Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/9e31lhdqrm
Geocultural Spaces of Kanavelić's Epic Sveti Ivan biskup trogirski i kralj Koloman
Davor Dukić
; University of Zagreb, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Baroque historical epic Sveti Ivan biskup trogirski i kralj Koloman (Saint John Bishop of Trogir and King Coloman) is the last, most extensive and most ambitious work of the prolific Korčulan-Dubrovnik poet Petar Kanavelić (1637-1719). Composed in the early
eighteenth century, it was dedicated to the ruling Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI of the Habsburgs. It has been published only once, back in 1858. The epic is based on the medieval biography of Bishop Ivan of Trogir (c. 1034-1111), which was completed by the early thirteenth century, and published in the seventeenth century. The central part of the legend of Ivan of Trogir relates his mediating role in the war conflicts between King Coloman and the Dalmatian cities in the first decade of the twelfth century. That is the central theme of the epic narrative which Kanavelić expanded with three additional episodes styled in Tasso's epic tradition.
Explored from imagological perspective are the representations of geocultural spaces in Kanavelić's epic. First recounted in detail is the content of the epic, with special emphasis on the geographical aspect and the compilation of all the toponyms, followed
by the analysis of the characterisations and relationships of the specific geocultural spaces. The conclusions mainly confirm and provide additional arguments in support of the already present insights in literary historiography (J. Bajza, Z. Kravar, Z. Bojović)
regarding geopolitical connotations of Kanavelić's epic: of Dalmatia (and Dubrovnik) as its own space and part of the wider Slavic world, counterfactual Hungarophile nostalgia which implies anti-Venetian political position, and the possible allusion to
the Conspiracy of the Hungarian Magnates, which partly relativises the author's pro-Habsburg attitude, explicitly stated in his dedication of the epic to the Habsburg ruler.
Keywords
Petar Kanavelić; Sveti Ivan biskup trogirski i kralj Koloman; geocultural space; imagology; Hungarophile sentiment; pro-Slavic sentiment
Hrčak ID:
337502
URI
Publication date:
5.11.2025.
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