Ragusa till 1814. In January of that year Count Biagio
Bernardo di Caboga raised the people, and with English and Austrian
troops, freed his country from the French. The flag of Ragusa flew for
the last time between those of Austria and England on January 3. On the
28th the territory was taken possession of by Austria. A short time
before the French occupation Ragusa had 400 sea-going ships.

There is very little remaining from the early period, though there are
records of building being done. Resti, who is an authority for the local
history of Ragusa, says that Stefano, king of Croatia Bianca, vowed to
restore S. Stefano, Ragusa, and remained there two years while it was
being done, spending much money upon it. His wife Margherita, a noble
Roman lady, sent a quantity of silver to ornament the relics of the
saints, of which the church had many and finally the royal couple
visited it, the king being accompanied by several barons, and the queen
by her ladies. The rest of the Court stayed at Breno and Canali, because
the Ragusans said they could not accommodate them all, the city being
but small. The king, in return for the distinguished treatment which was
accorded him, is said to have given to the Republic, Breno, Vergato,
Ombla, Gravosa, the valley of Malfi, and part of Gionchetto, on the
condition of churches dedicated to S. Stephen being built in all the
towns. After his death his queen resolved to retire to Ragusa and become
a nun. She had a small room built for her by the side of S. Stefano, and
also built the little church of S. Margherita, removed in 1570 when the
fort which still bears the same name was constructed, and rebuilt in the
present military hospital, the old Jesuit convent, where it was used as
a mortuary. She also brought to Ragusa two pieces of the wood of the
true Cross, the larger of which is still in the cathedral The cell
which was built for her still existed in the fifteenth century. The
church of S. Stefano was the old cathedral; it was partially destroyed
by the earthquake of 1667, and never rebuilt. The site is now used as a
recreation ground for the cathedral clergy. Above an early Renaissance
door, made when the building was converted into a sacristy for the later
church, is encrusted a piece of ninth-century sculpture, with the usual
arches, crosses, and palmettes, and in the adjoining wall is an oculus
with an ornamented moulding. By the side of the bishop's palace is a
little chapel with