Проповеднички редови у касносредњовековном Котору

Abstract

The Franciscan and the Dominican friars were coming to Kotor from Dubrovnik during the sixties of the 13th century. In the late Middle Agesthe orders of preachers had taken over from the Benedictines the decisive role in nearly all aspects of the religious life in the town. The Franciscans were building outside the city walls the large convent dedicated to St.Francis, while the Dominicans upon their arrival obtain St Paul’s church, the endowment of Pavle Bari, to build later in the 14th century with the grant of Nikola Buća St. Nicola’s convent out of town on the banks of the Škurda River. Convents run by the orders of preachers were built in strategically significant locations, outside the city walls, but very near its ramparts. It seems that the Franciscans played a particularly significant role in Kotor in the late Middle Ages, judging by the number of their churches, as well as by their active role in the formation of religious practice in the town. By the middle of the 15th century the Franciscan Observants moved from the St. Francis convent, leaving it to the conventuals, and started to found their ownconvents based upon the learning of St. Bernardin of Sienna, who preached against the sins in Italian urban settlements. His preaching could concern the everyday life in Kotor too. A particularly significant role of the Franciscans in Kotor had been played in the process of unification of the eastern and western churches, as they had been the special emissaries of the Pope. Special attention has been devoted to the influence of the Dominicans, and particularly the Franciscans, on the contents of the last will and testaments of the citizens of Kotor in the late Middle Ages is analyzed.