History of Kotor

In 1002, the city suffered damage under occupation of the First Bulgarian Empire, and in the following year it was ceded to Serbia by the Bulgarian Tsar Samuil. However, the local population resisted the pact and, taking advantage of its alliance with the Republic of Ragusa, only submitted in 1184, while maintaining its republican institutions and its right to conclude treaties and engage in war. It was already an episcopal see, and, in the 13th century, Dominican and Franciscan monasteries were established to check the spread of Bogomilism.

During the Zupano dynasty-era, the city was autonomous. With the fall of the Serbian Empire, the city came under the Serbian Despotate. The city acknowledged the suzerainty of the Republic of Venice in 1420. In the 14th century, commerce in Cattaro (as the city was called until 1918) competed with that of the nearby Republic of Ragusa and of the Republic of Venice. The city was part of the Venetian Albania province of the Venetian Republic from 1420 to 1797, except for periods of Ottoman rule in 1538–1571 and 1657-1699. Four centuries of Venetian domination have given the city the typical Venetian architecture, that contributed to make Kotor a UNESCO world heritage site. In those centuries Renaissance-related literature enjoyed a huge development in Venetian Cattaro: the most famous writers were Bernardo Pima, Nicola Chierlo, Luca Bisanti, Alberto de Gliricis, Domenico and Vincenzo Burchia, Vincenzo Ceci, Antonio Zambella and Francesco Morandi.

In the 14th- and 15th centuries, there was an influx of