Draft:Jovan Vojnovic (Merchant)

Jovan Vojnović or Count Giovanni Voinovich (Herceg Novi, 1710 -- Trieste, 1794) was a Serbian merchant, nobleman and philanthropist who lived in Trieste where he made most of his fortune. He is the father of Marko Voinovich, the Russian Admiral.

Biography

He was the son of Jovan Vojnović (senior), who attained the rank of colonel in the Imperial Russian army, and moved to Trieste as a pensioner in 1753 and remained there for the rest of his life. Vojnović became a noble with the predicate count, Count Jovan. He moved from Herceg Novi to Trieste in 1751, and brought his family with him in 1756. Even then, he owned a villa in the Trieste suburb of Sv. Andrija, three houses near the customs house, two ships, one of which had 20 guns and was anchored in the port there. Since Austria was happy to accept him into its vassalage, because it insisted on Trieste as its most important port, and the Republic of Venice was against his relocation and threatened him with confiscation of his property. Vojnović together with his brother Vasilije, who remained in the Venetian vassalage in Kotor, made a fictitious sale of property and avoided its confiscation. His ships participated in the Seven Years' War in battles against the English and Prussian fleets. In 1766, it was recorded that he was the owner of three houses, that he had a capital of 30,000 forints and that he had seven family members. The following year, his capital increased to 40,000 forints, the number of houses to four, and the number of people in the family to 10 members. It is recorded that he had two ships at the time. In 1759, he acted as the tutor of the Serbian Orthodox Church Municipality (SOCM) in Trieste and was present during the visit of Empress Maria Theresa to the city. Vojnović was connected by business and family to most Serbian families in Trieste, and he stood out in the struggle of the Serbs for their own church and municipality in Trieste, i.e. for separation from the common church with the Greeks, which only happened in 1782. When the Serbs decided to build a new church, Vojnović contributed 1,000 forints. Together with Jovan Kurtović and Jovan Miletic, he was the biggest donor for the purchase of the church from the Greeks. He married three times and had four children: Mark, Jovan, Maria and Sofia. Marko Voinovich (born 1750) already entered the Imperial Russian service in 1770, and around 1790 he became the commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and fortifications on the Caspian Sea. He became an admiral in 1801.

Literature

• M. Kostić, "Serbian trading settlement in Trieste in the 18th century", IČ, 1955, 5;
• D. Medaković, Dj. Milošević, Chronik der Serben in Triest, Bg 1987;
• N. Rašo, "Vojnovići", Herceg Novi 2012.