Lably
Skip to content

Croatian literature

  • 51 min read
  • 8 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Oral literature, Humanism and Prose

Lab · Class 2Story ComprehensionLab · Class 11Renaissance ModernLab · Class 6–12Archaeology & Discovery

Croatian medieval literature

Croatian medieval prose is similar to other European medieval literature of the time. The oldest testaments to Croatian literacy are dated to the 11th and 12th centuries, and Croatian medieval literature lasted until the middle of the 16th century. Some elements of medieval forms can be found even in 18th-century Croatian literature, meaning their influence was stronger in Croatia than in the rest of Europe. Early Croatian literature was inscribed on stone tablets, hand-written on manuscripts, and printed in books. A special segment of Croatian medieval literature is written in Latin. The first works on hagiography and the history of the Church were written in the Dalmatian coastal cities (Split, Zadar, Trogir, Osor, Dubrovnik, Kotor), for example the "Splitski evanđelistar" (6th–7th century) and other liturgical and non-liturgical works. The beginning of Croatian medieval literature is marked by Latin hagiography, with texts about Dalmatian and Istrian martyrs: Saint Duje, Saint Anastasius, Saint Maurice and Saint Germanus. In Panonia in northern Croatia, works about Christian cults were created, such as that of Saint Quirinus, Saint Eusebius and Saint Pollio. For centuries, the Croats wrote all their works regarding law, history (chronicles) and scientific works in Latin, so they were available as part of a wider European literature.

Croatian medieval prose was written in two languages, Croatian and Church Slavonic, using three different alphabets, Glagolitic, Latin and Bosnian Cyrillic. Among these, there was some interaction, as evidenced by documents carrying two forms of letters, especially with respect to Glagolitic and Cyrillic texts, and some Latin relied on Glagolitic forms. That interaction makes Croatian writing unique among Slavic prose and even in European literature. Croatian medieval literature reflects the general trends within European literature, though there were some different traits, for example, literature directed at the common people, a strong background tradition of oral literature, blending of religious topics and interweaving of genres. A significant part of Croatian early literature is based on translations, with typical Central European edits. Croatian early literature was influenced by two spheres: from the East (Byzantine and Church Slavonic inheritance) and the West (from Latin, Italian, Franco-Italian and Czech traditions).

From the 14th century, western influence remained strong in Croatian literature. Recognizing these patterns, Croatian authors, mostly anonymous, adapted their work to the specific needs of the community in which and for which they wrote. Despite their writings being largely translations, this literature achieved a notably artistic level of language and style. One of the most significant achievements was keeping alive the Church Slavonic written language (especially in the Glagolitic alphabet). In later periods, elements of that language came to be used in expressive ways and as a signal of "high style", incorporating current vernacular words and becoming capable of transferring knowledge on a wide range of subjects, from law and theology, chronicles and scientific texts, to works of literature. Such medieval works in the people's own language are the starting point for the literature of later periods. Anonymous poets and singers, developing their own styles of typically religious poetry of this period, were referred to as the "začinjavci" by later authors and sources.

As such, the first secular poetry in the native language also began appearing during the middle of the 14th century, both written in Glagolithic and Latin scripts, most notable of which is Svit se konča ("The world is ending").

The oldest artefacts of Croatian medieval prose are Glagolitic inscribed stone tablets: Valun tablet, Plomin tablet and the Krk inscription from the 11th century, and the Baška tablet from the 11th or 12th century. The Baška tablet is the first complete document on the people's language with elements of literal Church Slavonic. It is often regarded as the "birth certificate" of Croatian, and carries the first mention of the Croats. The inscribed stone records King Zvonimir's donation of a piece of land to a Benedictine abbey in the time of Abbot Drzhiha. It provides the only example of the transition from the Glagolitic of the rounded Macedonian type to the angular Croatian alphabet.

Other early writings are the Senj tablet, Plastovo tablet, Knin tablet and Supetar tablet, all dating to the 12th century and the Humac tablet from the 11th or 12th century. The fragments of the Vienna leaves from a Glagolithic codex dating from the 11th/12th century, written somewhere in Western Croatia, represents the first liturgical writing of Croatian recension in the Church Slavonic. The Povlja tablet (Croatian: Povaljska listina) is the earliest document written in the Cyrillic script, dating from the 12th century and tracing its origin to Brač, it features the standard "archaic" Chakavian dialect.

Other legal documents such as the Vrbnik Statute, Vinodol statute and Kastav Statute describe the regulations of those coastal cities as administrative centres.

Only fragments are saved from hand-written documents, and they bear witness to a rich literary tradition on Croatian soil. These are part of biblical-liturgical works: fragments of apostles, such as Mihanović's apostle and Grašković's fragment, both created in the 12th century; fragments of missals, such as the first page of Kievan papers from the 11th or 12th century and the Vienna papers from the 12th century, those are the oldest Croatian documents of liturgical content; fragments of breviaries, like the London fragments, Vrbnik fragments and Ročki fragments, all dating to the 13th century. All of the Glagolitic documents form a continuity with those created simultaneously in Bulgarian, Macedonian, Czech and Russian areas. But by the 12th and 13th centuries, the Croats had developed their own form of Glagolitic script and were adapting Croatian with Chakavian influences. In doing so, the Croats formed their own version of Church Slavonic, which lasted into the 16th century. At the same time, biblical books were written according to the model of the Latin Vulgate. From that time come the oldest surviving texts of hagiographic legends and apocryphal prose, an example being the Budapest fragments (12th century with part of a legend about Saint Simeon and Saint Thecla from the 13th century, part of apocryphal works of Paul and Thecla).

Sign in to keep reading

7 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Countries and other regions

NetherlandsCountry in Northwestern Europe and the CaribbeanCaliforniaU.S. stateEnglandCountry within the United KingdomNew ZealandIsland country in the Pacific OceanSwitzerlandCountry in Central EuropeSwedenCountry in Northern Europe