Republic of Ancona
| |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| c. 1000 (1198)–1532 | |||||||||
.svg) Flag (1174–1532)  Coat of arms | |||||||||
| Motto: Ancon dorica civitas fidei (Latin) Dorian Ancona, city of faith | |||||||||
 Republic of Ancona in the 15th century – borders and castles | |||||||||
| Status | de facto independence, autonomous republic under high papal sovereignty | ||||||||
| Capital | Ancona | ||||||||
| Common languages | Latin,Marchigiano dialect | ||||||||
| Religion | Roman Catholicism,Judaism | ||||||||
| Government | oligarchicrepublic with popular representation | ||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages,Renaissance | ||||||||
• gradual acquisition of autonomy | c. 1000 (1198) | ||||||||
• Coup d'état bypope Clement VII | 1532 | ||||||||
| Currency | Agontano | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Italy | ||||||||
TheRepublic of Ancona was amedieval commune andmaritime republic on theAdriatic coast of modern-dayItaly, notable for its economic development and maritime trade,[1] particularly with theByzantine Empire andEastern Mediterranean, although somewhat confined byVenetian supremacy on the sea.[2] It enjoyed excellent relations with theKingdom of Hungary,[3] was an ally of theRepublic of Ragusa,[4] and maintained good relations with theOttoman Empire. All these relationships enabled it to serve as central Italy's gateway to the Orient.
Included in the Papal States since 774,Ancona came under the influence of theHoly Roman Empire around 1000, but gradually gained independence to become fully independent with the coming of the communes in the 11th century, under the high jurisdiction of thepapal state.[5][6] Its motto wasAncon dorica civitas fidei ("Dorian Ancona, city of faith"), referencing theGreek foundation of the city.
Ancona was anoligarchicrepublic ruled by six Elders, elected by the threeterzieri into which the city was divided: S. Pietro, Porto and Capodimonte. It had a series ofmaritime laws known asStatuti del mare e del Terzenale ("Statutes of the sea and of the arsenal") andStatuti della Dogana ("Statutes of the Customs").[7]
Thefondachi (colonies with warehouses and accommodation buildings[8]) of the Republic of Ancona were continuously active inConstantinople,Alexandria and other Eastern Mediterranean ports, while the sorting of goods imported by land (especially textiles and spices) fell to the merchants ofLucca andFlorence.[9]
In Constantinople, there was perhaps the most importantfondaco, where the Anconitans had their own church, Saint Stephen, in 1261 they were granted the privilege of having a chapel in theSt. Sophia.[10][11] Other Anconitanfondachi were inSyria (inLaiazzo andLaodicea), inRomania (inConstanţa), inEgypt (inAlexandria), inCyprus (inFamagusta), inPalestine (inSan Giovanni d'Acri), inGreece (inChios), inAsia Minor (inTrebizond). Moving to the west, Anconitan warehouses were present in the Adriatic inRagusa andSegna, inSicily inSyracuse andMessina, inSpain inBarcelona andValencia, and in Africa inTripoli.[9]
.jpg)
The first reports of Ancona's medieval coinage begin in the 12th century when the independence of the city grew and it began to mint coinage without Imperial or papal oversight.[12] Theagontano was the currency used by Republic of Ancona during its golden age. It was a largesilver coin of 18–22 mm in diameter and a weight of 2.04–2.42 grams.[13]
Later and less famously Ancona began minting a gold Agnoto coin, also known as the Ancona Ducat. Specimens of this coin have survived from the 15th and 16th centuries, until the city's loss of independence in 1532.[14]
Anconitan art had long been influenced by maritime relations withDalmatia and theLevant.[15][16]
Its major medieval monuments show a union betweenRomanesque andByzantine art. Among the most notable are theDuomo, with aGreek cross and Byzantine sculptures, and the church of Santa Maria di Portonovo.[15]
In the 14th century, Ancona was a centre of what some historians term the "Adriatic Renaissance", a movement in Dalmatia, Venice andthe Marches characterised by a rediscovery ofclassical art and a continuity withGothic art. A notable architect and sculptor of this movement wasGiorgio da Sebenico; his counterpartCarlo Crivelli was a renowned painter.[16]
.jpg)
The navigator and archaeologistCyriacus of Ancona, was a restlessly itinerant Italian navigator andhumanist who came from a prominent family of merchants. He has been called the Father ofArchaeology: "Cyriac of Ancona was the most enterprising and prolific recorder of Greek and Roman antiquities, particularly inscriptions, in the fifteenth century, and the general accuracy of his records entitles him to be called the founding father of modern classical archeology."[17] He was named by his fellow humanists "father of the antiquities", who made his contemporaries aware of the existence of theParthenon,Delphi, thePyramids, theSphinx and other famous ancient monuments believed destroyed.[18]
The navigator Grazioso Benincasa was born in Ancona; he was the best known Italian maritime cartographer of the fifteenth century and the author of severalportolan charts of the Mediterranean:[19]
After 1000, Ancona became increasingly independent, eventually turning into an importantmaritime republic, often clashing against the nearby power of theRepublic of Venice. Ancona had to guard against the designs of both theHoly Roman Empire and thepapacy. It did not as a rule engage in offensive warfare against rival republics, but was frequently forced to defend itself.[20] Venice never succeeded in subduing Ancona, despite a series of military expeditions,trade wars, andnaval blockades[21]
Ancona was strong enough to resist attack by the Holy Roman Empire on three occasions, as the Empire sought to reassert its authority over Ancona and all Italian communes. In 1137 Ancona was besieged byEmperor Lothair II, in 1167 byEmperor Frederick Barbarossa, and once more in 1174. In that year,Christian I, archbishop of Mainz and the emperor'sarchchancellor, joined withVenice to besiege Ancona but were forced to retreat.[3] The Venetians deployed numerousgalleys and thegalleonTotus Mundus in the port of Ancona, while imperial troops laid siege from the land. After some months of dramatic resistance, the Anconitans were able to send a small contingent toEmilia-Romagna to ask for help. Troops fromFerrara andBertinoro arrived to save the city and repelled the imperial troops and the Venetians in battle.[20][a]
In the struggle between the popes and the Holy Roman emperors that troubled the Italian Peninsula from the 12th century onwards, Ancona sided with theGuelphs.[20]
Originally namedCommunitas Anconitana (Latin for "Anconitan community"), Ancona had an independencede facto:Pope Alexander III (around 1100–1181) declared it a free city within thePapal States;Pope Eugene IV confirmed the legal position defined by his predecessor and on 2 September 1443 officially declared it a republic, with the nameRespublica Anconitana;[20][23] almost simultaneouslyRagusa was officially called "republic",[24] confirming the fraternal bond that united the two Adriatic ports.
Unlike other cities ofcentral andnorthern Italy, Ancona never became aseignory. TheMalatesta took the city in 1348 taking advantage of theblack death and of a fire that had destroyed many of its important buildings. The Malatesta were ousted in 1383.[3]
Pope Clement VII, under the false pretext of an imminent attack on the city by theOttoman Turks, offered to add new fortifications to the Citadel on Colle Astagno at the papacy's expense, and sent the architectAntonio da Sangallo the Younger. This was in fact a pretext for papal troops to occupy Ancona, as Clement was anxious to replenish the empty coffers of the papacy after theSack of Rome in 1527. On 19 September 1532, Ancona was occupied and, as papal troops in the Citadel aimed their cannons at the city and its main access roads, was forced to unconditionally surrender its independence; with anante litteram coup d'état, Pope Clement VII put an end tode facto freedom, thus placing the city under the direct dominion of thePapal States.[3]
Ancona had Greek, Albanian, Dalmatian, Armenian, Turkish and Jewish communities.[25]
Ancona, as well as Venice, became a very important destination for merchants from theOttoman Empire during the 16th century. The Greeks formed the largest of the communities of foreign merchants. They were refugees from former Byzantine or Venetian territories that were occupied by the Ottomans in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The first Greek community was established in Ancona early in the 16th century. At the opening of the 16th century there were 200 Greek families in Ancona.[26] Most of them came from northwestern Greece, i.e. theIonian Islands andEpirus. In 1514, Dimitri Caloiri ofIoannina obtained reduced customs duties for Greek merchants coming from the towns of Ioannina, Arta and Avlona in Epirus. In 1518 aJewish merchant of Avlona succeeded in lowering the duties paid in Ancona for all "theLevantine merchants, subjects to the Turk".[27]
In 1531 the Confraternity of the Greeks (Confraternita dei Greci) was established which includedEastern Orthodox andCatholic Greeks. They secured the use of the Church of St. Anna dei Greci and were granted permission to hold services according to theGreek and the Latin rite. The church of St. Anna had existed since the 13th century, initially as "Santa Maria in Porta Cipriana," on ruins of the ancient Greek walls of Ancona.[27]
In 1534 a decision byPope Paul III favoured the activity of merchants of all nationalities and religions from the Levant and allowed them to settle in Ancona with their families. A Venetian travelling through Ancona in 1535 recorded that the city was "full of merchants from every nation and mostly Greeks and Turks." In the second half of the 16th century, the presence of Greek and other merchants from the Ottoman Empire declined after a series of restrictive measures taken by the Italian authorities and the pope.[27]
Disputes between theEastern Orthodox andCatholic Greeks of the community were frequent and persisted until 1797 when the city was occupied bythe French, who closed all the religious confraternities and confiscated the archive of the Greek community. The French would return to the area to reoccupy it in 1805–1806. The church of St. Anna dei Greci was re-opened to services in 1822. In 1835, in the absence of a Greek community in Ancona, it passed to the Latin Church.[28][29]
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(June 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
During the time of the Republic of Ancona (11th to 16th century),Commercial law evolved to support its maritime trade, which was central to its economy and independence. Ancona’s legal framework was particularly influenced by its status as a maritime republic and its competitive but cooperative relationship with otherAdriatic trading powers likeVenice andRagusa. This period saw Ancona prioritising merchant rights and contract standardisation, essential for facilitating commerce with the Byzantine Empire and the Levant.
Key documents from the period highlight the use of notary records to validate trade agreements and safeguard merchants' investments.Benvenuto Stracca, a notable 16th-century jurist from Ancona, was an important reference in formalising commercial legal principles. His work,De Mercatura (1553), is regarded as one of the earliest comprehensive treatises on Commercial law, particularly relevant for guiding the conduct of merchants and the framework for contracts within and beyond Ancona's borders.[30]
These practices, and the legal protections afforded to trade, enabled Ancona to sustain a significant degree of autonomy and economic success until it was ultimately absorbed by thePapal States in 1532, marking the end of its independent commercial legal system.
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(June 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Commercial competition amongVenice, Ancona andRagusa was very strong because all of them bordered theAdriatic Sea. They fought open battles on more than one occasion. Venice, aware of its major economic and military power, disliked competition from other maritime cities in the Adriatic. Several Adriatic ports were under Venetian rule, but Ancona and Ragusa retained their independence. To avoid succumbing to Venetian rule, these two republics made multiple lasting alliances.
Venice conquered Ragusa in 1205 and held it until 1382 when Ragusa regainedde facto freedom, paying tributes first to theHungarians, and after theBattle of Mohács, to theOttoman Empire. During this period Ragusa reconfirmed its old alliance with Ancona.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link).
