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This article is based mainly on the letters and instructions written by the Ragusan government to its tribute ambassadors to Istanbul. Also used are the scanty surviving letters that the ambassadors addressed to their government in Dubrovnik. Although only a few Ottoman documents touch upon this topic, the information they provide has proved invaluable for this research. Emphasis has been placed on the Ragusan business dealings with Mihrimah Sultan, famous daughter of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent, as well as the relations of the Ragusan diplomats and the imperial harem.

The maritime and land trade of the City of Ragusa (Dubrovnik) and its surroundings has always been "the corner stone" on which the grandeur of Dubrovnik, its political and economical power and culture were built. As early as 1441, the Dubrovnik trade was considered to consist of 3/4 of the maritime and only 1/4 of the land based trade. In 1181, the comunitas ragusina - the Commune of Ragusa was mentioned for the first time; as the time went by, it became the City-state. It was named The Ragusan Republic in 1430. The treaty concluded with Turkey in 1442 was in force up to the twilight of the Dubrovnik Republic (1806). It was convenient for Ragusans to have a sole ruler and a single state in their neighbourhood, not to mention how stubborn and quite often wanton ones. In his work "Mari, Gol , Isole,." (1688.), Vincenzo Coronelli, the mapmaker, said about the Ragusans: ".They are the most ardent defenders of their freedom, putting in a great deal of effort to secure it, and at the same time, hating any kind of slavery.". The Ragusan vessels were attacked by the pirates from Rhodes from 1507-1509 and later on. The main reason for flourishing of Ragusan shipping and trade was based upon focussing on their public life within these domains. The Ragusan Republic depended upon its investments into maritime affairs and assistance offered through stimulations, interaction of processes and consequential strengthening of its own prosperity (its enriched citizens). The Ragusan Maritime Insurance Law (Ordo super assecuratoribus) of March 5th, 1568 is the oldest enacted law in the world, and in this way it was more than a century older than legal regulations on the maritime insurance - Ordonnance de la marine of 1681. Apart from the main shipyard in the old City port (in portu interiori Ragusii, in portu Ragusii), up to the construction of the new shipyard in Gruž (1526) there were shipyards in Ston and in the nearby islands of Lopud, Šipan (in Suđurađ) and Koločep (Kalamota) already in the 14th century. Palladius Fuscus (1450-1520), in his work De situ orae Illyrici (published posthumously in 1540) cited that "there was no such a secluded part of Europe or one so inaccessible to the newcomers, where you would not encounter Ragusans practicing their merchant activity". According to some researchers, Ragusa was the third strongest force in the Mediterranean (after Genoa and Venice) in the 14th century. The Ragusan Republic was the first in the Mediterranean in the 16th century and, in terms of their trading ocean-going sailing vessels under Ragusan and foreign flags, it was the third in the world (after Spain and the Netherlands). In his work Nautica Mediterranea (Rome, 1602, pp. 4-5), Bartolomeo Crescentio said: ".among experts and master craftsmen for galleons are the most numerous, and the most capable in this (the Mediterranean Sea, observation of the author) are Ragusans", and Pantero Pantera in his work L'Armata Navale (Rome, 1614, p. 66) wrote down: ".while for navas and galleons building, masters of Dubrovnik, Portugal and England were highly esteemed"."Argosy", in fact, means "a Ragusan ship". Many endeavours and achievements in the art of shipbuilding raise the East Adriatic coast above the West one, since it had most frequently been a successful way in which ships and men reached di erent parts of the world.

The research of the Ancient Dubrovnik`s literature had primarily began by its biographers; afterwards significant documents that had been found in the Dubrovnik`s archive made possible to the researchers to give immense contributions in this field. The 21st century brought, in the area of the historiography especially, new approaches toward research of the renaissance and baroque literature of the Ancient Dubrovnik. New findings in Marin Držić`s biography, as well as research of the social status in Dubrovnik, especially of its aristocracy have made possible to apply the new methods in studies of the works written during the time of the Renaissance ,and above all the comedies. Additionally, the forming of the Dubrovnik`s myth, which has been constructed for centuries by the writers of the Old Republic provides new and more intellectual view on their literary contribution.

The article traces the history of the Volcassio family estate in medieval Dubrovnik. This noble family was among the greatest urban property owners, whose members participated actively in the political and economic activities of the city. The estates of Volcasio Johannis (Vukas Ivanić) and his sons Pasqua and Damianus Volcassio have been identified, along with those of other family members, all mainly located in the suburb south of the Plaça (later centre of the town), which include the plots of land used for housing or rent. By grounding the research on a wealth of original documents entered into the computer database, the authors analyse the positioning and expansion of the Volcassio family estates with regard to legal regulation, social conditions and urban communal development which peaked in the second half of the thirteenth century.

The author looks into the forms of political government in the Renaissance, and the typology thereof as provided by Niccolo Machiavelli in The Prince and in Discourses on Livy. The article aims to examine whether there is a differentia specifica distinguishing the Dubrovnik form of political order from similar forms of political government in Renaissance times. Republican forms of political government are analysed here, and the author stresses the existence of forms situated along the transition line from republic to principate, i.e. monarchy, and vice versa. An expose of presuppositions of Machiavelli's initial analysis of comparative political orders is followed by a comparative analysis of the Florentine republican model of government, the Venetian form of political government, and, finally, the Dubrovnik model of political order. Although each model had distinctive features, they were similar inasmuch as each preserved the common idea of civil republicanism (repubblicanesimo civile), and then shaped its political order in accordance with the interests of the main social and political forces in the country, i.e. in its territory. For instance, the Florentine republicanism developed into a so-called "democratic republicanism" (here the term democracy means exclusively that which Machiavelli refers to as governo dei molti -- the government of many). Although such forms of wider participation of citizens in decision-making satisfied most citizens of Florence, the system was unstable, because it was subject to internal conflicts between factions and parties, and to external pressures. The Venetian system of aristocratic republicanism was much more stable, but its social base was narrower and, ultimately, prior to its downfall, it transformed into a self-contained police system. The Dubrovnik model of political order was also a form of aristocratic republicanism, but its uniqueness lies in the fact that, unlike Venice or Genoa, it limited the authority and prerogatives of the head of state, in this case the rector, who guaranteed the stability and non-corruption of the system. The inclusion of commoners through confraternities in the city's public affairs made it possible to expand the social basis of such an order. These two characteristics also make the Dubrovnik political model unique. Adapted from the source document.