Od Bara i Dubrovnika do Ancone: posljednja volja Prokulijana Camillova Besalija
From Bar and Dubrovnik to Ancona: The Last Will of Prokulijan Camillo’s Besali

Summary/Abstract: 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.

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