The Myth of Dubrovnik (Ragusa): Civic Identity of an Adriatic City-State in the Late Medieval and Early Modern Period

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................9
The Problem: History of a Collective Auto-portrait...................................9
The Context: Renaissance Ragusa and Its Patriciate................................. 11
Methodology: Identity and Discourse.......................................................... 18
CHAPTER 1: THE DISCOURSE ON ORIGIN.......................................... 23
Introduction: The Relevance of Origin in
Medieval and Renaissance Culture................................................................ 23
The Foundation of Ragusa in Medieval Tradition..................................... 26
The Foundation of Ragusa in Renaissance Historiography..................... 31
Creating an Illustrious Predecessor:
Changes in Epidaurus’ Image.......................................................................... 37
The Origins of the City and the Origins of the Patriciate........................ 51
Roman Past, Slavic Present: Discomfort in Ragusan Culture................. 61
Projecting Independence and Christian
Religion into the Founding Moment............................................................ 69
Conclusion: The Ragusan Discourse
on Origins in Comparative Perspective........................................................ 73
CHAPTER 2: THE DISCOURSE ON STATEHOOD.............................. 83
Introduction: The Patriciate and Its Libertas.............................................. 83
The First Articulations of Independence:
Ragusa and the Hungarian Kingdom........................................................... 86
A Most Embarrassing Relationship:
Ragusa as an Ottoman Tributary State.......................................................104
“The Liberty Given by God’’:
Ragusa as a Fully Independent Republic....................................................121
The “Purest” of Aristocracies:
Representations of the Ragusan Political System.....................................144
Conclusion: The Ragusan Discourse on
Statehood in Comparative Perspective.......................................................162
CHAPTER 3: THE DISCOURSE ON THE FRONTIER......................169
Introduction: A City “In-between”.............................................................169
Ragusa as a Christian Frontier Guard in the Medieval Tradition.........171
“Shelter, Shield, and Firm Bastion of the Entire Christian Republic’’:
The Representations of Tributary Status
in Ragusan Renaissance Diplomacy............................................................177
Infidel Slavery or Defense of Faith: References to
the Frontier in Ragusan Renaissance Culture...........................................194
Conclusion: The Ragusan Discourse on
the Frontier in Comparative Perspective....................................................210
CONCLUSION: CIVIC DISCOURSES IN
THE BROADER IDEOLOGICAL CONTEXT........................................221
EPILOGUE: RAGUSAN ECHOES................................................................227
BIBLIOGRAPHY..................................................................................................243
Archival Sources..............................................................................................243
Published Sources............................................................................................245
Secondary Literature......................................................................................253