Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of Venice. Edward A. Freeman
explanation was nonsense, but had not yet hit upon anything better for ourselves. In a great part of my two later journeys I had the companionship of Mr. Arthur Evans, my friend of 1877, my son-in-law of 1881. How much I owe to his knowledge of South-Slavonic matters, words would fail me to tell. I had seen Dalmatia for the first time, and I had begun to write about it, before I knew him and, I believe, before he had published anything; otherwise I should almost feel myself an intruder in a province which he has made his own. One out of many points I may specially mention. It was Mr. Evans who found and explained the two missing capitals from the palace at Ragusa, which are at once so remarkable in themselves and which throw so much light on the history of the building.
The illustrations to my former volume met with some severe criticism. But I am bound to say that of that severe criticism I agreed to every word. Only I thought that the critics would perhaps have been less severe if they had seen my original drawings themselves. The illustrations to the present volume have been made by a new process, partly, as before, from my own sketches, but partly also from photographs. I trust that they will be found less unsatisfactory than those that went before them.
As there are in these papers a good many historical references, some of them to rather out-of-the-way matters, but matters which could not always be explained at length in the text, I have drawn up a chronological table of the chief events in the history of the lands and cities of which I have had to speak.
I need hardly say that this volume, though I hope it may be useful to travellers on the spot, is not strictly a guide-book. But a good guide-book to Istria and Dalmatia is much needed. I am not joking when I say that the best guide to those parts is still the account written by the Emperor Constantino Porphyrogenitus more than nine hundred years back. But it is surely high time that there should be another. The attempts made in one or two of Murray's Handbooks are very poor. Sir Gardner Wilkinson's "Dalmatia and Montenegro," published more than thirty years ago, is an admirable book, and one to which I owe a very deep debt of gratitude. It first taught me what there was to see in the East-Hadriatic lands. But it is over-big for a guide-book. Mr. Neale's book contains some information, and, even in its ecclesiastical grotesqueness, it is sometimes instructive as well as amusing. But we can hardly take as our guide one who leaves out the Ragusan palace and who, when at Spalato, does not think of Diocletian. It would be in itself well if Gsel-fels, the prince of guide-book-makers, would do for Dalmatia as he has done for Sicily; but one would rather see it done in our own tongue.
Somerleaze, Wells,
September 20th, 1881.
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.
| B.C. | |
| Foundation of Korkyra | c. 734 |
| Foundation of Epidamnos | c. 627 |
| War between Corinth and Korkyra about Epidamnos | 435 |
| Colonization of Pharos and Issa | 385 |
| Korkyra held by Agathoklês | 300 |
| Korkyra held by Pyrrhos | 287 |
| First Roman war with Illyria, time of Queen Teuta and Demetrios of Pharos | 229 |
| Korkyra, Epidamnos, and Apollonia become allies of Rome | 229 |
| Second Illyrian War | 219 |
| Foundation of Aquileia | 181 |
| First Roman Conquest of Illyria | 168 |
| First mention of Tragyrion (Traü) | 158 |
| First Dalmatian War | 156 |
| Salona the head of Dalmatia | 117 |
| Roman Conquest of Istria | 107 |
| Foundation of Forum Julii | c. 45 |
| Colony of Tergeste fortified by Augustus | 32 |
| Foundation of Pietas Julia | c. 30 |
| A.D. | |
| Final conquest of Dalmatia | 6 |
| Martyrdom of Saint Caius | 296? |
| Diocletian retires to Salona | 305 |
| Crispus put to death at Pola | 326 |
| First church of Aquileia built by Fortunatian | c. 347 |
| Gallus put to death at Pola | 354 |
| Aquileia destroyed by Attila | 452 |
| Dalmatia under Marcellian | 454–468 |
| Dalmatia under Odoacer | c. 480 |
| Dalmatia under Theodoric | 488 |
| The Emperor Glycerius Bishop of Salona | 474 |
| Nepos killed near Salona | 480 |
| Salona recovered to the Empire | 535 |
| Building of the church of Parenzo | 535–543 |
| Belisarius sails from Salona | 544 |
| Narses sails from Salona | 552 |
| Schism in the church of Aquileia | 557 |
| Beginning of the Patriarchate of Grado | 606 |
| Lombard conquest of Italy begins | 568 |
| Slavonic settlements under Heraclius | c. 620 |
| Salona destroyed by the Avars | 639 |
| Inland Dalmatia under Charles the Great; the coast cities left to the Eastern Empire | 806 |
| The church of Pola built by Bishop Handegis | 857 |
| Cattaro taken by the Saracens | 867 |
| Saracen siege of Ragusa | 867 |
| First Venetian conquest of Dalmatia | 997 |
| Poppo Patriarch of Aquileia; rebuilding of the church | 1019–1042 |
| First authentic mention of Gorizia | 1051 |
| Croatian kingdom of Dalmatia | 1062 |
| Foundation of Saint Nicolas at Traü | 1064 |
| Corfu conquered by Robert Wiscard | 1081 |
| Corfu recovered by the Empire | 1085 |
| Exploits of the English exiles at Durazzo | 1086 |
| Magyar kingdom of Dalmatia | 1102 |
| The tower of Saint Mary's at Zara built by Coloman of Hungary | 1105 |
| Beginning of the Counts of Gorizia | 1120 |
| Corfu held by Roger of Sicily | 1147–1150 |
| Dalmatia restored to the Eastern Empire | 1171 |
| Corfu conquered by William the Good | 1186 |
| Corfu, Durazzo, etc., held by Margarito as a kingdom dependent on Sicily | 1186 |
| Richard the First at Ragusa | 1192 |
| Taking of Zara by the Crusaders | 1202 |
| Venetian Counts at Ragusa | 1204 |
| Corfu and Durazzo first occupied by Venice | 1206 |
| Building of Traü cathedral | 1215–1321 |
| Corfu and Durazzo recovered by Michael of Epeiros | 1216 |
| Durazzo recovered by the Empire | 1259 |
| Corfu and Durazzo ceded to Manfred | 1268 |
| Consecration of Saint Anastasia at Zara | 1285 |
| Durazzo under Servia | 1322 |
| Durazzo restored to the Kings of Naples | 1322 |
| Pola submits to Venice | 1331 |
| Neapolitan duchy of Durazzo | 1333–1360 |
| Treviso first occupied by Venice | 1338 |
| Building of the Archbishop's castle at Salona | 1347 |
| Treviso besieged by Lewis of Hungary | 1356 |
| Dalmatia ceded to Lewis of Hungary | 1358 |
| Durazzo the capital of an Albanian kingdom | 1358–1392 |
| Complete independence of Ragusa | 1359 |
| Markquard, Patriarch of Aquileia; recasting of the church | 1365–1381 |
| Gradual advance of Venice in Dalmatia | 1378–1444 |
| Treviso ceded to Leopold of Austria | 1381 |
| Trieste commends itself to Austria | 1381 |
| Final acquisition of Corfu by Venice | 1386 |
| Venetian occupation of Argos | 1388 |
| Treviso restored to Venice | 1388 |
| Second Venetian acquisition of Durazzo | 1392 |
| Building of the palace at Ragusa | 1388–1435 |
| Butrinto and Parga commend themselves to Venice | 1407 |
| Consecration of Saint Chrysogonos at Zara | 1407 |
| Sebenico annexed by Venice | 1412 |
| Building of the cathedral at Sebenico | 1415–1555 |
| Cattaro becomes Venetian | 1419 |
| Traü annexed by Venice | 1420 |
| Curzola finally submits to Venice | 1420 |
| Dominions of the Patriarch of Aquileia annexed by Venice | 1420 |
| Udine annexed by Venice | 1420 |
| Lesina occupied by Venice | 1424 |
| The city of Aquileia left to the Patriarchs | 1451 |
| Argos ceded by Venice | 1463 |
| Fluctuations between Venice and the Turk in Dalmatia | 1465–1718 |
| Date |