The Closing of the Nobility and Council of Dubrovnik in the Political and Social Context of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Century

Abstract

This article addresses the closing of the nobility and Major Council of Dubrovnik as a long-term process most clearly articulated in the course of the thirteenth and fourteenth century. Analysed are the criteria used for the definition of nobility and its closing before the actual closure of the council, while special attention has been given to the preserved lists of the Major Council membership from the mid-thirteenth and early fourteenth century, their purpose and effect. As the Venetian Serrata of the last decades of the thirteenth and first decades of the fourteenth century proved to have been a model and impetus for the closing of the Ragusan along with other Dalmatian councils, its meaning as well as different interpretations of this process are being thoroughly considered. The article compares the method and effects of the closing of the Ragusan council with those of other cities of the Eastern Adriatic. The interpretation of these processes as presented in Ragusan chronicles inaugurates the final assessment of the significance and consequences of the closing of the Major Council of Dubrovnik.