Republic of Ancona

{{Short description|Italian maritime republic (11th century–1532)}} {{distinguish|Anconine Republic}} {{Copy edit|date=March 2026}} {{Infobox country | native_name = {{ubl|{{native name|la|Respublica anconitana}}}} | conventional_long_name = Republic of Ancona | common_name = Republic of Ancona | image_coat = Coat of arms of Republic of Ancona.svg | image_flag = Flag of the Republic of Ancona (c. 1177-1532).svg | flag_type = Flag<br>(1174–1532) | image_map = Repubblica di Ancona nel XV secolo - confini e castelli.png | image_map_caption = Republic of Ancona in the 15th century – borders and castles | religion = Roman Catholicism, Judaism | era = Middle Ages, Renaissance | status = de facto independence, autonomous republic under high papal sovereignty | government_type = oligarchic republic with popular representation | year_start = {{circa|1000}} (1198) | year_end = 1532 | event_start = gradual acquisition of autonomy | event_end = Coup d'état by pope Clement VII | p1 = Kingdom of Italy (Holy Roman Empire) | flag_p1 = Shield and Coat of Arms of the Holy Roman Emperor (c.1200-c.1300).svg | s1 = Papal States | flag_s1 = Coat of arms of the Papal States (Renaissance shape).svg | motto = {{native name|la|Ancon dorica civitas fidei}} | englishmotto = Dorian Ancona, city of faith | capital = Ancona | common_languages = Latin, Marchigiano dialect | leader1 = | year_leader1 = | title_leader = | stat_year1 = | stat_area1 = | stat_pop1 = | today = Italy | footnotes = | currency = Agontano | demonym = | area_km2 = | area_rank = | GDP_PPP = | GDP_PPP_year = | HDI = | HDI_year = }}

The '''Republic of Ancona''' was a medieval commune and maritime republic on the Adriatic coast of modern-day Italy. it was notable for its economic development and maritime trade,<ref>''The International Geographic Encyclopedia and Atlas'', ''Ancona'' (p. 27), Springer, 1979, ISBN 9781349050024.</ref> particularly with the Byzantine Empire and Eastern Mediterranean, although somewhat confined by Venetian supremacy on the sea.<ref>* Dizionari Zanichelli, chapter ''[https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/storiadigitale/p/voce/5158/repubbliche-marinare Repubbliche marinare] {{Webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130111859/https://dizionaripiu.zanichelli.it/storiadigitale/p/voce/5158/repubbliche-marinare |date=2020-01-30}}'' * Armando Lodolini ''Le repubbliche del mare'', chapter ''[http://www.iststudiatell.org/p_isa/NE/rsc_vol_02.pdf Ancona]''; * Enciclopedia Treccani, [http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ancona_(Enciclopedia-dell'-Arte-Medievale) Ancona] * Guida rossa (red guide) of Touring Club Italiano, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rHG3RDL3GOYC&pg=PA87 Marche, p. 88 e 104]</ref> It enjoyed excellent relations with the Kingdom of Hungary,<ref name="TCI">Guida rossa (red guide) of Touring Club Italiano (p. 88).</ref> was an ally of the Republic of Ragusa,<ref> * Francis F. Carter, ''Dubrovnik (Ragusa): A Classical City-state'', publisher: Seminar Press, London-New York, 1972 {{ISBN|978-0-12-812950-0}}; * Robin Harris, ''Dubrovnik: A History'', publisher: Saqi Books, 2006. p. 127, {{ISBN|978-0-86356-959-3}}</ref> and maintained good relations with the Ottoman 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 the Holy 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 the papal state.<ref>Armando Lodolini, ''Le repubbliche del mare'', publisher: Biblioteca di storia patria, Rome, 1967 (chapter ''[http://www.iststudiatell.org/p_isa/NE/rsc_vol_02.pdf Ancona]'')</ref><ref>[http://www.oocities.org/capitolhill/lobby/9118/atelier/faw/faw-it-c.htm World Vexilology and Heraldry: Italy – Centre]</ref> Its motto was {{Lang|la|Ancon dorica civitas fidei}} ("Dorian Ancona, city of faith"), referencing the Greek foundation of the city.

Ancona was an oligarchic republic ruled by six Elders, elected by the three ''terzieri'' into which the city was divided: S. Pietro, Porto and Capodimonte. It had a series of maritime laws known as {{lang|it|Statuti del mare e del Terzenale}} ("Statutes of the sea and of the arsenal") and {{lang|it|Statuti della Dogana}} ("Statutes of the Customs").<ref>James Reddie, ''Historical View of the Law of Maritime Commerce'', W. Blackwood and sons, 1841.</ref>

== Maritime relations and warehouses == thumb|left|Trade routes and warehouses of the maritime republic of Ancona

The {{lang|it|fondachi}} (colonies with warehouses and accommodation buildings<ref>These were small gated enclaves within a city, often just a single street, where the laws of the city were administered by a governor appointed from home, and there would be a church under home jurisdiction and shops with Italian styles of food.</ref>) of the Republic of Ancona were continuously active in Constantinople, Alexandria and other Eastern Mediterranean ports, while the sorting of goods imported by land (especially textiles and spices) fell to the merchants of Lucca and Florence.<ref name="heyd"/>

In Constantinople, there was perhaps the most important {{lang|it|fondaco}}, where the Anconitans had their own church, Saint Stephen; in 1261, they were granted the privilege of having a chapel in the St. Sophia.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ara Güler |url=http://www.musinf.it/documenti/ComStampa_AraGuler.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120823113854/http://www.musinf.it/documenti/ComStampa_AraGuler.pdf |archive-date=2012-08-23}}</ref><ref>Antonio Leoni, '' Historia of Ancona of 1812 ''.</ref> Other Anconitan {{Lang|it|fondachi}} were in Syria (in Laiazzo and Laodicea), in Romania (in Constanţa), in Egypt (in Alexandria), in Cyprus (in Famagusta), in Palestine (in San Giovanni d'Acri), in Greece (in Chios), in Asia Minor (in Trebizond). Moving to the west, Anconitan warehouses were present in the Adriatic in Ragusa and Segna, in Sicily in Syracuse and Messina, in Spain in Barcelona and Valencia, and in Africa in Tripoli.<ref name=heyd>Guglielmo Heyd, ''Le colonie commerciali degli Italiani in Oriente nel Medioevo'', volume 1; Antonelli, 1868.</ref>

== Coins == thumb|left|140px|Agontano

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.<ref>Marco Dubbini e Giancarlo Mancinelli ''Storia delle monete di Ancona'', edizioni Il lavoro editoriale, Ancona 2009 {{ISBN|978-88-7663-451-2}}</ref> The agontano was the currency used by Republic of Ancona during its golden age. It was a large silver coin of 18–22 mm in diameter and a weight of 2.04–2.42 grams.<ref>Lucia Travaini, ''L'Agontano: una moneta d'argento per l'Italia medievale'', Società Numismatica Italiana, 2003.</ref>

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.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20100416025914/http://numismatica-italiana.lamoneta.it/moneta/W-PAOIIA/1 Ducato aureo emesso dalla zecca di Ancona nel XV secolo]</ref>

== Art == Anconitan art had long been influenced by maritime relations with Dalmatia and the Levant.<ref name="polverari"/><ref name="zampetti"/>

Its major medieval monuments show a union between Romanesque and Byzantine art. Among the most notable are the Duomo, with a Greek cross and Byzantine sculptures, and the church of Santa Maria di Portonovo.<ref name="polverari">Michele Polverari, ''Ancona e Bisanzio'', pinacoteca comunale di Ancona, 1993</ref>

In the 14th century, Ancona was a centre of what some historians term the "Adriatic Renaissance", a movement in Dalmatia, Venice and the Marches characterised by a rediscovery of classical art and a continuity with Gothic art. A notable architect and sculptor of this movement was Giorgio da Sebenico; his counterpart Carlo Crivelli was a renowned painter.<ref name="zampetti"> * Pietro Zampetti, ''Pittura nelle Marche'', Nardini editore, Firenze, 1988 (p. 333); * Fabio Mariano, ''La Loggia dei Mercanti in Ancona e l'opera di Giorgio di Matteo da Sebenico'', editrice Il Lavoro Editoriale, 2003 {{ISBN|88-7663-346-4}}.</ref>

<gallery> File:Ancona, Duomo di San Ciriaco, X-XII secolo (15).jpg|Byzantine sculptures inside the cathedral File:Ancona San Ciriaco.jpg|Prothyrum and bell tower of the cathedral File:Duomo di Ancona 05.jpg|Interior of the cathedral, with Byzantine plan (Greek cross) File:Ancona - Duomo di San Ciriaco - veduta aerea.jpg|Cathedral, aerial view File:Chiesetta di Portonovo AN - parte posteriore.jpg|Church of Santa Maria di Portonovo, whose plan is a fusion of a Byzantine Greek cross and a Romanesque basilica File:Ancona - Loggia dei Mercanti di Giorgio Orsini da Sebenico.JPG|Loggia dei Mercanti, Giorgio da Sebenico (Adriatic Renaissance) File:San Francesco alle Scale Ancona 19.jpg|Church of San Francesco alle Scale, Giorgio da Sebenico (Adriatic Renaissance) File:Chiesa di Santa Maria della Piazza - Ancona 4.jpg|Romanesque church of Santa Maria della Piazza </gallery>

== Navigators == thumb|left|Grazioso Benincasa, ''Portolan chart of Mediterranean sea'' [[File:Ciriaco d'Ancona di Benozzo Gozzoli.jpg|thumb|Portrait of Ciriacus of Ancona, the navigator-archaeologist (1459)]]

The navigator and archaeologist Cyriacus of Ancona, was a restlessly itinerant Italian navigator and humanist who came from a prominent family of merchants. He has been called the Father of Archaeology: "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 archaeology."<ref>Edward W. Bodnar, Later travels, with Clive Foss</ref> He was named by his fellow humanists "father of the antiquities", who made his contemporaries aware of the existence of the Parthenon, Delphi, the Pyramids, the Sphinx and other famous ancient monuments believed destroyed.<ref>Gianfranco Paci, Sergio Sconocchia, ''Ciriaco d'Ancona e la cultura antiquaria dell'umanesimo'', Diabasis, 1998; {{cite web |title=To Tell You Something Special |url=http://surprisedbytime.blogspot.com/2011/01/to-tell-you-something-special.html |access-date=26 March 2012 |author=Diana Gilliland Wright |date=January 2012}}.</ref>

The navigator Grazioso Benincasa was born in Ancona; he was the best known Italian maritime cartographer of the fifteenth century and the author of several portolan charts of the Mediterranean:<ref> * Enciclopedia Treccani, ''[http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/grazioso-benincasa_(Dizionario-Biografico)/ Grazioso Benincasa]''; * ''The Italian cartographers of the Benincasa and Freducci Families and the so-called Borgiana Map of the Vatican Library'', in Imago Mundi, X (1953), p. 23–45.</ref>

After 1000, Ancona became increasingly independent, eventually turning into an important maritime republic, often clashing against the nearby power of the Republic of Venice. Ancona had to guard against the designs of both the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy. It did not as a rule engage in offensive warfare against rival republics, but was frequently forced to defend itself.<ref name="natalucci">Mario Natalucci, ''Ancona attraverso i secoli – Dalle origini alla fine del Quattrocento'', Unione arti grafiche, 1961.</ref> Venice never succeeded in subduing Ancona, despite a series of military expeditions, trade wars, and naval blockades<ref>Frederic Chapin Lane. ''Venice, A Maritime Republic'', JHU Press, 1973 (p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=PQpU2JGJCMwC&pg=PA63 63]).</ref>

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 by Emperor Lothair II, in 1167 by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and once more in 1174. In that year, Christian I, archbishop of Mainz and the emperor's archchancellor, joined with Venice to besiege Ancona but were forced to retreat.<ref name="TCI"/> The Venetians deployed numerous galleys and the galleon ''Totus 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 to Emilia-Romagna to ask for help. Troops from Ferrara and Bertinoro arrived to save the city and repelled the imperial troops and the Venetians in battle.<ref name="natalucci"/>{{efn|One of the protagonists of the siege of 1174 was the widow Stamira, who showed great courage by setting fire to the war machines of the besieger with an axe and a torch.<ref>Justine Firnhaber-Baker, Dirk Schoenaers, ''The Routledge History Handbook of Medieval Revolt'', Taylor & Francis, 2016 (p. 143).</ref>}}

In the struggle between the popes and the Holy Roman emperors that troubled the Italian Peninsula from the 12th century onwards, Ancona sided with the Guelphs.<ref name="natalucci"/>

Originally named ''{{lang|la|Communitas Anconitana}}'' (Latin for "Anconitan community"), Ancona had an independence ''de facto'': Pope Alexander III (around 1100–1181) declared it a free city within the Papal States; Pope Eugene IV confirmed the legal position defined by his predecessor and on 2 September 1443 officially declared it a republic, with the name ''{{lang|la|Respublica Anconitana}}'';<ref name="natalucci"/><ref>The act, with the name of ''Liber croceus magnus'', is preserved at Ancona State Archive</ref> almost simultaneously Ragusa was officially called "republic",<ref>{{hr}} Josip Vrandečić, Miroslav Bertoša, ''Dalmacija, Dubrovnik i Istra u ranome novom vijeku'', Barbat, 2007 (p. 17); James Stewart, ''Croatia'', New Holland Publishers, 2006 (p. 285)</ref> confirming the fraternal bond that united the two Adriatic ports.

Unlike other cities of central and northern Italy, Ancona never became a seignory. The Malatesta took the city in 1348, taking advantage of the Black Death and a fire that had destroyed many of its important buildings. The Malatesta were ousted in 1383.<ref name=TCI/>

Pope Clement VII, under the false pretext of an imminent attack on the city by the Ottoman Turks, offered to add new fortifications to the Citadel on Colle Astagno at the papacy's expense, and sent the architect Antonio 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 the Sack 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 an ''ante litteram'' coup d'état, Pope Clement VII put an end to ''de facto'' freedom, thus placing the city under the direct dominion of the Papal States.<ref name="TCI"/>

== Communities in the Republic == thumb|Port of Ancona (16th century) thumb|Benvenuto Stracca, ''De mercatura''

Ancona had Greek, Albanian, Dalmatian, Armenian, Turkish and Jewish communities.<ref>Marina Massa, ''Il patrimonio disperso: il "caso" esemplare di Carlo Crivelli'', Regione Marche, 1999 (p. 214).</ref>

Ancona, as well as Venice, became a very important destination for merchants from the Ottoman 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.<ref>Mario Natralucci, ''Ancona durante i secoli'', 1960.</ref> Most of them came from northwestern Greece, i.e. the Ionian Islands and Epirus. In 1514, Dimitri Caloiri of Ioannina obtained reduced customs duties for Greek merchants coming from the towns of Ioannina, Arta and Avlona in Epirus. In 1518 a Jewish merchant of Avlona succeeded in lowering the duties paid in Ancona for all "the Levantine merchants, subjects to the Turk".<ref name=wos>Jan W. Woś, ''La comunità greca di Ancona alla fine del secolo XVI'', Tipografia Sonciniana, 1979</ref>

In 1531 the Confraternity of the Greeks ({{lang|it|Confraternita dei Greci}}) was established which included Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Greeks. They secured the use of the Church of St. Anna dei Greci and were granted permission to hold services according to the Greek 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.<ref name="wos"/> In 1534 a decision by Pope 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.<ref name="wos"/>

Disputes between the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Greeks of the community were frequent and persisted until 1797 when the city was occupied by the 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.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=7syb4WH8NYAC&pg=PA27 Greene Molly (2010) ''Catholic pirates and Greek merchants: a maritime history of the Mediterranean''. Princeton University Press, Britain, pp. 15–51.]</ref><ref>Rentetzi Efthalia (2007) La chiesa di Sant'Anna dei Greci di Ancona. ''Thesaurismata'' (Instituto Ellenico di Studi Bizantini e Postbizantini di Venezia), vol. 37.</ref>

== Commercial law == {{Refimprove section|date=June 2025}}

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 other Adriatic trading powers like Venice and Ragusa. 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.<ref> * {{cite book |title=Modernisation, National Identity and Legal Instrumentalism |volume=I: Private Law |series=Studies in Comparative Legal History |publisher=Brill |year=2019 |page=118}} * {{cite book |first=Vito |last=Piergiovanni |title=The Courts and the Development of Commercial Law |publisher=Duncker & Humblot |year=1987 |page=14}} * [http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/benvenuto-stracca_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/ "Benvenuto Stracca"], ''Encyclopedia Treccani''</ref>

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 the Papal States in 1532, marking the end of its independent commercial legal system.

== Alliance with Ragusa == {{Unreferenced section|date=June 2025}} [[File:Carlo Crivelli, Madonna con il Bambino (Ancona).jpg|thumb|Carlo Crivelli, ''Madonna con Bambino'', Civic Art Gallery of Ancona]]

Commercial competition among Venice, Ancona and Ragusa was very strong because all of them bordered the Adriatic 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 regained ''de facto'' freedom, paying tributes first to the Hungarians, and after the Battle of Mohács, to the Ottoman Empire. During this period Ragusa reconfirmed its old alliance with Ancona.

== Notes == {{notelist}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== Bibliography == * {{cite book |title=Medieval Italy: an Encyclopedia |editor=Christopher Kleinhenz |publisher=Routledge |isbn=0415939291 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E2CTAgAAQBAJ |year=2004 |chapter=Ancona |pages=30–31 |author=John Phillip Lomax |ref={{harvid|Lomax|2004}}}} * Peter Earle (1969), "The commercial development of Ancona, 1479–1551", ''Economic History Review'', 2nd ser., vol. 22, p. 28–44. * Joachim-Felix Leonhard, ''Ancona nel Basso Medioevo. La politica estera e commerciale dalla prima crociata al secolo XV.'' Il lavoro editoriale, Ancona 1992 (original edition: ''Die Seestadt Ancona im Spätmittelalter'', Niemeyer Max Verlag GmbH, 1983). * {{cite book |title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography |editor=William Smith |editor-link=William Smith (lexicographer) |location=London |publisher=John Murray |orig-year=1854 |year=1872 |chapter=Ancona |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.ah5cuq?urlappend=%3Bseq=148 |ref={{harvid|Smith|1872}}}} * {{cite book |title=Chambers's Encyclopaedia |location=London |year=1901 |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/njp.32101065312868?urlappend=%3Bseq=303 |chapter=Ancona |ref={{harvid|Chambers|1901}}}} * {{citation |title=Jewish Encyclopedia |location=New York |chapter=Ancona |volume=1 |year=1901 |author=Victor Castiglione |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.49015002282318?urlappend=%3Bseq=624 |ref={{harvid|Castiglione|1901}}}}. * {{Citation |publisher=Karl Baedeker |location=Leipzig |title=Central Italy and Rome: Handbook for Travellers |oclc=423237 |edition=15th |date=1909 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/centralitalyrom00karl#page/n267/mode/2up |chapter=Ancona |ref={{harvid|Baedeker|1909}}}}. * {{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Ancona |volume=01 |pages=951-952 |last1=Ashby |first1=Thomas |author-link=Thomas Ashby (archaeologist)}} * {{Citation |publisher=Ward, Lock & Co. |location=London |title=Haydn's Dictionary of Dates |author=Benjamin Vincent |edition=25th |date=1910 |chapter=Ancona |chapter-url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc2.ark:/13960/t41r6xh8t?urlappend=%3Bseq=66 |ref={{harvid|Haydn|1910}}}}. * {{cite book |title=Regions of Italy: a Reference Guide to History and Culture |author=Roy Domenico |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=0313307334 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wZ-PMNC5XOkC |year=2002 |chapter=Marche: Ancona |pages=209+ |ref={{harvid|Domenico|2002}}.}}

Category:Ancona Category:City-states Category:History of Marche Category:Italian states Category:Maritime republics Category:11th century in Italy Category:12th century in Italy Category:13th century in Italy Category:14th century in Italy Category:15th century in Italy Category:16th century in Italy

Republic of Ancona

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