A Castle in Dalmatia: Zemunik in the Veneto-Ottoman peace Negotiations of 1573-1574

Abstract

For a Europe that feared continuing Ottoman expansion, the Battle of Lepanto (1571) was a great relief. But the Ottoman Empire continued to be dominant in the eastern Mediterranean, and in southeastern Europe. The Republic of Venice, a partner in the great Christian victory of 1571, was soon forced to make peace with the sultan, acknowledging the loss of important overseas territories. This essay deals with the vain effort by Venetian diplomats to recover through negotiation a small but strategically important territory lost in the fighting of 1571- 1573. Although the Venetian government refused to recognize it at the time, the permanent loss of Zemunik castle meant that the Ventian province of Dalmatia now had to form an economic partnership with the Ottoman province of Bosnia in order to survive.