From Bar and Dubrovnik to Ancona: The Last Will of Prokulijan Camillo’s Besali

Studijama genealoške prozopografije proširuju se spoznaje o osobama koje se njima tematiziraju i upotpunjuju životopisi njihovih najbližih rođaka i prijatelja, čime se rasvjetljava cijela društvena epoha. U spisima Državnoga arhiva u Dubrovniku na osam stranica nalazi se dokument registriran 23. ožujka 1590. godine, koji sadrži oporuku i kodicil Prokulijana Camillova Besalija, sastavljene u studenome 1589. godine u Anconi, kao i raspodjelu sprovedenu po tim izjavama volje u razdoblju od 1589. do 1595. godine. Izjava posljednje volje barskoga izgnanika preminuloga u pokrajini Marche, sina patricijke Paole iz roda Prokulijan i glasovitoga talijanskog renesansnog pjesnika Camilla, brata također poznatoga humanista, dubrovačkoga kancelara Viktora, znakovito je svjedočanstvo migracija, životnih staza i trgovačkih tokova toga vremena.Based on the studies of genealogical prosopography, the paper expands the knowledge about the Besali family, originating from Bar in the mid-16th century and extinguished in Dubrovnik in the mid-17th century. The document, although related basically to one of its members, contains some unknown facts that complement the resumes of his closest relatives and friends, enlightening the whole social era. The State Archives in Dubrovnik preserve eight pages of a document registered on March 23, 1590, which contains the testament and the codicil of Prokulijan Camillo’s Besali, made on 10 and 19 November 1589 in Ancona, along with the distribution made according to these wills in the period between 1 December 1589 and 1591/95. The source provides a specific insight into the lives of the Besali family members who were moving and settling in both sides of the Adriatic. Significant geopolitical changes and threats to security caused them to leave their homeland and reside or stay for prolonged periods in different cities, trying to recreate and continue their existences in those areas. This confirms the permeation of cultural horizons and the interdependence of the Adriatic and Mediterranean spaces. Because of his personal name, coming from his mother’s family, historiographers have long confused Prokulijan Besali with his renowned father. By throwing light on his activity, it has been revealed that the testator, who resided in Ancona, was involved in trade, financially supported by the capital of Dubrovnik’s and Italian traders. Prokulijan’s abiding in Italy not only did not raise the issue of assimilation, but also opened much greater opportunities for the provision of commodities, borrowings, investments, and social ascent. Judging from Besali’s accounts, his trade routes from Ancona and the Marche may have included Venice, Milan, Florence, and the Levant. Among his business associates some very prestigious names have been recognized. Perhaps because of this, and not due to the lack of competence in managing his business ventures, the formulations of his last will speak much more about the settlement of obligations than about the collection of debts. The executors of his last will, and, given the way of expressing his emotions over the legacies, surely his close friends, belonged to Dubrovnik’s noble lineages of Resti and Gundula. In addition to the evident closeness among the members of Prokulijan’s family, an immanent spiritual impulse and a certain inherent sympathy attitude towards the poorer, lower social layer are discernible. The analysed historical source, which has a major change in the historical context as its background, still contains indication of a collective identity recognizable in communal affiliation. The last will of the exile from Bar deceased in the province of Marche, son of the patrician Paola from the Prokulijan lineage and the famous and influential Italian Renaissance poet Camillo – and brother of the renowned humanist, Dubrovnik’s Chancellor Viktor – is a remarkable testimony of the life paths, migrations, and trade flows of the time