Rivalry of Venice and Hungary in Dalmatia, 1102–1420.—Unable
amid such dissensions to stand alone, unprotected by the
Eastern empire and hindered by their internal dissensions from
uniting in a defensive league, the city-states turned to Venice
and Hungary for support. The Venetians, to whom they were
already bound by race, language and culture, could afford to
concede liberal terms because their own principal aims was not
the territorial aggrandizement sought by Hungary, but only such
a supremacy as might prevent the development of any dangerous
political or commercial competitor on the eastern Adriatic.
Hungary had also its partisans; for in the Dalmatian city-states,
like those of Greece and Italy, there were almost invariably
two jealous political factions, each ready to oppose any measure
advocated by its antagonist. The origin of this division seems
here to have been economic. The farmers and the merchants
who traded in the interior naturally favoured Hungary, their
most powerful neighbour on land; while the seafaring community
looked to Venice as mistress of the Adriatic. In return
for protection, the cities often furnished a contingent to the
army or navy of their suzerain, and sometimes paid tribute
either in money or in kind. Arbe, for example, annually paid
ten pounds of silk or five pounds of gold to Venice. The citizens
clung to their municipal privileges, which were reaffirmed after
the conquest of Dalmatia in 1102–1105 by Coloman of Hungary.
Subject to the royal assent they might elect their own chief
magistrate, bishop and judges. Their Roman law remained
valid. They were even permitted to conclude separate alliances.
No alien, not even a Hungarian, could reside in a city where he
was unwelcome; and the man who disliked Hungarian dominion
could emigrate with all his household and property. In lieu of
tribute, the revenue from customs was in some cases shared
equally by the king, chief magistrate, bishop and municipality.
These rights and the analogous privileges granted by Venice
were, however, too frequently infringed, Hungarian garrisons
being quartered on unwilling towns, while Venice interfered
with trade, with the appointment of bishops, or with the tenure
of communal domains. Consequently the Dalmatians remained
loyal only while it suited their interests, and insurrections
frequently occurred. Even in Zara four outbreaks are recorded
between 1180 and 1345, although Zara was treated with special
consideration by its Venetian masters, who regarded its possession
as essential to their maritime ascendancy. The doubtful
allegiance of the Dalmatians tended to protract the struggle
between Venice and Hungary, which was further complicated by
internal discord due largely to the spread of the Bogomil heresy;
and by many outside influences, such as the vague suzerainty
still enjoyed by the Eastern emperors during the 12th century;
the assistance rendered to Venice by the armies of the Fourth
Crusade in 1202; and the Tartar invasion of Dalmatia forty years
later (see Traù). The Slavs were no longer regarded as a
hostile race, but the power of certain Croatian magnates, notably
the counts of Bribir, was from time to time supreme in the
northern districts (see Croatia-Slavonia); and Stephen
Tvrtko, the founder of the Bosnian kingdom, was able in 1389
to annex the whole Adriatic littoral between Cattaro and Fiume,
except Venetian Zara and his own independent ally, Ragusa (see
Bosnia and Herzegovina). Finally, the rapid decline of Bosnia,
and of Hungary itself when assailed by the Turks, rendered easy
the success of Venice; and in 1420 the whole of Dalmatia, except
Almissa, which yielded in 1444, and Ragusa, which preserved
its freedom, either submitted or was conquered. Many cities
welcomed the change with its promise of tranquillity.
Venetian and Turkish Rule, 1420–1797.—An interval of peace ensued, but meanwhile the Turkish advance continued. Constantinople fell in 1453, Servia in 1459, Bosnia in 1463 and Herzegovina in 1483. Thus the Venetian and Ottoman frontiers met; border wars were incessant; Ragusa sought safety in friendship with the invaders. In 1508 the hostile league of Cambrai compelled Venice to withdraw its garrison for home service, and after the overthrow of Hungary at Mohács in 1526 the Turks were able easily to conquer the greater part of Dalmatia. The peace of 1540 left only the maritime cities to Venice, the interior forming a Turkish province, governed from the fortress of Clissa by a Sanjakbeg, or administrator with military powers. Christian Slavs from the neighbouring lands now thronged to the towns, outnumbering the Italian population and introducing their own language, but falling under the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. The pirate community of the Uskoks (q.v.) had originally been a band of these fugitives; its exploits contributed to a renewal of war between Venice and Turkey (1571–1573). An extremely curious picture of contemporary manners is presented by the Venetian agents,[1] whose reports on this war resemble some knightly chronicle of the middle ages, full of single combats, tournaments and other chivalrous adventures. They also show clearly that the Dalmatian levies far surpassed the Italian mercenaries in skill and courage. Many of these troops served abroad; at Lepanto, for example, in 1571, a Dalmatian squadron assisted the allied fleets of Spain, Venice, Austria and the Papal States to crush the Turkish navy. A fresh war broke out in 1645, lasting intermittently until 1699, when the peace of Carlowitz gave the whole of Dalmatia to Venice, including the coast of Herzegovina, but excluding the domains of Ragusa and the protecting band of Ottoman territory which surrounded them. After further fighting this delimitation was confirmed in 1718 by the treaty of Passarowitz; and it remains valid, though modified by the destruction of Ragusan liberty and the substitution of Austria-Hungary for Venice and Turkey.
The intellectual life of Dalmatia during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries reached a higher level than any attained by the purely Slavonic peoples of the Balkan Peninsula. Its chief monuments are described elsewhere,—the work of the Ragusan poets and historians as a part of Servian literature, the scientific achievements of R. G. Boscovich and Marcantonio de Dominis in separate biographies. Architecture and art generally have been discussed above. But this intellectual development was the work of a small and opulent minority in all the cities except Ragusa. Popular education was neglected; Zara had no printing-press until 1796; Venetian Dalmatia possessed only one public school, and that an ecclesiastical seminary; and even the sons of the rich, though free to visit the universities of Italy, France, Holland and England, ran the risk of exile or worse punishment if they brought home too liberal a culture. Poorer students learned what they could from the clergy, and the peasantry were wholly illiterate. Although the secular power of the Church was strictly limited, the country was overrun by ecclesiastics. When Fortis visited the island of Arbe in the 18th century, he found a population of 3000, mostly fishermen, contributing to the stipends of sixty priests. There were also three monasteries and three nunneries. Heavy taxes, the salt monopoly, reckless destruction of timber, and a deliberate attempt to ruin the oil and silk industries, were among the means by which Venice prevented competition with its own trade. Although justice was fairly well administered and some show of municipal autonomy conceded, the right of electing a chief magistrate had been withheld after 1420; and the Grand Council or Senate of each city, losing its original democratic character, had degenerated into a mere tool of the resident Venetian agents (provveditori), officials who held their post for thirty-two months and were subject to little effective control. Nevertheless, 150 years of war against the common Turkish enemy had drawn the Venetians and their subjects closely together, and the loyalty of the Dalmatian soldiers and sailors abroad, if not of their fellow-citizens at home, rests beyond doubt.
Dalmatia after 1797.—After the fall of the Venetian republic in 1797, the treaty of Campo Formio gave Dalmatia to Austria. The republics of Ragusa and Poglizza retained their independence, and Ragusa grew rich by its neutrality during the earlier Napoleonic wars. By the peace of Pressburg in 1805 the country was handed over to France, but its occupation was ineffectually contested by a Russian force which seized the Bocche di Cattaro and induced the Montenegrins to render aid. Poglizza was
- ↑ Long extracts from these reports or diaries are published by Wilkinson, Dalmatia and Montenegro (London, 1840), ii. 297-350.
