History of Rijeka

History Of Rijeka

Fiume (in Croatian: Rijeka) is located in the northern tip of the Quarnero in the northern Adriatic.

The region of Quarnero (Fiume was still not mentioned) fell within the Holy Roman Empire, with the acquisition of the titles of Margraves of Istria and Dukes of Merania by the Andechs family. The possession was called Merania (German: meer – "sea") and was thus meaning "littoral" (German: Küstenland).

The counts of Duino (Tibein), were the first feudal lords of Fiume, from early 12th century until 1337. As ministeriales of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, the family proved crucial in extending German control preventing further expansion of the Republic of Venice on the northernmost Adriatic. The counts of Duino included the city into a comparatively good road network, which were in operation on the routes leading towards the sea. The Fiuman Terra was their most important fief, that with its possession controlled a good road network from the river Timavo to the Quarnero gulf. Along these roads, marked by several castles and outposts (Senožeče, Gotnik (Guettenegg) and Prem) guarding the land communications from the Quarnero towards Carniola, the contemporary Slovenia. Traders are reported from Carinthian Villach, Carniolan Ljubljana (Laibach) and Styrian Ptuj (Pettau) but also from the German lands of the Holy Roman Empire.

In Fiume the local toponymy is predominantly Slavic Croatian, Italians came from the sea, usually as craftsmen and traders, from the central Italian Adriatic ports, such as Fermo, Ancona, Senigallia, and with Venice. The trade of Fiume develops in linking the German lands with central Italian ports. Notably, the contacts with Croatia were very scarce given the absence of land connections of Fiume with its eastern hinterland.

In 1399, the territory fell into the hands of the German family of Walsee, the last of whom sold the territory to the Habsburgs in 1465. After the extinction of the house of the Walsee in 1465, the possessions were inherited by the Habsburg family that owned it from 1466 to 1776. The Habsburgs granted Fiume with the status of a free city, and included in the Duchy of Carniola.

As a reichsfrei city, or territory (Fiume was a terra) was under the direct authority of the Holy Roman Emperor and the Imperial Diet, without any intermediary liege lord(s). Advantages were that reichsfrei regions had the right to collect taxes and tolls themselves, and held juridical rights themselves. De facto imperial immediacy corresponded to a semi-independence with a far-reaching autonomy. In 1599 Fiume de facto becomes an independent City commune, emancipated from the Duchy of Carniola, although the Carniolan Estates will continue (unsuccessfully) to claim their rights upon the city - right up to their cessation in 1809.

The late mediaeval Commune was ruled according to the Statute from 1530 but this chart formally lasted until 1850. The first codified Statute of Fiume preserves some features of the mediaeval Croatian statutes, still with a preponderance of Italian and Venetian institutions. According to the Statute, the executive power was in the hand of the Gran Consiglio ("Great council") with 50 members and the Piccolo Consiglio ("Small council") of 25 patricians. The Captain was the representative of the feudal lord (from 1466 the Habsburg archduke). The local executives, giudici rettori ("justice rectors"), have to obey only the lord – from 1466 the duke (later Emperor) of the House of Habsburg. Thus, in its local corporate representation Fiume was a mixture between the local self-government tradition and the Reichsfreiheit or Reichsunmittelbarkeit of the free cities of the Holy Roman Empire.