For although Poljica's society had many unmistakably feudal features, its sheer complexity, the disproportionately large number of 'noble' families (there were no less than 80 such families in 1799) not a single one of which ever gained the position of complete dominance, the two species of nobility, and especially the intricate relations of ownership, made Poljica unlike any other community in feudal Europe. But basically there was no great interest in the sea.īut Poljica was also unique in its social structure. This was partly due, no doubt, to the geography of the area, for the mountain ranges run parallel with the coast and the access to the coast from the interior, where the majority of the population lived, was made that much more difficult.
Nor did fishing play a great part in their economy. What is more, despite the closeness of the sea and the obvious advantages of a reasonably well developed coast-line the Poljica people never seemed to take a great interest in shipping. Its economy was exclusively rural, based on animal farming and agriculture. Throughout its long existence it never developed any urban centres on its territory. The new administrative arrangement remained in force under a succession of different governments -Austrian, Yugoslav and Croatian -until 1945 when it was abolished by the new Yugoslav government who re-drew the administrative boundaries yet again, with the result that Poljica disappeared from the administrative map for a second time, its territory being annexed to the surrounding districts.īy comparison with other small medieval and post-medieval European principalities Poljica was in many ways unique. Thus only two years before the outbreak of the First World War and almost exactly nine hundred years after it was first founded Poljica began a second period of its life as a county borough - this time under Austrian rule. In fact it was not until 1912, and even then only after a long and dedicated campaign by some leading Poljicans, that Poljica was restored as an administrative unit within its historical boundaries. In addition to losing its autonomy Poljica was divided among the neighbouring counties and it remained administratively dismembered for over a century. Its centuries old autonomy was thus brought abruptly and violently to an end, never to be regained. The principality survived with its internal organisation virtually intact until 1807 when it was abolished by the French in a peak of fury following a local rebellion against their rule. Yet despite its small population Poljica, by virtue of its geographical position, played an important role in the political history of the region. Nor has there been a very large increase in population since then, except perhaps in the coastal area. In 1806 the French-appointed civilian governor of Dalmatia Vicenzo Dandolo, in a report on Poljica, recorded an even smaller figure - 6566. According to a census taken in 1781 in Poljica's twelve katuni or clusters of tiny hamlets there lived 6813 people. The population of Poljica was never very large. It turned out to be a remarkably durable political structure for owing to a number of different circumstances, but chiefly to the unfaltering spirit of resistance among the local population who had developed an unusually strong sense of communal identity, Poljica was able to retain a measure of political freedom and continue in existence as a self-governing principality long after the medieval Croatian state collapsed and was united by treaty with the kingdom of Hungary in 1102.
It provides a rare picture of what life was like in a region of medieval Europe which for centuries had been the main meeting ground between East and West, and for this reason alone it is of immense value to social historians.Īdministratively Poljica first came into being as a separate county (zupanija) within the medieval Croatian kingdom, probably in - or around -AD 1015. It codifies the ancient customs, rules, practices of a small self-governing community inhabiting the 100 odd square miles of mountainous land bordering the sea just south of Split between the rivers Zrnovnica and Cetina (see map on page 3 ). The Statute of the Principality of Poljica ( pronounced Pol'yeetsa) from 1440 published here for the first time in English translation is one of the most interesting documents in the European legal history.
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