Original scientific paper
The Inscription of župan Ivan from Uzdoije near Knin
Vedrana Delonga
; Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika HR -Split 21 000
Abstract
It is an indisputable fact that inscriptions carved in stone, because oj their authenticity, are a Jundamental source on the basis ofwhich many questions can be researchedJrom the complex problems of early Croatian mediaeval studies. In this sense the inscription carved on a pre-Romanesque architrave discovered in September 1995 in the hamlet ofČenići in the village ofUzdoije not Jar Jrom Knin, in the area oj the mediaeval archaeological complex at the cemetery ojSt Luke, represents a significant new acquisition to early Croatian epigraphy, and particularly early Croatian anthroponomy.
This inscription contains important onomastic novelties in
terms ojCroatian anthroponomy because ojthe first appearance of
the distinctly Croatian first name of Ivan in any known manusCript
and epigraphic sources Jrom the period oj the early Middle
Ages in Croatia. In addition to being significant Jar specific linguistic
study oj early mediaeval anthroponomy, the inscription is
important on several paints, as it actualizes a broad spectrum of
questions and themesJrom mediaeval Croatian history at the transition
Jrom the 11th to the 12th centuries, at the meeting point oj
the Trpimir and Arpad dynasties.
The inSCription mentions individuals oj high social ranking
and eminence in the Croatia of that period: the župan (prefect or
count) ofKnin, Ivan, who appeared in the role of donor, and the
Abbot Peter (Petrus), the head oj the monastery ojSt Bartholomew .in Knin.
The site where the inscription was discovered is one ofthe most
important sites oj mediaeval Croatian archaeology, and it was
exactly an inSCription on a pre-Romanesque altar screen Jrom the
Church oj St john, with the name oj Prince Muncimir from 895,
that acquiredJar it the leading position in the monumental corpus
ofearlier Croatian epigraphy and sculpture.
In Uzdoije, which to the present day has preserved its old mediaeval name (Usdolia, Vsdolye, Ozdolya), was located the estate (villa) oj the Trpimir dynasty princes in the županija (territorial district approximately eqUivalent to county) of Knin, with the Church ofSt john (Sancti JohanniS de Vsdoglie) as the family royal endowment, which the rulers took care of and made improvements to in the capacity of ktitors. One marked trace ojsuch activity on the part oj the ntling house is represented by Muncimir's donation Jrom 895, marked on the stone of a well sculpted pre-Romanesque septum, crafted in an exceptionally skilled manner in one of the workshops ojthe City ojSplit. However, in tbe final phase ojthe preRomanesque style, and in an atmosphere of ever increasing feudalization ofsociety during the second half of the 11th century, the personal attention of the kings of tbe ntling house gradually diminished. Adaptations to the interior and exterior of the ecclesiastic complex at Uzdoije, which can also be traced through epigraphic data, acquired an increasingly rustic, local component the closer the turn of the century approached, particularly in relation to the earlier artistic and epigraphic achievements in the classical pre-Romanesque phase, i.e. the 9th and lOth centuries. just such final chanp,es in the process ojdevelopment in mediaeval Uzdoije, as a segment ofthe total state in wbich Croatian society was located prior to the final end of rule by kings of the domestic dynasty, are lucidly reflected in this recently discovered and analyzed inscription from Uzdoije.
We will attempt in conclusion to unite all observations to the present created on the basis offormer analyses of the epigraphic text; first with several final comments about the inscription itself, and subsequently with a short survey of the circumstances and conditions under which this epigraphic monument could have been created.
Ibe inscription on the architrave with pre-Romanesque stylistic characteristics of the 9th and lOth centuries is an epigraphic palimpsest, in which can be recognized the traces of a destroyed original (earlier) inscription with the fraf!,mentary words VIRGIN!inis?,' ni?, ... etc), and the later, subsequently carved text which occupies almost the entire length of this reworked architrave and reads: IVAN IVPA1WS ABATI PETRI IVPA!lTVS ABIRIT Ibis is an inscription noting the deed ofgift granted by the Knin župan Ivan to Peter, the abbot of the Monastery ofSt Bartholomew at Kapitul, an estate in Czdoije.
1) Ibe m1istic components (wave-like designs) and functional elements ofthe architrave (grooves, channels), as well as the modest traces of an earlier text, convincingly bear witness to a double use ofthe architrave beam, as well as the period of the creation of the later inscription, i.e. the text ofthe donation by župan Ivan to the monastery abbot Peter. The carving of the later inscription occurred in the period after the altar screen was dismantled from some church, where the architrave had until then been a composite part of a trabeation, composed in the 9th-10th centuries. Considering that such a formal artistic role for architraves was unknown in the existing sculptural-epigraphic ensemble at L'zdoije, and considering the fact that the pre-Romanesque architrave was subsequently adapted to the function of a lintel at one uf the structures at Uzdoije, we lean to the hypothesis that the architrave had been brought to this site from the nearby Biskupija, or rather Kapitul, i.e. one of the two mentioned sites in the Knin vicinity where such pre-Romanesque architraves have been confirmed. Ibis could have occurred after 1078, which would be the period after the carving, or rather, the consecration of a new sculptural epigraphic ensemble, in the last major renovation of the basilica of Our Lady at Crkvina in Biskupija. It is just this relationship of two texts carved at different times on the architrave from r'zdoije, of which the earlier, dated to the 9th-10th centuries by contemporary artistic decoration, offers a firm basis for concluding that the later text, secondarily carved on the reworked architrave, and reading: IVAN IVPANVS ABATI PETRI IVPAIWS ABIR/T, is not later than the last quarter of the 11 th century.
It should be remembered that the second half of the 11 th century was the time when texts ofdedicatory and donative character were more rarely carved on the altar screens ofchurches, and were mainly transferred to the facades, while in the interior of the churches, the same inscriptions were replaced by liturgical texts, or, as is even more common, the furnishings ofthe interior lengthily retained the appearance that they had in the pre-Romanesque period. It can he hypothesized that on a similar occasion the descrihed pre-Romanesque architrave found in Uzdo(je had been removed from its original church (Our Lady in Biskupija; the monastery basilica at Kapitul), and after recaruing it was transferred to another Site, i.e. [;zdoije, where it served in a new function as a lintel. This tradition ofplacing donative inscriptions on the facade ofecclesiastic buildings will also be retained throughout the iVIiddle Ages for Glagolitic and Cyrillic texts ca1ved in stone.
2) Analysis has shown that the inscription mentioning župan Ivan and Abbot Peter, accordinp, to its contextual and linguistic characteristics, represents a specific form of endowment carved into stone. This is a record of a deed ofgift with which župan Ivan, the royal state representative in the county of Knin, relinquished ownership and utilization of what had until then been the royal estate of the 'j 'rpimir dynasty at Uzdoije, the monastery of St Bartholomew. This was in fact a condensed and rustically formed dunative "deed" installing Abbot Peter at the Uzdoije estate, evident~y after changes had uccurred in ownership ofthis same estate. In other words, this would be an official acknowledgment in stone confirming the donation by the župan of Knin to the J10nastery of St Bartholomew at Kapitul in Knin, with an epigraphically formed cartula donationis ac confirmationis, with the intention ofvalidly replacing some similar confirmation about the donation written on parchment. It is suggested that the event registered on the inscription occurred just before the very end of the 11th centU1Y, more exactly in the period follOWing Zvonimir's death, when the socio-political conditions in the state caused what had heen sections of royal estates with their accompanying land, settlements, and churches (royal family chape!s), to be left increasingly tu the care of locallords. In contrast to the form up to this date ofdona{ive records in stone about private donations and dedications of the Croatian prefects and counts, which in the 9th and 10th century were created in the framework of the private estates of these lords, such a form of donative text had not been registered in the COIpUS of Latin Croatian epigraphy (of tbe 9tb to 11th centuries) until the discovery of the inscription from ['zdoije.
3) The linguistic analysis of the epigraphic content has shown that there was a specific formal-linguistic and contextual structure of the donative inscription in which a rustification of the linguistic style is apparent, as well as a fragmented syntax, which was close to the "common speech" of the earliest inscriptions with Croatian linguistic traits, i.e. texts in Glagolitic created at the end ofthe 11th century and in the first half of the 12Lh. In terms ofthe words, the inscription displays firm elements of continuity with similar texts in the corpus of early Croatian Latin epigraphy, but also certain suggestions of a coming style in the composition of texts on inSCriptions with Croatian linguistic provenience. Viewed from this perspective, the described inscription from L':edoije is an accurate reflection of the final stage in the total development of early Cruatian epigraphy, as can be tracedfrom its first true beginnings around tIJe mid 9th century to its end in the first years ofthe 12th century. As such, it undoubtedly bears witness to a tendency to rustification in Croatian Latin epigraphy, mostly after its qualitative apogee (the so-called court epigraphy) in the period of the Krešimir dynasty, and particularly during the reign of King Zvonimir. The latter traits are still exhibited sporadically on the inscriptions of the same, court circles, in the capitol of Knin (the inscription from the Church ofSt Stephen), and in the coastal area (the inscription of the royal courtier Ljubimir), as well as in the inscriptions created in the leading urban royal abbeys ofthat period (the inscription of Vekenega in Zadar), but this was also to be the mark ofthe commencing new epoch ofthe Arp·d dynasty in the mediaeval Latin epigraphy ofCroatia and Dalmatia.
4) The anthroponomic congruity with Croatian nomenclature in Latin diplomatic texts of the second half and end of the 11th century is one of the fundamental points ofsupport for dating the inscription about the district governor's donation to the very end of the 11th century or the transitional period from the 11th to the 12th century. Arguments for such a chronological determination are offered by data about the Croaticized Latin namesfrom the circle ofChristian saints' names in preserved early mediaeval manuscript texts, with a particular accent on anthroponomic examples from the period between the seventh and eighth decades ofthe 11th century. This is simultaneously the terminus ante quem non for the appearance of the phonetically and orthographically pure form of the Croatian Christian name Ivan, which is borne in this onomastic formula by the župan of Knin mentioned on the inscription from Uzdoije. The appearance of this anthroponym (Jvan) is in any case a step further in the development of the Croatian nominal forms taken from the circle of the Christian anthroponomy of saints in relation to the partially Croaticized forms or Latin phonetic-orthographic translated forms (Juanus) that are recorded in documents in the period from the seventh to the last decade of the 11th century. From the previous observations, it is concluded that the inSCription from Uzdoije bearing the names of the župan Ivan and the abbot Peter belonged to the velY end of the 11th century.
5) An inSCription is never created abstractly, beyond its time and space, but is rather always tied to social currents. Thus this recently discovered inscription from Uzdolj'e can throw new light on certain characteristic phenomena in Croatia in the mature years of the early Middle Ages, representing an authentic supplement to manuscript texts and the historiographic conclusions to the present.
It is known that with the penetration offeudalism in the 11th century, the social development of Croatia took another path. While thefeudal relations were strengthenedfrom the period ofthe Krešimir dynasty, and particularly from the reign ofZvonimir, the royal authority gradually was weakened, and the stratum of local lords -district governors arose. Other than carrying out the function ofgoverning a territorial unit -the županija, the prefects or counts transformed this power into an inherited function, so that in the period we are conSidering, they can already be considered as members of a local aristocracy. It was probably in this capacity, as a local nobleman, that the Knin aristocrat -župan Ivan appeared, presented in the role of donor on the inscription from Uzdolje The ruler elevated the stratum of his district governors and supporters primarily by granting them land, but also the right to administer the land of their clan. On the estates that had once belonged to them as the Croatian rulers, whether as a family heritage or perhaps as state property inherited with the crown, the members ofthe T1pimir dynasty left behind their "sites", an example ofwhich is the estate-villa in early mediaeval Uzdoije. From the mid llth century, after rulers such as Krešimir began increasingly to withdraw to the coastal region, and particularly when Zvonimir, earlier the ban of Slavonia, began to ignore this traditional "place" of the T1pimirs, whose continuity after Zvonimir's death could no longer be restituted, such a state contributed to the phenomenon that responsibility for the sites of the Croatian ruling house was increasingly shouldered by the nobles -župans in the areas under their authority.
This was seemingly also the case with the royal estate at Uzdoije, which even during the reigns of Krešimir and Zvonimir could have already been taken care of by the prefects of Knin, as the authorized state representatives. Everything indicates that the inSCription from Uzdoije records a royal official, in this case the župan Ivan, who even during the reign of the Croatian dynasty took care ofthe royal estates and endowments, and with time was in the position to himselfdonate these same material goods, which as an authorized state representative he implemented in the territory and at the places over which he had administrative jurisdiction.
6) The socio-political disintegration that took hold of Croatia after the death of Zvonimir in 1088/89, was necessarily reflected both in terms ofterritorial division and the entire life ofthe monasteriaI communities. This could also be sensed in the reduced scale of architectural activities, and artistic and epigraphiC production in comparison to the period of the major architectural and sculptural activities during the reigns of Krešimir and Zvonimir, in Knin and Biskupija. The described inscription, recently discovered in Uzdoije not far from Knin, is certainly a mirror projection of such a state.
Jt is a fact that the social and political situation in a state will effect the medium ofwritten communication of the time. Latin, as the offiCial language of the Croatian rulers and the western Church, was an active factor in the public and cultural life of Croatia throughout the entire early mediaeval period. This language, with which documents and stone inscriptions were written, in its evolutionary arch from the 9th to the 11th century mainly displayed a uniformity ofcontent and form, and for a long time it did not change its "appearance". At the end of the 11th century and the beginning of the 12th, as a result of the weakening of the central government and feudal divisiOns, differences began to appear in the further developmental orientation, one reason for this being the gradual spread ofthe Glagolitic alphabet and Slavic religious services from their center in the northern Adriatic to the other Croatian regions that had previously been included in the range of the Latin alphabet and liturgy.
7) Knin was then only formally the center of the state, politically separated from the other Croatian areas, together with the Croatian bishaps and the Benedictine abbot of St Bartholumew's. Although for a certain period it was still to represent a relatively inJ7.uential center, some kind of connection between the court, the Croatian-court bishop, and the naMes, with time this once powerful royal monastery nonetheless became impoverished. Certainly it fell into even greater dependence with the loss ofthe rights andprotection granted to it earlier by the Croatian kings, remaining more or less left to itself, until in 1158 the Hungarian King Geza II first donated it, and subsequently officially granted it to the Archdiocese of Split at the Church Council in Split in 1185. After Zvonimir and what had until then been a general economic and social "alliance", which had undoubtedly depleted the aerarium regium, the J7.ow offunds into the royal treasury declined considerably, as did that into the monasteriaI "camera ". lt is most likely that in such adverse conditions, the abbot of the monastery had been forced to search for support among the local magnates, and this need was met by the Knin župan of the period -named Ivan.
Thus, in the social atmosphere at the transition between the epochs ofthe native Trpimir dynasty and the Hungarian-Croatian Arpad dynasty, the direct care of the central government for the monastery and its upkeep would have ceased, but some eighty years would still have remained until its consignation to the Split church. At that point the župan ofKnin, Ivan, as mentioned in the inscription, was in a situation where he could grant the former royal estate at the villa of Uzdolje, or even a part of it, to the Monastery ofSt Bartholomew in Knin, or rather to its abbut Peter.
ln place of the title deed on parchment, which would confirm the conveyance of ownership, and the relationships between the legal subjects -the župan and the abbot, this act was recorded on the front suiface of a stone !intel. For this, they utilized an older pre-Romanesque architrave, which was perhaps brought to [Izdalje from the basilica at the royal villa in Biskupija orfrom the monasterial complex at KapituI. Recarved and with a new text about this endowment, it was immurred into one of the bUildings, perhaps a church or some structure adapted then in the center of the newly acquired monasteriaI estate.
Perhaps this same !intel was later dismantled, and like the original altar screen architrave, during later centuries it was again to serve some new purpose (for walls, support, foundations, doorways), perhaps even as construction material during some adaptations to the Church of St John in the Gothic period, as is known from a document from 1458.
lt is possible that thorough archaeological excavations of the religious complex ofStJohn, at the present day cemetery ofSt Luke in Uzdolje, would result in traces ofthe architectural unit to which the architrave belonged, with this supplying new archaeological evidence to supplement the epigraphic content.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
93243
URI
Publication date:
5.11.1998.
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