Croatian Latin literature
Croatian Latin literature[1][2] (or Croatian Latinism) is a term referring to literary works, written in the Latin language, which have evolved in present-day Croatia since the 9th century AD. Since that time, both public and private documents have been written in a local variant of medieval Latin or in later times Neo-Latin. Some works have been found (written between the 12th and 14th centuries) which were written in a variant more closely resembling classical Latin.
Zadar[edit]
Bishop Juraj Divnića was a historian and Latin poet who influenced Zadar-area humanists.
Šibenik[edit]
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[edit]
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.