Lena Sadovski-Kornprobst, BA BA MA

PhD thesis:

"Die gesellschaftlichen Strukturen Splits zwischen venezianischer Herrschaft und osmanischer Bedrohung, 1479-1525"Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Oliver SchmittFunding: DOC Fellowship of the Austrian Academy of SciencesDuration: 1 September 2019 – 31 August 2022Description:The dissertation examines the social structures in the city of Split, which belonged to Venice's Stato da Mar, between 1479, the end of the 1463 and the plague epidemic of 1525-1527. The choice of this period is based on the hypothesis that the coastal city of Split came under increasing pressure during this time due to the expansion of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans and that this increase in Ottoman pressure also led to an increase in tensions within the urban society of Split. The aim is to examine the influence of Venetian rule on the one hand and the Ottoman threat on the other on the communities of a Dalmatian city at the end of the late Middle Ages and to pursue the hypothesis of a growing crisis. The theoretical basis for this is, on the one hand, the concept of community as a social and cultural construct that is based on shared ideas of belonging, is negotiated and actualised in the social practice of the actors, and can be supported by formal, institutionalised structures, but does not have to be. On the other hand, the concepts of microhistory and the life-world are fundamental; the latter places the individual actor at the centre and examines their social practice, community and value ideas, as well as their affiliations with several communities such as family or faction. The analysis connects individuals and communities and is based on source material from the Croatian state archives in Zadar and Split, mainly notarial instruments and court records. Qualitative analyses of the networks of individuals in their connection with communities will provide microhistorical case studies to reconstruct the structures of daily life in Split.

Key Research Topics:

Late medieval and early modern history of Southeast Europe, Venice and the Venetian dominions, as well as the Hispanic world; economic and social history; historical processes of identity and community