Republic of Ancona
Republic of Ancona
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c. 1000 (1198)–1532 | |||||||||
Flag
(1174–1532) | |||||||||
Motto: Ancon dorica civitas fidei ( Roman Catholicism, Judaism | |||||||||
Government | oligarchic republic with popular representation | ||||||||
Historical era | Middle Ages, Renaissance | ||||||||
• gradual acquisition of autonomy | c. 1000 (1198) | ||||||||
• Coup d'état by pope Clement VII | 1532 | ||||||||
Currency | Agontano | ||||||||
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Today part of | Italy |
The Republic of Ancona was a
Included in the Papal States since 774,
Ancona was an oligarchic republic ruled by six Elders, elected by the three terzieri into which the city was divided: S. Pietro, Porto and Capodimonte. It had a series of maritime laws known as Statuti del mare e del Terzenale ('Statutes of the sea and of the arsenal') and Statuti della Dogana ('Statutes of the Customs').[7]
Maritime relations and warehouses
The fondachi (colonies with warehouses and accommodation buildings[8]) of the Republic of Ancona were continuously active in Constantinople, Alexandria and other Eastern Mediterranean ports, while the sorting of goods imported by land (especially textiles and spices) fell to the merchants of Lucca and Florence.[9]
In Constantinople there was perhaps the most important fondaco, where the Anconitans had their own church, Saint Stephen; in 1261 they were granted the privilege of having a chapel in the
Coins
The first reports of Ancona's medieval coinage begin in the 12th century when the independence of the city grew and it began to mint coinage without Imperial or papal oversight.[12] The agontano was the currency used by Republic of Ancona during its golden age. It was a large silver coin of 18–22 mm in diameter and a weight of 2.04–2.42 grams.[13]
Later and less famously Ancona began minting a gold Agnoto coin, also known as the Ancona Ducat. Specimens of this coin have survived from the 15th and 16th centuries, until the cities loss of independence in 1532.[14]
Art
The artistic history of the republic of Ancona has always been influenced by maritime relations with Dalmatia and the Levant.[15][16]
Its major medieval monuments show a union between
In the 14th century, Ancona was one of the centers of the so-called
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Byzantine sculptures inside the cathedral
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Prothyrum and bell tower of the cathedral
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Interior of the cathedral, with Byzantine plan (Greek cross)
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Cathedral, aerial view
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Church of Santa Maria di Portonovo, whose plan is a fusion of a Byzantine Greek cross and a romanesque basilica
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Loggia dei Mercanti, Giorgio da Sebenico (Adriatic Renaissance)
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Church of San Francesco alle Scale, Giorgio da Sebenico (Adriatic Renaissance)
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Romanesque church of Santa Maria della Piazza
The navigator and archaeologist
The navigator Grazioso Benincasa was born in Ancona; he was the best known Italian maritime cartographer of the fifteenth century and the author of several portolan charts of the Mediterranean.[19]
History
After 1000, Ancona became increasingly independent, eventually turning into an important
It was strong enough to push back the forces of the
In the struggle between the popes and the Holy Roman emperors that troubled Italy from the 12th century onwards, Ancona sided with the Guelphs.[20]
Originally named Communitas Anconitana (Latin for 'Anconitan community'), Ancona had an independence de facto: Pope Alexander III (around 1100–1181) declared it a free city within the Papal States; Pope Eugene IV confirmed the legal position defined by his predecessor and on September 2, 1443 officially declared it a republic, with the name Respublica Anconitana;[20][23] almost simultaneously Ragusa was officially called "republic",[24] confirming the fraternal bond that united the two Adriatic ports.
Unlike other cities of central and northern Italy, Ancona never became a
Communities in the Republic
Ancona had Greek, Albanian, Dalmatian, Armenian, Turkish and Jewish communities.[25]
Ancona, as well as Venice, became a very important destination for merchants from the
In 1531 the Confraternity of the Greeks (Confraternita dei Greci) was established which included
In 1534 a decision by Pope Paul III favoured the activity of merchants of all nationalities and religions from the Levant and allowed them to settle in Ancona with their families. A Venetian travelling through Ancona in 1535 recorded that the city was "full of merchants from every nation and mostly Greeks and Turks." In the second half of the 16th century, the presence of Greek and other merchants from the Ottoman Empire declined after a series of restrictive measures taken by the Italian authorities and the pope.[27]
Disputes between the
Commercial law
The Ancona trade in the Levant was the promoter of the birth of commercial law: the jurist Benvenuto Stracca (Ancona, 1509–1579) published in 1553 the treatise De mercatura seu mercatore tractats; it was one of the first, if not the first, legal imprint dealing specifically with commercial law. This treatise focused on merchants and merchant contracts, practices and maritime rights, to which he soon added extensive discussions of bankruptcy, factors and commissions, third party transfers, and insurance. For this reason, Stracca is often considered the father of the commercial law and author of the first Italian treatise on insurance contracts.[30]
Alliance with Ragusa
Commercial competition among Venice, Ancona and Ragusa was very strong because all of them bordered the Adriatic Sea. They fought open battles on more than one occasion. Venice, aware of its major economic and military power, disliked competition from other maritime cities in the Adriatic. Several Adriatic ports were under Venetian rule, but Ancona and Ragusa retained their independence. To avoid succumbing to Venetian rule, these two republics made multiple lasting alliances.
Venice conquered Ragusa in 1205 and held it until 1382 when Ragusa regained de facto freedom, paying tributes first to the Hungarians, and after the Battle of Mohács, to the Ottoman Empire. During this period Ragusa reconfirmed its old alliance with Ancona.
Bibliography
- John Phillip Lomax (2004). "Ancona". In Christopher Kleinhenz (ed.). Medieval Italy: an Encyclopedia. Routledge. pp. 30–31. ISBN 0415939291.
- Peter Earle (1969), "The commercial development of Ancona, 1479–1551", Economic History Review, 2nd ser., vol. 22, pp. 28–44
- Joachim-Felix Leonhard, Ancona nel Basso Medioevo. La politica estera e commerciale dalla prima crociata al secolo XV Il lavoro editoriale, Ancona 1992 (original edition: Die Seestadt Ancona im Spätmittelalter, Niemeyer Max Verlag GmbH, 1983);
- hdl:2027/hvd.ah5cuq.
- "Ancona". hdl:2027/njp.32101065312868.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - Victor Castiglione (1901), "Ancona", hdl:2027/mdp.49015002282318)
{{citation}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - "Ancona", Central Italy and Rome: Handbook for Travellers (15th ed.), Leipzig: OCLC 423237
- Ashby, Thomas (1911). . In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 01 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 951–952.
- Benjamin Vincent (1910), "Ancona",
- Roy Domenico (2002). "Marche: Ancona". Regions of Italy: a Reference Guide to History and Culture. Greenwood. pp. 209+. ISBN 0313307334.
References
- ^ The International Geographic Encyclopedia and Atlas, Ancona (p. 27), Springer, 1979. ISBN 9781349050024.
- ^
- Dizionari Zanichelli, chapter Repubbliche marinare
- Armando Lodolini Le repubbliche del mare, chapter Ancona;
- Enciclopedia Treccani, Ancona
- Guida rossa (red guide) of Touring Club Italiano, Marche, pp. 88 e 104
- ^ a b c d Guida rossa (red guide) of Touring Club Italiano (page 88).
- ^
- Francis F. Carter, Dubrovnik (Ragusa): A Classical City-state, publisher: Seminar Press, London-New York, 1972 ISBN 978-0-12-812950-0;
- Robin Harris, Dubrovnik: A History, publisher: Saqi Books, 2006. p. 127, ISBN 978-0-86356-959-3
- Francis F. Carter, Dubrovnik (Ragusa): A Classical City-state, publisher: Seminar Press, London-New York, 1972
- ^ Armando Lodolini, Le repubbliche del mare, publisher: Biblioteca di storia patria, Rome, 1967 (chapter Ancona)
- ^ World Vexilology and Heraldry: Italy – Centre
- ^ James Reddie, Historical View of the Law of Maritime Commerce, W. Blackwood and sons, 1841.
- ^ These were small gated enclaves within a city, often just a single street, where the laws of the city were administered by a governor appointed from home, and there would be a church under home jurisdiction and shops with Italian styles of food.
- ^ a b Guglielmo Heyd, Le colonie commerciali degli Italiani in Oriente nel Medioevo, volume 1; Antonelli, 1868.
- ^ http://www.musinf.it/documenti/ComStampa_AraGuler.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ Antonio Leoni, Historia of Ancona of 1812 .
- ISBN 978-88-7663-451-2
- ^ Lucia Travaini, L'Agontano: una moneta d'argento per l'Italia medievale, Societa' Numismatica Italiana, 2003.
- ^ Ducato aureo emesso dalla zecca di Ancona nel XV secolo
- ^ a b Michele Polverari, Ancona e Bisanzio, pinacoteca comunale di Ancona, 1993
- ^ a b
- Pietro Zampetti, Pittura nelle Marche, Nardini editore, Firenze, 1988 (pagina 333);
- Fabio Mariano, La Loggia dei Mercanti in Ancona e l'opera di Giorgio di Matteo da Sebenico, editrice Il lavoro editoriale, 2003 ISBN 88-7663-346-4.
- ^ Edward W. Bodnar, Later travels, with Clive Foss
- ^ Gianfranco Paci, Sergio Sconocchia, Ciriaco d'Ancona e la cultura antiquaria dell'umanesimo, Diabasis, 1998; Diana Gilliland Wright (January 2012). "To Tell You Something Special". Retrieved 26 March 2012..
- ^
- Enciclopedia Treccani, Grazioso Benincasa;
- The Italian cartographers of the Benincasa and Freducci Families and the so-called Borgiana Map of the Vatican Library, in Imago Mundi, X (1953), pp. 23–45
- ^ a b c d Mario Natalucci, Ancona attraverso i secoli – Dalle origini alla fine del Quattrocento, Unione arti grafiche, 1961.
- ^ Frederic Chapin Lane. Venice, A Maritime Republic, JHU Press, 1973 (p. 63)
- ^ Justine Firnhaber-Baker, Dirk Schoenaers, The Routledge History Handbook of Medieval Revolt, Taylor & Francis, 2016 (p. 143).
- ^ The act, with the name of Liber croceus magnus, is preserved at Ancona State Archive
- ^
Josip Vrandečić, Miroslav Bertoša, Dalmacija, Dubrovnik i Istra u ranome novom vijeku , Barbat, 2007 (page 17); James Stewart, Croatia , New Holland Publishers, 2006 (page 285) - ^ Marina Massa, Il patrimonio disperso: il "caso" esemplare di Carlo Crivelli, Regione Marche, 1999 (page 214).
- ^ Mario Natralucci, Ancona durante i secoli, 1960.
- ^ a b c Jan W. Woś, La comunità greca di Ancona alla fine del secolo XVI, Tipografia Sonciniana, 1979
- ^ Greene Molly (2010) Catholic pirates and Greek merchants: a maritime history of the Mediterranean. Princeton University Press, Britain, pp. 15–51.
- ^ Rentetzi Efthalia (2007) La chiesa di Sant' Anna dei Greci di Ancona. Thesaurismata (Instituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini di Venezia), vol. 37.
- ^
- Modernisation, National Identity and Legal Instrumentalism. Studies in Comparative Legal History. Vol. I: Private Law. Brill. 2019. p. 118.
- Piergiovanni, Vito (1987). The Courts and the Development of Commercial Law. Duncker & Humblot. p. 14.
- "Benvenuto Stracca", Encyclopedia Treccani