Research at the Archivio di Stato di Venezia: New sources on the Confraternity of St James in Zadar

In early October 2026, Zrinka Pešorda Vardić, PhD, a research associate on the CroDaSTrans project, conducted archival research at the Archivio di Stato di Venezia. Her research focused on relations between the nobility, citizens and commoners of Zadar and the Venetian authorities during the 15th and 16th centuries, with particular emphasis on the Confraternity of St James de Galitia, an association that brought together the city's citizens and commoners.

Decisions made by the Venetian authorities concerning this confraternity had previously been known mainly through later copies preserved in the Archives of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb and the State Archives in Zadar. The original documents have now been discovered in the archival collections of the Council of Ten, its heads, and the Venetian Collegio. Among them is a decision issued by the Council of Ten on March 22, 1458, regulating various aspects of Zadar's administration, from guarding the castle to prohibiting gatherings without the rector's permission. On the same day, the confraternity's statutes were also confirmed.

The documents examined shed new light on relations between the nobility and commoners in Zadar, as well as on the ways in which Venice governed Dalmatian cities. The research findings will contribute to further work on the project, particularly the study of relations between the Venetian authorities and Dalmatian communes.