Venetian church and monastery of San Lorenzo in the last wills of the Croatian emigrants (15th – 17th centuries)

Sa？etak This article is based on the archival sources from the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, primarily on the testamentary records of the Croatian emigrants that are preserved within archival series Notarile testamenti and Corporazioni religiose soppresse. Autor focuses on the relation between the Croatian emigrants and respectable Venetian church and Benedictine monastery of San Lorenzo, that is placed in the part of Venice called Castello, which was frequently also dwelling place of non-Venetian national groups. Time frame of this investigation covers period between the fifteenth and seventeenth centuries. In the first part of the article author delivers general and basic data (gender, origin, occupation, place of residence, economic possibilities etc.) about the Croatians connected with the above-mentioned Benedictine institution. The chief part of the article is dedicated to the analysis of the information from the last wills; author evaluates the church of San Lorenzo as a burial site and place where the memorial services were held for the deceased Croatian emigrants. Moreover, author analyzes testamentary bequests to Benedictine monks, as well those bequests in which monks and nuns were recorded as executors of the last wills. In the closing part of the article, author examines in detail some of the analyzed testaments. The main goal of this contribution is to reveal and discuss a part of a religious life and piety of the Croats who emigrated to Venice, in the context of the rich and still not sufficiently investigated historic relations between Croatia and Venice