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 (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...

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

Republic of Ragusa hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world" , population_estimate = 90 000 in the XVI Century , currency = ...

, 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 ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

s and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

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 whom ...

s of the family originated most probably from the medieval

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall under ...

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 ...

. 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 ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characterist ...

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 humanist born in Lucca,

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

, adduced that the Palmotić family was one of the only 33 remaining patrician families in the prosperous mercantile and

maritime Maritime may refer to: Geography * Maritime Alps, a mountain range in the southwestern part of the Alps * Maritime Region, a region in Togo * Maritime Southeast Asia * The Maritimes, the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Princ ...

Republic. The process of

extinction Extinction is the termination of a kind of organism or of a group of kinds (taxon), usually a species. The moment of extinction is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of the species, although the capacity to breed 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 grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

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 sov ...

duties at many European and non-European royal and imperial courts for centuries. One of them, Dživo (Ivan) Palmotić, was given the honour to bring a beautiful ceremonial

sword A sword is an 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 blade with a pointed ti ...

, donated by King

Matija Korvin Matthias Corvinus, also called Matthias I ( hu, Hunyadi Mátyás, ro, Matia/Matei Corvin, hr, Matija/Matijaš Korvin, sk, Matej Korvín, cz, Matyáš Korvín; ), was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1458 to 1490. After conducting several mi ...

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

Buda Buda (; german: Ofen, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Budim, Будим, Czech and sk, Budín, tr, Budin) was the historic capital of the Kingdom of Hungary and since 1873 has been the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest, on the ...

Rector's Palace in Dubrovnik The Rector's Palace ( hr, Knežev dvor; it, Palazzo dei Rettori) is a palace in the city of Dubrovnik that used to serve as the seat of the Rector of the Republic of Ragusa between the 14th century and 1808. It was also the seat of the Minor Cou ...

. 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 latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

. 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 baroque writer, poet and dramatist from the Republic of Ragusa. He was a member of the Palmotić noble family. Early life Pal ...

(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