Croatian Latin literature
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Croatian Latin literature
Medieval period
Croatian Latin literature has been found in modern-day Croatia since the 9th century, and is evident from numerous
Traces of Latin in medieval Croatia date from the 9th century, in stone inscriptions and well-preserved public and private documents. Some of these inscriptions are in verse. On the sarcophagus of the Split nobleman Peter Black (11th century) are 10 verses about the transience of life, drawn up by the deacon Beaver (Dabrus). Notable is the tomb inscription of the nun Vekenega, director of the Benedictine Convent of St. Mary in Zadar (died 1111), with 20 verses in which an unknown poet celebrates her and the monastery. An inscription on the sarcophagus of Prince Mladen Subic (died 1348) in the Trogir Cathedral consists of 22 verses. Fragments are preserved, the two above of which are noteworthy.
From the 11th century, two charters of King
The medieval Croatian
During the 13th century Thomas Archidiaconus (ca. 1200–1268) of Split, a clergyman and politician from a Roman family, wrote Historia Saloni in 1266. It presented in chronological order the life and work of the Archbishop of Split-Solin since Roman times, representing a valuable historical source for the eras of Krešimir IV and Zvonimir. This contemporary history vividly describes the inrush of the Tatars, conflicts between Split and Trogir and political disputes in the city.
The Siege of Zadar and Obsidio Jadrensis are two books by unknown authors from the 14th century. They are a detailed overview of Zadar in 1345–1346, when it was threatened by the Venetians over land and sea. The author of Obsidio Jadrensis is sympathetic to the Venetian cause, unlike the author of the Siege of Zadar. A verse chronicle of the earliest history of Dubrovnik, the Milecijeva Chronicle (compiled by Miletius in the 13th or 14th century), is preserved in 91 hexameters.
Renaissance humanism
Due to its proximity to Italy, humanism had already reached the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea by the early 15th century. Beginning in the late 14th century, the philosophy began to appear in inscriptions by the local elite and traveling humanists in Croatia. At the end of the 15th century, Primorsky was under Venetian rule, while northern Croatia (under Hungarian rule since the 12th century) came under Habsburg rule (with parts of Hungary) in 1526–1527 (where it remained until 1918). Humanists from the coastal regions left in increasing numbers to study in Italy and other European countries and strengthen cultural ties with centers of European humanism. Humanists from northern Croatia primarily traveled to Budapest. Only Dubrovnik and its surroundings maintained relative independence until the Napoleonic era, and Croatian literature in Latin flourished until well into the 19th century.
The central figures of the Croatian circle in Buda were
Zadar
Bishop Juraj Divnića was a historian and Latin poet who influenced Zadar-area humanists.
Šibenik
In Šibenik, the 15th-century Croatian humanist George Hafner published a book of poetry and three books of elegies, lyrical songs (Elegiarum et carminum libri tres) which were also the first Croatian incunable in 1477. This collection of elegiac poems explores the usual classical themes, but the poet also saepenumero Doloris cruciata affectus ("often suffered pain"), as he says in the introduction, where he reflects on his (and others') suffering. His own deeply felt pain can best be seen in the elegy on the death of two brothers (De duorum backfire Fratrum), one of whom fell Pro Patria pugnans, pro laribusque suis ("fighting for homeland and hearth"). In an elegy on fields laid waste in Šibenik (De agri Sibenicensis vastatione), Hafner expressed sadness and outrage because at Turkish incursions into his home country. The poet would have to fight Pro and, fides sacra, et patria dulcis, pro and / sit vita mea dedit barbaricis viris ("holy faith, for you, and sweet homeland, for you / I'd give my life against these barbaric people"). Three prose letters, sent to his friends, which were also included in the collection illustrate Hafner's classical leanings. The manuscript also featured a work about Illyria (De situ et civitate Illyriae Sibenici). Although he wrote exclusively in Latin Hafner praised the national language, especially its songs and proverbs.
The first humanistic educator in Šibenik was Antun Vrančić (also known as Antonius Verantius, or Wrantius, or Vrantius, 1504–1573), uncle of the historian Faust (Faustus Verantius, 1551–1617, also from Šibenik). On his journeys, Vrančić collected Roman inscriptions in the Balkans. During a diplomatic mission in the Ottoman Empire with Flemish humanist A. B. Busbecqom in Ankara, he found autobiographical writing by Augustus (Res gestae divi Augusti); this was later known as the Monument Ankara (Monumentum Ancyranum). Since its publication, the inscription has become known as the Codex Verantianus. In addition to histories and travelogues, Vrančić published a collection of elegiac poems in 1542 which examine love, life's joys and social events.
Trogir
Ćipiko Coriolanus (1425–1493) was a humanist in Trogir who wrote a biography titled Maritime: Three Books on the Works of Commander Peter Mocenigo (Petri Mocenici imperatoris gestorum libri tres) in 1477. Also from Trogir was Fran Trankvil Andreis (Andronicus Tranquillus Parthenius, 1490–1571), who studied at Dubrovnik, Padua and other Italian universities and in Vienna, Ingolstadt and Leipzig. His extensive scientific and literary works in Latin include discussions, dialogues, epistles and songs. Particularly interesting are an epistle depicting the situation in Hungary after the first Battle of Mohács (1526) and a letter of Pope Pius V, in which politicians sharply criticized the church. Parthenius also published a hexametric prayer-speech in 1518 at Augsburg, reminding Germans of the Turkish presence overshadowing Europe.
Split
The central figure in the
Marulić's contemporary Šimun Kožičić Benja from Zadar (Simon Begnius, ca. 1460–1536) wrote to Pope Leo X about the devastation in Croatia (De Croatiae desolatione, 1516); this letter is reminiscent of Marulić's anti-Turkish letter to Pope Adrian VI (Epistola ad Adrianum Pontifice maximum VI, 1522). These letters were only a few in a series addressing concerns in Western Europe about the preservation of antemuralia Christiana ("the first Christian works").
Marulić's chief Latin work was Davidijada (Davidias, written between 1506 and 1516). This is a heroic-historical epic with distinctly Christian tendencies in 14 books and 6,765 hexametric verses. The theme is from the Old Testament, combined with Mediterranean humanism. The poem was written in a Virgilesque style in classical Latin, with additions of biblical and medieval Latin.
Another Croatian humanist was Vinko Pribojević (Vincentius Priboevius, 15th-16th century), who focused on the origins of the Slavs. De origine successibusque Slavorum (1532) is the first work in Croatian literature promoting the idea of Pan-Slavism.
Dubrovnik
In
Crijević's fellow citizen and contemporary was
Secular literature also flourished in Dubrovnik. Historian Louis Crijević Tuberon (Ludovicus Cerva Tuber, 1459–1527) emulated Sallustius and Tacitus in his picturesque descriptions of events, personalities, social and economic conditions over wide areas of Buda and Constantinople from 1490 to 1522. Due to Tuberon's harsh criticism of church policy, in 1734 his work was placed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum.
Philosopher Juraj Dragišić (Georgius Benignus de Salviatis, 1450–1520) hailed from Srebrenica in Bosnia; after initial training in Dubrovnik, he studied in Italy, Paris and at Oxford. In Florence, he became a member of the Platonic Academy and was noted as an expert in Greek, Latin and Hebrew. After 30 years stay in Italy he returned to his native Dubrovnik, soon returning to Italy. His philosophical works were written in Renaissance dialogue and sought religious reconciliation.
Istria and Kvarner
Franciscus Patricius (Croatian: Frane Petrić or Franjo Petriš, 1529–1597), from Cres, studied mostly in Padua; although the city was a center of Aristotelianism, he was inclined toward Platonism. After traveling around the Mediterranean, Patricius returned to Rome and became a professor of philosophy.
He wrote in Italian about poetry, rhetoric, philosophy, history, mathematics, geometry and medicine, but is best known as an anti-peripatetic philosopher. His work in Latin, Peripatetic Discussions (Discussiones peripateticae, 1581) emphasizes a pre-Socratic philosophy of nature and seeks to minimize the importance of Aristotle. In his New Philosophy of the General (Nova de Universis philosophia, 1591) Patricius exposes his metaphysical conception of the world, based on several sources: Plato, the Stoics and Hermes Trismegistus. Since the biblical account of Genesis was substantially different from the teachings of scholastic Aristotelianism, the work (despite the efforts of scholars to defend it, or enlighten quaedam loca obscuriora—"a dull place") was banned in 1594.
17th to 20th centuries
The transition between the humanist and classicist period began during the 17th century, with humanists becoming scientists. For about a century, epochal works appeared in Latin from representatives of the sciences and philosophy:
Among 17th-century Latinists was
During the 18th century, Latin was less a part of European literature; what Latin literature was still written lacked its previous creativity and thematic cohesion. However, in the Republic of Dubrovnik Latin literature flourished until its abolition by Napoleon in 1808. Cultural creativity revived after the earthquake and fire of 1667. Dubrovnik had no deep cultural ties with the rest of Croatia, preferring to remain in contact with the rest of Europe by retaining Latin as a lingua franca.
The last four prominent Croatian Latinists (
Raymond Rabbit (Raymundus Cunichius, 1719–1794) is known primarily as a translator from Greek and an epigrammatic poet. He spent his life in Italy (along with Džamanjić and Galjuf) and was a member of the Roman Arcadia literary academy, established in 1690. His translation of Homer's Iliad into Latin verse (Homer Ilias Latinis versibus Express, 1776), while flawed, is considered a valuable Homeric Latin translation. In addition to Homer, he translated the poet Theocritus and the Greek Anthology into Latin.
Rabbit's disciple and friend, Brno Džamanjić (Bernardus Zamagna, 1735–1820), published Ulysses in Latin verse (Homer Odyssee Latinis versibus Express) in 1777. Like Rabbit, he was influenced by Virgil. Džamonjić wrote epic poetry, commemorative and educational elegies, epigrams and hexametric letters (Epistolae). Two short poems—"Echo" ("Echo", 1764) and "Airships" ("Navis aëria", 1768)—established him as a Latin poet.
Mark Faustin Galjuf (Marcus Faustinus Gagliuffius, 1765–1834) said of himself, "Sort Ragusinus, vita Italus, ore Latinus" ("I'm from Dubrovnik, my life is in Italy and my language is Latin"). Often persecuted because of his political activities, he wandered through Europe celebrated as an improviser of Latin verses. Džono Rastic (Junius Restius, 1755–1814) was a satirist in Croatian Latinist poetry ("Carmina", 1816) who was influenced by Horace (he is known as the Croatian Horace), Virgil and Juvenal. He was a critic of the late Dubrovnik Republic, arguing that any evil came from outside Dubrovnik.
In northern Croatia, Matija Petar Katančić (Matthias Petrus Katanchich, 1750–1825) was the chief representative of Croatian literary classicism. He wrote poems in Latin, Croatian and Hungarian and was also known as a philologist, historian, archaeologist and numismatist. Katančić's seasonal Latin poems, influenced by Horace and published with his Croatian poems in the collection Autumn Fruits (Fructus Autumnales, 1791), demonstrated his mastery of classical verse. Two other works are attributed to him: a short note about Illyrian-language prosody ("Brevis in prosodiam Illyricae linguae animadversio", 1791) and a booklet about Illyrian poetry and the laws of aesthetics (De poes Illyrica Libellus ad aestheticae exactus Legesse, 1817). The former is the first attempt to develop principles for composing Croatian poetry in classical meter, and the latter discusses Croatian literature from the aesthetic point of view.
Ruđer Bošković (Rogerius Josephus Boscovich, 1711–1787) was one of the most distinguished East European writers of the 18th century. Versatile, equally creative in theoretical and practical scientific disciplines, he worked in the cultural and scientific centers of Europe. His theory of a single law of nature is presented in his Theory of Natural Philosophy (Philosophiae Naturalis Theoria, 1758). His poem about the solar eclipse and the moon ("Luna De Solis ac defectibus", 1760) explores the causes of these phenomena.
Bošković's countryman, Benedict Stay (Stay Benedictus, 1714–1801), lived in Italy after 1746. His philosophical poem, Six Books of Philosophy Poems (Versibus traditae Philosophiae libri sex, 1744), was written in his native Dubrovnik. This poem, of more than 10,000 verses, attempts to reconcile Descartes' work in philosophy and physics with Christian teaching. Known by his contemporaries as the new Lucretius. Encouraged by this success, in Rome Stay began to expound Newtonian philosophy and scientific discoveries in verse. The finished poem, with more than 24,000 lines, was entitled Ten Books of Philosophy in Verse (Philosophiae recentioris versibus traditae libri decem, 1755–1792).
By the early 19th century, Latin literature began to disappear throughout Europe, and in the 20th century (in spite of individual efforts) it almost completely disappeared. A Croatian Latinist of this period was Ton Smerdel (1904–1970), a classical philologist who has published seven books of Latin verse by modern neo-Latin poets.
See also
References
- ^ "Collected papers on Marko Marulić". 2009-10-17 Indiana University, p. 40. 2005. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
- ^ "Spomenica Ljube Bobana". 2008-07-15 Michigan University, p. 143 (in Croatian). 1996. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
Sources
- Cristina Neagu (2015). "East-Central Europe". In Knight, Sarah; Tilg, Stefan (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Neo-Latin. New York: Oxford University Press. OL 28648475M.
- LaCourse Munteanu, Dana; Martirosova Torlone, Zara; Dutsch, Dorota, eds. (2017). A Handbook to Classical Reception in Eastern and Central Europe. Wiley-Blackwell.
- Luggin, Johanna; Subaric, Lav; Spoljaric, Luka; Jovanović, Neven, eds. (2018). Neo-Latin Contexts in Croatia and Tyrol: Challenges, Prospects, Case Studies. Böhlau Verlag. ISBN 9783205202516.
External links
- Croatiae auctores Latini (repository of Croatian Latin authprs)
- http://www.matica.hr/Vijenac/vijenac344.nsf/AllWebDocs/Zamasni_tekstoloski_pothvat
- http://www.matica.hr/vijenac/206/Mislim%20latinski,%20pi%C5%A1em%20hrvatski!%3F/ Archived 2017-04-17 at the Wayback Machine