Dubrovnik i Ankona u jevrejskoj trgovini XVI veka

Abstract

Španski Jevreji su se u prvom talasu migracija, najviše naseljavali u gradovima na jugu i jugoistoku Balkanskog poluostrva, u albanskim i grčkim lukama i u Carigradu a potom selili na sever, u Beograd i Budim, zajedno sa turskim napredovanjem prema centralnoj Evropi. Ovaj proces formiranja jevrejskih naselja na prostoru Balkana trajao je sve do šezdesetih godina 16. veka. Glavne struje trgovine balkanskih Jevreja kretale su se tokom ovog radzdoblja iz Soluna i Carigrada prema Veneciji i Ankoni. U ovoj početnoj fazi Dubrovnik je imao drugorazrednu ulogu. Poprilično organizovanije pojavljivanje jevrejskih trgovaca na trgovačkom putu između Dubrovnika i Ankone počelo je od tridesetih godina 16. veka, kada je formirana i jevrejska kolonija u Dubrovniku. Zbog jake zavisnosti od aktivnosti jevrejskih kolonija u širem zaleđu Balkana i zbog njihovog razvoja, povećao se značaj ovog komercijalnog puta, naročito od pedesetih godina kada su jevrejski trgovci Dubrovniku dodeljeni kao posrednici u međunarodnoj trgovini.

Carried by the first wave of migrations, the Spanish Jews crowded in the towns in the south and south-east of the Balkan Peninsula, in Albanian and Greek ports and in Constantinople. From there they moved to the north, to Belgrade and Buda, along with the Turkish advance towards Central Europe. This process of forming of the Jewish settlements in the Balkan area lasted until the sixties of the 16th century. The main currents of the trade of Balkan Jews moved, during this interval, from Saloniki and Constantinople towards Venice and Ancona. In this initial phase, Dubrovnik played a second-rate role.

A rather more organized appearance of the Jewish merchants on the commercial road between Dubrovnik and Ancona began from the thirties when the Jewish colony at Dubrovrrik was also formed. In strict dependence on the activity of Jewish colonies in the wider Balkan hinterland and on their development there increased the importance of this commercial road, particularly since the fifties when the Jewish merchants of Dubrovnik were assigned the role of intermediaries in the international trade.

This was the basis on which the Jewish merchants of Dubrovnik built up their system of relations which connected Jewish commercial houses in the Balkan Peninsula and in Europe. Thereby was formed an Important link in the general Jewish trading chain. The process of this connecting was concluded in the interval between the Cyprus war (1569-1572) and the end of the 16th century. In this period the traffic on the commercial road between Dubrovnik and Ancona was on a constant increase and it reached its culmination at the time of the longlasting Austrian-Turkish war from 1593 to 1606. The fragmentary archival data do not allow to establish more precisely the importance of the Jewish commercial traffic on this trading road. However, after the analysis of the contracts of insurance of goods, set forth in the form of tables, it is possible to assume that the Jewish commercial traffic reached a very high level.

Jewish merchants exported from the Balkan market through Dubrovnik to Ancona the products of textile and leather industry, to wit: raša (kind of thick woollen cloth), mohair, giambelot, carpets, oat-bags, coverlefcs, horse-cloths and all kinds of tanned hides. In the traffic of these products, they competed successfully with the merchants of Dubrovnik. In the commerce of raw materials and semi-manufactured products, such as: wool, wax, dried or salted ox-, cow- and calf hides, raw materials for dyeing, flax, cotton, raw silk and medicinal herbs, their part was very important on the market of Ancona, particularly in the trade of raw silk and medicinal herbs, but, in comparison with the merchants of Dubrovnik, they played in it a secondary role.