Franjo Rački (25 November 1828 – 13 February 1894) was a
Croatian historian, politician and writer. He compiled important collections of old Croatian diplomatic and historical documents, wrote some pioneering historical works, and was a key founder of the
Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia.
HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop Jo ...
.
Historian
Rački was born in
Fužine, near
Rijeka
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
. He completed his secondary education in
Senj
Senj (; it, Segna, la, Senia, Hungarian and german: Zengg) is a town on the upper Adriatic coast in Croatia, in the foothills of the Mala Kapela and Velebit mountains.
The symbol of the town is the Nehaj Fortress ( hr, Tvrđava Nehaj) whic ...
and
Varaždin
)
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. He graduated theology in Senj, where he was ordained
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
priest by the bishop Ožegović in 1852. Rački received his PhD in theology in
Vienna
en, Viennese
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in 1855.
His career as a historian began as soon as he started working as a teacher in Senj. An industrious man, full of patriotic fervor, Rački organized the research of
Glagolitic
The Glagolitic script (, , ''glagolitsa'') is the oldest known Slavic alphabet. It is generally agreed to have been created in the 9th century by Saint Cyril, a monk from Thessalonica. He and his brother Saint Methodius were sent by the Byzan ...
documents on the islands of
Kvarner
The Kvarner Gulf (, or , la, Sinus Flanaticus or ), sometimes also Kvarner Bay, is a bay in the northern Adriatic Sea, located between the Istrian peninsula and the northern Croatian Littoral mainland. The bay is a part of Croatia's internal ...
. He often went to the village of
Baška on
Krk
Krk (; it, Veglia; ruo, Krk; dlm, label= Vegliot Dalmatian, Vikla; la, Curicta; grc-gre, Κύρικον, Kyrikon) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, located near Rijeka in the Bay of Kvarner and part of Primorje-Gorski Kot ...
, the location of the famous
Baška Tablet
Baška tablet ( hr, Bašćanska ploča, ) is one of the first monuments containing an inscription in the Croatian recension of the Church Slavonic language, dating from . The inscription is written in the Glagolitic script. It was discovered in 1 ...
. After analyzing the tablet for a long time, he published ''Viek i djelovanje sv. Cirilla i Methoda slavjamkih apošlolov'' (The Age and Activities of
Saints Cyril and Methodius
Cyril (born Constantine, 826–869) and Methodius (815–885) were two brothers and Byzantine Christian theologians and missionaries. For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the "Apostles to the Slavs".
They are credited wit ...
, the Apostles among the
Slavs
Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, main ...
).
He was moved from Senj to Rome in 1857. There he worked in the
Croatian Institute of St Jerome for three years, in difficult circumstances. He went around Roman archives in search of documents on Croatian history. He also attended courses in
paleography
Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US; ultimately from grc-gre, , ''palaiós'', "old", and , ''gráphein'', "to write") is the study of historic writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts, including the analysi ...
and related historical sciences.
In Rome he found many documents on
Bogomils
Bogomilism ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar P ...
, collected by the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
during the
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
struggle against that
heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, in particular the accepted beliefs of a church or religious organization. The term is usually used in reference to violations of important religi ...
. Fifteen years later, Rački would publish ''Bogomili i Patareni'', a milestone in the research on the
Bosnian Church
The Bosnian Church ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=/, Crkva bosanska, Црква Босанска) was a Christian church in medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina that was independent of and considered heretical by both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox ...
. In the book, Rački founded the "Bogomil
hypothesis
A hypothesis (plural hypotheses) is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. For a hypothesis to be a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it. Scientists generally base scientific hypotheses on previous obse ...
", saying that the Bosnian Church was influenced by the
dualist
Dualism most commonly refers to:
* Mind–body dualism, a philosophical view which holds that mental phenomena are, at least in certain respects, not physical phenomena, or that the mind and the body are distinct and separable from one another
** ...
heretic teachings from
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
, originating in the 9th century. As it was very controversial and intriguing, that theory dominated the research for most of the 19th and 20th centuries, but its general premises have been mostly refuted.
Although Rački is more important as a promoter of culture than as a historian, his original historical works are important for their pioneering nature and wealth of information. Aside from the mentioned ''Bogomili i patareni'', he wrote ''Povjesnik Ivan Lučić'' (The Historian
Joannes Lucius
Johannes Lucius ( hr, Ivan Lučić; it, Giovanni Lucio; September 1604 – 11 January 1679) was a Dalmatian historian, whose greatest work is ''De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae'' ("On the Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia"), which includes valua ...
), ''Nutarnje stanje Hrvatske prije XII. stoljeća'' (The Internal Organization of Croatia Before the 12th Century), ''Stari grb bosanski'' (The Old Bosnian Coat of Arms), ''Povelje bosanskog kralja Tvrtka'' (Documents of the
Bosnian king Tvrtko). The pinnacle of his scientific work is the monumental ''Documenta historiae Croaticae periodum antiaquam illustrantia''.
Academy
He started ''
Književnik'', the first Croatian scientific magazine for history and linguistics, and ''
Obzor
Obzor ( bg, Обзор ) is a small town and seaside resort on the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria. It is part of Nesebar Municipality, Burgas Province. On February 28th, 2021, the citizens of Obzor and six nearby villages voted in a referendum to sepa ...
'' and ''
Vijenac
''Vijenac'' (English: '' The Wreath'') is a biweekly magazine for literature, art and science, established in December 1993 and published by ''Matica hrvatska'', the central national cultural institution in Croatia.
Historical background
The ...
'', very influential magazines for culture and politics. He was a key founder of the
Yugoslavian Academy of Sciences and Arts and greatly contributed to the expansion of the
University of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb ( hr, Sveučilište u Zagrebu, ; la, Universitas Studiorum Zagrabiensis) is the largest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of ...
. Rački founded most editions of the Academy, which are published even today: ''Rad'', ''Starine'', and the ''Codex diplomaticus Regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae'', an exceptional monument of legal history. He founded the Academy library, archive and dictionary. His activities determined the work of the Academy for several decades, especially in its cultural and social aspects.
Politician
In 1861, as the church representative from Senj, he became a member of the
Croatian Parliament
The Croatian Parliament ( hr, Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of Croatia. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sab ...
, convened after a pause of 12 years. Along with
Ante Starčević
Ante Starčević (; 23 May 1823 – 28 February 1896) was a Croatian politician and writer. His policies centered around Croatian state law, the integrity of Croatian lands, and the right of his people to self-determination. As an important memb ...
, Rački was the only peasant's child in the parliament.
Rački was a prolific political writer. He wrote about all the important Croatia-related topics and issues of his time. He promoted the merging of
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 ...
with Croatia ruled by the ''
ban'', he wrote discussions about the Croatian nature of
Srijem and
Rijeka
Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Primor ...
, but he spent most energy on analyzing the
relationships between Croatia and Hungary, fighting against the Hungarian expansionism. Along with the bishop
Josip Juraj Strossmayer
Josip Juraj Strossmayer, also Štrosmajer (; german: Joseph Georg Strossmayer; 4 February 1815 – 8 April 1905) was a Croatian politician, Roman Catholic Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop, and benefactor (law), benefactor.
Early life an ...
, Rački was a partisan of the idea of
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. They both promoted the cultural and political unity of the
South Slavs
South Slavs are Slavic peoples who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, Hu ...
.
He died 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 ...
.
External links
Franjo Rački
{{DEFAULTSORT:Racki, Franjo
1828 births
1894 deaths
People from Fužine, Croatia
19th-century Croatian historians
Representatives in the Croatian Parliament (1848–1918)
Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences
Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery