The House of Palmotić known as ''Palmotta'' in Italian, was one of the oldest and most prominent families of the city of

Dubrovnik Dubrovnik, historically known as Ragusa, is a city in southern Dalmatia, Croatia, by the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, a Port, seaport and the centre of the Dubrovni ...

. Many of its representatives were Rectors ( Knezes) of the

Republic of Ragusa The Republic of Ragusa, or the Republic of Dubrovnik, was an maritime republics, aristocratic maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik (''Ragusa'' in Italian and Latin; ''Raguxa'' in Venetian) in South Dalmatia (today in southernmost ...

, as well as members of the Small Council,

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and Grand Council. Some of them were notable

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

s and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

History

The

ancestor An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder, or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from ...

s of the family originated most probably from the medieval

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) is a type of monarchy, monarchical state or feudalism, feudal territory ruled by a prince or princess. It can be either a sovereign state or a constituent part of a larger political entity. The term "prin ...

Zahumlje Zachlumia or Zachumlia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Zahumlje, Захумље, ), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, r ...

. The first mention of the Palmotta dates to 1222, although according to some sources they had been present in

before, already in the 12th century (1157). In the two-century-long period of time, from 1440 to 1640, there were in total 46 members of the family in the Grand Council (''Consilium maius''), a body consisting of all adult

noblemen Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. Th ...

of the Republic. They were also 67 times elected to the Senate (''Consilium rogatorum''), 34 times to the Small Council (''Consilium minus''), and 42 times as Rectors (''knez''), the heads of the state. In his description of Dubrovnik in the 15th century, Filip de Diversis, an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

humanist born in

Lucca Città di Lucca ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the Serchio River, in a fertile plain near the Ligurian Sea. The city has a population of about 89,000, while its Province of Lucca, province has a population of 383,9 ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, adduced that the Palmotić family was one of the only 33 remaining patrician families in the prosperous mercantile and maritime Republic. The process of

extinction Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

continued however onwards, so that there were merely 24 aristocratic families in Dubrovnik in the 17th century, including the Palmotićs. The family reached its peak at that time, for its members were distinguished

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

s, poets and playwrights. Having been skilled diplomats, the members of the family performed

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

duties at many European and non-European royal and imperial

courts A court is an institution, often a government entity, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and administer justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance with the rule of law. Courts gene ...

for centuries. One of them, Dživo (Ivan) Palmotić, was given the honour to bring a beautiful ceremonial

sword A sword is an edged and bladed weapons, edged, bladed weapon intended for manual cutting or thrusting. Its blade, longer than a knife or dagger, is attached to a hilt and can be straight or curved. A thrusting sword tends to have a straighter ...

, donated by King

Matija Korvin Matthias Corvinus (; ; ; ; ; ) was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490, as Matthias I. He is often given the epithet "the Just". After conducting several military campaigns, he was elected King of Bohemia in 1469 and adopted the titl ...

(second half of the 15th century), personally from

Buda Buda (, ) is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the western bank of the Danube. Historically, “Buda” referred only to the royal walled city on Castle Hill (), which was constructed by Béla IV between 1247 and ...

to Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik. That is why a sword is a constituent part of the family

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

. In the course of time, however, the process of extinction affected the House of Palmotić at the beginning of the 18th century. The remarkable Ragusan family became extinct as its last scion, Jelena Palmotić, died in 1709.

Notable members

* Dživo Palmotić, diplomat, lived in the 15th century * Ivan Nikolin Palmotić (died 1483), executed in 1483 by the Ottomans for treason after the fall of Herzegovina. * Ivan Palmotić (c.1567 - 1647), politician *

Junije Palmotić Junije (Džono) Palmotić, (also ''Giunio'' in Italian or ''Junius Palmotta'' in Latin) (1606 – 1657) was a Croatian literature#Baroque literature, Croatian baroque writer, poet and dramatist from the Republic of Ragusa. He was a member of the ...

(1606 or 1607–1657), famous Croatian baroque poet and

* Džore Palmotić(1606–1675), poet and

* Jaketa Gjonorić Palmotić (?–1680), politician and writer

External links

House of Palmotić – one of the 33 Ragusan noble families in the 15th century (Filip de Diversis: ''Description of the famous city of Dubrovnik'')

Jaketa Gjonorić Palmotić, Ragusan writer, died on February 22nd, 1680

{{Dubrovnik nobility Ragusan noble families

History

Notable members

See also

External links