6

had originated some two hundred years

before. It may indeed have been written in
of opposition to the Protestant Reformation.
Although the dukes dispersed the majority Orbini’s Regno
response to the persistent critiques of the of their manuscript collection in the 1950s,
prevailing orthodoxy that were still blowing
across Europe at the end of the fifteenth
this particular item remained with the
family—probably because of its calligraphic
degli Slavi:
century—and would turn into a whirlwind and ornamental beauty—until the Duchess
an Early Source for Slavic
at the beginning of the sixteenth. At the very Matilda d’Arenberg gave it as a present to History

T
time that this manuscript was being written, a jeweller in Monaco. The contemporary he Fisher Library has acquired an
more than one hundred Lollards, who rejected binding of brown calf stretched over wooden exceptional first edition of Mauro
this form of eucharistic piety in favour of boards offers a teasing glimpse of the original Orbini’s Il regno degli Slavi (Realm of
biblical preaching, were convicted in London owner’s identity. On the front cover, the sides the Slavs), the first comprehensive survey of
for rejecting the dogmatic status quo. In the are divided by mutliple fillets into concentric South Slavic history and an early contribution
northern Germanic territories, reports of frames. Heraldic devices, featuring a crowned to Pan-Slavism. The purchase was made pos-
miraculous appearances of bleeding hosts shield with three ermine figure prominently, sible through the generosity of John and Anne
increased dramatically, especially in areas but to whom these arms belonged cannot Zdunic who for years have been supporting
close to the Hussites, whose doctrine was be determined with any certainty. The back the Croatian collection at the University of
similar to that of the Lollards. Another group cover again displays examples of traditional Toronto Library.
of “heretics,” the Waldensians, who declared Christian iconography, with multiple The author of the book, Mauro Orbini
the Eucharist to be merely a memorial and iterations of the lion and stag, both of which (ca. 1550–1611/1614), was born in Dubrovnik,
only celebrated it once a year on Maundy symbolize Christ himself. Croatia. The area at the time was part of
Thursday, established thriving communities The arguments contained within the pages Venetian Dalmatia and Dubrovnik (Ragusa)
in the Piedmont region of northern France of this manuscript helped to systematize enjoyed the privileges of an autonomous
itself. Pope Innocent VIII declared a Crusade orthodox Catholic thought on the Eucharist city-republic. Straddled between Western and
against them in 1487. It is within this context as it is still understood by the faithful; those Eastern Europe—Rome and Byzantium—
that we should probably understand the same arguments, however, probably will under the influence of humanist ideas, and
creation of this particular manuscript. not even fleetingly enter the minds of those populated by an ethnic mix of Illyrians, Greeks,
The text is written in a dark brown ink, with who will gather on the Plains of Abraham Romans, and Slavs, Orbini’s Dalmatia in
four larger initials painted in blue, orange, or for the upcoming Congress. That alone the sixteenth century was experiencing its
green on liquid gold grounds, some with gold demonstrates the degree to which the teachings cultural golden age. Orbini, after entering
infill on blue or pink grounds. Each initial of Thomas Aquinas and Hugh de Saint-Cher the Benedictine order, spent most of his life
contains stylized violets or columbines, sig- triumphed over their opponents. But for in various monasteries of the region. A short
nificant choices inasmuch as the violet stands serious scholars of medieval history, theology, appointment as abbot of a monastery in Bács,
for Christ’s incarnation and the columbine and the Reformation, this new unpublished Hungary, and occasional visits to archives in
for the power of the Holy Spirit in Christian manuscript is yet another resource to be mined Italy were the only occasions on which he
iconography. For many years the book was in in the quest to understand the evolution of left Dalmatia and Dubrovnik. Following a
the library of the Dukes of Arenberg whose modern Catholic doctrine. dispute with fellow monks at the monastery
castle was on the outskirts of the university P.J. Carefoote on the island of Mljet, he was sequestered from
city of Louvain in Belgium, one of the jewels Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library 1604 to 1606 in the monastery on the island of
of Catholic learning and the foremost centre Šipan. During his stay there, Orbini wrote his
Zarçalo duhovno (Spiritual Mirror) an adapted
translation of the Italian work by frate Angelo
Elli da Milano, Specchio spirituale del principio,
e fine della vita humana (Brescia, 1599). This
work, translated into what Orbini called
“Dubrovački” (the language of Dubrovnik) is
an important milestone in the development
of the Croatian literary language.
Il regno degli Slavi (Pesaro: Girolamo
Concordia, 1601) however, remains Orbini’s
principal achievement. He wrote it to bring
to light the ancient and glorious history and
territorial expansion of the Slavs, writing
about their origins, the history of the kings of
Dalmatia, and the medieval history of Croatia,
Serbia, Bosnia, Hercegovina, and Bulgaria.
According to Orbini, the Slavs were descended
from Japheth, Noah’s son, whose descendants
migrated to Scandinavia. From there they
spread out and conquered many lands and
peoples. Orbini, in the first part of his history,
presents evidence of the indigenous Balkan
origin of the Slavs and in so doing incorporates
First leaf of De sacramento altaris the Illyrians, the Thracians as well as all of
 7

In Il regno degli Slavi Orbini provides descrip-

tions and tables of the Croatian Glagolitic script
(left) and of the Cyrillic (note the expurgated name
of Aventinus on p.46). The book also includes two
engraved plates of Slavic warriors: one from the
North and the other from the Balkans (right: Slavo
dell’Illyrico).

the Roman emperors born to the East of the theologian Teofilakt Lopatynskyi (1670–1741). Catholic Church. Though Orbini based his
Adriatic Sea into the same nation, including The translation influenced Russian Balkan history on a variety of sources, thirteen names
the sixth-century Byzantine emperor Justinian policies and national consciousness among that he cited were on the Index Librorum
the Great. He writes consistently of the Slavs, Serbs in the eighteenth century. Orbini’s book Prohibitorum (List of Prohibited Books), and
the Slav nation, and the Slavic language, also served for a long time as the authoritative these have been expurgated from the text of
emphasizing that unity of speech proves the source for the study of late medieval South Il regno degli Slavi. They include Byzantine
unity of a people. He was convinced that all Slavic history, particularly the history of the Greek scholar Laonicus Chalcondyles (ca.
the South Slavs were of one origin with the Croats, Serbs, and Bulgars, and contributed 1423–1490); and a number of German scholars:
other Slavs in Bohemia, Poland, Russia, etc., to the formation of future historians from historian Johannes Thurmayr (Aventinus)
and that these others were blood descendants of those nations and the ideological concept of (1477–1534); cartographer, cosmographer,
the Balkan Slavs. The second part of Orbini’s a Pan-Slavic common national identity. and Hebraist Sebastian Münster (1488–1552);
history covers Dalmatian history, and has The copy purchased for the Thomas Fisher humanist and Protestant reformer Kaspar
been identified as his Italian translation of Rare Book Library is from the book collection Hedio (1494–1552); poet and classical scholar
the sixteenth-century Croatian version of the of the Earls of Macclesfield, once one of George Fabricius (1516–1571); historian Hans
medieval “Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea.” Britain’s greatest privately-owned libraries. The Löwenklau (Leunclavius) (1533–1593); and
In the third part Orbini focuses on the Serbs, library of some 12,000 books and manuscripts theologian David Chytraeus (1531–1600). For
Bulgarians, Bosnians, and Croats. Though mostly written or published prior to 1750 was the most part those censored from the text
much of the work is based on unreliable legends formerly housed in the earls’ ancestral home of by the Inquisition were either Byzantinists
and chronicles, Il regno degli Slavi had a great Shirburn Castle in Oxfordshire, and is being sympathetic with the Humanists, or adherents
impact on the subsequent historiography of sold in a series of auctions by Sotheby’s. The to Lutheranism. Orbini’s work itself was
the South Slavs. Orbini volume, previously the property of placed on the Vatican’s index of prohibited
The work gained greater importance among Thomas Augustus Wolstenholme Parker, sixth books in 1603 by order of Pope Clement VIII
the Orthodox South Slavs when Tsar Peter Earl of Macclesfield, includes a nineteenth- for citations from Protestant and Orthodox
the Great commissioned Sava Vladislavić century bookplate with the Macclesfield coat sources. Though this prohibition probably
(1668–1738) to translate it from Italian into of arms bearing the motto “Sapere Aude” above made the book harder to find, it never ceased
Russian. Vladislavić, a Hercegovinian by birth “North Library.” The handsome 473-page folio to be widely read among intellectuals.
and Ragusan by upbringing, was a diplomat is bound in eighteenth-century speckled calf The University of Toronto Library is grate-
in the service of imperial Russia. He sought to gilt and includes two full-page engraved ful to John and Anne Zdunic for providing
persuade the Tsar that the Slavs under Turkish plates of warriors representing Slavo del Mar funds for the purchase of Il regno degli Slavi,
rule would rise up should the Russians bring Germanico and Slavo dell’Illyrico. Further and for their support of the Croatian Studies
their forces into the Balkans, and emphasized illustrations consist of two Slavic alphabets, Program at the University.
the unity of their common Slavic nation and numerous coats of arms, woodcut initials, Ksenya Kiebuzinski
language. His abridged translated version head-pieces, and ornaments. Collection Development, Robarts Library
Kniga istoriografiia, pochatiia imene, slavy, i Of historical interest are a number of and Petro Jacyk Central
razshireniia naroda slavianskogo was published deleted names, and sometimes of longer pas- & East European Resource Centre
in St. Petersburg in 1722, with the addition of a sages, a result of the expurgation by the Sacred
chapter on Saints Cyril and Methodius by the Congregation of the Inquisition of the Roman