Conference paper
https://doi.org/10.32004/k.58.1-2.1
PERGOŠIĆ'S TRANSLATION OF THE “DECRETUM” (1574) The first Kajkavian printed book
Alojz Jembrih
; Hrvatski studiji Sveučilišta u Zagrebu / Odjel kroatologije
Abstract
SUMMARY
When the issue is about the first Kajkavian printed book, then it is Pergošić's translation on the “Decretum kateroga je Ištvan Werbewczi dijački popisal, od Ivanuša Pergošiča na slovjenski jezik obernjen”, as it was explicitly pointed out in the title. That means that the Decretum in Latin had been written by Stjepan Verbeci (István Werböwcz), born in Verbovec, originally from Slovakia, and born in the far western part of today's Ukraine, in the Transcarpathian region. However, as the Latin “Decretum” was printed in Viena in 1517, the same edition in Hungarian was printed in Debrecinby Blaž Vereš (Balázs Veres). Vereš's edition was in fact used by Ivanuš Pergošič, or as he signed himself „Joannes Pergossich notarius civitas Warasdiensis“. He omitted some passages from Vereš's Hungarian translation. Pergošić's translation of the “Decretum” – Nedelišće 1574 was printed by the traveling printer Rudolf Hoffhalter, summoned from Donja Lendava by Juraj Zrinski. The “Decretum” was intended to regulate the legal relations between the rulers and nobility. Thus, Juraj Zrinsky was very much interested to have such a code in the vernacular understandable to his „collaborators “, the nobility, with whom in some parts the lower classes on his estates could get acquainted. There is no detail information on Ivanuš Pergošić, the author of the Decretum’s Kajkavian translation. Today it is known that he originates from the Čazma surroundings, from Mikulinci (today the locality of Mikulanica), as pointed out in the research work of Valentin Putanec (1979). Since Pergošić was educated as to law and had been a notary of the town of Varaždin, also holding the notary service of the Varaždin county, he must have studied at one of the European universities. Based on data from the Matrikula in Krakow, it is evidented that in 1567 Pergošić was in fact enrolled at that university.
According to the “Decretum” contents notes, it consists of three main parts: the first part is on nobility, acquiring nobility rights, nobility rights, privileges, on ecclesiastical goods, royal endowments, nobility estates inheritance, bordering and fencing of nobility estates, on matrimonial property law, dowry finery, on the rights of women, on the rights of sons, on how a maiden (“diekla”) can be declared as a heiress with all the rights of a son (i.e. a male descendant), on tutorship (guardianship), and on the prices of movable and immovable property, on the prices of “gibuče and negibuče marhe” (movable an immovable livestock). The second part is about: the laws inside the Croatian-Hungarian state, on statutes, customs, privileges, seals, their value and counterfeiting, on court proceedings. The third part contains special rights that should have been applied in Croatia. Slavonia, Dalmatia, and Transylvania, namely: on “homagium”, penalties for murder, criminals, on the customs of Transylvanian Sekule and the legal regulation of free royal cities. At the end there is a text on the oath of the Jews. Therefore, the first printed Kajkavian book the “Decretum (Tripartitum)” represents a legal code that was in force in Croatia until the middle of the 19th century. From the linguistic point of view the “Decretum” is still a focus of interest to linguists, especially since its language is mixed (inconsistent). It was written using three language layers: I. Kajkavian (“the more kajkavian one”), II. Štokavian Ikavian/Čakavian and III. Kajkavian (“the less kajkavian one”). Therefore, the three language editions suggest that perhaps Pergošić had not prepared the texts for printing by himself, but that there may have been some other collaborators. It is assumed that Pergošić (and perhaps Juraj Zrinski as well) wanted to prepare two editions, one Kajkavian, and one Štokavian-Čakavian. This would be logical if we take into account that Juraj Zrinski's estates spread from Međimurje to Vinodol. However, the printer may have had difficulties and had been forced to speed up the printing job, and the “Decretum” is the way it is today, the six known copies: four in Budapest, two are incomplete, a damaged one in Prague, and one in the National and University Library in Zagreb.
Keywords
: Ivan Pergošić; printing industry; Juraj Zrinski, Rudolf Hoffhalter; Kajkavian language; law
Hrčak ID:
345323
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2025.
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