Here follows a list of notable Ragusans and Rectors of the Republic of Ragusa (also known as the Republic of Dubrovnik), a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik on the eastern coast of the Adriatic.
Note on first and last names Reflecting the dual Romance and Slavic influence on Ragusan culture, most Ragusan noble families, as well as members of the citizen class, used both Romance and Slavic versions of their first and last names, especially since the Late Middle Ages onward, while the lower classes mostly only used Slavic names. Some used only one version of their family name exclusively, e.g. the noble families Natali and Zlatarić. Since the official language of the Republic was always from the Romance language group, the official records record the last names almost exclusively in those versions, although in the older records the first names can be found in Slavic. Members of noble families, even those originally of Slavic descent, used the Slavic forms of their family names in an unofficial capacity in literary works written in Slavic, and in an official capacity only in treaties that the Ragusan State signed with its neighboring Slavic states in their language and script. In the noble class' everyday usage, most commonly the first name was in Slavic and the last name in Italian, a traditional practice which has continued until today, and transformed into official. When only the Romance version of a first or last name appears in the sources, modern Croatian and Serbian scientific literature very frequently translates it creating a new slavicized version, which often results in various errors due to insufficient knowledge of Ragusan traditions, e.g. erroneously using non-Ragusan Slavic form "Vinko" instead of Ragusan Slavic form "Vicko", or "Blaž" instead of "Vlaho", or incorrectly adapting a Romance version while ignoring actual Ragusan usage, e.g. "Natal" instead of "Božo", "Junije" instead of "Džono".
When several persons had the same first and last name, it was Ragusan custom to append the father's name in the genitive case, also changing the declension of the last name (in Ragusan the genitive case for nouns ending in -o is -a), e.g. there were two persons named Đivo Gundulić, so one was called Đivo Frana Gundulića, and the other Đivo Nika Gundulića (in modern literature this is sometimes indicated with the possessive determiner -ov, thus Franov, Nikov, translated to English as Frano's, Niko's). When translating this into Latin, the genitive case was kept, e.g. Joannes Francisci Gundulae, however, when translating into languages in which names do not have grammatical cases (such as Italian) it was written as effectively a middle name (Giovanni Francesco Gondola). It is important to differentiate this from actual middle names, such as Roger Joseph Boscovich, an example where the names were also anglicized.
Some examples of Romance and Slavic versions of last names:
Bassegli, Basilio - Basiljević Bobali, Babalio - Bobaljević Bona - Bunić Bonda - Bundić Caboga - Kabužić Cerva, Cervinus - Crijević Ghetaldi - Getaldić Giorgi - Đorđić, Đurđević Gondola - Gundulić Gozze - Gučetić Gradi - Gradić Luccari - Lukarević Menze - Menčetić Palmotta - Palmotić Pozza - Pucić Resti - Rastić, Restić Sorgo - Sorkočević Stay - Stojković Zamagna - Zamanja, Zamanjić
Notable Ragusans
14th century Franco Sacchetti (c.1335–1400) - poet and short story writer, his father was a Florentine merchant.
15th century Benedetto Cotrugli (1416–1469) - merchant, humanist, scientist, diplomat Džore Držić (1461–1501) - poet and playwright Bonino De Boninis (1454–1528) - printer and publisher Mavro Vetranović (1482/1483-1576) - Benedictine, writer Šiško Menčetić (1457–1527) - poet and nobleman Elio Lampridio Cerva (c. 1460 - 1520) - orator, lexicographer, poet of Latin laudes, Paladino Gondola (fl. 1423–1472) - diplomat and merchant
16th century Savino Bobali (1530–1585) - writer Nikola Nalješković (1505–1587) - poet, playwright and scientist Marin Držić (1508–1567) - playwright and poet Cvijeta Zuzorić (1555-c.1600) - poet Marino Ghetaldi (1568–1626) - scientist, mathematician and physicist Ivan Bunić Vučić (1591–1658) - politician and poet Dinko Zlatarić (1558–1613) - poet and translator Maria Gondola-Gozze (*1585) - poet Nikola Vitov Gučetić (1549–1610) - statesman, philosopher, scientist Ivan Gundulić (1589–1638) - writer, poet, statesman, nobleman Dinko Ranjina (1536–1607) - poet Nikša Ranjina (1494–1577) - collector of poems Trojan Gundulić - merchant, printer Mavro Orbini (mid-16th century -1614) - writer, ideologist and historian
Luco Ghetaldi - writer Božo Tudisi - writer Niko Primi - writer Đulia Bona - poet Miho Monaldi - writer
17th century Vladislav Menčetić (1600/1617- 1666) - poet Giorgio Baglivi (1668–1707) - physician and researcher Junije Palmotić (1607–1657) - writer, nobleman and dramatist Dživo Šiškov Gundulić (1677–1721) - nobleman, poet Šišmundo Gundulić (1634–1682) - politician (Rector) poet, nobleman Brno Ghetaldi - clergyman and historian Stjepan Gradić (1613–1683) - philosopher and scientist Frano Điva Gundulića (1630–1700) - nobleman and soldier (Austrian marshal) Beno Rogacci (1646–1719) - Jesuit, poet Ignjat Đurđević (1675–1737) - poet and translator
18th century
Serafino Cerva (1696–1759) - historian and encyclopedist Sebastiano Dolci (1699–1777) - writer and Franciscan Đivo Frana Sorgo (1706–1771) - writer, poet Rajmundo Kunić (1719–1794) - writer and humanist Roger Joseph Boscovich (1711–1787) - physicist, astronomer, mathematician, philosopher, diplomat, poet, and Jesuit Đuro Ferić (1739–1820) - Jesuit, general-bicar Šišmundo Ghetaldi-Gondola (1795–1860) - politician, nobleman Vlaho Getaldić (1788–1872) - nobleman, politician, poet Luko Stulić (1772–1828) - scientist and physician Antun Kaznačić (1784–1874) - writer Marc Bruère (1770–1823) - writer, diplomat, dramatist and nobleman Jeronim Ljubibratić (1716–1779) - nobleman, soldier (Austrian marshal) Ivan Mane Jarnović (1740–1804) - composer Bernardo Zamagna (1735–1820) - theologian, Jesuit, and Dominican Giunio Resti (1755–1814) - politician, writer, nobleman Elena Pucić-Sorkočević (1786–1865) - composer Pijerko Franatice Sorga (1749–1826) - nobleman, writer, poet Antun Sorkočević (1775–1841) - diplomat, writer, composer Luka Sorkočević / Luca Sorgo (1734–1789) - diplomat and composer Benedetto Stay (1714–1801) - Jesuit and theologian Joakim Stulić (1730–1817) - lexicographer and linguist Bernardin Pavlović - Franciscan, writer Vito Marija Bettera-Vodopić (1771–1841) - soldier, politician, Dubrovnik patriot Bernhard Caboga-Cerva (1785–1855) - nobleman and soldier (Austrian marshall)
Partial list of rectors of the Ragusan Republic (1358-1808)
See also
Republic of Ragusa Dubrovnik List of people from Dubrovnik
Sources Zbornik Župe dubrovačke, Author Pero Butigan, Franica Grbić, Ivo Grbić, Josipa Kerner, Ivan Bošković, Mirjana Butigan Heyer von Rosenfeld, Carl Georg Friedrich, Der Adel des Königreiches Dalmatien, J. Siebmacher's grosses und allgemeines Wappenbuch, Nürnberg, 1873.
References