Document of October 10th, 1365 on the Cession of the Benedictine Monastery to the Nuns of St. Clare in Kotor

Abstract

The first mentions of the nuns of St. Clare in Kotor date from the fourth decade of the 14th century. Their position in that commune improved in the second half of that century. In December 1364, at the request of the Kotor authorities, Pope Urban V asked the Bishop of Kotor, Dujmo II, to restore the former Benedictine monastery due to the needs of the nuns St. Clare. In the presence of the highest authorities of Kotor, on October 10th, 1365, a document on this legal action was issued. It is preserved in a transcript in the manuscript collection II b 21, held in the manuscript department of the Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb. The document contained the act of assigning the monastery to the Clarisses, prescribing the income which was given on that occasion to the monastery of St. Clare, as well as the appointment of Clare of Foro Julius as its first nun. Part of the transferred revenues consisted of communal revenues from fish market customs duties. The second part of the donation consisted of revenues in the amount of two hundred perpers, half of which came from the butcher's slaughterhouse, and the other half from customs revenue on wine. Customs officers or gabellers, ie persons who leased the mentioned revenues, were obliged to take care of the collection of those revenues. Revenues that the monastery of St. Clare received in October 1365 and are mentioned during the 15th century. Dukal of October 15th, 1447, says that the Venetian authorities after Kotor accepted their rule, recognized the right of the nuns of St. Clare on the said revenues. However, Kotor municipal authorities have occasionally challenged the right to collect assigned revenues, as well as the right to elect procurators themselves. That is why the nuns complained to the Venetian authorities, who ordered the Kotor authorities to allow them to enjoy the allocated income and the right to elect procurators themselves. The problem of paying the income from the fish market to the Clarisses was also present at the end of the 15th century, and Venetian authorities had to intervene.