On Ragusan Libertas in the Late Middle Ages

The concept of “liberty” (libertas, libertà) is one of the key motifs in the political tradition of old Dubrovnik. This article aims to highlight the history of discourse on libertas from its advent to the sixteenth century, when “liberty” had become a true commonplace of the Ragusan culture and politics. Apart from illuminating different meanings of this concept in the Ragusan sources, the article traces the shifts in the socio-cultural context of the rhetoric on libertas: various situations in which it appears with regard to purpose and addressee, as well as individuals, institutions and groups that spoke about “freedom”