ONOFRIO’S FOUNTAIN IN THE PIAZZA
Dandolo’s account is almost identical, and so is that of Sabellico, save that the latter does not mention the actual storming of the town. He merely says that the Ragusans sued for peace through their archbishop, and that they themselves demolished the tower on which the Imperial standard had been raised. Whichever version we accept, it is clear that Ragusa again made full submission to the ducal authority, and came once more under Venetian supremacy. We must not forget that Tribuno Michiel, the archbishop, was a Venetian, and probably there was a Venetian party in the city as well as a Byzantine party. When it became evident that the Venetians were in earnest, the faction which favoured them at once prevailed. “Esadastes,” as usual, casts doubts on the whole story, because Dandolo and Sabellico do not agree as to the attack, but he does not even mention the account of the Cronaca Altinate. Resti denies the submission altogether. It should be remembered that whereas Dandolo and the author of the Altinate Chronicle wrote barely a century after the events related, the Ragusan historians flourished in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, and wrote with the express purpose of combating all Venice’s claims over Ragusa.
But, as before, the surrender did not greatly affect the internal affairs of the city, which continued to be managed by the citizens themselves. Nor did Venetian suzerainty last long. The campaign against the Eastern Empire ended most disastrously; the fleet was decimated by disease, and returned to Venice in 1172 a complete wreck. Venetian influence in Dalmatia was greatly reduced in consequence, while that of the Empire revived proportionately, and lasted until Manuel’s death in 1180. The country was, however, regarded as still in a measure connected with Venice, and in the treaty of peace which the latter made with William of Sicily in 1175 he promised not to invade “the lands which are under the rule of the Doge of Venice and of the Venetians,”[65] and Dalmatia was included among these.
In the meanwhile Ragusa was developing international relations of a different character, i.e. with the Slavonic principalities of the interior. In the earliest times Ragusan territory was limited to a small part of the actual city, and for a long time did not extend beyond the walls. Constantine Porphyrogenitus informs us that it bordered on the two states of Zachulmia and Tribunia. The vineyards of the Ragusans were on the territory of these tribes, and the citizens paid a yearly tribute of thirty-six numismata (gold pieces) to the Prince of Zachulmia, and as much to the Prince of Tribunia.[66] As the population increased they gradually extended their cultivation to the whole of these districts. The Tribunian vineyards were in the Župa of Žrnovica (Breno); those of Zachulmia in the Župa of Rijeka (Ombla), as far as Malfi, and in that of Poljice.[67] The tribute which the Ragusans paid for this privilege was called margarisium or magarisium;[68] its value varied considerably. In 1363 that due to the Zachulmians was of sixty ipperperi, paid by the owners of the vineyards in proportion to the extent of their holdings. The Zachulmians, on their side, sent a cow, called the vacca di margarisio, which was divided between the Count of Ragusa and some of the boni homines (optimates) of the city. Later, instead of one animal, several were sent.[69] Besides the tribute, the Ragusans paid a tithe in kind to the Slave princelings. From time to time they made special treaties with their neighbours, usually of a commercial character. By one of these, which Resti dates 831,[70] Svetimir, King of Bosnia, agreed to send 50 oxen, 500 sheep and goats, and 200 loads of oats to Ragusa, and to treat the Ragusans in his territory as though they were his own subjects, while they were to send him fourteen braccia[71] of red cloth. This indicates the city’s economic position, which enabled it to send manufactured articles from the west into the Balkan lands, while it bought from the latter the cattle and foodstuffs which its own limited territory could not provide. Even in later times most of the grain consumed by the Ragusans was imported from abroad.
Relations with the Slaves, however, were not always of so peaceable a character, and the Ragusans were often engaged in little wars with their turbulent neighbours. The gradual extension of the Ragusan vineyards was a fertile source of dispute (lis de vineis),[72] as the Republic claimed and finally obtained by prescription the right to govern the territory in question. Another cause of dispute was the arrest and ill-treatment to which Ragusan merchants were often subjected when travelling in the interior. At other times the Ragusans aroused the ire of the neighbouring princes by giving shelter to their rebellious subjects. The story of Bodino, in spite of its legendary character, illustrates this very clearly. This Slavonic prince, having deposed his uncle, Radoslav,[73] and made himself King of Dalmatia and Croatia, conquered Bosnia and Servia. But he wished to get rid of Radoslav’s sons, who still ruled over a small territory on the river Drina. In this he succeeded by treachery, but their children managed to escape to Ragusa, and placed themselves under the protection of the Republic. Bodino demanded that they should be given up to him, and on the refusal of the Ragusans he besieged their city for seven years. At the end of this time, finding that his efforts were useless, he put his cousins to death, and retired with the bulk of his army. But in order to molest Ragusa he built a castle at the head of the bridge connecting the town with the mainland, and left a small containing force behind. The Ragusans obtained possession of this stronghold by the following stratagem. After having bribed the commanders of the garrison by promising them land and honours in the city, they allowed a large consignment of wine to fall into the hands of the enemy; while the latter were making merry on it the burghers issued forth and put them all to the sword. The castle was destroyed, and the church of San Niccolò in Prijeki[74] erected on its site. These events are recorded as having occurred some time during the eleventh or twelfth century, but the accounts are by writers who lived several hundreds of years later. Probably there were wars with the Slaves in which incidents of a similar character occurred, but the seven years’ siege is pure fiction, and the name of Bodino is not found in any history of the Serbs or Croatians.
Another Servian war, on which we possess somewhat more reliable information, is that which broke out in 1184 between the Ragusans and Stephen Nemanja, King of the Serbs. An army commanded by the King himself attacked the city from the land side,[75] while a fleet under his brother, Miroslav, attacked it by sea. The citizens, under Michele Bobali, completely defeated the besiegers, who were ignorant of siege operations and quite unprovided with necessaries. On the Feast of the Three Martyrs,[76] September 27, 1186, peace was concluded.[77] Both sides agreed to forget past injuries, and Nemanja granted the Ragusans permission to trade in all parts of his dominions, while his own subjects were to be protected at Ragusa; but it was also stipulated that rebels should be prevented from using the city as a place in which to conspire against their sovereign. There was another stipulation, that should the King or his brother ever need a safe refuge, Ragusa should be open to them—a clause found in many subsequent treaties.
Venice in all that concerned Ragusa’s relations with the Slave states allowed the citizens to do as they pleased, even during the period when Venetian counts presided over its government. It was only in questions concerning maritime affairs that the Queen of the Adriatic asserted her authority over Ragusa from time to time.
This same year the Normans made another raid into Dalmatia, and occupied Ragusa and several other coast towns. Norman rule lasted until 1190, and does not seem to have left any traces beyond a few documents. The treaty of peace, dated September 27, 1186,[78] was drawn up “at the court of the most glorious King William and of the lord archbishop Tribunus, in the presence of Tasilgard, the Royal Chamberlain, of all the nobles, of Gervase the count (of Ragusa), and of all the people.” This shows that Ragusa was under a Norman count. Document xxii. of the Monumenta spectantia Historiam Slavorum Meridionalium is a treaty of peace between Ragusa and the Cazichi (another name for the Narentan, pirates): “And on the side of the Ragusans, Gervase the count swore to preserve this peace, without prejudice to his sovereign lord.... In the year of our Lord (1190), in the month of February, on the day of St. Blaize (the 3rd), the Assembly having been summoned by Gervase the count to the sound of the bell, we decided,” &c. Document xxiii., dated June 13, 1190, is a treaty between this same count of Ragusa and Miroslav, Prince of the Serbs, in which Gervase promises that the latter should receive hospitality at Ragusa if he ever required it, salvo sacramento domini nostri regi Tancredi.
The occupation of Ragusa by the Normans is evidently an episode in the wars which they waged against the Eastern Empire, and the town was probably seized merely as a basis for further operations. Gervase, who ruled the whole time, does not seem to have been an absolute despot, as the consent of the Assembly was required for all the acts of the Government. Norman rule in Dalmatia did not survive the death of Tancred and the consequent collapse of the Sicilian kingdom in 1190. In documents of a date posterior to this, such as the treaty with Fano in 1199,[79] with Ancona[80] of the same year, with Bari of 1201,[81] and with Termoli of 1203,[82] no mention either of Venetian or Norman counts is made, so that we may conclude that for the time being Ragusa enjoyed freedom from foreign rulers.