Nikola Musulin ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Мусулин; ca. 1830–fl. 1897) was a Serbian teacher, activist, and poet. He was one of few trained teachers in

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

from 1856–1859. In 1859 he brought the Code of Dušan, the constitution of the

Serbian Empire The Serbian Empire ( sr, / , ) was a medieval Serbian state that emerged from the Kingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 by Dušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state. Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the major power in the ...

(1346–1371), to a village in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. It is currently in the

National Museum A national museum is a museum maintained and funded by a national government. In many countries it denotes a museum run by the central government, while other museums are run by regional or local governments. In other countries a much greater numb ...

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 ...

. Nikola Musulin, son of a Serbian merchant, was born at

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra) is the fifth-most-populous city of the Republic of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. The city sprawls across the Plain of Mbishkodra between the southern part of Lake Shkod ...

in 1830, and educated there and afterwards at the

Clerical High School of Saint Arsenije Clerical High School of Saint Arsenije ( sr, Богословија Свети Арсеније Сремац / ''Bogoslovija Sveti Arsenije Sremac''), is the oldest Serbian seminary, a clerical Grande école. It is a college following the French a ...

. Musulin was brought up in a neighbourhood bordering on the open country that was the Military Frontier between the Ottoman and

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

empires, and from his earliest years he found a companion in nature; he was also early initiated into the reading of poetry, hearing Njegoš and

Branko Radičević Aleksije "Branko" Radičević ( sr-Cyrl, Алексије Бранко Радичевић, ; 28 March 1824 – 1 July 1853) was a Serbian poet who wrote in the period of Romanticism. Biography Branko Radičević was born in Slavonski Brod on 1 ...

in his youth. Musulin had trained to be a teacher at St. Arsenius instead of becoming a priest. While studying for the profession, however, he contributed poems and prose articles to various magazines, periodicals and newspapers. Upon graduation in 1856 Musulin arrived in Prizren, where he opened the first modern secular school. Prizren had an elementary school for girls, founded by Anastasija Ajnadžina in 1836. The work of Ajnadžina and Musulin inspired other fellow teachers to follow their footsteps:

Milan Kovačević Milan Kovačević, nicknamed Mićo ( sr-Cyrl, Милан Ковачевић; 1941 – 1998), was the president of the executive committee of the Municipal Assembly of Prijedor from January 1991 to March 1993. He also served as the vice president o ...

went on to open a secular school in

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

in 1859 while Sava Dečanac founded a school in

Peja Peja ( Indefinite Albanian form: ''Pejë'' ) or Peć ( sr-Cyrl, Пећ ) is the fourth largest city of Kosovo and seat of Peja Municipality and Peja District. It is situated in the region of Rugova on the eastern section of the Accursed Mount ...

. Musulin left

Old Serbia Old Serbia ( sr, Стара Србија, Stara Srbija) is a Serbian historiographical term that is used to describe the territory that according to the dominant school of Serbian historiography in the late 19th century formed the core of the ...

to teach in

Cetinje Cetinje (, ) is a town in Montenegro. It is the former royal capital (''prijestonica'' / приjестоница) of Montenegro and is the location of several national institutions, including the official residence of the president of Montenegro ...

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

, in 1862. ''The Song about Grahovo'' and other fragments of his verse and prose had been known to a few people long before the publication of ''Until Dawn'' (Do zore) of 1863, in a facsimile of his clear and elegant handwriting, and of ''Justice and Freedom or the Testament of Bishop Njegoš'' (Pravda I Sloboda Ili Testamenat Vladike Njeguša) of 1897. As a writer Musulin published two more books: ''Moze li se pomoći našem narodu u Staroj Srbiji'' (Can Our People be Helped in Old Serbia), in which he once again showed his great attachment for his homeland, and ''Za kralja i otadžbinu'' (For King and Country).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musulin, Nikola Serbian male poets 19th-century Serbian people Serbs in Albania People from Shkodër Serbian educators Year of birth uncertain Year of death uncertain