Original scientific paper

The »Sinful Hand« of the Primicerius of Rab Matej Picić

Saša Potočnjak ; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka

Abstract

The paper discusses the manuscript miscellany kept in the Bodleian Library
in Oxford, shelfmark MS. Canon. Ital. 193. The miscellany is also known under
the title The Rab Songbook. This manuscript was first made known to the Croatian public by Cvito Fisković in 1954; in 2010, another discussion was published
by Kristina Štrkalj Despot. Both these scholars investigated a distinct part of the
manuscript, that in which verses are penned in Croatian, up to f. 66v, on which the
presbyter of Rab, Matej Picić, signed his name in Latin as well as the year 1471.
Following variations in the script of the codex and the logic of its composition, the
current paper describes the material properties identified in the manuscript and the
poetic features of the texts contained in it. The number of poems is established,
the result differing somewhat from numerations to date. A separate section of the
paper is devoted to Matej Picić, canon and primicerius of Rab Cathedral during
the time of Bishop Aloysius Malumbra. Drawing on the archival documents and
an epigraph, it endeavours to throw light on the role of Picić in the diocese and the
cathedral chapter, especially down to 1519, when he drew up his will. In addition,
some new information is supplied about a later owner of the manuscript, Luca
Cortesi. Several suggestions are offered for further research into the manuscript
culture of the chapter, diocese and commune of Rab.

Keywords

Matej Picić; Luca Cortesi; MS. Canon. Ital. 193; Rab Songbook; Picić’s Songbook; Rab chapter; Rab Cathedral; epigraph

Hrčak ID:

352787

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/352787

Publication date:

2.11.2026.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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