Croatian Humanists, Latinists, and Encyclopaedists |
Croatian Humanists, Latinists, and Encyclopaedists
© by Darko Zubrinic, Zagreb (1995)
Contents:
Croats at European universities in the Middle Ages
Latinists
Humanists
Encyclopaedists
Croats at European universities in Middle Ages
The first public schools in Croatia were founded in Zadar (1282), Dubrovnik (1333) and Zagreb (1362). The first Gymnasium was founded by Paulists in Lepoglava near Zagreb in 1503.
Croatian students studied at many European Universities, starting from the Early Middle Ages. For example, Herman Dalmatin (1110-1154) was our first student who attended lectures of the famous Thierry de Chartres in Paris in the thirties of the 12th century. Born according to his own words in the heart of Istria, he wrote about 20 original books and translations, thus contributing a great deal to natural philosophy and exact sciences in Europe. He traveled a lot, and besides Latin and Greek mastered perfectly Arabic.
On the left you can see an old drawing of Herman with an astrolabe in his hand, shown with Euclid (from Chronica Maiora written by Matthew of Paris in the 13th century). See a monograph by Zarko Dadic - Herman of Dalmatia, Skolska knjiga, Zagreb, 212 pp (parallel English and Croatian text).
He translated many important books from Arabian into Latin, like Euclid's Elements, Al-Khwarizmi's Tables (continuing the work of Adelard of Bath on both classics), Sahl ibn Bishr's (Arabian scientist of the Jewish origin, 9th century) Sextus astronomicae liber, Abu-Ma'ashar's Introduction to Astronomy, acquainting thus the West with Aristotel's thoughts, and in particular the oldest Latin redaction of Ptolomey's Planisphere (published in Toulouse 1143; in Islamic literature known as `Almagest'). Herman wrote an astrologico - cosmological treatise De essentiis (Béziers, 1143). With his English friend Robert from Ketton he worked on the translation of Kur'an. Herman's translations from Arabic represent an inavoidable ingredient of the so-called `Toledo corpus' of texts on Islam. Its main objective was to resist Islam not by force as the Crusaders did, but by understanding and love. As we know, the Arabic culture was a bridge across which the spiritual heritage of the Ancient Greeks came to the West.
The Croats were also present at the Court of the Andalusian califs in Cordoba (Spain). The body guard for califs was composed of islamized Croats. Among them the most famous were Wadha el-Ameri and Zahair Alameri (11th century). The Croatian kingdom maintained relations with the Califat, so that in 953 the Croatian legation visited Cordoba.
The oldest known map where the name of Croatia appears is El'Idrisi's map of the Mediterranean sea from 1154. The name of Croatia is written as Garuasia. This map was a supplement of El'Idrisi's book "The Joy of Those Who Long to Travel around the World".
Pavao Dalmatin (1190-1255), a professor at the University of Bologna, a founder of the first Dominican communities in Croatia and Hungary, wrote the first systematic tractate on confession in the history of Catholic theology ("Summa de confessione"). Its last edition was printed in 1919 in Dutch.
Augustin Kazotic, a Dominican from the beautiful city of Trogir (13th century), the future bishop of Zagreb, studied at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) by the end of the 13th century. He was reputed to be "an excellent orator and brilliant diplomat" not only in Croatia, but also in France and Italy. He also founded the important Library of Metropolitana in Zagreb, existing continuously from 13th century to these days. Beatified in 1702.
Also very old and important are the
the Library of Dominicans in Dubrovnik (founded in 13th century, shelled by the Serbs in 1991/1992),
the grand Library of Paulists in Lepoglava (confiscated after the Austrians canceled the Paulist order in 1786 - a tremendous loss for Croatian culture).
The first known Croatian student of the Charles University in Prague (founded in 1348) was fra Ilija from Dubrovnik, starting from 1391. The famous Czech king Charles IV of Luxemburg built a Glagolitic convent in Prague in 1347, where Croatian Benedictines from the island of Pasman were invited as teachers. It is remarkable that the convent was just a few hundred meters from the Charles University.
The first Croatian rector of the University of Padova was elected for the period of 1397/1398. On the Faculty of Law and the Faculty of Artists of the same University we know of dozens of Croatian rectors and prorectors from the 14th century onwards. It would be difficult even to count the number of Croatian students at the University of Padova. Some of them became lecturers there, like Frederik Grisogono and Mark Antun de Dominis.
In the fifteenth century several Croats were professors at the University of Paris: Pavao Nikolin, Ivan Stojkovic, Petar Gucetic and others.
Georges d'Esclavonie (or de Sorbonne, Juraj iz Slavonije, born in Brezice in present Slovenia, 1355/60-1416), a professor at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) and a theological writer, wrote the first Croatian abecedarium of Christian science in the Glagolitic alphabet about 1400 (held in the Municipal Library in Tours). He wanted to show his renowned colleagues of Sorbonne that except Hebrew, Greek and Latin also existed a genuine Croatian alphabet, or alphabetum chrawaticum as he called it, having a great graphic and lexical value. In 1401 he defended his doctorate in theology. In 1403 his name was included in the big scroll of professors of the University of Paris. Since 1404 he was also a canonist-penitentiary in Tours, in the nun's convent Beaumont, until the end of his life. With his book "Le chasteau de virginite", written in Latin and French, he entered the history of French and European literature. There exist many of its copies from the 15th century, plus three French printed editions (1505, 1506, 1510) and one Latin (1726), thus proving its popularity in Europe. His manuscripts, some of them written in the Croatian Glagolitic, are held in the City Library (former Cathedral Library) in Tours. He was also very fond of Istria, to which he referred as a part of his Croatian homeland: Istria eadem patria Chrawati. Photos of some of his manuscripts can be seen at Juraj iz Slavonije (in Croatian). One of his original manuscripts is held at Yale University Library.
"Tractatus de Ecclesia", written by Ivan Stojkovic de Corvatia (also known as Jean de Raguse, 1390/95-1443), a professor at the University of Paris, was the first systematic tractate about the Church in the history of Catholic theology. Ivan Stojkovic also headed the delegation of the Council of Basel to Constantinople, aiming to negotiate the Ecumenic questions of the Eastern and Western Church. He wrote that he was from Dubrovnik, which was a Croatian city (de Ragusio quae civitas est in Charvatia).
In the 15th century Luka Pozezanin and Juraj from Cazma were lecturing on mathematics at the University of Vienna. At the same institution Valent from Koprivnica was lecturing on natural philosophy, Ladislav from Pozega was lecturing on astronomy, etc.
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Croatian Latinists
Juraj Sizgoric (~1420-1501) was born in Sibenik, and studied in Padova, where he became doctor of sciences. He published a collection of verses "Ellegiarum et carminum libri tres" in Venice in 1477, which is thus one of Croatian incunabula. His book bears witness of a very rich spiritual life in Dalmatia in the 15th century. He also described tragic events related to spreading of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
Among Croatian Latinists and writers in Croatian a central place is occupied by Marko Marulic, who is the "father of Croatian literature" (born in Split, 1450-1524). He was the most famous spiritual writer of his time in Europe, and also the first who defined and used the notion of `psychology', which is today in current use.
His book De institutione bene vivendi (six volumes, 64 chapters), published in Venice in 1506, had fifteen editions until 1686 and was translated from Latin into
Italian,
German (five editions between 1583 and 1614, all in Köln, in parts already in 1568),
French (7 editions, the first in 1585),
Japanese (in parts, 1585)
Portuguese and
Czech,
altogether 40 editions. It is well known that St. Francis Xaver had taken only two books on his long pilgrimage to the East (India, Japan and China): the Bible and De institutione. Furthermore, in his testament St. Francis Xaver asked that Marulic's book be burried with him. Therefore we may conclude that Marulic was a spiritual father of St. Francis Xaver. St. Francis Xaver's personal sample of Marulic's book was kept in Madrid in a collection of valuables until 1937, when it had dissapeared. St. Ignazio Loyola included De Insitutione into the list of basic references for the formation of Jesuits.
Marulic left us many beautiful verses and the epic poem Judita written in the Croatian language, for which he sais expressly to be written in the Croatian verses (versi harvatski). Some of his original verses are held in Glasgow (GB). His Judith was translated into English, Hungarian, French, Italian, and some parts into Spanish. Marulic translated from Latin into Croatian the famous "De imitatione Christi" by Thoma de Kempis.
The original Marulic's manuscript of "De institutione bene vivendi" has been stolen from the Croatian National Library in Zagreb around 1980. Any information about this would be appreciated.
According to investigations of a French specialist Charles Béné, Marulic's texts have been used extensively by Thomas More and Henry VIII. It is known that Marulic's "Evangelistarium" that was read by Henry VIII bears many comments by the King. It is considered that two of the king's three literary works were written under the influence of Marko Marulic.
Marulic's poem "Carmen de Doctrina Domini Nostri Jesu Christi pendentis in cruce" was translated into English as "A Dialogue betwext a Christian and Christ hanging on the Crosse" by Philip Howard, Earl of Arundel (1557-1595).
According to C. Verdiani, Marulic is also the author of the Florence Codex, which contains a biography of St Jerome written in the Croatian language. There he wrote
St Jerome is our Dalmatian, a glory, honour and fame, and brilliant crown of the Croatian language.
In Croatian: Jerolim je nass Dalmatin, on je dika, posstenje i slava i svitla kruna hrvatskoga jezika. It is worth mentioning that preserved manuscripts of Marko Marulic show that he also used the cursive glagolitic script.
Marko Marulic sent a dramatic letter to the Pope Hadrian VI, describing an extremely tragic position of the Croats threatened by the onslaughts of the Ottoman Empire and asking for help.
His books were known not only in the whole of Europe, but also in Japan (in the 16th century) and South America. For example, parts of De institutione bene vivendi were translated into Japanese already in 1585.
When St. Francis Xaver arrived to Kogoshima in Japan in 1549, he also brought Marulic's "De insitutione bene vivendi". According to bishop Hamao from Yokohama, president of Japanese Bishop's Conference and of Asian Caritas, the formation of earliest Japanese Christians had been very probably based on the spirituality of Marulic. See here (in Croatian). It is interesting that in Berlin a monument of Marko Marulic was set up in 2000. In the Library of Congress, Washington, a symposium was held devoted to his work.
Marko Marulic, Humanist from Split
The court of the king Mathias Korvin was a strong European humanistic center, to which the Croats gave a deep imprint. Thus the tutor of Mathias Korvin was Ivan Vitez (1405-1472), a Croatian latinist, who also had the merit to open the University of Bratislava (capital of Slovakia) and the Academy and library of Budim (part of today's Budapest). He was a cardinal and occupied the position of the king's chancellor. In his speech in Vienna he asked for help to stop the penetration of the Turkish Ottoman Empire to Croatian lands.
Jannus Pannonius (1431-1472), a Latin poet and humanist at the court of Mathias Korvin and a Croatian ban (viceroy), was famous in his time. He was born in a small village near Aljmas on the river Danube (the area that during the Serbian aggression in 1991/92 suffered indescribable atrocities) and died in Medvedgrad near Zagreb.
Antun Vrancic (Antonius Verantius, born in Sibenik in 1504) studied in Padova, Vienna and Krakow. After spending almost 20 years as a secretary and diplomat at the court of Ivan Zapolja, he continued his career at the court of Ferdinand I Habsburg in 1549. As the king's envoy he had a delicate task to negotiate with the Turks (he spent altogether 6 years as a diplomat in Turkey). Together with a Flamish diplomat Busbeck he discovered the Ankara plate (Monumentum ancyranum, held in the National Museum in Vienna), which is quite important for understanding the history of the Roman Empire, especially during the time of the Emperor Augustus. As a diplomat he traveled to France, Italy, Poland, England (on a diplomatic mission to the court of King Henry VIII), Turkey etc., and was exchanging letters with Erasmus of Rotterdam. Antun Vrancic occupied the highest ecclesiastic and state positions, first as the Ostrogon Archbishop and the primate of Hungary, and then as the Cardinal (during the Pope Gregory XIII). He left us valuable testimonies written in the Latin language about the tragic life in the Croatian areas occupied by the Ottoman Empire. His collected works have been published in 12 volumes by the Hungarian Academy.
One of the oldest secular dramas in Europe is `The Slave', written by Hanibal Lucic (born in Hvar, 1485-1553), a Croatian writer. In 1612 a municipal theatre in Hvar (on the island Hvar) was built up. It was the first communal theatre in Europe (i.e. the first theatre in a closed building).
One of the well known Latinists was Rajmund Kunic (1719-1794), who translated the Iliade from Greek into Latin in 1776 (the first edition in Rome, second edition in Venice in 1784). His translation is even today generally regarded as the best one in the world. Kunic was a member of the "Academia degli Arcadi" in Rome.
Benedikt Stay-Stojkovic (1714-1801) was a famous Latin poet. He studied in Dubrovnik and Rome, and was a professor at Sapienza. He wrote two extensive epics:
"Philosophiae versibus traditiae libri VI" (Six books of versified philosophy), published in Venice in 1744. It contains 10,249 hexameters, in which he presented Descart's philosophy. Second enlarged ed. was published in Rome, comprising 11,229 hexameters.
"Philosophiae recentioris...versibus traditiae libri X", was devoted to Newton's scientific and philosophical views, published in 1755. It contains as many as 24,227 hexameters. Commentaries and notes have been written by an outstanding Croatian Latinist and scientist Rugjer Boskovic.
This is why he was named "Croatian Lucretius".
The oldest known Croatian book in the Latin script was "The Order and Law", written in 1345 by the Dominicans from Zadar.
Brne Zamanja (Bernardus Zamagne, 1735-1820) was born in Dubrovnik. He lectured rethorics in Rome, Livorno, Siena, and Greek language and literature in Milano. His translations into Latin comprise Greek classics and Croatian authors (Gundulic) and Croatian folk poetry.
For more information see
Marianna D. Birnbaum: Humanists in a Shatterd World: Croatian and Hungarian Latinity in the Sixteenth Century, 433 p., UCLA Slavic Studies, Volume 15, 1986. "Here the author investigates a group of sixteenth-century Hungarian and Croatian latinists, their vicissitudinous lives and remarkable contributions to every facet of European culture."
Branko Franolic: Works of Croatian Latinists
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Croatian Humanists
Pavao Dalmatin was lecturing canonic law at the University of Bologna. His book "Summa poenitentia" (1220) had been rewritten in as many as fifty copies in the period between the 13th and 15th century, that are now held in many European libraries. It also had three printed editions in the 18th, 19th and even in the 20th century. This book represents the first known manual of moral theology for confessioners. Pavao Dalmatin was a collaborator and a good friend to St. Dominic.
One of the most important Croatian humanists in the 15th century was bishop Nikola Modruski, the creator of the first known Latin incunabula written by a Croat author ("Oratio in funere Petri Cardinalis S. Sixty," 1474, Rome). At the same time he was a great promoter of the Croatian Glagolitic Script. He was also the papal nuncio at the court of the Bosnian ban (viceroy) Stjepan Tomasevic and at the court of king Mathias Corvin in Budim. His huge library whose origin is from Modrus, was left to the Vatican. He wrote a treatise in defense of the Glagolitic Script in Modrus bishopric. It is regarded to be the first polemic treatise in the history of Croatian literature. It is interesting that Nikola Modruski was born in Boka kotorska. In 1474 he printed the first book among the Croats, in the Latin language. For additional information see here.
A Croatian Dominican priest Beniamin was editor in chief of the first Russian Bible (1491) written in Russian Church Slavonic. It was the first Bible also among all Orthodox Christian Slavs. It served as a basis of later printed Russian editions in 1580-81 and 1663, which had spread among Orthodox Christian Slavs. Beniamin's original translations of the Vulgata are even today left unchanged in many parts of the contemporary Russian Bible. It is interesting that the old Russian Bible has many Croatian characteristics in phonetics, morphology and vocabulary (for example, kovac, loviti, plijen, staja, stijena, nastojati, puk, obitelj, and even - gusterna!). It is clear that he originates from the coastal region of Croatia, probably from the city of Split.
According to the famous Russian church historian Makarij, Beniamin was the chief personality in the creation of Genadij's Bible. This undertaking was of great importance for the Russian Church, in particular for the development of Russian spiritual literature. Beniamin also translated the 8th part of the latest 1486 Strassbourg edition of the famous work Rationale divinorum officiorum of Guilelemus Durandus - Spectator, which was devoted to calender calculations and astronomy. In this way Beniamin influenced also the development of Russian astronomical terminology, in particular - Russian names for star constellations. According to Vladimir Rozov, Beniamin (or Venjamin as he is called in the Russian literature) represents the earlist humanist on the Russian soil. The name of Beniamin is completely unknown among Croats in time when these lines are written (1999), except to several specialists. The Croats can be rightfully proud of this little known person for his great ecumenic role. Beniamin's mission in Russia represents an important and almost forgotten bridge between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity.
Vladimir Rozov: Hrvatski dominikanac Venjamin u Rusiji, Nastavni vjesnik, knj.41, sv.8-10, Zagreb, 1933, 302-336. See also here.
Andrija Jamometic, a descendant of noble family from the town of Nin on Croatian littoral, was born between 1420-30, and died around 1486. He obtained excellent education in Padova, and later became outstanding diplomat in the service of Pope Sixto IV, tsar Friedrich III, and free cities like Nürnberg. In the Dominican convent in Udine (Italy) there was his portrait (now lost), with the following inscription: Brother Andrija, Croat, member of Udinese convent, famous for his knowledge of theological science and connaisseur of foreign languages. Pope Sixto IV apppointed him Archbishop of Granea in Greece. He was deeply involved in Ecumenic questions related to delicate relations between Eastern and Western Christianity. He also insisted on the necessity to save Constantinople and Eastern Europe from Turkish onslaughts. In his letter written in 1482 to many European rulers, Jamometic sent an appeal to organize the Third General Chruch Council to discuss ecumenic questions, and to continue the unfinished Basel Council. He also sent an appeal to many universities, for example, to theological faculties in Vienna, Paris, Köln, Louvain, Krakow, and other similar institutions throughout Europe. His tragic destiny was smilar to that of Thomas More about 50 years later.
Juraj Dragisic (Georgius Benignus, 1445? - 1520) was a Croat born in Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia (known by the Greater Serbian slaughter of Muslim Slavs in 1995 that the international community watched with fingers crossed, though it had been "UN protected area"). As a young Franciscan, when Bosnia fell in the Turkish hands in 1463, he escaped across Zadar to Italy. Due to the generous support from several Italian noble families he obtained excellent university education in Rome, Bologna, Florence, Padova, Ferrara, Paris and Oxford. His career started on several Italian universities, where he was lecturing philosophy and theology (including Sapienza in Rome). At the same time he was an educator and tutor of the children of the Toscan Archduke Lorenzo Medici - one of his children became a Pope (Leon X). By the end of the 15th century, after 30 years spent in Italy, he continued his career in Dubrovnik. Juraj Dragisic was in touch with the most outstanding names of the European Humanism of that time, and is the author of several books in the Latin language: "De natura celestium spiritum", Florence, 1499, "De natura angelica", Dubrovnik, 1498. He also spent some time as an envoy of the Pope at the court of Emperer Maximillian in Innsbruck. In 1514 he proposed the reform of the Julian calender, which later became known as the Gregorian calender.
In 1515 a question was raised by a German theologician on the admissability of Talmud within the Christian doctrine. As a representative of the theological commission in charge to express his opinion, Dragisic was resolutely for acceptance of Talmud. Being accused by a Great Inquisitor of Germany for heresy, he was defended by the famous Erasmus of Rotterdam. See [Gregory Peroche], p. 65.
This very interesting Bosnian Croat, and outstanding European intellectual of his time, is treated in a monograph writen by Croatian scientist Mirjana Urban: Juraj Dragisic, published in Durbovnik in 1998. We learn that Dragisic wrote 7 printed book (ou of them 5 incunabula, including one very beautiful in Durbovnik), 12 handwritten books, and at least 4 lost books.
We find it pertinent to add that the monograph of Mirjana Uraban is dedicated to her son Pave, a young Croatian photographer and cameraman, killed in 1991 during Serbain attacks on Dubrovnik. He had the same profession, and the same tragic destiny as Gordan Lederer.
The reader will not mind a short digression with a word or two about Srebrenica, where Juraj Dragisic was born. Before the Ottoman penetration to Bosnia, that started in the 15th century, its population was mostly Croatian. In 1600 it had about 200 Catholic houses. Srebrenica was a part of the Bosnia Argentum Archbishopry held by the Bosnian Franciscans. Its Catholic church from the 14th century had not been destroyed by the Turks, only its bell-tower was rebuilt to a minaret, so that the former church served as a mosque, even till these days (i.e. for more than 500 years). The author of these lines visited it in 1981, when the population of Srebrenica had a large Muslim majority. As a "UN protected" zone, this city, overpopulated by tens of thousands of exiles (mostly Muslim Slavs), was a victim of the Serbian ethnical cleansing and genocide in July 1995. The fate of about 8,000 people is not known. The Catholic church - mosque was destroyed.
Simun Kozicic-Benja, the bishop of Modrus, was a humanist, Glagolitic writer and Glagolitic typographer with his printing house in the city of Rijeka. He is known for his speech about the insupportable pressure of the Ottoman Empire on Croatia to the participants of the Lateran Council in 1513. The same purpose had his speech De Corvatiae desolitione held in the presence of the Pope Leon X in 1516. For additional information see here.
Toma Niger, as an emissary of Ban Petar Berislavic, was on a diplomatic mission to the Roman Pope and to the Emperor Charles the Fifth in Brussels in 1520, to appeal for help to the defence of Croatia against the Turks. The same year the Croatian Ban was killed in the battle against the Turkish army at the town of Korenica.
Duke Bernardin Frankapan, born and educated in the Glagolitic environment, was an important promotor of the Croatian Glagolitic literature. He founded the Glagolitic scriptorium for translating the Bible in the town of Ozalj. In his speech Oratio pro Croatia held in Nürenberg in 1522 he sent a dramatic appeal to the German State Council and to Europe to help the Croats in their struggle against the attacks of the Ottoman Empire. Simun Kozicic Benja wrote for him that "even under arms and with sword, all the time he writes and translates". For additional information see here.
Sigismun Gelenius (1477-1554), a Czech humanist, is the author of a Latin Czech dictionary Lexicon Simphonium published in Basle in 1537, where one can encounter Croatian words as well (in particular in its second edition from 1547; information by Mr. Ivan Dubravcic, Delft, The Netherlands).
One of the greatest promoters of Protestantism in Europe was Flacius Illyricus (Matija Vlacic, born in Labin in Istria, 1520-1575). As a young Croatian philosopher, at the age of 24 he was appointed to be a professor of Hebrew and Greek at the University of Wittenberg, the center of Protestantism. The bibliography of his work is enormous - three hundred books and brochures. His "Catalogus testium veritatis" (Magdeburg, 1555) represents a tremendous historical documentation, probably the best polemical book of his time. French edition appeared in Strasbour in 1526 and in Lyon in 1597. His pamphlet "Contre la principauté de l'évêque de Rome" was printed in Lyon in 1563. He wrote also about Croatian churches that ever since had liturgy in the Croatian version of the Old Church Slavonic language, using holly books written in the Croatian Glagolitic Alphabet. He was the organizer, editor in chief and the chief writer of the famous "Ecclesiastica historia" (The History of the Church), that appeared in 13 volumes in Basel. His greatest linguistic work is "Clavis Scripturae Sacrae" (The key to the Sacred Script, it contains about 7.5 million characters), analyzing lexicographically the content of the Old and New Testament. He is considered to be the founder of hermeneutic philosophy. When writing about Istria (peninsula in the Adriatic), he calls it `the sweetest homeland'.
A Croatian Jesuit Mark Antun de Dominis (born on the island of Rab, 1560-1624) ranked among the greatest European philosophers and scientist of his time. His career of a university professor started in Padova. He was especially esteemed in England, where he was invited by king James I. There he lived at the Court of the Archbishop of Cantebury and was appointed to be the Windsor Dean and the king's chancellor.
Dominis arrived to London in December 1616 with a great pomp after his apostasy from Rome. Four days after the spectacular welcome, Dominis was placed fifth place next to King James. This meant, according to the protocol of the time, that he was fifth in the hierarchy of the state. In 1617 he was lecturing in Cambridge and Oxford. In Cambridge he was awarded the title of doctor of divinity. His sermons in London were printed in Italian, English and Latin. His book "The Ecclesiastical State" was printed in Latin in England, with permission of the King.
It is interesting that Dominis introduced the word "puritan" into English in its modern meaning, which was earlier used only in theological literature and had a very narrow meaning.
His work in physics was cited in I. Newton's book "The optics" published in 1704 (page 147). Among other things he contributed to the explanation of the phenomenon of the double rainbow. His theory of tides was based on the idea of attractive force between the Moon and the Earth, which was later made precise in Newton's theory of gravitation. He also discovered the phenomenon of diffraction of white light (see G. Hund's "Geschite der Physik"). However, his main preoccupation was the problem of European peace and the reform of the Church. In 1618 his work "The Rocks of Christian Shipwrecke" was printed first in Italian, and then in English. It was held an important apologetic work of Protestant theology, and was soon translated into French. It was read throughout Europe.
After six years of stay in England his relation with the Anglican Church and the King himself cooled down, though he had given the Anglican Church one of the most important doctrinal weapons (for more details see [Mardesic], p. 162).
His work "De Republica Ecclesiastica", which was published in ten books in London, brought him the anathema of Rome. He was imprisoned by Inquisition and when he died, the burial of his body was not allowed. It was burnt, together with his manuscripts, on the square of Campo dei Fiori in Rome, where Giordano Bruno had been burnt twenty four years earlier.
Branko Franolic: Two Croatian refugees at St. James’s Court at the beginning of the 17th century
A Croatian theologist, ecumenist, panslavist and musicologist Juraj Krizanic (1618-1683) was trying to initiate the dialog on the unification of the Russian Church with Rome. He dreamed about an open and peaceful dialog with Orthodox Christians. His major works are "Politika" (in Russian), written during his 15 year exile to Siberia and the panslavic grammatical book "Gramaticcno iskazanie ob ruskom jaziku" (Tobolsk, 1665), as well as "Razgovory ob vladatelstvu", written in panslavic esperanto that he invented. He also spent some time in Ukraine, where he had close ties with some of leading scholars. Krizanic wrote "Historia de Siberia" in 1680. It is known that during his sojourn in Rome he supervised a publication of musical works of the Portugese king D. João IV. According to Krizanic's systematization of science, music should be regarded as a part of mathematics. He wrote his "Asserta musicalia nova" in 1650. Krizanic died near Vienna while participating in its defence against the Turks in the Ukrainian troops that adjoined the troops of the Polish king Jan Sobiesky.
A Croatian Jesuit Nikola Plantic (born in Zagreb, 1720-1777) studied in Zagreb, Graz, Vienna and Trnava in Slovakia. He was teaching logic and philosophy at the Jesuit University in Cordoba in Argentina.
In some books we can read that Plantic allegedly had an important role in the formation of the unique Jesuit Kingdom in Paraguay, established for the wellbeing of native Guarani Indians. It is true that the Jesuits managed to organize prosperous economic and cultural life, including printing in the Guarani language. It is well known that Jesuits led a rebellion against Portugese conquistadors who wanted to exploit Paraguay and use Guarani's as slaves. This was too much for great forces, since this Jesuit-Indian Republic had shaken the existing "world order." The rebellion was put down in 1767, which led to the tragedy for Guaranis. The "international community" managed to achieve interdiction of the Jesuit order in 1773. But the claim that N.Plantic organized the rebellion is false. Some sources even claim that the Jesuit Republic was led by Plantic, and that allegedly a coin was issued with his figure in the Netherlands. Plantic was never in Paraguay, and never met Guaranis in their homeland. I owe this info to Mr. Joza Vrljicak, director of Studia Croatica, Buenos Aires. The only Croat known to have participated the famous Paraguay mission was Ivan Krstitelj Marchesetti (or Marqueseti, 1704-1767), born in Rijeka in a noble family having Italian roots, later Croatized. See [Zoric, pp. 49-51].
Josip Marinovic (1741 - 1801), was a Jesuit born in Perast - Kotor (in Boka kotorska, annexed to Montenegro in 1945), professor of theology in Venice. His friendship with an Armenian banker Serpos resulted in his interest for the history of Armenians. His assiduous research resulted in the book "Compendio storico...della nazione armena", published in Venice in 1783. The book had a great success. Though it was signed by Serpos, its true author was Marinovic. It represents the first history of Armenians published in Europe. It is interesting that the book had been extended and republished by Ivan Dominik Stratico, bishop on the Croatian island of Hvar. This book incited European interest for Armenian people and their culture. In particular, upon the initiative of the Vatican, supported by Austria and Russia, in 1830 the Turkish sultan admitted very old Armenian Christian Church and allowed Armenian Archbishopric to be founded in Constantinople. See [Gregory Peroche], p. 119.
Ivan Benigar was born in Zagreb in 1883, studied in Graz and Prague, and since 1908 lived Argentina, in Patagonia, among Mapuches or Araucanos Indians. He wrote a dictionary of Mapuche language and several other books. Since 1924 he was a member of the "Council of american history", which is today "National history academy" in Buenos Aires. Married with Eufemia Scheypuquin, grand-daughter of Mapuches chieftain Catriel, he had 11 children. When she died, after 6 years he married again with a Mapuche Indian, and had four children. Due to his intense scientific acitivity in Latin America, it is not surprising that he earned the title White chieftain of Mapuche Indians.
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Croatian Encyclopaedists
Now we have come to a very rich history of the Croatian Encyclopaedia. Its origins go back to the first half of the 15th century.
The earliest known lexicographic work is a handwritten book "Liber de simplicibus" (The book about medicinal herbs), prepared in Zadar and Venice between 1415 and 1453. Written by an Italian physician and Zadar protophysicist Nicolo Roccabonelli, it contains very nice drawings of various plants together with their Croatian, Latin, Greek, Arabic and in part German names. It is held in the Venetian national library Marciana.
Ilija Crijevic, poet, orator and lexicographer from Dubrovnik (1463 - 1520), wrote his Lexicon in 1480, a Latin encyclopaedic dictionary. This very nice handwritten book of large format, 33 x 23 cm, has 429 pages.
We know of a small Italian - Croatian dictionary Opera nuova che insegna a parlare la lingua schiavonica alli grandi, alli picoli et alle donne, containing about 300 words, written in 1527 by Pietro Lupis Valentiano in Ancona, Italy.
Pavao Skalic, a humanist-polyhistorian (born in Zagreb, 1534-1575), was the first to have used the word
ENCYCLOPAEDIA
in its modern meaning, in his book Encyclopediae seu orbis disciplinarum... (Basel, 1559). He also wrote a musical tractate "Dialogus en Lyra" (Köln, 1570). He used to write his name as Pavao Skalic de Lika, thus indicating the origin of his family.
An extremely interesting biography has Bartol Gyurgieuits (Bartol Jurjevic or Gjurgjevic, born in the region of Turopolje near Zagreb, known for nice wooden churches, 1506 - 1566?), a participant of the tragic battle on the Mohac field in 1526, where he was captured by the Turks and lived as a slave in many parts of the Turkish Empire. After 13 years of slavery he managed to escape. Since that time he travelled a lot throughout Europe, agitating for the creation of a strong union against the Ottoman Empire. His numerous writings in the Latin language were published first in Antwerpen (1544) and then extensively reprinted in many other languages: Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, Dutch, Hungarian, Polish, Czech etc. These extremely interesting testimonies about the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire can be found in the libraries of almost all larger European cities:
Paris, Rome, Vienna, Basel, Leiden, Wittenberg, Florence, London, Prague, Venice, Antwerpen, Liége, Worms, Nürenberg, Krakow, Lyon, Frankfurt etc. (e.g. in 44 towns of Germany alone) and in some cities of the USA.
Most of his writings contain small dictionaries of the Croatian (which he calls Slavonian), Turkish, Persian and Hungarian languages. As a part of his "De afflictione...sub Turcae" (1544) he wrote the first known Croatian - Latin dictionary (with the basic prayers: Our Father, such as Hail Mary, Credo), which is also the first known dictionary among the Croats. He is also the author of the practical Italian - Arabian - Hebrew - Chaldean dictionary, added to the description of his pilgrimage to Yerusalem when escaping from the Turkish slavery. It was written in Italian: "Specchio della peregrinazione delli piu notabili luoghi della Terra Santa", and the author signed it as Georgievicz de Croatia. He also mentioned a Croatian Script, which is "different from any other script in the world" (Glagolitic). He indicates that the Croatian language is spoken among others on the Constantinople court of Turkish sultans. Gyurgieuivits' works are also of interst for the study of Islamic music. He was not only the first Croatian author, but also the first Slav author whose writings were popular throughout Europe. For more information see [Zoric].
Branko Franolic: Georgijevic's Description of Turkish Ways and Customs: Unique Work Published in London in 1570
The Englishman Hugh Goughe wrote "The Ofspringe of the House of Ottomane" (1570) which is a translation of Gyurgieuits' book "De origine imperii Turcorum". In Goughe's book there is a dialogue in Croatian with a parallel English translation, alongside with two prayers in Croatian (Our father and Hail Mary). Gyugyieuits himself is called the "first Croatian lexicographer" in this book.
Regarding early dictionaries of the Croatian language, let us mention a German knight Arnold von Harf (1471-1505) who visited the Croatian lands along the coast during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1496-1499. His book "Die Pilgerfahrt des Ritters Arnold von Herff von Cöln", published in Köln in 1860, includes a short conversational dictionary of the Croatian language containing 56 words and basic expressions. He also visited the beautiful, strong and freedom loving city of Dubrovnik (as he sais), for which he states to be in the Croatian Kingdom - in den Koenynckrijh van Croatijen.
Another Turkish captive was Juraj Hus (Hosti), contemporary of the above mentioned Bartol Gyurgieuvits. After the defeat of Sultan Suleyman the Magnificant in the battle with the army led by famous Croatian statesman Nikola Jurisic in 1533 (the aim of Suleyman was to occupy Vienna), and after his retreat through Croatian lands, Juraj Hus was taken to slavery from his village (Rasinje) to Constantinople. Since he did not want to renounce his Catholic faith, he managed somehow to be educated as a Turkish military trumpeter. As a musician he visited many lands: India, Egypt, Holy land. He described his visit to pyramids near Kairo, where he was playing his trumpet on the top of a pyramid, while soldiers below were measuring the volume of the pharao's grave. After many years he managed to escape, and reached Genova, and then Rome, where he was accepted in the Croatian Collegium of St. Jerome. In his village in Croatia he did not find any of his relatives, and died in Pozun (today's Bratislava in Slovakia) around 1566. He left the description of his pilgrims in his manuscript entitled Descriptio peregrinationis Georgii Huszthii. One version of the manuscript is held in the Vatican library, and the other in the National Library in Vienna. For more details see [Zoric].
Faust Vrancic (or Faust Verantius, 1551-1617) from Sibenik was the author of a five language dictionary "Dictionarium quinque nobilissimarum Europeae linguarum: Latinae, Italicae, Germanicae, Dalmaticae et Hungaricae" (Venice, 1595), with more than 5000 words (i.e. altogether 25000 words), where Dalmaticae means Croatian language.
Faust Vrancic considered that the Dalmatian language was the most beutiful among Slavic languages, and that it was spoken from Adriatic sea to rivers of Drava and Danube. In the second edition to his dictionary, issued in collaboration with a Prague benedictine Petar Loderecker, the Latin description of Dalmatian language was given as follows: the Croatian language. See [Malic, Na izvorima hrvatskoga jezika, p. 28].
In the appendix to his dictionary he gave a list of several hundred Croatian words that entered the Hungarian language (Vocabula dalmatica quae Ungri sibi usurparunt). His book had a great influence on the formation of both Croatian and Hungarian orthography (Hungarian orthography accepted most of Vrancic's suggestions - usage of ly, ny, sz, and even cz, see [Hrvatska/Madarska], p. 94). It represents also the first dictionary of Hungarian language. The book had six editions, three of them out of Croatia: in Venice, Prague and Pozun (Bratislava).
Vrancic's dictionary is dedicated to Alfonso Carillo, a Spanish Jesuit who supported its publication.
His work was an important source for the creation of several subsequent European dictionaries: Hungarian - Italian dictionary written by Bernardino Bali, "Thesaurus polyglottus" by a German humanist and lexicographer Hieronim Megister (1603, "editio secunda " in 1613), and "Dictionarium septem diversarum linguarum (Videlecit Latine, Italice, Dalmatice, Bohemice, Plonice, Germanice et Ungarice)" written by a Czech benedictin Peterus Lodereckerus Pragensusu in 1605.
Faust Vrancic was a chancellor on the Court of king Rudolph II in Prague (Hradcany) from 1581 to 1594, where also a famous musician Adrian de Vries, astronomer Tycho Brache, mathematician and astrologer Johannes Kepler were present. He also wrote about logic and ethics. However, his major contributions are related to numerous technical inventions.
A significant Croat, born on the island of Hvar, very little known even among the Croats, was Ivan Franje Bjundovic (Giovanni Francesco Biondi, 1573-1645). After having met Sir Henry Watton, English ambassador in Venice, with whom he shared the same interests as a lawyer and literature fan, he journeyed to England and carried confidential messages to King James I. Obviously, he was considered a competent scholar and diplomat, since James himself entrusted him with important diplomatic missions.
Bjundovic wrote a trilogy in Italian: "Eromena", "La danzella desterrada" and "Il Corlabo", which had several editions. Their English translations enjoyed exceptional popularity, as well as German and French. His most important work is "History of the English Civil Wars", with his name appearing as Sir Francis Byondy. It was published in three volumes, where he described the Wars of the Roses. It was first published in Italian (L'istoria della Guerre civili d'Inghilterra) and printed in Venice in 1637-1644. Its English translation started to appear in 1641.
Bartol Kasic (1575-1650), a Croatian Jesuit, was the author of the first Croatian Grammar "Institutiones lingue illyricae", printed in Rome 1604. About the same time he prepared the Croatian - Italian dictionary, which remained unpublished until 1990. In the period of 1631-1636 he translated the whole Bible into spoken Croatian, but unfortunately the book remained only in handwriting. In his "Ritual Rimski" ("Rituale Romanum", Rome, 1640) he cites very old Croatian names for months that are in use even today:
sijecanj (January)
veljaca (February)
ozujak (March)
travanj (April)
svibanj (May)
lipanj (June)
srpanj (July)
kolovoz (August)
rujan (September)
listopad (October)
studeni (November)
prosinac (December).
In 1999 we celebrated four centuries of Croatian philology, which has started with Bartol Kasic. His work was very important in standardization of the Croatian language, using the principle "write as you speak".
He also wrote one of the earliest autobiographic books in Croatia describing the consequences of the Turkish Ottoman occupation. In one of his writings he concludes: I stop here, crying and sighing when I remember all that I saw with my own eyes: profaned churches, settlements completely destroyed, so that nothing was left except tents, hovels, huts. Let God have mercy on us and let him bless us... Let him illuminate us with his Face and Word, and let him have mercy on Croatian people, which is crushed and almost heart-broken.
In 1612 he opened the gymnasium for the Catholic youth in Belgrade (mostly for children of native Catholics and the Dubrovnik merchants). At that time Belgrade was under the Turks. This was the first gymnasium in Serbia.
Two samples of Kasic's Cathecism are held in Bibliothéque Nationale (former Bibliothéque Royale) in Paris, France.
For more information see Vladimir Horvat: Bartol Kasic; cetiri stoljeca hrvatskog jezikoslovlja, Zagreb, 1989. In this book you can also find important information about Dominican Glagolitic priest Beniamin de Croatia.
It is insteresting that in Kasic's dictionary one can find the name of "tesla", meaning adze. One of grand-grandfathers of the famous inventor Nikola Tesla was Draganic, nicknamed Tesla. I owe this information to dr. Vladimir Muljevic, professor emeritus of the University of Zagreb.
Jakov Mikalja (Giacomo Micaglia, ~1600 - 1654) was lexicographer and theological writer born in Peschici in Italy (the name of Peschici is obviously of Croatian origin), collaborator of Bartol Kasic. He was descendant of Croatian exiles that had to escape before the Turks from Dalmatia. After his studies he lectured at the Jesuit collegium in Dubrovnik. His most important work is a dictionary Blago jezika slovinskoga containing 25,000 words (Thesaurus linguae Illyricae sive Dictionarium Illyricum, 1649, printed in Loreto and finished in Ancona in 1651), and also Croatian-Italian-Latin dictionary with grammar, containing rich vocabulary of Croatian ikavian - chakavian and stokavian words. In this huge book having 926 pages, which starts with Croatian column, he clearly stated to be Croat. His surname is derived from his father's name (son of Mikalj), so that Mikalja is genitive case of Mikalj. His book Ortografija jezika slovinskog represents the first printed orthography of Croatian language. He also published Bogoljubno razmisljanje od Ocenasa in Pozun (= Bratislava) in 1642. The only known copy of this book, printed in Croatian language, is held Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris (within section of Slovak literature!). It is interesting that Mikalja founded the first school for Croatian children in Temisoara in Romania.
In Loreto there is a Croatian collegium founded in 1580.
Ivan Lucic, or Lucius (born in Trogir, 1604 - Rome, 1679) was the founder of modern Croatian historiography, with his major work "De Regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae libri sex" (Amsterdam, 1666). However, the oldest Croatian historigraphic work is Croatian Chronicle, written by Grgur of Bar in the 12th century.
Ardelio Della Bella published his Italian-Latin-Croatian dictionary (Dizionario italiano, latino, illyrico) in 1728, with the grammar of the Croatian language.
Also very important are the following two Croatian lexicographers:
Ivan Belostenec (born in Varazdin, 1594-1675), who wrote "Gazophylacium seu Latino-Illyricorum onomatum aerarium" published in Zagreb in 1740. It provides a lexical wealth of three Croatian dialects: kajkavian, stokavian and chakavian. This monumental book which has 2000 pages and more than 40,000 words is important not only for Croatian but also for European cultural history: at that time a similar dictionary existed only in Florence, prepared under uncomparably better conditions. Belostenec was a Paulist monk in Lepoglava, who spent part of his life in Croatian south, including Istria. This is also reflected in his dictionary. An incomplete copy of his book Deset propovjedi o Euharistiji (published in Graz in 1672) is held in the University Library of Budapest.
Although Belostenec originally used the name of "Croatian language" everywhere in his book, its every occurence was changed due to political reasons to "Illyric language". The book was issued 65 years after his death. According to dr. Olga Sojat the original title of his book was Dictionarium Latino-Croaticum, see [Sekulic, p. 350]
Andrija Jambresic (1706-1758), who wrote an important lexicographic work Lexicon latinum interpretatione illyrica, germanica et hungarica (illyric = Croatian), published in Zagreb (1742). Jambresic called himself Croata Zagoriensi, as can be seen on the front page of the book. The book contains many valuable historical comments and is imbued with a deep patriotic feeling.
Related to the famous Paulist convent in Lepoglava is Hilarion Gasparotti (1714-1762), born in the lovely town of Samobor near Zagreb. As a Lepoglava Paulist he wrote an encyclopaedic masterpiece Czvet Szveteh (The Flower of Saints) in 4 books on as many as 3,800 pages (982+923+987+896), published in Graz (written as Gradecz there, which reveals the Croatian origin of the name of Graz: grad - town) in 1752, and in Vienna in 1756, 1760 and 1761. In these books he wrote biographies of numerous saints in the beautiful kajkavian Croatian language, which he calls simultaneously slovenski jezik and horvatcki jezik. As we see, at that time Slovenian and Croatian languages were identified. On the front page Gasparotti stated that he consulted sources writen in Spanish, Latin, French and German (see [Sekulic, pp 412-415]). Of course, he had at his disposal a magnificent library of the Lepoglava convent. The library and the valuables of the convent have been robbed by Austrian officials after canceling the Paulist order in Croatia in 1786. This top monument of Croatian culture served as prison during the Yugoslav communist period.
In 1999 a new jewel of Croatian lexicography was discovered: Ljudevit Lalic (17th century) and his handwritten Latin-Italian-Croatian dictionary (Blago jezika slovinskog...Thesaurus linguae illyricae sive Dictionarium Illyricum...), prepared in the period between 1680 and 1696. The book has about 1900 pages, and Croatian words are written in two old scripts: Croatian Cyrillic and Croatian Glagolitic. Ljudevit Lalic was a Franciscan, and the oldest known Herzegovinian lexicographer. For more details see an article by Andrija Nikic in Hrvatsko Slovo.
Ivan Krstitelj Lalangue (= John the Baptist Lalangue), a native of Luxembrug born in 1743, found his new homeland in Croatia in the lovely city of Varazdin, where he was working as a physician until his death in 1799. He wrote an interesting book "Medicina ruralis iliti Vrachtva ladanyszka", 374 p., a medicinal manual which represents an important monument of the Croatian (kajkavian) literature. It contains a botanical dictionary with a description of 160 medicinal herbs in Croatian, including their Latin and German names. It was printed in Varazdin in 1776. Lalangue is also the author of two other books printed in Varazdin.
Julije Bajamonti (1744-1800) was medical historian, writeer, translator, encyclpaedist, historian, philosopher, and musician. He composed the first opera in Croatia (performed only once), wrote the History of Split (unfinished and unpublished). Bajamonti helped Alberto Fortis with his journey round Dalmatia, and with his discovery of Hasanaginica. His wife was a Split commoner Ljuba. After the fall of Venice in 1797 he urged that Dalmatia should be annexed to Croatia (and Austro-Hungary). In his speech in 1797 he said that Austria was the successor of the old Croatian state. Like many other Croatian intellectuals along the Croatian coast, Bajamonti wrote most of his works in Italian. Despite this, he certainly felt himself a Croat (or Illyiran, as they said at the time). He was very interested in the Croatian language, national costumes and tradition, economic and cultural progress. See D.Keckemet, E. Stipcevic: Julije Bajamonti, Croatian P.E.N Centre, Zagreb - Split, 1997, p 16. Nicolo Tommaseo claims that there was no one in Italy writing better than Bajamonti in his time.
He performed his medical work in Split, Kotor (in Boka kotorska in today's Montenegro), and Hvar.
The beginning of the Bosnian historiography is represented by a work of rev Filip Lastric (1700-1783), Bosnian Franciscan and Latinist, "Epitome vetustatum provinciae bosniensis", published in Venice in 1765. His "Testimonium Bilabium", published also in Venice in 1755, has been studied in detail by a young Italian scholar Ruggero Cattàneo, see the summary of his extensive work
in Italian
in Croatian
Adam Patacic, bishop of Petrovaradin (on the north of today's Yugoslavia) and Calocz archbishop (in Hungary) wrote Latin-Croatian and German dictionary in 1772-1779: "Dictionarium latino-illyricum et germanicum" (illyricum=Croatian, in the kajkavian dialect).
Rev. Marijan Lanosovic published his "Neue Einleitung zur slavonischen Sprache", with the German-Croatian dictionary. The first two editions appeared in Osijek in 1778 and 1789, and the third in Budim (today's Budapest) in 1795.
Josip Voltic (Voltiggi, 1750-1825), an Istrian writer and lexicographer, published the Illyrian (Croatian)-Italian-German dictionary in Vienna in 1803.
A three language encyclopaedic lexicon (Latin, Croatian, Italian) of Joakim Stulli (1730-1817), Franciscan from Dubrovnik, written in three parts on 4721 pages, was an important source of traditional Croatian words, especially in medicine. It was finished in 1810, after more than a half of century of systematic work. Its second, Croatian part, contains about 80,000 lexical units. The dictionary describes among others the meaning of Illiric: Illiric = Croatian.
The Illyrian (Croatian)-French dictionary, prepared by Sime Starcevic (from Udbina in Lika), has been published by the French rulers in Trieste in 1812.
Nicolo Tommaseo was an important writer, lexicographer and politician, born in Sibenik, of Italian nationality (1801-1874). In 1830 he published "Nuova dizionario di sinonimi della lingua italiana", and his voluminous "Dizionario della lingua italiana" in 1865-1879. He was also translating from Latin and Greek into Italian. In 1841-42 he published his "Canti popolari toscani, corsi, illirici, greci". In accordance with his Dalmatian autonomistic views, he believed in the separate "Dalmatian nationality", and was against the unification of Italy, and against unification of Dalmatia with banska Croatia (1861). He also violently criticized the French centralism. It is worth mentioning his close ties with many Croatian intellectuals, especiall with Ljudevit Gaj and Ivan Kukuljevic-Sakcinski. With his beautiful elegic and poetic work written in the Croatian language - "Iskrice" (Sparklets), and published in Zagreb in 1884, he entered the history of Croatian literature. Another important work is his elegy written in the Croatian ikavian language: "Suze sina zahvalnoga." He also wrote pedagogic and philosophic treatises.
Bohoslav Sulek (1816-1895), Slovak by birth, one of the most important Croatian linguists and lexicographers, made an enormous contribution to the enrichment of the Croatian literary language. He invented several hundred new terms that can be seen in his extensive dictionaries: German - Croatian (1860), Croatian - German - Italian Dictionary of Scientific Terminology (1874/75) and other. Many of them are now everyday Croatian words. Some of them also entered other South Slavic languages, including Serbian.
Dragutin Antun Parcic (1832-1902) was a Glagolitic priest, linguist, philologist, and lexicographer born in the lovely town of Vrbnik on the island of Krk, important site of Croatian Glagolism. He wrote extensive Croatian - Italian and Italian - Croatian dictionaries ("Rjecnik ilirsko - talijanski," Zadar, 1858, its last edition was printed under the title "Rjecnik hrvatsko - talijanski," 1901; "Vocabolario Italiano - Slavo," Zadar 1858-68). His 1901 dictionary contains 90,000 words on 1200 pages. He also published a grammar of the Croatian language in Italian: "Grammatica della lingua slava (illirica)", Zadar 1873. Only four years later it was translated into French, but under the title "Grammaire de la langue Serbo-Croate" (!) (Paris 1877, Paris 1904). It is little known that he introduced the name of BRZOGLAS for telephone in his dictionaries (Anic's contemporary dictionary claims in all its four editions that "brzoglas" is an NDH neologism, which is not true). His probably most interesting work is the Glagolitic Missal that he prepared for the needs of the Croatian Glagolitic Liturgy, published in Rome in 1893. See an article by Igor Gostl for more details (in Croatian), or his book.
Ivan Dezman (1841-1873) physician, a medical writer and lexicographer, published the first Croatian medicinal dictionary (Rjecnik lijecnickog nazivlja; Croatian - German, German - Croatian) in 1868 in Zagreb.
The reader may be surprised to see such a quantity of old dictionaries of the Croatian language (various grammars are even more numerous). See a remark on the "Declaration about the Name and Position of the Croatian Literary Language", written by outstanding intellectuals and most important cultural institutions in Zagreb in 1967.
The Croatian language was often designated under the name of Illyrian, Slavonian, Sclavonian, Dalmatian language. For example, rev Emerik Pavic in his 1778 translation of "Flos Medicinae" from Italian (it was the book about health care) wrote to be versified in "Croatian or Dalmatian language".
The voluminous Wurzback's Biographic Lexicon of Austrian Kingdom, prepared in 60 volumes between 1856 and 1891, comprises 24,200 biographies. Acording to investigations of dr. Igor Gostl as many as 1050 of them refer to the Croats.
Safvet-beg Basagic (1870-1934) was outstanding Muslim-Croatian poet, orientalist, historian and lexicographer. He studied oriental languages and history in Vienna, where he defended his thesis in 1910. His most important work is "Znameniti Hrvati Bosnjaci i Hercegovci (The famous Croatian Bosniaks and Herzegovinians), published by Matica hrvatska (Matrix Croatica) in Zagreb in 1931. In this lexicon he presented nearly 700 biographies. He occupied the position of curator of the Zemaljski muzej in Sarajevo (1919-1927), and was also vice-president of the Sabor (Parliament) of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The first Croatian general Encyclopaedia was prepared in Osijek in 1887-1890 (in two volumes, 600 pages each, from A to G). The project was initiated by Ivan Zoch (1843-1921) and Josip Mencin (1856-1900). Ivan Zoch was the Slovak by birth, who devoted most of his life to the his second homeland - Croatia.
One of the greatest projects in this field was the creation of the Croatian Encyclopaedia, initiated in 1938 in Zagreb by Mate Ujevic, but unfortunately the war did not permit our scientists to complete this enormous job. Only five volumes of the highest typographical quality were issued (1941-1945), from A to Elektrika, out of 12 planned volumes. The Encyclopedia was written according to highest scientific standards, and contains no traces of anti-Semitism, though the ustasha regime in Croatia, being subdued to fascist Italy and Germany, was anti-Semitic. Furthermore, it is known that even some outstanding Serbian scientists wrote their contributions for the Croatian Encyclopedia from Belgrade during the WW2! The scientific committee was divided into 52 sections, covering among others themes like Judaica (dr. Lavoslav Sik), Serbian life, culture, history and art (dr. Milan Budimir from the University of Belgrade). It is also interesting that the whole Encyclopedia (with exception of the last, fifth volume, issued in 1945) was written in phonetical orthography, contrary of the official etymological orthography adopted in 1941, which was regulated by a special law under insistance of Mate Ujevic at president Ante Pavelic. The whole edition has been systematically destroyed by the Yugoslav communist regime, when the Second World War finished.
Mate Ujevic is one of Croatian Righteous. Nemely, risking his own life and the lives of his numerous family, he saved Manko Berman, outstanding architect and member of the Jewish community in Zagreb, from the infamous Jasenovac concentration camp. He intervened also at Archbishop dr Alojzije Stepinac (who openly declared for Jasenovac to be the greatest shame of the Croatian state), and then authoritatively asked at president Pavelic for his release, since he considered him as one of key collaborators for realization of the Croatian Encyclopedia. Additional information about Ujevic is here (in Burgenland Croatian).
After 1945 Zagreb was again the center of encyclopaedic activity, as a continuation of a very long tradition, with many publications and books being issued during the past 40 years. Here we should mention Miroslav Krleza (1893-1981), one of the most outstanding Croatian writers of the 20th century. The famous French writer Jean Paul Sartre admitted that Krleza has anticipated his idea of the "nausée". During many years Krleza was the president of the Yugoslav Lexicographical Institute in Zagreb (today Lexicographical Institute Miroslav Krleza) and editor in chief of the Encyclopaedia of Yugoslavia. He also signed the important Declaration about the Name and Position of the Croatian language in 1967. At this moment a project is initiated that should result in a new Croatian Encyclopaedia.
Five centuries of the Croatian lexicographic work can endure any serious critical judgement, which ranks it to the highest achievements of European lexicography (Igor Gostl). This unusual situation is especially striking in view of the fact that the Croats represent a small European nation.
The Croats organized all the expositions of the (ex)Yugoslav art in Paris:
in Petit Palais (1919) by Ivan Mestrovic,
in Palais de Chaillot (1950, L'art médiéval yougoslave) by Miroslav Krleza,
in Grand Palais (1971, Huit millénaire d'art en Yougoslavie) by Miroslav Krleza, which received 150,000 visitors; it has been considered as "l'événement de la saison" in Paris.
An exposition of the French art has been organized in Zagreb in 1940.
The most exhaustive monographs dealing with the history of Croats in Bosnia - Herzegovina are those prepared by the cultural society Napredak, Sarajevo, and three monographs written by Dominik Mandic, see here.
Pavao Tijan (1908-1997) was a Croatian encyclopaedist born in the city of Senj, close collaborator of Mate Ujevic on the project of Croatian Encyclopaedia (1938-1945). In 1945 he emigrated to Italy, where he published his book "Martyrium Croatiae", Rome, 1946. In Spain he was a university professor in Madrid, and known as don Pablo Tijan Roncevic. He is a holder of the prestigeous medal of the Spanish King - Cruz de Alfonso X el Sabio. Although being a foreigner, he was a technical redactor of Encyclopedia de la Cultura Espanola, 1-5, Madrid, 1963-1969. He was also a close collaborator of editor in chief of the biographic encyclopaedia "Forjadores del Mundo Contemporaneo" (Forgers of the Contemporary World), 1-4, Madrid, 1959-1961.
Premio Brajnovic a la communication is a prestigeous Spanish award (500,000 pesets) established upon the initiative of newspapermen and lecturers from the University of Pamplon as a recognition to Luka Brajnovic (born in 1919 in Kotor, in Boka kotorska in today's Montenegro), a retired professor of Ethics of the University of Navarra, a former director of the Institute of Artes Liberales, a well known Spanish intellectual. It is interesting that the award was established during his lifetime. Professor Brajnovic had to escape from Croatia in 1945 in front of the Yugoslav communist threat. He also collaborated intensively with varios Croatian emigrant journals.
One of his brothers was killed by Yugoslav partisans on the islet of Daksa near Dubrovnik in 1944, sharing the same destiny as the whole group of forty four leading Dubrovnik intellectuals.
Premio Brajnovic for 2001 was conferred posthumously to Sinisa Glavasevic, Croatian newspaperman killed in Vukovar in 1991 during the Greater Serbian agression on Croatia. Exhumed from the mass grave Ovcara near Vukovar together with several hundred deteinees from the city hospital.
For additional information see A short survey of encyclopaedia making in Croatia, by Lexicographic Institute, Zagreb.
A compendium of Croatian literary resources on the web from Renaissance to the end of 19th century (provided by AATSEEL)
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