236 THE REPUBLIC OF RAGUSA
was the raising of her tribute to the Sultan to 5000 ducats. The city again became a haven of refuge for fugitives from the territories invaded by the Turks, and many Greeks from Constantinople, including members of the most distinguished families, fled to Ragusa, and remained there for a while. Thus we find some of the Palaeologi, Comneni, Lascaris, and Cantaconzeni, and learned men like John Lascaris, Chalcocondylas, Emmanuel Marulus, Theodore Spandukinos, author of a history of the Turks, Paul Tarchaniotes, father of the historian John, and many others. No doubt these men contributed to the revival of learning in Dalmatia, as they did in the Italian towns. The refugees were provided with food, shelter, and money, and were afterwards sent on board Ragusan galleys free of charge to Ancona.1 The citizens would have been willing that they should settle permanently at Ragusa, but the Senate feared that as many of them were such distinguished men the Sultan might use this as a pretext for aggression. A certain number, however, did remain.
   After the capture of Constantinople it was hoped that Mohammed would content himself with being overlord of the remaining Balkan lands not under his direct sway. But he soon evinced more dangerous intentions, and proceeded to establish his complete ascendency, destroying all the independent or semiindependent States. Of these the first to be attacked was Servia, which the Sultan claimed through his stepmother, a Servian princess. The miserable remnant of the great Tsar Dusan’s Empire was reduced to a small
1	Appudini, i. 204 ; Engel, § 639; Luccari, 170.