MENZE (MENČE), THE PATRICIANS OF BAR. A CONTRIBUTION TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF ROMANCE-SLAVIC SYMBIOSIS

Abstract

The patrician family Menze stands out in the historical records of the fifteenth century as noticed early in historiography. Although genealogical and documentary evidence is perplexed, the family’s presence in social life of the southern Adriatic communities cannot be excluded. Related onomasticon and toponyny represent the living proof of Romance-Slavic symbiosis present for centuries in the area of Bar. Other historical evidence confirms the social-economic and cultural trends of the late Middle Ages. Their status of nobility is not only corroborated by material features of the elite, but it is also evident in their functions of a procurator and auditor, as well as in their involvement in town’s administration. The familial memory and care for the preservation of patrimony, spiritual needs, as well as the commitment to literary culture are expressed in the last will and testament of Don Ivan Menze, the chaplain of St. Stephen in Dubrovnik. It is this very participation of a patrician in the collective memory that initiates the study of the sacred topography of Bar. The data contained in historical sources, which are confirmed by archaeological excavations, indicate, though, that the centuries-old legacy of St. Mary extra muros in Antibari is a testimony to oblivion.