Servitium commune u kotorskoj episkopiji u 14. i 15. veku

Abstract

In the mid-13th century, the Pope established the rule according to which all the newly named bishops and abbots had to pay during their investiture a certain tax, the so-called servitium commune, as well as five servitia minuta. Establishing the amount of the tax and care of its fulfillment was within the competency of the Apostolic Chamber. Its documentation points that the Kotor bishops Sergije II, a dominus B., electus Catharrensis, Toma of Ulcinj, Segije III, and Adam, who headed the Kotor Church between 1328 and 1352, were exempt from this tax due to poverty. This means that in this period the revenue of the Kotor Church did not exceed one hundred gold forints. From the end of the 14th century, after the establishment of Venetian sovereignty in Kotor (in 1420), bishops regularly paid to the Apostolic Chamber a tax of 33 and one third gold forints. In the beginning they paid this tax in two installments, although they were sometimes late or third parties offered guarantees for them. From the time of Marin Kontaren, bishops paid the money on the same day that they were elected. At the end of the 15th century, the Kotor Church revenue increased, as did the tax, to fifty gold forints. Despite the fact that in the first half and in mid-14th century Kotor had considerable material wealth, due to the privileged position it had in the Nemanjić state, and in the city itself great care was devoted to the appearance and decoration of the churches this does not mean that the diocese was rich. The church administration did not care very much about the property or the income of individual churches which was reflected onto the overall position of the bishopric treasury, and the Orthodox Serbian kings did not care too much about servicing the financial obligations that their subjects, Catholic prelates, had towards the Curia. After 1420, the Venetian authorities established firm control over the material conditions in the diocese, which resulted in the increased income of the Kotor treasury and regular payment of the servitium commune.