A commoner in whose honor the Dubrovnik Republic erected a memorial plaque in the Rector’s Palace: the life of Trajan Lalić (1686 – 1773) as documented in the manuscript of historian Antun Vučetić (1845 – 1931)

Abstract

The article briefly describes the archival research of historian, pedagogue and archivist Antun Vučetić (1845 – 1931) on Trajan Lalić (1686 – 1773), a Dubrovnik merchant who lived in Venice and who served the Dubrovnik Republic for half a century, protecting its interests against the Serenissima authorities. Due to his notable role, Lalić is not an unknown figure in the history of 18th-century Dubrovnik, nevertheless his biography remains rather unknown to this day. The only work on Lalić was published in Italian in 1911 by Antun Vučetić, and all subsequent authors who have mentioned Lalić and his diplomatic activities rely on it for information. Although Vučetić’s article is relatively short and concise, one can conclude by studying his various notes, transcripts of archival documents and several versions of manuscripts that have been part of the State Archives in Dubrovnik since 2017 as part of his manuscript legacy, that Antun Vučetić was preparing a more extensive text about Trajan Lalić, which he never finished. The article also includes a transcription of Vučetić’s unpublished manuscript with more new information not contained in the published text. On the occasion of the 250th anniversary of Lalić’s death, the article represents an attempt, based on Vučetić’s manuscript legacy, to provide additional information about this competent commoner in whose honor the Republic erected a memorial plaque in the Rector’s Palace during his lifetime.