Part of the figures of the date are erased, but as Martin V. was Pope from 1417 to 1431, and Sigismund Emperor from 1411 to 1437, the full date should be MCCCCXVIII, or MCCCCXXIII, or MCCCCXX with the III as the day of the month. There is no mention of Sigismund’s title of King of Bohemia, which he assumed in 1419, so that the earlier date seems more probable, according to Professor Gelcich. On the other hand, in this case the day of the month would not be mentioned, and as the year 1420 was that of the end of Hungarian rule in Dalmatia (the Convention of Cattaro was signed on March 8, 1420), it is likely that this column was erected to reconfirm Ragusa’s allegiance to the Hungarian crown, as well as to proclaim its independence from Venice. The date, May 3, may have some connection with the aforementioned festival.
CHAPTER VIII
THE TURKISH CONQUEST (1420-1526)
FOR the next hundred years Ragusa remains under Hungarian protection, but bound by ties so shadowy that for all practical purposes she may be regarded as an independent State. During this period, however, she feels the weight of Turkish power more and more, and her tribute to the Porte goes on increasing, until it reaches the maximum limit of 12,500 ducats. But in spite of this ever-present danger she continues to grow in wealth, splendour, and importance, and to carry out her mission as a haven of refuge and a bulwark of Christianity and civilisation. She flourishes as a centre of learning and the arts no less than as an emporium of trade, and all the while she remains singularly free from internal troubles and constitutional changes—a unique distinction in that part of the world. She pursues the even tenour of her way undisturbed, conservative, aristocratic, narrow-minded, but on the whole successful and prosperous, and her population contented.
Very different was the condition of the neighbouring Balkan lands. Bosnia was for the present fairly quiet; the Turks had been driven out of the country, and their leader, Isak Beg, defeated in a raid into Hungary, so that King Tvrtko was able to reoccupy Vrhbosna, and Sandalj Hranić recognised his supremacy for the time being. The long civil war in Croatia and Dalmatia between the partisans of Sigismund and those of Ladislas had resulted in the acquisition of the littoral by Venice, and the only prince who remained independent of the Republic was Ivan Nelipić, Count of Četin, Klissa, and Rama. His estates comprised Western Bosnia and some districts of Hlum and Dalmatia. He could not, of course, face the Venetians on the sea, but he managed to hold his own on the mountain ridges.[364] The Venetians and Tvrtko were ready to come to an understanding on this matter, and a war against Nelipić was under discussion when the Turks again invaded Bosnia. There were 4000 Ottomans in the country all through the summer of 1426, and they seized a number of towns and raided Croatia, Usora, and Srebrnica, while King Tvrtko did not dare to do anything against them.[365] The Ragusan colonies in Novobrdo and Priesrinac were besieged by the Turks and in great danger. The Venetians conducted further operations against them in Albania, the Morea, Achaia, and round Salonica. The routes through Albania, Bosnia, and Slavonia were interrupted,[366] and the inland trade at a standstill.
Sandalj Hranić for a moment seemed to appreciate the danger, and after a visit to Ragusa in 1424, made peace with Radosav Paulović, who now seemed ready to sell his share of Canali to Ragusa for 13,000 ducats down and 600 a year. The Republic created him and his son Ragusan nobles, and gave them a palace in the town.[367] But he soon repented of his bargain, and demanded back the territory, with the excuse that the Ragusans were fortifying it contrary to the treaty. The Ragusans refused to evacuate it, and Radosav collected a large force to make war on them. The Republic raised local levies and mercenaries in Italy, Albania, the Narenta Valley, the Kraina, and Hlum. A band of Italian mercenaries was attacked by Radosav at the Pass of Ljuta and forced to retire, and the enemy raided Breno. An Albanian force went to lay waste Radosav’s lands, while a mixed detachment of Ragusans and Albanians, 1800 strong, under Marino Gozze, made for Trebinje; but the Albanians mutinied, Radosav fell on the divided force, and Gozze had great difficulty in retiring to Breno in good order.[368] More troops were levied in Ragusa and 2000 more mercenaries obtained from Albania and Italy, while envoys were sent at the same time to the Hungarian court to protest against Radosav’s conduct, and to request that troops should be sent against him from Usora. The argument was strengthened by the assertion that Radosav was a Bogomil.[369] A little later another request was made to Sigismund that he should instruct the ambassador he was sending to Sultan Murad II. to ask the latter to punish Radosav, who, although an Ottoman vassal, had violated the truce with Hungary by attacking a town under Hungarian protection.[370] This proves that Radosav was already a tributary to the Turks, and also explains why Sandalj and the King of Bosnia feared to help Ragusa against him, although they were on good terms with the Republic. The Hungarian ambassador, however, was not given the instructions suggested, and a Ragusan envoy had to be sent as well. Finally, Sigismund did intervene directly, and formed an alliance with Bosnia, Ragusa, and Sandalj against Radosav, and 70,000 ducats, of which Bosnia was to pay 40,000, Sandalj 20,000, and Ragusa 10,000, were offered to the Sultan for permission to divide up all his territories between them. The Sultan sent a Pasha to make inquiries on the spot, and he confirmed the Republic’s possession of the land it had bought and Radosav raided, and demanded compensation for the damage inflicted.[371] Finally, after endless negotiations at the Sultan’s court at Adrianople[372] an agreement was concluded by which the Republic retained the territory it had purchased, and was to keep the interest of the money invested by Radosav at Ragusa for twelve years as compensation; prisoners were to be released on both sides without ransom; certain special enemies of the Republic were to be exiled from Radosav’s court, and all damage done to Ragusan territory in future by his vojvods was to be paid for by him (1432).
In 1431 the Council of Basel had met, and one of its most active members was Johannes Stoicus of Ragusa, who made every effort to promote the union of the Eastern and the Western Churches, and end the religious strife in the Balkans with a view to common action against the Turks. He requested the Ragusan Senate to try to induce the chief princes of Servia and Bosnia, whether schismatics or Bogomils, to send envoys to Basel. The attempt was actually made, but the whole country was in such a state of anarchy and rebellion that none of them were able to pay any attention to the matter.[373]
A war had broken out between the King of Bosnia and Stephen Lazarević, Despot of Servia, which was destined to last for thirty years. All the Slave princes were fighting amongst themselves, and Ragusa had another opportunity of extending her dominions far into the interior had she been so minded. But according to Resti, the reason why she abstained was that she realised that the Turks had earmarked all that country, and that for her to occupy it would be to court annihilation, and Trebinje, which was now offered to her, was refused. It seemed more prudent to content herself with a small compact territory and with acting the part of intermediary between East and West, civilisation and barbarism, Christianity and Islam, than to aspire to dangerous conquests. The Ragusan despatches for the next few years are full of the Turkish advance. In 1432 Isak Beg invaded Croatia, passing through Bosnia with 3000 men, and raided the territory of Zara, while another army entered Wallachia and Transsilvania, forcing the lord of Wallachia to recognise the Sultan’s supremacy. Two years later, however, the Turks met with a serious check in Albania, where a native force under Arneth Spata defeated the invaders several times; in 1435 Isak Beg himself sustained a reverse, and most of Albania was cleared of the Turks.[374] But the wars amongst the Slaves made organised resistance impossible, and Sandalj Hranić, whose power now extended throughout Hlum to the borders of Croatia in the north, far into the Zedda in the south, and as far as Podrinje in the east, took the opportunity of the war between the King of Bosnia and the Despot of Servia to join the latter in buying of the Sultan the right to despoil the former of his kingdom. The Despot received Usora and Zvornik, while Sandalj was to take the rest.[375] Tvrtko, whose power had been slipping from him, was now forced to fly, and took refuge with Sigismund of Hungary;[376] but the civil war continued. On March 15, 1435, Sandalj died, leaving his broad lands to his nephew, Stephen Vukčić, generally known as Stephen Kosača,[377] who afterwards assumed the title of Duke[378] of St. Sava, because the shrine of that saint was in his dominions. The same year Ivan Nelipić, the last of the independent Croatian counts, died, and his estates were annexed by the Hungarian king and divided among the Ragusan citizens Matthew, Francis, Peter, and John of Talovac (or Thallovez) as a reward for their services to Hungary. Kosača, regardless of the Turkish danger, continued his petty intrigues; he at once began to quarrel with Radosav Paulović, who was in a sense his vassal, and each made a bid for Turkish help. Ragusa attempted to mediate between them and to dissuade them from calling in the enemy, but Kosača asked for and obtained 1500 Turks to reduce Radosav to obedience.[379] In 1438 he invaded the plain of Trebinje, which was under the latter’s jurisdiction, and forced the inhabitants to fly into Ragusan territory. Later he proposed to Peter and Matthew of Talovac to attack Ragusa itself, but they refused, and the Republic on being informed intrigued against the Duke, and told the King of Hungary that he was merely an instrument of the Turks.
In 1436 the Sultan Murad again invaded Bosnia, and captured Vrhbosna, which henceforth became the Turkish headquarters in the country.[380] King Tvrtko now returned with Hungarian help, but he found his whole kingdom devastated, Usora, Srebrnica, and Zvornick held by the Despot of Servia, and the rest by the Turks, or by vojvods who were Turkish vassals. He was therefore forced to agree to pay the Sultan a yearly tribute of 25,000 ducats. The real ruler of Bosnia was now Murad, who alludes to it as part of his own dominions in a privilege granted to the Ragusans in 1442, allowing them to trade “in Romania, Bulgaria, Wallachia, Servia, Albania, Bosnia, and all other lands, places, and cities under my rule.”[381] In 1440 he conquered the whole of Servia with the exception of Belgrad, which was gallantly defended by the Hungarian garrison commanded by the Ragusan Giovanni Luccari. The Sultan retired baffled, but the Despot George was forced to fly, and took refuge at Ragusa with his treasure. The following year the Sultan, Isak Beg, and the Pasha of Romania all sent to demand the surrender of the Despot, offering the Republic his treasure and an increase of territory between Cattaro and the Drina as a bribe. The citizens refused to violate the laws of hospitality,[382] but at the same time, as George was an inconvenient guest, it was hinted to him that he had better leave the city. He agreed, and suggested going to Constantinople; but the Senate dissuaded him from doing so owing to the parlous condition of the Eastern Empire. So he went to Hungary instead on a Ragusan galley.[383] Murad determined to punish the Republic for this refusal, and arrested all the Ragusans in his dominions, the ambassadors themselves escaping with difficulty to Constantinople. He then prepared to attack the city by land and sea, and the citizens strengthened their defences, increased their military forces, enlisted foreign mercenaries, and secured the services of an Italian engineer. The Turkish menace was notified to the Pope and to the King of Bosnia, while at the same time the Senate tried to bribe the Sultan by offering to raise the tribute to 1400 ducats. According to local historians, Murad desisted from his proposals out of admiration for the magnanimity of the citizens in respecting the laws of hospitality; but the real reason is probably to be found in his alarm at the attitude of Hungary, and in the fact that the city’s defences promised a long and difficult siege. In any case Murad was pacified, and in 1443 Ali Beg arrived at Ragusa, and a treaty of peace was signed which returned to the status quo.[384] King Sigismund had been operating against the Turks in various directions, and obtained the loan of some Ragusan ships to transport the Sultan’s rebellious son (or brother) from Segna to Albania.[385] But he was not very successful in any direction, and it seemed as though the end of the Bosnian kingdom were at hand. On his death he was succeeded by Albert, who died soon after, and then the Polish King Ladislas came to the throne, and to the rescue. It is interesting to note that in the embassy sent to him by Tvrtko to ask for help allusion was made to the common origin of the Bosnians and the Poles—an early expression of pan-Slavism.[386] Ladislas was assisted by the famous leader John Hunyadi, who in 1442 defeated the Turks again and again in the Carpathians. In June 1443 Ladislas and Hunyadi, with an army of Hungarians, Serbs, Bosnians, and Bulgarians, invaded the enemy’s country and defeated Murad at the Kunovica Pass near Philippopolis. Peace was signed between Hungary and the Turks soon after, by the terms of which Servia was given back to the Despot George Branković, and Bosnia freed from the invaders, but Stephen Tvrtko died before this was accomplished. He was succeeded by Stephen Thomas, who in September 1444 held a Diet of the Magnates at Kreševo, where the Ragusan envoys came to greet him on his accession. He confirmed the Republic in possession of the Primorije and of Canali, for which he was to receive the Servian tribute of 2000 ipperperi on St. Demetrius’s day, and the Bosnian tribute of 500 on that of San Biagio. This shows that Bosnia was once more the chief South-Slavonic State and had annexed all the western part of the former dominions of the Servian Tsars. Servia itself was little more than a vassal State of the Turks. During the war Ragusa had made gifts and paid tribute to the Sultan to secure immunity for the Ragusan merchants in Turkish territory and obtain the renewal of the privileges. To this the King of Hungary does not seem to have taken much exception.[387]