Izvorni znanstveni članak
https://doi.org/10.31745/s.70.7
Gregory the Great in the German-Roman Breviary (1518), on frescoes in Svetice (1541), and in the Hortulus animae (1560) commissioned by the Frankapani of Modruš and Ozalj
Ivan JURKOVIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0001-6864-6658
; Sveučilište Jurja Dobrile, Pula, Hrvatska
Sažetak
In late mediaeval and early modern times, not a soul in Western Christendom questioned the legend that Pope Gregory the Great (590–604) descended from the Frankapani (It. Frangipani, Hung. Frangepáni). The Frankapani of Modruš and Ozalj stressed this legend as a key facet of their identity when presenting themselves to Europe’s secular and ecclesiastical elites, which they were part of. For instance, the seventeenth century saw the publication of a book on the Frankapani, a book which endorsed ideas propounded by such ecclesiastical authorities as Pope Martin V (1417–31) and Pius II (1458–64), who claimed that the Counts of Krk were descended from the Frankapani, a noble family whose most notable scions were Pope Felix III (483–92) and his great-grandson, Gregory the Great.
Their descendance from the family of a Church Father (Gregory the Great) and regional ties to the land of another, upon which he bestowed the Glagolitic script (St. Jerome), were key elements in the Frankapans’ identity-fashioning strategies over the course of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This identity can be observed in visual sources, both in those printed by the Frankapani themselves, as well as those produced by (various) dignitaries familiar with the tradition. However, since such heritage survives but in traces in the Frankapani lands (spanning from Ozalj to Vinodol and Senj), this text will only address Christopher’s breviary (1518), and his niece Catherine’s prayer book (1560). The arguments put forward in support of the hypothesis also rely on newly discovered frescoes found in the Svetice church of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, dating back to ca. 1541.
The German-Roman Breviary (Das deutsch-römisch Brevier) was first printed by Christopher Frankapan and his wife Apollonia Lang of Wellenburg during his incarceration in Venice (1514–19). The couple edited the volume in collaboration with Jacob Wyg, a German monk. Although this year marks the Breviary’s 500th anniversary, and notwithstanding the fact that it was referenced numerous times over the past five centuries, every generation of historians has experienced trouble finding it, and all thanks to its title. Namely, earlier manuals, as well as encyclopaedias, register it as the Petbuch die Syben Zeit von Latein in Deutsch gemacht. It was Matija Mesić who in 1870 first pointed to the existence of Christopher’s breviary. Wider audiences came to know of it at the turn of the century, following the publication of Der Ring des Frangipani, a work of historical fiction penned by the German art historian Henry Thode. The success of the novel prompted a series of scientific and newspaper articles on the Breviary. Those articles, however, only went so far as to describe the Breviary. Hence, the Breviary, as well as its depictions of Gregory the Great, is yet to be subjected to critical analysis.
The Breviary contains a number of prints – a calendar adorned with allegorical representations of the months of the year, the coats of arms of the Frankapani and Langs, a series of medallions, each embellished with innumerable initials, and, finally, minuscule woodcut depictions of various symbolical figures. However, what stands out for its extraordinary beauty is a set of ten large prints, the first and last of which are identical and depict »the Coronation of the Virgin«, with Christopher and Apollonia on their knees, praying opposite one another. The remaining eight prints portray the most significant events of the New Testament, e.g. from the »Annunciation« to the »Meeting at the Golden Gate«. Each of these prints is framed by a set of medallions, occurring periodically in different combinations. Gregory the Great, one of the four Church Fathers, is to be found on two such medallions. It is probably during Christopher’s Venetian thraldom that the couple »picked« the visuals of the Breviary. This selection process resulted in Gregory’s frequent depictions, »at the expense« of the four evangelists (who, in terms of iconography, ought to be juxtaposed to the Church Fathers).
Another Church Father merits mentioning in this context – St. Jerome. At the time of the German-Roman Breviary’s publication, Jerome was still being worshiped as the patron of the Illyrian provinces and inventor of the Glagolitic script in Croatian lands. The following can be inferred from the sequential order of saints in the medallion: Gregory is placed first, Jerome second, and only then are they followed by Ambrose and Augustine. Only two evangelists make an appearance – namely Luke and Matthew, who can be found in the upper medallion. The Old Testament Great Prophets are located in the right medallion, and the Minor ones in the lower medallion. What is to be observed between the lower medallion and the central print, that of the »Resurrection«, is a medallion depicting a Christ approached by St. Christopher from his right-hand side, and St. Apollonia from his left-hand one (Figure 1).
What this means is that Christopher felt the need to emphasise his personal identity to the German religious masses, and he did so in an unassuming manner, namely through visual representation. In having Christ portrayed alongside St. Christopher and St. Apollonia, he »suggested« his patronage of the German-Roman Breviary, whereas in depicting the Church Fathers, he hinted at his familial (Gregory – a member of the Frankapani family) and regional (Jerome – a Dalmatian saint) legacy/ties.
Up until recently it was believed that the book kept at the Franciscan monastery in Trsat was the only remaining copy of Catherine’s prayer book, Hortulus Animae (Raj duše), which once belonged to the confraternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is precisely for this reason that a facsimile, accompanied by an introduction and edited by Milan Moguš and Josip Vončina, was published (1995). In describing the Hortulus Animae, Moguš and Vončina stressed the prayers addressed to St. Augustine, for they rightly observed that in those prayers Catherine beseeched health. They therefore concluded that Catherine was, at the time, »fatally ill« and »awaiting the fast-approaching hour of her death«.
The language of the prayer book is Croatian, but what sets it apart from other such writings is the fact that it was printed in the Latin script (whereas its predecessors were printed in the Glagolitic script). The prayer book does not contain any illustrations depicting Gregory the Great or St. Catherine. However, the feast days of the two saints are recorded in bold, red letters in the calendar located at the beginning of the book. Furthermore, the book contains a prayer offered to St. Catherine. It is important to mention the fact that the Hortulus Animae contains two prayers composed by Gregory the Great. Those prayers can be found preceding the last chapter, which contains the »Holy Masses of the Blessed Virgin Mary« in Latin. The title of the prayers is located in the header of the page, written in simple, red letters: »Mollitua S. Gargura«, which translates to »The Prayer of St. Gregory«. The Hortulus Animae ends in St. Gregory’s prayers, and in Croatian at that, which signals the wish of its editors, Catherine Frankapan and Nicholas Dešić, to »situate« it in an appropriate and memorable place within the book. And why not? Was Catherine not descended from the same family as Gregory the Great?
The restoration of the church of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Svetice (southwest of Ozalj), conducted by the Conservation Department in Karlovac (1992–2005), unearthed frescoes dating back to ca. 1541. Among them is a fresco depicting Gregory the Great, located beneath one of no fewer than three Gothic Frankapan coats of arms. It was those coats that attracted the specialists’ attention, whereas the saint’s figure was nothing but rightly attributed, allowing the restoration of the painting. The chapter on Gregory was thus laconically concluded. Besides, the conservators’ primary aim was to ascertain whether the frescoes were painted by the same (local) artistic workshop which furnished the village churches on the Frankapani estate of Ozalj.
Gregory the Great is to be observed in the lower left window strip of the eastern wall of the Svetice church. He is depicted sitting on a throne, embellished/along with his iconographic attributes; a staff ending in a cross in his left hand, a tiara on his head, and a white dove next to his right ear. In the strip above him one can observe a quartered Frankapani coat of arms. The only thing visible in the lower right window strip is a fragment of the cardinals’ red mitre, the attribute of St. Jerome, and above him the slogan »Trinitatis«, topped off by a mirrored Frankapani coat of arms (Figure 2).
The frame of the neighbouring window, in the centre of the church, is, however, subdivided into three strips. The central strip contains a zoomorphic symbol on either side of the window; an eagle and St. John above it on the left, and a winged lion and St. Mark above it on the right. Beneath the zoomorphic symbols the remaining two Church Fathers, St. Ambrose (on the left) and St. Augustine (on the right), can be found. Those parts of the fresco cycle have been rightly attributed, explained, and restored. One can therefore effortlessly recognise that the iconographic system found in the church is identical to the one in Christopher’s breviary – four Church Fathers and two evangelists... Like his uncle Christopher, Stephen III »suggested« his patronage of the fresco cycle in the Svetice church by commissioning a depiction of St. Stephen the Martyr, as well as »hinting« at »his« familial (Gregory – a member of the Frankapani family) and »our« regional (Jerome – a Dalmatian saint) origin.
Their insistence on their purported ties to Gregory the Great’s family, as well as their marital network, by which they were linked to many of Europe’s ruling families, enabled the Frankapani of Ozalj and Modruš not just to implement dynastic policies, but also gave them dignity (dignitas) among Europe’s elites. The narrative of these elites had a long-standing tradition, and dignitas was still very much alive within it. It is therefore no surprise that Gregory the Great should appear in the Frankapani breviaries and in the church a member of the family was buried in. Those breviaries and frescoes represent the following: firstly, a new, contemporary shift in how this Croatian aristocratic family was conceptualised; secondly, how the power of the family’s members was perceived; thirdly, their symbolic communicative value within the context of European political/courtly and ecclesiastical higher circles. The dignitas of the Frankapani of Modruš and Ozalj was, by all parameters, unquestioned and enduring within the Holy Roman Empire.
Ključne riječi
Gregory the Great; the Frankapani of Modruš and Ozalj; the German-Roman Breviary; frescoes in Svetice; the prayer book Hortulus Animae; symbolic communication; (self)promotion; sixteenth century
Hrčak ID:
231692
URI
Datum izdavanja:
31.12.2019.
Posjeta: 2.684 *