Original scientific paper
Historical Phantasy: The Legend of King Pavlimir by Bishop Antun Primi
Relja Seferović
Abstract
The Franciscan Antun Primi, bishop of Trebinje-Mrkan diocese, occupied this post in the decades following the Great Earthquake of 1667. His diplomatic activities aside, he is remembered as the author of a voluminous novel La lega dell’onestà e valore, published in Venice in 1703. This work may be described as a pseudo-historiographic attempt to interpret Dubrovnik’s early history, glorifying the nobility through a tale of King Pavlimir and the Phrygian princess Rosaura, whose love, challenged in chivalrous duels, quests and magic reversals, culminated in an ostentatious wedding in Dubrovnik. This chivalric novel met with disapproval from his contemporaries, who deemed that it was not suitable for a bishop to indulge in such a topic. They also objected to his neglect of the strict rules of scholarly writing. However, considering the choice of the topic, Primi was no exception, because similar issues were considered by historians who drew on the chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea (Ljetopis popa Dukljanina), as well as writers such as Junije Palmotić, who, a century earlier, had written and staged his drama Pavlimir. Primi’s historical phantasy should not remain unnoticed within the Dubrovnik historiography of the eighteenth century, as it represents a reflection contrary to the erudition-based mainstream.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
70891
URI
Publication date:
29.6.2011.
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