Ladislaus of Naples, the losing contender in…
1420 CE
Ladislaus of Naples, the losing contender in the twenty-year Hungarian civil war between King Sigismund and the Capetian House of Anjou of the Kingdom of Naples, had sold his disputed rights on Dalmatia to the Venetian Republic for one hundred thousand ducats.
The Republic, acting on the pretext, takes over the city by the year 1420: it will remain under Venetian rule for three hundred and seventy-seven years.
The population is by this time largely Croatian, while Romance Dalmatian names are not so numerous, according to the Medieval city archives.
The common language is likewise Croatian, but Italian (a mixture of Tuscan and Venetian dialects) is also spoken due to the presence of Italian minorities.
The autonomy of the city is reduced: the highest authority is a prince-captain, who is always to be of Venetian birth.