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1646, Dalmatia, Ragusa (Republic). Silver Denaric (Grosseto of 6 Soldi) Coin. XF!

Mint Period: 1646 Mint Place: Dubrovnik State: Ragusa (Republic) Reference: Mimica 801, KM-5. Denomination: Denaric (Grosseto of 6 Soldi) Condition: Lightly deformed, double-struck, otherwise XF! Diameter: 18mm Weight: 0.64gm Material: Silver

Obverse: Saint Blaise holding orb facing, splitting date (16-46). Legend:  RAGVSA S BLASIVS Reverse: Christ in blessing gesture facing inside star-filled lozenge (mandrola). Legend: SALVS TUTA

Saint Blaise (Greek: Agios Vlasios) was a physician, and bishop of Sebastea, Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey). According to his Acta Sanctorum, he was martyred by being beaten, attacked with iron carding combs, and beheaded.

St. Blaise is the patron saint of the city of   Dubrovnik (where he is known as Sveti Vlaho) and formerly the protector   of the independent Republic of Ragusa. At Dubrovnik his feast is   celebrated yearly on 3 February, when relics of the saint, his head, a   bit of bone from his throat, his right hand and his left, are paraded in   reliquaries. The festivities begin the previous day, Candlemas, when   white doves are released. Chroniclers of Dubrovnik such as Rastic and   Ranjina attribute his veneration there to a vision in 971 to warn the   inhabitants of an impending attack by the Venetians, whose galleys had   dropped anchor in Gruz and near Lokrum, ostensibly to resupply their   water but furtively to spy out the city's defenses. St. Blaise (Blasius)   revealed their pernicious plan to Stojko, a canon of St. Stephen's   Cathedral. The Senate summoned Stojko, who told them in detail how St.   Blaise had appeared before him as an old man with a long beard and a   bishop's mitre and staff. In this form the effigy of Blaise remained on   Dubrovnik's state seal and coinage until the Napoleonic era.

The   Republic of Ragusa (or     Republic of Dubrovnik) was a maritime republic   centred on the city   of   Ragusa (Dubrovnik, today in southernmost   Croatia), in Dalmatia,   from   the 14th century AD until 1808. It reached   its peak in the 15th   and   the 16th century before being conquered by   Napoleon Bonaparte's   Empire   of France in 1808. It had a population of   about 30,000   people, of   which 5,000 lived within the city walls.

The Republic ruled a compact area of southern       Dalmatia - its final borders were formed by 1426 - comprising the       mainland coast from Neum to the Prevlaka peninsula as well as the       Pelješac peninsula and the islands of Lastovo and Mljet, as well as a       number of smaller islands off Lastovo and Dubrovnik such as Koločep,       Lopud, and Šipan.

In the 15th century the Ragusan republic also       acquired the islands of Korcula, Brac and Hvar for about eight years.       However they had to be given up due to the resistance of local minor       aristocrats sympathizing with Venice which was granting them some       privileges.

In 1684, the emissaries renewed an agreement contracted in Višegrad in the year 1358 and accepted the sovereignty of the Austrian Emperor over Ragusa as a Croatian-Hungarian King, with an annual tax of 500 ducats.       At the same time Ragusa continued to recognize the sovereignty of       Turkey; which was nothing unusual in those days. After this even   greater     opportunities opened up for Ragusa ships in ports all along   the     Dalmatian coast, in which they anchored frequently.

In 1683 the Turks were defeated in the Battle of       Kahlenberg outside Vienna. The Field marshal of the Austrian army was       Ragusan Frano Dživo Gundulić/Gondola. In the Treaty of Karlowitz of       1699, the Ottomans ceded all of Hungary, Transylvania, Slavonia,       Dalmatia and Podolia to the victorious Habsburgs, Venetians, and Poles.

The Ottoman Empire was no longer a threat to       Christian Europe. After this, Venice captured a part of Ragusa's inland       area and approached its borders. They presented the threat of     completely   surrounding and cutting off Ragusa's trade inland. In view     of this   danger and anticipating the defeat of the Turks in 1684   Ragusa   sent   emissaries to the Austrian Emperor Leopold in Vienna,   hoping   that the   Austrian Army would capture Bosnia. Fortunately for   the   Republic, the   Ottomans retained their control over their   hinterland.   With the 26   January 1699 peace agreement, the Republic   of Ragusa ceded   two patches   of its coast to the Ottoman Empire so   that the Republic   of Venice would   be unable to attack from land,   only from the sea. One   of them, the   northwestern land border with   the small town of Neum, is   today the only   outlet of present-day   Bosnia and Herzegovina to the   Adriatic Sea. The   southeastern border   village of Sutorina later became   part of Montenegro,   which has   coastline to the south. Ragusa   continued its policy of strict     neutrality in the War of Austrian   succession (1741–48) and in the   Seven   Years' War (1756–63).

In 1783 the Ragusan Council did not answer the       proposition put forward by their diplomatic representative in Paris,       Frano Favi, that they should establish diplomatic relations with the       USA. Although the Americans agreed to allow Ragusan ships free passage       in their ports.