KOTORSKI PLEMIĆ BENEDIKT PASKVALI (1704.-1790.) - ZAPOVJEDNIK MLETAČKIH PREKOMORSKIH PJEŠAČKIH POSTROJBI.

The life and agency of Benedict Pasquali (1704-1790), a nobleman of Kotor and general of Venetian army, are central themes of this article. In the first part of the article, the authors, based on the documents of Venetian military administration, in the first place decrees of the Provisors General of Dalmatia and (Venetian) Albania, analyse his military career from the rank of ensign, which he received entering as a boy in Venetian army, through his advancing from lieutenant to colonel, and finally his promotion into the ranks of brigadier and general of Venetian army. The comparison of Pasquali's military career and those of a generation older Venetian high officers who were by their origin from the East Adriatic coast enables us to trace clearly important changes which reached Venetian army within an interval of two generations. Namely, in an attempt of increasing control over the army, central authorities tried to diminish proportion of private ownership over military units and, in connection to that, to professionalise officer corps. Therefore, Pasquali's advancement is more conditioned by formalised rules created for that purpose by state administration, than by military exploits as was the case in careers of a generation older high officers of Dalmatia and Boka. In the second part of the article, the authors analyse composition of the military complement of overseas infantry units (Oltramarini) commanded by Pasquali in the second half of the eighteenth century, providing new and widening previous knowledge of structure of Venetian units recruited in Venetian East Adriatic dominions regarding social background, homeland origin and ethnicity of their soldiers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]