Frančesko Ratkov Micalović was an early 16th-century
Ragusan Ragusan may refer to:
* citizen of the Republic of Ragusa
hr, Sloboda se ne prodaje za sve zlato svijeta it, La libertà non si vende nemmeno per tutto l'oro del mondo"Liberty is not sold for all the gold in the world"
, population_estimate ...
printer who printed the first books on
vernacular language
A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...
of population of contemporary Ragusa (modern-day
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik (), historically known as Ragusa (; see notes on naming), is a city on the Adriatic Sea in the region of Dalmatia, in the southeastern semi-exclave of Croatia. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations in the Mediterran ...
).
Micalović prepared
Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...
types and organized printing of prayer books 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 ...
in 1512. These prayer books are known as
''Molitvenik'' and ''Officio''. Micalović was obliged to collect printed books and to sell them in his shop which he was to open in Dubrovnik and in
Ottoman Serbia
Most of the territory of what is now the Republic of Serbia was part of the Ottoman Empire throughout the Early Modern period, especially Central Serbia and Southern Serbia, unlike Vojvodina which had passed to Habsburg rule starting from the ...
.
In 1510 and 1513 documents signed by Micalović, the prayer book was referred to as "in the Serbian language and letters". In sources the language of these prayer books and script in which it is printed is referred to as Bosnian, Ragusan, Serbian, Croatian, or Serbo-Croatian, depending on the point of view of its authors, and the Cyrillic script used to print them is in sources referred to as
Bosančica
Bosnian Cyrillic, widely known as Bosančica is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet that originated in medieval Bosnia. The term was coined at the end of the 19th century by Ćiro Truhelka. It was widely used in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina ...
.
Family
Frančesko Micalović's birth name was Ivan or Jovan. His grandfather was a book trader. Frančesko's father was Ratko Vukosalić whose nickname was Micalović. Ratko Vukosalić belonged to a group of Ragusans who had very good connections with Ottomans and was engaged in a special type of trade, ransom slavery. In Ragusan document composed on 23 August 1470 it was recorded that Ratko Vukosalić (with nickname Mazalović) paid to Ivan Marković from Croatia a ransom for certain Turk (Muslim) Mustafa. Ratko bought silver for this transaction from Grgur Sumičić from
Novo Brdo
Novo Brdo ( sr-Cyrl, Ново Брдо), or Novobërda and Artana ( sq-definite, Novobërdë or ''Artanë''), is a municipality located in the Pristina district of Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, it has a population of 6,729 inhabitants. Th ...
. Ransom for Mustafa of 500 ducats was paid by
Isa-Beg Ishaković who also had to release Marković's wife captured and kept in slavery in Sarajevo. On 16 September 1470 Ratko Vukosalić, acting as an agent of Živan Pripčinović, brought wife of Ivan Marković to Dubrovnik. At the beginning of 1471 Ratko Vukosalić bought a house. Ratko Vukosalić died before 1501. After a certain time Ratko's nickname became a family name inherited by his son Frančesko. Frančesko married Linusse (Lignussa which is diminutive of Lena), a daughter of famous Ragusan goldsmith Pavle Antoević.
Career
Frančesko was also referred to as ''meštre'' ( en,
master craftsman
Historically, a master craftsman or master tradesman (sometimes called only master or grandmaster) was a member of a guild. The title survives as the highest professional qualification in craft industries.
In the European guild system, only mas ...
) because he was not only a publisher but also a craftsman who cut paper and prepared types for printing. It is possible that Frančesko learned the skill of melting metal and engraving from his father-in-law, so he was able to prepare types for printing books on presses that belonged to Rusconi in 1512.
Mihailo Dinić
Mihailo Dinić ( sr-cyr, Михаило Динић; 23 April 1899 – 12 May 1970) was a Serbian historian and member of the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts. He was among the key figures of the Serbian historiography of the 20th century.
He w ...
discovered in Ragusan archives that Micalović signed two contracts in his attempt to publish Cyrillic script books for Ragusan Catholics. Micalović and Petar Đuro Šušić signed the first contract with Girolamo
Soncino in
Pesaro
Pesaro () is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Marche, capital of the Province of Pesaro e Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the Marche, ...
on 28 September 1510. It was agreed that Girolamo would print in his printing house several prayer books on Cyrillic script.
On 31 July 1511 Micalović signed an agreement with Šušić in which Micalović's name appears as Frančesko. According to this agreement Micalović and Šušić established a company in which Micalović invested his labor (personam suam) and contract he signed earlier with Soncino, while Šušić invested 108 golden ducats. It was agreed that printed books were to be collected by Micalović who was obliged to distribute them in Dubrovnik (in a small shop he was to open for this purpose) and Serbia. On 20 August 1513 Micalović began his journey into the Ottoman controlled territory of the Balkans to sell prayer books he printed. On that date Micalović and Šušić signed another contract in which Micalović was obliged to return to Šušić all the money he received from selling prayer books.
Cyrillic script Catholic prayer books
In 1512 Micalović printed two Catholic prayer books 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 ...
, in the printing house of Giorgio Rusconi (Zorzi Ruskoni) of
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
. One book is known as ''Officio'' (Officio Beatae Mariae Virginis) and the other as ''Molitvenik'' (Officio Sanctae Brigittae). Both books were printed in
Cyrillic script
The Cyrillic script ( ), Slavonic script or the Slavic script, is a writing system used for various languages across Eurasia. It is the designated national script in various Slavic languages, Slavic, Turkic languages, Turkic, Mongolic languages, ...
with elements 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 ...
in
Shtokavian dialect after being translated from
Chakavian
Chakavian or Čakavian (, , , sh-Latn, čakavski proper name: or own name: ''čokovski, čakavski, čekavski'') is a South Slavic regiolect or language spoken primarily by Croats along the Adriatic coast, in the historical regions of Dalmat ...
.
On 18 September 1512, immediately after his return to Ragusa, Micalović stated that two cases of Slavic books belonged to Đuro, father of Petar Šušić.
The four-part icon from church in the Orthodox Monastery of Virgin Mary's Birth in village Sogle,
Čaška Municipality
Čaška ( mk, , sq, Çashkë) is a municipality in the central part of North Macedonia. '' Čaška'' is also the name of the village where the municipal seat is located. This municipality is part of the Vardar Statistical Region.
Geography
T ...
(near
Veles,
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Socialist Feder ...
) have decorative elements painted under influence of Cyrillic ''Molitvenik'' printed by Micalović. According to
Dejan Medaković
Dejan Medaković ( sr-cyr, Дејан Медаковић; 7 July 1922 – 1 July 2008) was a Serbian art historian, writer and academician. Medaković had served as President of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts from 1998 to 2003, as Dean ...
,
renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
decorative elements of this 16th-century icon are directly copied from ''Molitvenik'' printed by Micalović.
Polemics about the language
These two books were rediscovered to the scientific public in 1932 which initially referred to the language of these prayer books as Serbian.
Depending on the point of view of its authors, the sources refer to these prayer books as Ragusan, Serbian,
Croatian or Serbo-Croatian.
The Cyrillic script used to print Micalović's prayer books is in sources referred to as
Bosančica
Bosnian Cyrillic, widely known as Bosančica is a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet that originated in medieval Bosnia. The term was coined at the end of the 19th century by Ćiro Truhelka. It was widely used in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina ...
.
In the contract signed by Micalović the language of the prayer book was referred to as ''in littera et idiomate serviano'' ''.
Milan Rešetar
Milan Rešetar (February 1, 1860 – January 14, 1942) was a linguist, historian and literary critic from Dubrovnik.
Biography
Rešetar was born in Dubrovnik. After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he studied classical philology and Slavic languages i ...
performed detailed analysis of the letters, content, style and language of the prayer book and concluded that it is the first book printed on Serbian vernacular language because
Oktoih
The ''Cetinje Octoechos'' ( sr, Цетињски октоих or ''Cetinjski oktoih'') is an Orthodox liturgical book printed in 1494 in Cetinje, the capital of the Principality of Zeta (present-day Montenegro). It is the first incunabulum wri ...
(printed in 1494) was printed in
Church Slavonic
Church Slavonic (, , literally "Church-Slavonic language"), also known as Church Slavic, New Church Slavonic or New Church Slavic, is the conservative Slavic liturgical language used by the Eastern Orthodox Church in Belarus, Bosnia and Herzeg ...
language.
In 1938 Rešetar, who was a
Serb Catholic from Dubrovnik, published a prologue of the phototypic edition of Micalovićs books. In this prologue Rešetar stated "some letters used for printing of the prayer book were actually their own type of Cyrillic letters, based on cursive Cyrillic (Western Cyrillic), which at that time was not used to print works for religious texts of the Orthodox Church, and so the cursive was Cyrillic script regularly used by our Catholics and Muslims".
The detailed analysis of Rešetar's statements and books led
Stjepan Ivšić
Stjepan Ivšić (; 13 August 1884 – 14 January 1962) was a Croatian linguist, Slavic specialist, and accentologist.
Biography
After finishing primary school in Orahovica, he attended secondary school in Osijek and Požega. At the Faculty of Phi ...
to conclude that the language of these books was not Serbian, but
Croatian. Rešetar's 1938 statement, which did not affect his opinion that the language of the prayer books was Serbian, also led Anica Nazor to conclusion that he refuted his own position.
Ivšić thought the prayer book was a more modern version of the
Vatican Croatian Prayer Book
The Vatican Croatian Prayer Book ( hr, Vatikanski hrvatski molitvenik) is the oldest Croatian vernacular prayer book and the finest example of early Shtokavian vernacular literary idiom.
Written between 1380 and 1400 in Dubrovnik as a transcript ...
. Croatian philologist
Dragica Malić
Dragica ( Cyrillic: Драгица) is a South Slavic feminine given name.
Those bearing it include:
* Dragica Cepernić (1981— ), Croatian football player
* Dragica Džono (1987— ), Croatian handball player
* Dragica Đurić (1963— ), ...
thought that it was a translation of a slightly younger prayer book known as the ''Drugi vatikanski dubrovački molitvenik'' (Second Vatican Dubrovnik Prayer Book), dated to the turn of the 16th century.
See also
*
Bonino De Boninis
Bonino De' Boninis (also known as Dobrić Dobričević) one of the pioneers of printing in Europe, was born in 1454 on the small Adriatic Island of Lastovo in the Republic of Ragusa (modern Croatia).
Dobrić began to print books in 1478 when he ...
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
* Rešetar, Milan i Đaneli, Ćiro : Dva dubrovačka jezična spomenika iz XVI vijeka. Posebna izdanja SKA, CXXII, Filosofski i filološki spisi, Beograd, SANU 1938
* Dinić, Mihajlo, Tri dokumenta o oficiju štampanom ćirilicom 1512. god, Istorijski časopis. 2 (1946), str. 109 - 114
{{DEFAULTSORT:Micalovic, Francesko
16th-century printers
Ragusan printers