Venice; it has become quite Turkish, and is under the Sandjak of the Duchy.”

_February 10th._—Reached Rudine, 20 miles, passing by the castle of Cluaz (or Klobuk), then partly in ruins. On the 11th Curita (Korito) was reached, 28 miles, and on the 12th he passed Cervice (Cernica) and then on to Verba, 25 miles.

_February 13th._—Priedio, 24 miles. “We passed through a mountainous gorge, on each side of which is a small castle, one of them in ruins, the other still in good repair, called Vratar.[442] Here Duke Stephen kept a guard-house, where all travellers had to pay a toll. The castles are built into the living rock; they are reached by a road by which only one person at a time can pass, and could easily be defended by twenty men against a whole army.”

_February 14th._—Orach, 28 miles, passing through Cozza (Foča), “a large settlement with good houses in the Turkish style, many shops and merchants. Here resides the Sandjak of the Duchy, who has all Servia under his authority. By this spot all goods going from Ragusa to Constantinople must pass, as also those from Constantinople to Ragusa. No horse worth over 1000 _aspers_ (20 ducats) is allowed to cross the river, but if any traveller brings one he must either spend more in bribes than the horse itself is worth, or sell it for what it will fetch.”

_February 15th._—The first guard-house on the Kovaz Mountain, 25 miles.

_February 16th._—Plevlje, 34 miles, “which is not an unattractive place for this country. Here five years ago a caravan of Venetian merchants of about one hundred horses was attacked by evil persons, who killed and wounded many, two Venetian nobles, Nani and Cappello, being among the dead. Watch against the brigands is kept in the following manner: one man from the village goes through the woods beating a drum and looking out to see if any person is lurking about, and this sound informs travellers that the passage is secure. The villages which provide these watchmen are free of taxes.”

_February 17th._—Priepolje, 24 miles. “Here and at Plevlje, which are both very large and pleasant towns for this country, the people are all Christians;[443] but in the house where we lodged we found a woman with seven children, the eldest of whom had turned Turk (Muhamedan), and this because the Sultan Selim, wishing to increase the number of Turks, imposed a heavy poll-tax, called the Talotz, on all the Christians, but he exempted those families who made one of their sons a Turk. This induced many to free themselves thus from the tax; but the Sultan did not carry out the whole of his promise, and maintained the Talotz on all save those who actually turned Turks themselves.”

_February 18th._—“Reached Vuatz, 32 miles, passing by St. Sava, where there is a very large monastery of Servian caloyers, who dress and live in the Greek fashion, but speak Slavonic. They show to travellers the body of St. Sava, which is still in a perfect state of preservation. They receive more alms from the Turks and the Jews than from the Christians.[444] At the mount of the Morlak (Molatschidi) ends the Sandjak of Servia and that of Bosnia begins, in which is Senice.”

_February 19th._—Novibazar, 40 miles, “a very large and celebrated market-place, full of merchants and shops, both Turkish and Christian, some of them Ragusans. Close by flows a beautiful clear stream, which enters the Morava shortly after.”

_February 20th._—Ibar, 16 miles, near the “Mountain of Silver, which should be the Mons Rhodopus.”

_February 21st._—Statoria, 25 miles, which was reached by passing over the Mountain of Silver, “very high and difficult to climb, especially in winter, when it is covered with snow. On the summit is a road, a _braccio_ and a half wide, by which one passes not without danger from the precipice.”

_February 22nd._—Suatza, 25 miles. “We crossed the broad Toplitza, which is a plateau covered with little hillocks and surrounded by high mountains; but the country is agreeable, and produces delicious wines and much grain. The village of Toplitza is not only pleasant and beautiful, but fertile and well provided with all the necessaries of life. Here we begin to breathe again after the long travail and danger of the past journey.”

_February 23rd._— Buovaga reached after passing through Nissa (Niš), “which was once a city, but is now reduced to a fair-sized village in the Turkish style.”

_February 24th._—Clissariza, in Bulgaria, 28 miles, which is here separated from Servia by Mount Cunovizza.

_February 25th._—Zaribrod, 28 miles (the present Servo-Bulgarian frontier), passing through Pirot, “formerly a walled castle built in the ancient style of very large blocks of stone.”

_February 26th._—Bellizza, 25 miles, in the fertile plain of Sofia.

_February 27th._—Sofia,[445] 15 miles. Here there are many Ragusan merchants and Jews, but the inhabitants are mostly Turks.

_March 1st, 1534._—Vacarevo, 28 miles, reached after riding all day across a treeless plain.

_March 2nd._—Vieterno, 28 miles.

_March 3rd._—Celopinci, 32 miles, after passing Bazarcich (Tatar Bazarjik).

_March 4th._—Cognuzza, after passing Philippopolis. “We still see the remains of the walls, which are in part entire and fine. There is a very long wooden bridge across the Maritza, which flows close by, consisting of over thirty arches. Under these many branches of the river pass.”

_March 6th._—Chiudegegnibustraman (?).

_March 7th._—Adrianople, 22 miles. “We crossed the bridge of Mostaffa Bassa (Mustafa Pasha) over the Maritza. It is very fine and wide, and has twenty arches, all of marble, with a gilded slab in the middle, on which are inscribed in blue Turkish letters the date, the names of the architect and the builder, and the cost.”

_March 8th._—Sugutli, 20 miles.

_March 10th._—Bergas.

_March 11th._—Chiorlich.

_March 12th._—Chiumbergasti.

_March 13th._—Cocchiucchemeghi, 20 miles.

_March 14th._—Constantinople, 12 miles. “On arriving here we felt as though we had issued out of Hell, for the whole country from Ragusa until within a few miles of Constantinople is for the most part uncultivated and horrible, not by nature, but by the negligence of the inhabitants, full of terrible forests and dangerous precipices, very unsafe on account of the brigands, very wretched as to accommodation, so that it is a fine thing to have been through it, but very strange and difficult while actually on the journey.” These words are applicable to this day to a large part of the country traversed, and will continue to be a true description so long as the Turks hold sway over it.

Caterino Zen, another Venetian ambassador to Constantinople, travelled through the Balkans by the Spalato route in 1550, employing fifty-two days between Spalato and the Turkish capital, of which three were spent at Novibazar and six at Sofia. He adds that without baggage the journey may be accomplished in one month, and from Ragusa in twenty-five days, while the Vlach runners do it in fifteen. An anonymous traveller describes the route from Ragusa to Constantinople _via_ Dulcigno, San Sergio on the Boiana, Prizren, the plain of Kossovo, Üsküb, Tatarbaric, Philippopolis, and Adrianople, which he accomplished in forty-five days.

Trade with Italy continued to develop and expand on the same lines as before, and late in the fourteenth century direct intercourse with Florence was established. In 1406 the Florentine Government declared that the Ragusans had brought so much silver to Florence (from the Balkan mines) “that we have almost purchased Pisa with it.”[446] In 1429 a five years’ treaty between the two Republics was concluded, the Ragusans agreeing to bring gold, silver, skins, wax, and other Balkan produce to Florence in exchange for Italian wares.[447] Relations were maintained owing to the frequent visits of the Florentine ambassadors on their way to Constantinople, and many Florentine merchants resided in the town. Apparently the Pazzi family had property there, and after the famous conspiracy the Florentine Government desired to confiscate it. In 1479 an envoy was sent to Constantinople to obtain the extradition of one of Giuliano dei Medici’s murderers; he was instructed to stop at Ragusa on the way to get a guide who knew Turkey “persona pratica in Turchia.”[448] In 1495 mention is made of the appointment of a Florentine consul and magistrate at Ragusa, while in 1514 the Ragusan Lorenzo Ragni (Ragnina?) held office as magistrate and Councillor of Justice in Florence.[449] Various other Christian Powers made use of Ragusa for their relations with the Turks, and even Francis I. of France is said to have had recourse to a member of the Gozze family in his negotiations with the Sultan.[450]

Until the fifteenth century the vessels built on the territory of the Republic were small and chiefly used for the coastwise traffic, all foreign trade being carried on ships purchased from other Dalmatian towns or from Italy. Now, however, these sources of supply were found to be inadequate, and in 1525 the Senate decided to build a new shipping yard at Gravosa. This was completed the following year, and was a very admirable and elaborate establishment for the age. At the same time the docks at Slano, Isola di Mezzo, and elsewhere, which belonged to private persons, were enlarged and improved. But even these measures were insufficient for the ever-increasing business, and more ships were purchased at Curzola and at Messina.[451]

The harbour and wharfing accommodation were enlarged. Work of this kind had been partially accomplished in 1468 under the direction of the Florentine architect Niccolò di Pasquale;[452] further improvements were executed by Mastro Stazio in 1473, and in the following year dredging operations in the port were commenced. In 1475 the quays were enlarged, and warehouses for grain erected. The whole port was rebuilt on a larger scale between 1484 and 1500 by another Florentine, Pasquale di Michele. This same architect also planned the warehouses for goods coming from the interior. When the Republic received formal permission to trade with the Infidel the existing _fondico_ was enlarged in 1432 and 1442. The discovery of the Cape route and the intrigues of the Venetians caused a temporary stagnation of Ragusan trade, but it soon revived, and on June 28, 1515, the Senate decreed “de providendo pro uno fontico spacioso in quo omnia mercimonia possint fonticari.”

Although internal industry never attained to the importance of the Republic’s foreign commerce, it was at this time fairly active. Manufacturers and traders together constituted (in 1514) no less than twenty-one guilds.[453] In 1348 the merchants formed themselves into the Guild of St. Anthony, which in the sixteenth century became so large that those of its members who dealt exclusively with the Eastern trade seceded from it and formed the Guild of St. Lazarus, or “Scuola dei Mercanti di Levante.” These two guilds comprised all the richest persons in the city, and came in time to constitute a separate privileged caste, whose members alone had the right to call themselves citizens, and were the inferiors of the nobles alone. The other lay guilds were: the _Pentori_, painters, with 19 members; the _Callegari_, or makers of leather slippers for the neighbouring Turkish provinces, with 146 members; the _Pellizzai_, or furriers, with 60 members; the _Tessatori_, or weavers of cloth, founded in 1491, after one Andrea Pantella of Florence had introduced the industry from Italy in 1416, and in 1514 it had 137 members. There were in addition many other guilds in other parts of the Republic’s territory, while a number of other industries, such as the goldsmiths, the tanners, the shipbuilders, the dyers, &c., were not represented by guilds at all.

Professor Gelcich quotes the opinions of a number of foreign writers on Ragusan trade in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The Abate Denina wrote: “The Ragusans were ever a nation of merchants and traffickers, and are well satisfied to do what the Neapolitans have failed to do, monopolising the export trade of the Kingdom (of Naples), and visiting with their ships all parts of the Mediterranean.” Luca de Linda wrote: “The Ragusans have put on the sea a number of large vessels both for war and for traffic, and on them have travelled as far as the New World. Among other enterprises they served the Catholic King with many ships but a short time since in the expedition against the Gerbi, and with forty vessels in the conquest of Portugal.” Amalthæus in a letter to a friend advises him to settle at Ragusa, as there were in that city many opportunities of becoming rich by trade, for there was much active traffic with the West, and the most industrious nations of Europe, such as the French, the Spaniards, the English, the Flemings, and even the Germans had established colonies there.

The above-mentioned writer, Benedetto Ramberti, gives a curious description of Ragusa as it appeared to him in 1533. Being a Venetian his account is somewhat contemptuous and not altogether flattering. “It is well populated,” he writes, “and in a beautiful situation by the sea, on the Dalmatian mainland. It possesses a small harbour and a very small mole.... It is exposed to winds and earthquakes, and is exceedingly cold in winter. The women are not very handsome, and dress very badly, or rather they wear clothes which suit them ill. They have on their heads a long linen covering, which in the case of noblewomen is of white silk and shaped like a pyramid, and thin stockings turned down to their shins. They rarely leave the house, but are much at the window. The young girls are never seen. The women nearly all use the Slavonic language, but the men speak Italian as well.[454] In the city are many fountains of excellent water brought from the hills. About a mile from the gates is a spot called Gravosa, which is a row of houses a mile in length, well built and attractive, with gardens full of oranges, lemons, citrons, and fruit-trees of various kinds, beautifully adorned with fountains fed by aqueducts.... The sea here forms a pleasant harbour large enough to contain a hundred galleys with ease. The Ragusans are usually rich and avaricious, like most merchant folk. They all buy wine in retail, and timber according to certain ordinances of their own. Friends and relations seldom if ever dine together. They think only of making money, and they are so proud that they think there is no other nobility than their own,[455] but I do not say that of all, for I have known some who were very urbane and courteous. And they deserve, indeed, much praise, for being placed in a most narrow and rocky situation they have obtained access to every commodity by means of their own virtue and industry alone, in despite of nature.... They pay tribute to the Sultan, to whom they send orators (ambassadors) every year with 12,000 ducats. The city is not very strong, especially on the land side towards the mountains, and as it is not well provided with walls and fosses it could be defeated.”[456]