CONSERVATIVE

This became still more the case in the state of
Dubrovnik, whose major preoccupation throughout
its existence was to ensure that no individual or clique
became too powerful.
This is one reason, incidentally, why the
picture we have of so many Ragusans is rather grey.
Conformity, uniformity, and equality—at least among
the noble patricians who ran the state’s affairs—were
emphasised. Decisions were collective wherever
possible. The only Ragusan citizen to have a statue
erected in his honour—in this case a rather uninspiring
bust in the courtyard of the Rector’s Palace—was
Miho Pracat. He was a commoner, a hugely wealthy
merchant from Lopud, and great civic philanthropist.
And even then the Ragusan Senate wrangled for years
before it agreed to commission the work. This attitude
was part of the Venetian legacy.
Hungary
The final stage of Dubrovnik’s political
development towards an autonomy, which can
reasonably be described as independence, was made
under Hungarian allegiance. Having been routed in
their war with Hungary, the Venetians left Dubrovnik
for good in 1358.
The Dubrovnik patriciate now managed, by an
extraordinarily skilful use of diplomacy and influence,
to secure terms of submission to the Hungarian King
which were unique in Dalmatia. Dubrovnik could
choose its own Rector (as the Count began now to be
called) from among its own citizens. It conducted its
own foreign policy. It minted its own coinage.
True, it flew the Hungarian flag and employed
Hungarian guards—called barabanti—to guard its
fortresses. It also paid a modest tribute, undertook
to assist the Hungarians in certain circumstances, and
honoured the Hungarian King with laudes chanted in
the cathedral. But for all practical purposes Dubrovnik
was its own master. The city then acquired its splendid
coat of arms.
Dubrovnik also undertook further territorial
expansion. In later years, Dubrovnik made much of
its peaceful instincts, its preference for diplomacy over
war, its interest in commerce not aggrandisement. But
these were really typical Ragusan attempts to make a
virtue of necessity once the arrival of the Ottoman
Empire transformed the military situation in the
Balkans. Whenever they could, the Ragusans grabbed
quite shamelessly, and quite successfully too.
The Ottomans
The Turkish-Ragusan relationship is surely one
of the most remarkable symbioses to be found in
European history. Dubrovnik began tentative dealings
with the Ottoman invaders from the late 14th century,
but it strenuously sought to avoid paying tribute to the
An aerial view of the coastal city of Dubrovnik in Croatia.
DENNIS JARVIS/CC BY-SA 2.0
The European Conservative 21