Zadar nobility family Martinušić-Pećar

Abstract

Zadar medieval family Martinušić-Pećar was believed to be two families. The author establishes that this is actually one family using alternative “last names”. The author follows its development from the beginning of the 13th century to the middle to the 16th century during ten generations. This is done on the authentic facts about every, especially male, member of the family. The origin of the family goes back to the duke Vučina of Bribir who was a duke of Trogir in the beginning of the 13th century and was also the mayor of Split. His son Martinušić became the citizen of Zadar and there he got his patronymic Martinušići. Different members of the family as, for example, Miho at the end of the 13th c., Vučina in the first decades of the 14th c., and even Miha the 2nd in the second half of the 14th c. - they all played very important roles in the town. Family‘s economic power was based on the big estates and business activites still going on in the 15th century. Their geneological tree up to the 16th century is presented and some art work from Zadar directly connected with the members of this family. The destiny of different members of this family after the 16th century is not possible to follow since the material has not been studied yet. It seems that in the middle of the 16th century there were no more members of this family in Zadar.