From here a little steam-launch plies in the afternoon to the island of Lacroma, on which a cloister was founded in the eleventh century, the Benedictine rule being transplanted hither in 1023 from the Tremiti Islands in the person of Fra Pietro the Ragusan, who, with a priest named Leone, laid the foundations of the monastery on land given them for that purpose. An inscription mentions the name of Vitalis the archbishop, son of Dominus Theodore (1023-1047). It was the Ragusan Westminster Abbey till the Franciscan and Dominican churches were built. Here it was that Richard Cœur de Lion escaped from shipwreck, and, according to local tradition, founded the cathedral of Ragusa in gratitude for his escape, though the entries in the Ragusan archives prove that it was built by contributions from the nobles. The ill-fated Maximilian of Mexico owned the island, and restored the convent as a country residence, in which the unfortunate Crown Prince Rudolf also lived. We, who had gone there in hopes of seeing something of the eleventh-century buildings, were disappointed at being taken through corridors and rooms containing objects which were looked upon as relics, and finally round some elaborately laid out and luxuriant gardens to one or two natural curiosities. The building is now occupied by a school, towards the support of which a landing-tax of one corona per person is exacted. This did not, however, prevent the man who showed us round telling us that he was dependent on the charity of visitors! All that is to be seen in the way of architecture is a cloister of the early Renaissance period, pretty enough with its garden within; but I should certainly not recommend the English tourist to spend time and money in visiting the island.
Beyond the harbour of Ragusa the road leads below the Dominican convent to the outer Ploče gate, passing two chapels—SS. Annunziata, with a group of S. John the Baptist and two other saints in the tympanum of the Gothic doorway, and S. Luke, with Renaissance decoration and tympanum. Turning sharply beneath two gates, above the outer of which S. Blaise stands in his usual place, the road passes over a stone bridge which replaces the original drawbridge, and through the outer gates to the lazaretto and Turkish bazaar. Here there is a late Renaissance fountain, at which country people, most of whom are Herzegovinians, may be seen watering their mules, for the road to Trebinje comes down to this gate. There is little else to see in the bazaar, the importance of which has much declined; but from this side of the town charming views of Ragusa may be obtained, with a foreground of rocks, of aloes, often in bloom, of rough steps going down to the shore, or a little farther away, where the height of Lapad can be seen crowning the city, of olives and stony roads; always with the blue sea stretching from below towards and beyond the grey town shut so securely within its walls. Beyond is the romantically, situated deserted convent of S. Giacomo degli Olivi, and from it paths wander farther among olives and cypresses along the edge of the cliff, below which, on the level of the water, is the grotto Spila Betina.
The Republic was a curious mixture of enlightenment and oriental backwardness. In 1335 the whole town was paved, a great sewer was constructed, and there were regulations about tiling and other constructional matters. Traffic in slaves was abolished by act of the Greater Council on January 26, 1416. In 1432 a foundling hospital was established, and in 1435 public schools. All who died of the plague in 1430 were burnt, by advice of the Ferrarese physician Giacomo Godwaldo, who also established the custom of isolating the sick some years before. Yet, in the state prisons below the small loggia, prisoners were sometimes walled up alive, and dungeons existed flooded at high tide, without any precautions being taken to prevent it. The treatment of women was quite oriental. In 1462 girls above the age of twelve were not allowed outside the house, and were seen only by their relations and by ecclesiastics; and, of course, marriages were arranged by the parents. In the theatre, only noble women and those of the citizen class were admitted. The sumptuary laws were strict. Nobles and public officials above eighteen were obliged to wear a large loose robe and black hose. It is recorded that a certain Tuberone Cerva came into the Senate one day with a robe longer than the prescribed measure, and it was cut short then and there, which mortified him so much that he turned monk. At funerals they had hired mourners, which again suggests oriental influences.
The consiglio maggiore contained all the nobles above twenty years of age inscribed in the golden book called "Lo Specchio" (which was compiled in 1440). The Senate acted as court of appeal in judicial cases, and was formed of forty-five senators, the "Pregati," who were over forty years of age. The executive was the Little Council of seven members. At the head of public administration was a senator who from 1358 was called Prior, then Count, and later Rector. The populace called him "Knez" (Prince). He was in office for a month only, and, with eleven councillors, settled the most important affairs of state. He lived in the palace, and only left it on state business. He wore a red cloak with a black band on the left side, and red shoes and stockings (in accordance with a Byzantine tradition). He never went out alone, but was always accompanied by councillors, secretaries, the chamberlain, twenty-four red-clad attendants, and a band of music. Besides the Rector there was a town council of ten, which acted as police superintendents. The five provveditori, elected annually from among the "Pregati," looked after the rigorous observance of the statute. No law could be altered without the vote of seven-eighths of the Greater Council, and no new law could be made without a three-quarters majority of the same. The treasurers were elected from the oldest senators. At the head of the eleven administrative districts were counts or representatives; they were the only salaried officials.
Under the Venetian supremacy great precautions were taken to prevent usurpation of the rights of the Republic, while the count was received with great splendour. On disembarking, he presented himself to the people, received from the signory the standard of S. Biagio, and, with this in his hand, swore on the gospels to preserve and observe the customs and laws of Ragusa. Then he went to the cathedral, receiving at the door incense and holy water from the chapter, who gave him the gospels to kiss, upon which he renewed his oath in front of the altar. After a canon had delivered an oration in praise of him and of the doge, he returned to the piazza, still bearing the standard, where he received the homage of the people, "who swore the holy pact with the Serenissima," the standard of S. Mark being unfurled.
The people were divided into five castes—clergy, nobles, citizens, workmen (sailors, merchants, &c.), and countrymen. There was a gulf between nobles and people. The countrymen were like serfs attached to the land, and spoken of as "tilings" belonging to their masters. Among the nobles were two orders. Those of ancient lineage were called "Salamanchesi," from the University of Salamanca, where they had been educated; the "Sorbonnesi" (from the Sorbonne) were nobles of more recent date.
After the earthquake of 1667 several citizen families were ennobled. But between the two ranks of nobles the antipathy was so great that they never intermarried. The plague of 1526 destroyed 20,000 persons, that of 1348, 11,000, and the earthquake of 1667 some 6,000. It has been computed that in the times of her prosperity Ragusa counted 40,000 inhabitants. In connection with the visitations of the plague it may be noted that in 1466 the musicians of the rector were ordered to go every Saturday to play before the houses of large donors to the votive church of S. Biagio; but by the request of their descendants this custom was in 1548 replaced by a similar concert in front of the altar of the crucifix in that church.
In 1805 the first capital sentence for twenty-five years was pronounced. The city went into mourning, and an executioner had to be brought for the purpose from Turkey.
The salt monopolies and the customs were the most important parts of the revenue, but there were also important manufactures. Ragusa made woollen and silk stuffs after the looms for silk were brought from Tuscany in 1539, and shoes and glass, coral wares and wax, besides salt and other things were produced and sent into the interior by caravans. Ships went to India and America, France, Spain, England, and Holland. A document addressed by Cromwell to the Senate is extant, granting privileges in all English harbours to Ragusans, and they were as daring sailors as the Bocchesi, as many as 300 serving as captains in the navies of Charles V. and his successors.
The earliest law of Ragusa relating to the coinage is one of 1327 imposing penalties for falsification of money. This shows that it had a mint before that time. At this date the "grosso" is the only silver coin of the town known, but the fines are all calculated in "iperperi." The word "zecha" occurs for the first time in a law of 1338. A few years afterwards all importers of silver had to present themselves at the mint within three days of their arrival, the tenth part of their silver being liable to purchase at "14 iperp: and 2 grossi" the pound. If they did not do so the tenth part was confiscated, half going to the informer. In 1420 the price was half as much again, and in 1161 it was worth 38 iperperi the pound. In 1748 the mint had ceased issuing money, but was at work again from 1791 till 1806. The iperpero was worth 12 grossi, and 3 of them went to a scudo. The earliest known is of 1683. In Ralph of Coggeshall's time it was worth 3 sous of silver—that is to say, about 10s. At Ragusa this coin still passes, according to a writer in the Bullettino di Storia Dalmata.