Paskoje Primojević (; ), or Pasko, was Ragusan poet and Serbian scribe in Ragusa in the 1482–1527 period.

Life and works

Primojević was born into the Ragusan noble family Primojević (). The family hailed from the region of Sutjeska, and belonged to a group of notable Ragusan families that migrated from the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. There were two branches of the family in Dubrovnik, both hailing from Bosnia and Herzegovina, from where their ancestors moved to Dubrovnik in the 14th century, and both became notable. Paskoje belongs to the branch which produced three chancellors in the Ragusan government, and one notable poet. The other branch was involved in

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of cr ...

. Their coat of arms with a sun and three stars can be found in the Church of the Holy Mother of Mercy and in front of the house of M. Jakšić. Paskoje's father was Pripčo Dobreljević (1400–1466). Paskoje had sons Trajan, Niko and Luka, all of whom became scribes. Trajan and Niko were both Serbian scribes, in the period of 1527–36 and 1536–66, respectively. Luka ( 1504–24) was a

Latin script The Latin script, also known as the Roman script, is a writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae in Magna Graecia. The Gree ...

scribe. Paskoje and his sons wrote their texts in the

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

pronunciation of

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

Attempt to establish printing house

Members of the Primojević family were actively working on establishing a printing house in Ragusa. In his letter of 8 March 1514, Luka Primojević requested approval from the Ragusan government () to import a printing machine to Ragusa and to open a printing house, to print books in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic script, the latter based on the script used at the

Crnojević printing house The Crnojević printing house () or Cetinje printing house (), was the first printing house in Southeastern Europe; the facility operated between 1493 and 1496 in Cetinje, Zeta under the Crnojevići, Zeta (modern Montenegro). It was founded by � ...

. Primojević requested a guarantee from the Ragusan government to not allow other printing houses to be opened in Ragusa for the next 15 years. The Ragusan government accepted this under the condition that the printing house would be finished in one year. One year later Luka requested for extension of this period for another eight months, which was also accepted. Still, for some reason, he failed to establish printing press.

Chief of Chancellery

Paskoje, then chancellor of Ragusa, was sent by the Ragusan government to Ottoman-held

Herceg Novi Herceg Novi (Cyrillic script, Cyrillic: Херцег Нови, ) is a town in Coastal Montenegro, Coastal region of Montenegro located at the Western entrance to the Bay of Kotor and at the foot of Mount Orjen. It is the administrative center of ...

to negotiate with Novi's ''dizdar'' on 18 August 1499. In a 1502 document of the Ragusan Senate, Paskoje was referred to as the chief of chancellery of the Government of the Republic of Ragusa. In 1517 Paskoje went to the court because of a lawsuit of some trader from

Adrianople Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Primojevic, Paskoje Ragusan nobility Ragusan writers 16th-century Serbian writers 15th-century births 16th-century deaths Medieval chancellors (government)