192 benjamin arbel
urban institutions, such as the pawnshop (Monte di Pietà), the grain
store (Fontego) and the quarantine house (Lazzaretto), which appeared
in growing numbers in Venetian Dalmatia and Albania from the 16th
century onwards. In 17th-century Cattaro, the Monte di Pietà was even
administered in collaboration between the local noblemen and popolani
on equal footing.254 A recurrent demand raised by the popolo and gen-
erally accepted by Venice concerned the nomination of interpreters in
the chanceries and courts of Dalmatian towns.255 This may indicate that
urban society in Venetian Dalmatia was predominantly Slavic/Croatian in
its culture and that many members of the popular classes did not speak
or understand Italian.256
Despite the general weakening of the nobility’s exclusive right of repre-
sentation and of its hold on local administration, in nearly all Dalmatian
towns the communities’ councils remained closed to commoners. While
following without hindrance the continuous consolidation of the com-
moners’ position, and also recognizing their right to organize in their own
università, Venice honored its original pledge to defend the commune and
its statutes, and the nobility succeeded in maintaining its image as the
guardian of local autonomy, reflected in the local statuti.257 During the
17th and 18th centuries Dalmatian noblemen even regained some power as
military governors (capitani, governatori, colonnelli) in the newly acquired
areas of the Dalmatian hinterland.258
By allowing the Dalmatian commoners to organize independently, by
negotiating with them and often also accepting their demands, Venice
succeeded in widening the social basis of fidelity to the Dominante;259 and
by defending at the same time the noblemen’s nearly exclusive hold of the
communal councils, Venice also succeeded in securing the noblemen’s
254 Pederin, “Die Venezianische Verwaltung Dalmatiens... (XVI–XVIII Jh.),” p. 193.
255 Ibid., pp. 186, 210–12; Pederin, “Die Venezianische Verwaltung... und ihre Organe,”
pp. 104, 120.
256 Pederin, “Die venezianische Verwaltung... und ihre Organe,” p. 116. On the čakavski
dialect, spoken on the islands and along the coast between Fiume and Spalato, see Praga,
History of Dalmatia, p. 156.
257 Ortalli, “Il ruolo degli statuti.” Oliver Schmitt suggests that Venice recognized in 1445
the right of popolani to be part of the commune of Budua, basing his conclusion on the
decision to allow them to enjoy the income of properties bequeathed to the commune and
take part in their administration, Schmitt, Das venezianische Albanien, pp. 469–70.
258 Pederin, “Die venezianische Verwaltung Dalmatiens... (XVI–XVIII Jh.),” p. 189;
Paladino, ‘Un caos che spaventa,’ pp. 251–52.
259 Praga describes this process somewhat exaggeratedly as “the equalization of the
rights of citizens and the levelling of social classes,” Praga, History of Dalmatia, p. 153.