Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja

Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja

Author	An anonymous priest in Duklja (presbyter Diocleas)
Language	Latin
Publication date	1601

The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (Serbo-Croatian: Ljetopis popa Dukljanina) is the usual name given to an alleged medieval chronicle written by an anonymous priest from Duklja. Its oldest preserved copy is from the 17th century, while it has been variously claimed by modern historians to have been compiled between the late 12th and early 15th century. Historians have largely discounted the work based on inaccuracies and fiction, nevertheless it contains some semi-mythological material on the early history of the Western South Slavs. The section of The Life of St. Jovan Vladimir, is however believed to be a novelization of an earlier work.

Authorship and date

The work was allegedly made by an anonymous "priest of Duklja" (presbyter Diocleas, known in Serbo-Croatian as "pop Dukljanin"). The work is only preserved in its Latin redactions from the 17th century. In modern historiography, there has been various theories on the authorship and date:

• Presbyter Rudger (or Rudiger), Cistercian Archbishop of Antivari (modern Bar, Montenegro) 1299–1301. He is thought to have lived around 1300 because the perception of Bosnian borders coincides with an anonymous text, the Anonymi Descriptio Europae Orientalis (Cracow, 1916), that has been dated to the year 1308.
• Some Croatian historians have put forward the theory, of E. Peričić (1991), that the anonymous author was a Grgur Barski (Gregory of Bar), a bishop of Bar who lived in the second half of the 12th century. The bishopric of Bar was in fact defunct at that time.
• In his 1967 reprint of the work, Yugoslav historian Slavko Mijušković stated that the chronicle is a purely fictional literary product, belonging to the late 14th or early 15th century.

Mavro Orbin, a Ragusan historian, included the original work, and other works, in his Il regno degli Slavi (ca. 1601); and then Johannes Lucius in ca. 1666.

Language

It was first written in the Slavonic language, according to the following remark by the anonymous author:

"Requested by you, my beloved brethren in Christ and honorable priests of the holy Archbishopric See of the Church in Duklja, as well as by some elders, but especially by the youth of our city who find pleasure not only in listening to and reading about the wars, but in taking part in them also, to translate from the Slavic language into Latin the Book of Goths, entitled in Latin Regnum Sclavorum in which all their deeds and wars have been described...."

Content

Regnum Sclavorum (1601) can be divided into the following sections:

• Introduction (Auctor ad lectorem)
• Libellus Gothorum, chapters I–VII
• Constantine's Legend (or "Pannonian Legend"), chapters VIII and beginning of IX
• Methodius (Liber sclavorum qui dicitur Methodius), rest of chapter IX
• Travunian Chronicle, chapters X–XXXV, in two parts
• The Life of St. Jovan Vladimir, chapter XXXVI
• History of Dioclea, chapters XXXVII–LXVII

The author attempted to present an overview of ruling families over the course of over two centuries — from the 10th century up to the time of writing, the 12th century. There are 47 chapters in the text, of different sizes and varying subject matter.

Folklore and translations

It has been generally agreed that this Presbyter included in his work folklore and literary material from Slavic sources which he translated into Latin. Among the material he translated, rather than created, is "The Legend of Prince Vladimir" which is supposed to have been written by another clergyman, also from Duklja, more specifically, from Krajina in Duklja. In its original version, it was a hagiographic work, a "Life of St. Vladimir" rather than a "Legend." Prince Vladimir, the protagonist of the story, as well as King Vladislav, who ordered Vladimir's execution, were historical persons, yet "The Legend of Prince Vladimir" contains non-historical material.

The chronicle was also added to by a bishop of Bar intent on demonstrating his diocese' superiority over that of Bishop of Split.

Assessment

Historical value, fiction

Various inaccurate or simply wrong claims in the text make it an unreliable source. Modern historians have serious doubts about the majority of this work as being mainly fictional, or wishful thinking. Some go as far as to say that it can be dismissed in its entirety, but that is not a majority opinion, rather, it is thought to have given us a unique insight into the whole era from the point of view of the indigenous Slavic population and it is still a topic of discussion.

The work describes the local Slavs as a peaceful people imported by the Goth rulers, who invaded the area in the 5th century, but it doesn't attempt to elaborate on how and when this happened. This information contradicts the information found in the Byzantine text De Administrando Imperio.

The Chronicle also mentions one Svetopeleg or Svetopelek, the eighth descendant of the original Goth invaders, as the main ruler of the lands that cover Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro (Duklja) and Serbia. He is also credited with the Christianization of the people who are Goths or Slavs — a purely fictitious attribution. These claims about a unified kingdom are probably a reflection of the earlier glory of the Moravian kingdom. He may also have been talking about Avars.

The priest's parish was located at the seat of the archbishopric of Duklja. According to Bishop Gregory's late 12th-century additions to this document, this Archbishopric covered much of the western Balkans including the bishoprics of Bar, Budva, Kotor, Ulcinj, Svač, Skadar, Drivast, Pulat, Travunia, Zahumlje.

Further, it mentions Bosnia (Bosnam) and Rascia (Rassa) as the two Serbian lands, while describing the southern Dalmatian Hum/Zahumlje, Travunia and Dioclea (most of today's Herzegovina, Montenegro, as well as parts of Croatia and Albania) as Croatian lands ("Red Croatia"), which is a description inconsistent with all other historical works from the same period.

The archbishop of Bar was later named Primas Serbiae. Ragusa had some claims to be considered the natural ecclesiastical centre of South Dalmatia but those of Dioclea (Bar) to this new metropolitan status were now vigorously pushed especially as the Pope intended Serbia to be attached to Dioclea.

In his 1967 reprint of the work, Yugoslav historian Slavko Mijušković stated that the chronicle is a purely fictional literary product, belonging to the late 14th or early 15th century.

Region of Bosnia

The region of Bosnia is described to span the area west of the river Drina, "up to the Pine mountain" (Latin: ad montem Pini, Croatian: do gore Borave). The location of this Pine mountain is unknown. In 1881, Croatian historian Franjo Rački wrote that this refers to the mountain of "Borova glava" near the Livno field. Croatian historian Luka Jelić wrote the mountain was located either between Maglaj and Skender Vakuf, northwest of Žepče, or it was the mountain Borovina located between Vranica and Radovan, according to Ferdo Šišić's 1908 work. In 1935, Serbian historian Vladimir Ćorović wrote that the toponym refers to the mountain of Borova glava, because of etymology and because it is located on the watershed (drainage divide). In 1936, Slovene ethnologist Niko Županič had also interpreted that to mean that the western border of Bosnia was at some drainage divide mountains, but placed it to the southeast of Dinara. Croatian historian Anto Babić, based on the work of Dominik Mandić in 1978, inferred that the term refers roughly to a place of the drainage divide between the Sava and Adriatic Sea watersheds. In her discussion of Ćorović, Serbian historian Jelena Mrgić-Radojčić also points to the existence of a mountain of "Borja" in today's northern Bosnia with the same etymology.

External links

• The Latin version of the Chronicle (in Serbocroatian)
• The Croatian version of the Chronicle