A Chaplain from Dubrovnik in Ottoman Buda: Vincenzo di Augustino and His Report to the Roman Inquisition about the Situation of the Balkan Catholicism

Abstract

The archives of the Roman Inquisition, opened to the historical research in 1998, includes some documents on the history of the Ottoman occupation of Hungary. One of them is the report of Don Vincenzo di Augustino, the Ragusan merchants’ chaplain in Buda, concerning the difficulties of pastoral work in Buda and its neighbourhood. The study provides an overview on the Ragusan merchants’ activities in Buda and the legal autority of the Ragusan Archbishop over balkan trader colonies. Don Vincenzo is a typical representative of Ragusan priests working in the Balkans: after a period of county church service he worked as a chaplain in Buda and Sofia. His account outlines the typical life situations of the Balkan-type Ottoman occupation scarcely known from other sources.