Danica ilirska was the first Croatian

literary magazine A literary magazine is a periodical devoted to literature in a broad sense. Literary magazines usually publish short stories, poetry, and essays, along with literary criticism, book reviews, biographical profiles of authors, interviews and letter ...

launched on 10 January 1835 as a weekly supplement to ''Novine horvatske'' newspaper in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, the

Kingdom of Croatia Kingdom of Croatia may refer to: * Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102), an independent medieval kingdom * Croatia in personal union with Hungary (1102–1526), a kingdom in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary * Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) (152 ...

. It was initially published under the title of ''Danicza horvatzka, slavonzka y dalmatinzka'' (Danica of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia) and edited by a leader of the Croatian national revival

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 ...

. The name was a reference to the personification of the morning star in Slavic mythology and to the lands of the Triune Kingdom claimed by the proponents of the Croatian national revival – the kingdoms of Croatia,

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...

, and

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 ...

. On 2 January 1836, the magazine was renamed ''Danica ilirska'' in reference to the name used by Count

Janko Drašković Janko Drašković ( Hungarian: ''Draskovich János''; 20 October 1770 – 14 January 1856) was a Croatian politician associated with the beginnings of the 19th-century national revival, the Illyrian movement. He studied law and philosophy befor ...

in his ''Dissertation'', the political programme of the Croatian national revival – which likewise became known as the

Illyrian movement The Illyrian movement ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, Ilirski pokret, Илирски покрет; sl, Ilirsko gibanje) was a pan-South-Slavic cultural and political campaign with roots in the early modern period, and revived by a group of young Croatian inte ...

. Drašković used the term in reference to proposed unified Croatian lands in the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

. When the Illyrian name and symbols were banned, the magazine reverted to its original name on 2 January 1843 until the end of 1848. It switched to ''Danica ilirska'' again in January 1849, but ceased publication on 30 June 1849. The issues published in 1835–1849 were reprinted in five volumes in 1970–1972 during the period of the

Croatian Spring The Croatian Spring ( hr, Hrvatsko proljeće), or Maspok, was a political conflict that took place from 1967 to 1971 in the Socialist Republic of Croatia, at the time part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. As one of six republic ...

. ''Danica ilirska'' reappeared briefly in 1853, but was discontinued due to low circulation. It was printed and once again in 1863–1867, when Gaj's son Velimir took over the editor's function and then shared those responsibilities with

Antun Mažuranić Antun Mažuranić (Novi Vinodolski, 13 June 1805 – 18 December 1888, Zagreb) was Croatian writer and linguist, brother of Croatian Ban Ivan Mažuranić and writer Matija Mažuranić. He was an active participant of the Illyrian movement and one o ...

Dragutin Rakovac Dragutin Rakovac (or Rakovec) (1 November 1813 – 22 November 1854) was a Croatian writer, translator and journalist. He was born in Vugrovec. He received a degree in philosophy and law in 1831 in Zagreb. From 1831 he was employed at the Tabula ...

Vjekoslav Babukić Vjekoslav (Alojzije) Babukić (16 July 1812 – 20 December 1875) was a Croatian revivalist and a linguist. He was born in Požega. He received a degree in law in 1832 in Zagreb. He was a prominent follower of the Illyrian movement, supporting th ...

Bogoslav Šulek Bogoslav Šulek (born Bohuslav Šulek; April 20, 1816 – November 30, 1895) was a Croatian philologist, historian and lexicographer. He was very influential in creating Croatian terminology in the areas of social and natural sciences, technology a ...

, and Dimitrija Demeter. The ''Novine horvatske'' did not have licence to write and distribute political news until 1848, and therefore ''Danica ilirska'' was used as the central newspaper of the Illyrian movement. Its roles included popularisation of Illyrian movement ideology and patriotic poems. One such poem, ''Horvatska domovina'' by

Antun Mihanović Antun Mihanović (10 June 1796 – 14 November 1861) was a Croatian poet and lyricist, most famous for writing the national anthem of Croatia, which was put to music by Josif Runjanin and adopted in 1891. Klanjec, his birthplace, holds a monumen ...

first appeared on the front page of the issue published on 14 March 1835 – before it became the Croatian national anthem. ''Danica ilirska'' made a significant contribution to popularisation of the Shtokavian dialect and reforms of

orthography An orthography is a set of conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, word breaks, emphasis, and punctuation. Most transnational languages in the modern period have a writing system, and mos ...

proposed by Gaj.

References

{{authority control 1835 establishments in Croatia Defunct newspapers published in Croatia Literary magazines Weekly newspapers published in Croatia Use of the term Illyrian in modern history