Page:American Historical Review vol. 6.djvu/643

 Volume F/] J'^h'^ ^9^^ _Number 4 %t l^mcvicau ^istotical %mm THE REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO THE Republic of San Marino, the oldest and smallest in the world, deserves on both these grounds the attention of Americans, to whom the following pages, the result of two visits to the miniature commonwealth of the Apennines and of considerable study of its history, may be of interest. Much has been written in French and Italian about San Marino,' and the documents of the republic have been carefully arranged by Professsor Malagola of Bologna, in the archives beneath the new government building •- but with the exception of the late Mr. J. T. Bent's now almost ob- solete Freak of Freedom, and of a translation from the French, made by an American, who was created a citizen of San Marino,, Mr. William Warren Tucker, there is no book in English about the sole surviving example of the Italian medieval republics. The legendary origin of this tiny state is described in the Acta. SanctoriDii, the authors of which based their account on two manu- scripts and three printed lives of the saint from whom San Marino- derives its name. These accounts, even the earliest of which was written some centuries after the events recorded, are a mixture of fables and miracles, but perhaps contain some grains of fact. Ac- cording to the most probable version, two friends, Marinus and Leo, natives of the Dalmatian island of Arbe, crossed the Adriatic soon after the middle of the fourth century of our era, and settled at Rimini on the Italian coast. At a distance of about fifteen miles rises the picturesque cliff, called Monte Titano either from the • A very complete bibliography of books and articles about San Marino was published in 1899 by Baron L. de Montalbo, Duke A. Ostrando, and Count A. Galati di Riella, under the title of Dizionario Bibliografico Iconografico della Repubblica di San Marino, contenente Ic Indicazioni delle Opere puhblicate in varie Lingue. 2 See his papers in the Atli e Memoi-ie della R. Dipittazione di Sloria Patria per le Provincie di Romagna, 3" serie, VI. 260-349; VIII. 196-284; IX. 111-147 ; and his L' Archive Goi'ernativo della Repubblica di San Marino. VOL. VI.— 42. (633)