Matija Popović (c. 1490-1563) was 16th-century

Serbian Orthodox The Serbian Orthodox Church ( sr-Cyrl, Српска православна црква, Srpska pravoslavna crkva) is one of the autocephalous (ecclesiastically independent) Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. The majority of the population in ...

priest from

Ottoman Bosnia The Ottoman Empire era of rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina (first as a ''sanjak'', then as an ''eyalet'') and Herzegovina (also as a ''sanjak'', then ''eyalet'') lasted from 1463/1482 to 1878 ''de facto'', and until 1908 ''de jure''. Ottoman ...

. Popović was printer in the

South Slavic Bible Institute The South Slavic Bible Institute (german: Südslawische Bibelanstalt) was established in Urach (modern-day Bad Urach) in January 1561 by Baron Hans von Ungnad, who was its owner and patron. Ungnad was supported by Christoph, Duke of Württemberg, ...

Scribe

Popović transcribed books written in

Slavonic-Serbian Slavonic-Serbian (славяносербскій, ''slavjanoserbskij''), Slavo-Serbian, or Slaveno-Serbian (славено-сербскiй, ''slaveno-serbskij''; sr, славеносрпски''/slavenosrpski'') was a literary language used by ...

language.

Printer at the South Slavic Bible Institute

The

(german: Südslawische Bibelanstalt) was established in Urach (modern-day

Bad Urach Bad Urach () is a town in the district of Reutlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 14 km east of Reutlingen, at the foot of the Swabian ''Alb'' (or Swabian Alps in English), and is known for its spa and therapeutic bath. Ne ...

) in January 1561 by Baron

Hans von Ungnad Hans von Ungnad (1493–1564) was 16th-century Habsburg nobleman who was best known as founder of the South Slavic Bible Institute established to publish Protestant books translated to South Slavic languages. Military career In 1540 Ungnad had ...

, who was its owner and patron. Ungnad was supported by

Christoph, Duke of Württemberg Christoph of Württemberg (12 May 1515 – 28 December 1568), ruled as Duke of Württemberg from 1550 until his death in 1568. Life In November 1515, only months after his birth, his mother, Sabina of Bavaria, fled to the court of her parents ...

, who allowed Ungnad to use his castle (former convent) of Amandenhof near Urach as a seat of this institute. Within the institute, Ungnad set up a press which he referred to as "the Slovene, Croatian and Cyrillic press" (german: Windische, Chrabatische und Cirulische Trukherey). The manager and supervisor of the institute was

Primož Trubar Primož Trubar or Primus Truber () (1508 – 28 June 1586) was a Slovene Protestant Reformer of the Lutheran tradition, mostly known as the author of the first Slovene language printed book, the founder and the first superintendent of the Prot ...

. The books they printed at this press were planned to be used throughout the entire territory populated by South Slavs between the

Soča River The Soča ( in Slovene) or Isonzo ( in Italian; other names fur, Lusinç, german: Sontig, la, Aesontius or ') is a long river that flows through western Slovenia () and northeastern Italy (). An Alpine river in character, its source lies i ...

, the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

, and

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth ( Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...

. Trubar had idea to use their books to spread Protestantism among Croats and other South Slavs. For this task, Trubar engaged

Stjepan Konzul Istranin Stipan/Stjepan Konzul Istranin, or Stephanus Consul (1521 — after 1568) was a 16th century Protestant reformator who authored and translated religious books to Čakavian dialect. Istranin was the most important Croatian language Protestant writer ...

and

Antun Dalmatin Antun Aleksandrović Dalmatin ( lat, Antonius Dalmata ab Alexandro) was 16th century translator and publisher of Protestant liturgical books. Name and early life Antun's surname is an exonym which means "of Dalmatia". Dalmatin was probably from ...

as translators for

Croatian Croatian may refer to: * Croatia *Croatian language *Croatian people *Croatians (demonym) See also * * * Croatan (disambiguation) * Croatia (disambiguation) * Croatoan (disambiguation) * Hrvatski (disambiguation) * Hrvatsko (disambiguation) * S ...

and

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambigua ...

Language used by Dalmatin and Istranin was based on northern-

Chakavian dialect 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 Dalma ...

with elements of

Shtokavian Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...

and

Ikavian Shtokavian or Štokavian (; sh-Latn, štokavski / sh-Cyrl, italics=no, штокавски, ) is the prestige dialect of the pluricentric Serbo-Croatian language and the basis of its Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrin standards. It ...

. People from the institute, including Trubar, were not satisfied with translations of Dalmatin and Istranin. Trubar and two of them exchanged heated correspondence about correctness of the language two of them used even before the first edition translated by Dalmatin and Istranin was published and immediately after it. For long time the institute tried to engage certain Dimitrije Serb to help Istranin and Dalmatin, but without success. Eventually, they managed to engage two Serbian Orthodox priests,

Jovan Maleševac Jovan Maleševac ( sr-cyr, Јован Малешевац; ) was a Serbian Orthodox monk and scribe who collaborated in 1561 with the Slovene Protestant reformer Primož Trubar to print religious books in Cyrillic.Bjelajac 2003, pp. 73–78Ruvarac ...

from Ottoman Bosnia and Matija Popović from Ottoman Serbia. Two of them came to Urach on 20 September 1561. They confirmed that the prepared Cyrillic versions of the New Testament, Catechesis and other books were satisfactory. Because two of them were not skilled in typography, Ungnad sent them back to

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

and gave a horse and 40

forints The forint (currency sign, sign Ft; ISO 4217, code HUF) is the currency of Hungary. It was formerly divided into 100 fillér, but fillér coins are no longer in circulation. The introduction of the forint on 1 August 1946 was a crucial step in th ...

to each of them. In 1562 Popović signed with ћ at the end of his signature, which is the same letter introduced by

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 ...

at the beginning of the 19th century. At the beginning of 1563 Popović was killed in Žumberak by another Orthodox priest.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Popovic, Matija 1563 deaths Serbian printers Serb priests Serbian Orthodox clergy 16th-century Serbian people 16th-century printers 16th-century Eastern Orthodox clergy Serbs from the Ottoman Empire Serbian murder victims Habsburg Serbs Year of birth uncertain