The origin of Dubrovnik, or Ragusa as it was more generally known until the creation of Jugoslavia, is very obscure. Nevertheless all authorities agree that, like Ancient Rome and Venice, it started as a place of refuge, and like these two cities it became a free and independent republic. Indeed Dubrovnik owes the wealth of its monuments and its traditional culture to more than nine centuries of freedom of which the first five hundred years were spent under the protection of the Byzantines, the Venetians, and the Hungarians successively, and the last four hundred years as a sovereign state.
In the seventh century the Roman cities of Salona and of Epidaurum were destroyed by the Slavs, and it is believed that the inhabitants of these two towns fled to the rocky promontory on which Dubrovnik now stands.
For centuries there had been a Hellenic colony at Epidaurum about ten miles awat on the site of the present village of Cavtat or Ragusavecchia, as it is called on some maps.
Because of the Roman occupation these people had become Latin in culture and speech, though the country all around them was peopled by Slavs.
When they fled, they established themselves on the rocky heights which form the southern half of Dubrovnik and were then separated from another granite reef by a marshy creek.
Later on, Bosnians from the mailand settled on the north side of this channel, so that in its early days the town was divided into two separate communities, the first known as the Latin city, and the second as the Slav city.
Eventually the original settlers absorbed the opposite ward and fortifications were constructed more or less following the lines of the ramparts still standing today.
Ragusa, as it was called by the Latins, developed gradually under the protection of the Byzantine emperors, though inevitably it had its vicissitudes. Towards the end of the ninth century, it was beseiged for over a year by the Saracens until relief came by a fleet sent from Constantinople. There is a tradition that the chief of the beleaguered garrison was Orlando (Roland), one of Charlemagne's paladins who was in command of the expeditionary force that conquered and occupied northern Dalmatia. Since the hero of Ronceval had died whilst fighting the Spanish at the beginning of the century, this is manifestly impossible, but it is interesting to note that he has continued to be a legendary figure along the whole of the coast, and that Carolingian remains are to be found in the neighborhood of Split, southeast of Dubrovnik.
Towards the year 1175, Ragusa became a protectorate of Venice at the end of a war between that Republic and the Byzantines. The Doges sent a Count to watch over the interests of their country, and to preside over the local Senate. Like many a British proconsul since, this official swore that he would respect local liberties and customs at the solemn ceremony of his installation.
Doubtless, the first contacts with the Serene Republic helped to foster trade, for Ragusa became increasingly prosperous. Pack-horses and mules brought hides, wax, and silver over the mountains from Bosnia and from Serbia, and took back with them wine, salt, and Italian cloth.
The administration had evolved on the familiar pattern of Venice, Amalfi, Genoa, and other maritime states. Power was in the hands of the nobles who were entitled to take part in the deliberations of the Grand Council on reaching the age of eighteen. The head of the Republic, the Rector, held his office for one month only, and could not be re-elected for two years. He was assisted in his functions by an inner Council of eleven, of whom five had to be judges, and there was, besides, a Senate of forty-five members which had considerable executive powers.
Ragusa must have had some points of resemblance with the Greek city states of the past, for at no time did its population exceed thirty-five thousand including the inhabitants of the settlements on the mainland and of the neighboring islands.
Nevertheless at one time there were more than four hundred and fifty vessels in the merchant fleet, and Ragusan factories were established in various parts of the Mediterranean and even beyond the Straits of Gibraltar. The fame of this small port was so great that the term 'argosy' is believed to be a corruption of 'Ragusa' which had become synonymous for a vessel loaded with rich cargo.
Ragusa had friendly contacts with England, if credence can be given to the local tradition that Richard I was shipwrecked on the island of Lokrum, two miles out to sea, on his return journey from Palestine in 1192.
He had sworn that if he escaped the perils of a great storm he would build a church wherever he happened to land in safety. The people of Ragusa, so it is said, persuaded him to defray the cost of constructing a new cathedral within the confines of their city instead of on the more remote site where he had disembarked.
In the 13th century, the Dominicans and Franciscans established monasteries on the outskirts of the town in order to counter the growing influence of the Bogomil heretics.
In spite of the years of alliance with the Eastern Empire, Ragusa had not, as might have been expected, come under the direct influence of the Orthodox Church, and in the Latin city at any rate, the authority of the Pope was acknowledged.
Ragusa was perilously situated on the fringes of the Slav world and of the Latin world. Time after time, her safety was imperilled, but each time the Ragusans escaped, either through the protection of their own solid fortifications and the undaunted courage of their soldiers, or by playing off the great powers that threatened her.
In the fourteenth century, the Venetians disposed of the coast of the western Adriatic to the Kings of Hungary who automatically took over the protection of Ragusa but allowed the inhabitants to keep their own administration, customs, and legal system. It was during this period that the present powerful fortifications were constructed.
Sixty years later, the Dalmatian littoral was returned to the Venetians, and it was then that Ragusa began its four centuries of complete independence, an independence that was preserved by tactful diplomacy and by conciliating the nation that happened to be dominant at the moment.