Dragomano nostro della Porta: Dragomans of the Porte in the Service of Dubrovnik in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

Abstract

Ragusan tribute ambassadors to the Porte needed the assistance of trained dragomans. Considering that the Ragusans did not have such language intermediaries in their service prior to the mid-sixteenth century, they used the assistance of the dragomans of the Porte, who mastered European languages, contacted and maintained correspondence with European residents, consuls, envoys and rulers, and generally, were an important source of information for the Ottomans and the Europeans alike. Owing to the abundance of sources related to this topic in the State Archives in Dubrovnik, this article aims to illuminate these professionals and their relations with the Ragusans in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.