Božidar Petranović (18 February 1809 – 12 September 1874) was a Serbian author, scholar, journalist, and one of the leading historians of

Serbian literature Serbian literature ( sr-Cyrl, Српска књижевност), refers to literature written in Serbian and/or in Serbia and all other lands where Serbs reside. The history of Serbian literature begins with the independent works from the Nema ...

and a distinctive proponent of world literature. He is also mentioned as Theodor (Greek version of Serbian Božidar) Petranović in some publications. He is regarded as one of the early Serbian

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

Biography

Born in

Šibenik Šibenik () is a historic city in Croatia, located in central Dalmatia, where the river Krka flows into the Adriatic Sea. Šibenik is a political, educational, transport, industrial and tourist center of Šibenik-Knin County, and is also the ...

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; hr, Dalmacija ; it, Dalmazia; see #Name, names in other languages) is one of the four historical region, historical regions of Croatia, alongside Croatia proper, Slavonia, and Istria. Dalmatia is a narrow belt of the east shore of ...

, Božidar Petranović was one of the first Dalmatian Serbs to be educated in the newly constructed

Metropolitanate of Karlovci The Metropolitanate of Karlovci ( sr, Карловачка митрополија, Karlovačka mitropolija) was a metropolitanate of the Eastern Orthodox Church that existed in the Habsburg monarchy between 1708 and 1848. Between 1708 and 1713 ...

Gymnasium of Karlovci The Karlovci Gymnasium ( sr, Карловачка гимназија, Karlovačka gimnazija) is the high school ( gymnasium) located in the town of Sremski Karlovci. It is the oldest secondary school in Serbia. This type of school is comparable ...

. He was also educated in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

together with

Ljudevit Gaj Ljudevit Gaj (; born Ludwig Gay; hu, Gáj Lajos; 8 August 1809 – 20 April 1872) was a Croatian Linguistics, linguist, politician, journalist and writer. He was one of the central figures of the pan-Slavist Illyrian movement. Biography Origi ...

. Božidar Petranović was the founder and publisher of the first

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are the most numerous South Slavic ethnic group native to the Balkans in Southeastern Europe, who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history and language. The majority of Serbs live in their na ...

academic and scientific paper in

Zadar Zadar ( , ; historically known as Zara (from Venetian and Italian: ); see also other names), is the oldest continuously inhabited Croatian city. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea, at the northwestern part of Ravni Kotari region. Zadar serv ...

, entitled the "Serbian-Dalmatian Magazine" (). In 1838, Petranović claimed that the greater part of the population of the

Kingdom of Dalmatia The Kingdom of Dalmatia ( hr, Kraljevina Dalmacija; german: Königreich Dalmatien; it, Regno di Dalmazia) was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918). It encompassed the entir ...

was "of Serb name" and spoke "true Serbian dialect". He later hired the Dubrovnik Eastern Orthodox priest

Georgije Nikolajević Georgije Nikolajević, secular name Đorđe Nikolajević (Serbian: Георгије Николајевић; 20 April 1807 – 8 February 1896) was a Serbian cleric, theologian, writer, professor and later in life Metropolitan of Dabar-Bosna. He wa ...

as an editor of ''Magazin'', and the two promulgated Ljudevit Gaj-

Vuk Karadžić Vuk Stefanović Karadžić ( sr-Cyrl, Вук Стефановић Караџић, ; 6 November 1787 (26 October OS)7 February 1864) was a Serbian philologist, anthropologist and linguist. He was one of the most important reformers of the mode ...

's language reforms. He also corresponded with authors

Niccolò Tommaseo Niccolò Tommaseo (; 9 October 1802 – 1 May 1874) was a Dalmatian linguist, journalist and essayist, the editor of a ''Dizionario della Lingua Italiana'' in eight volumes (1861–74), of a dictionary of synonyms (1830) and other works. He is ...

, Francesco Dall'Ongaro, journalist Pacifico Valussi (1813-1893), Ivan August Kaznačić (1817–1883),

Medo Pucić Orsat "Medo" Pucić, ( it, Orsatto Pozza, ; 12 March 1821 – 30 June 1882) was a Republic of Ragusa, Ragusan writer and an important member of the Catholic Serbs, Catholic Serb movement. Biography Orsat Pucić was born on in Dubrovnik, then in ...

, and Stipan Ivičević (1801–1871). Throughout 1848-1849, Petranović argued that to secure a better economic future it was necessary to transfer Dalmatia into a commercial haven between sea and hinterland, between the Mediterranean and Balkan trade by lifting maritime custom taxes. In this pursuit, Petranović, along with Stipan Ivičević and ''Zora dalmatinska'' editor Ante Kuzmanić, tried to found a Dalmatian-Bosnian newspaper. Ivičević also sought to convince Habsburg authorities to set up a railroad line that connected Dalmatia directly to

Mostar Mostar (, ; sr-Cyrl, Мостар, ) is a city and the administrative center of Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the historical capital of Herzegovina. Mostar is sit ...

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

, and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

. Also, in 1838, he claimed Dubrovnik's literary tradition for Serbia since Dubrovnik's (also known as

Ragusa Ragusa is the historical name of Dubrovnik. It may also refer to: Places Croatia * the Republic of Ragusa (or Republic of Dubrovnik), the maritime city-state of Ragusa * Cavtat (historically ' in Italian), a town in Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Cro ...

of old) authors "wrote in Serbian, but with Latin letters." (Croats particularly members of the Catholic clergy were of the opposite opinion and so the dispute continues to this day). Similar theories were proposed by Vaso Glušac (1879–1955) at the beginning of the 20th century, and contemporary historian Dragoljub Dragojlović in his 1987 book.

Ljubomir Nedić Ljubomir Nedić ( sr, Љубомир Недић; 25 April 1858 – 29 July 1902) was a Serbian philosopher and literary critic. Having received academic training in philosophy at the University of Leipzig, Nedić taught at the Belgrade Higher Sc ...

Svetozar Marković Svetozar Marković ( sr-Cyrl, Светозар Марковић, ; 9 September 1846 – 26 February 1875) was a Serbian political activist, literary critic and socialist philosopher. He developed an activistic anthropological philosophy w ...

Bogdan Popović Bogdan Popović (Serbian Cyrillic: Богдан Поповић; 20 December 1863 – 7 November 1944) was one of the most important literary critics and university professors in Serbia and later Yugoslavia and an academic. He was the brother of ...

Pavle Popović Pavle Popović ( sr-cyr, Павле Поповић; 16 April 1868 – 4 June 1939) was a Serbian literary critic and historian, a professor and rector at the University of Belgrade. He is the brother of Bogdan Popović, also a well-known and equa ...

Jovan Skerlić Jovan Skerlić (, ; 20 August 1877 – 15 May 1914) was a Serbian writer and literary critic.''Jovan Skerlić u srpskoj književnosti 1877–1977: Zbornik radova''. Posebna izdanja, Institut za knjizevnost i umetnost, Belgrade. He is seen as on ...

Slobodan Jovanović Slobodan Jovanović ( sr-Cyrl, Слободан Јовановић; 3 December 1869 – 12 December 1958) was a Serbian and Yugoslav writer, historian, lawyer, philosopher, literary critic, diplomat, politician and one of the most prominent int ...

and

Branko Lazarević Branko Lazarević (Serbian Cyrillic: Бранко Лазаревић; born 14 May 1984) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Born in Gračanica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lazarević played in the you ...

all took a particular liking to him. Petranović died in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

on 12 September 1874.

Sources

* * *

, ''Istorija nove srpske književnosti'' (Belgrade, 1921), page 133.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petranovic, Bozidar 1809 births 1874 deaths People from Šibenik People from the Kingdom of Dalmatia Austro-Hungarian Serbs Serbs of Croatia Members of the Imperial Diet (Austria) Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Serbian writers 19th-century Serbian people Academic staff of the University of Belgrade