Vlasništvo nad nekretninama crkvenih i samostanskih ustanova na orebićkome području u 19. stoljeću
The ownership of church and monastic institutions in the nineteenth century Orebić

Summary/Abstract: A comprehensive examination of the ownership of churches and monasteries in a particular region in the nineteenth century is only possible using land registers created during the cadastral survey conducted by the Austrian authorities in the fi rst half of the nineteenth century. I study registers for the cadastral districts of Orebić and Podgorje that contain information on properties owned by church and monastic institutions as well as several sections in the ownership of Bishopric of Dubrovnik. While Dubrovnik prohibited testimonial bequests of real estate to church institutions as early as the mid-fourteenth century, many of these institutions had nonetheless grown very wealthy, and by the nineteenth century owned extensive real estate portfolios: residential property, other buildings and land sections. In most cases, the church acquired its property through bequests pro anima; depending on the wealth of the testator, bequests were in some cases large and, in addition to money, included houses and/or land sections. Large bequests were more frequently bequeathed to monasteries than to churches, as confi rmed by their property portfolios in the nineteenth century. So the churches in Orebić had little or no real estate: the church of Our Lady of Carmen had 1.45 hectares of land, while the Church of St Stephen owned two tiny land sections. At the same time, monasteries were considerably wealthier and in some cases were the most signifi cant landowners in the region. For example, the Dominican monastery in Dubrovnik owned more than 35 hectares and 19 buildings in the cadastral district of Podgorje. This wealth was, most likely, accumulated through generous donations and bequests of Dubrovnik aristocrats who represented the majority of property owners in this region prior to the nineteenth century.

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