Colloquia Maruliana, Vol. 31 No. 31, 2022.
Original scientific paper
Men of Split in Judita
Branko Jozić
orcid.org/0000-0003-2490-148X
; Marulianum, Split
Abstract
As well as the figures who are part of the Old Testament tale of Judith and
figures from other Biblical books and from Ancient history and mythology, the
names of two men from Split also appear in the edition of Marulić’s Judita, contemporaries
of Marulić, Petre Srićić and Don Dujam Balistrilić. The fifth centenary
of the first printed edition of Judita (1521–2021) is an occasion to bring together
everything that is known about the two of them and to add some new information
from the archives.
Judita was printed only twenty years after its composition, much of the credit
going to Petre Srićić. To him we owe another work, exceptionally important for
Marulić studies. It was at his persistent requests that Frane Božićević wrote the
biography of Marulić, which provides a wealth of invaluable biographical information.
Srićić was kin with Marko Marulić, and the connections of their families
have been documented several times. His grandfather Petar Srića was accused
with Marulić’s father Nikola of having been an accomplice in the theft of the will
of Jakobina, sister of Nikola Papalić; he was also legal representative of Nikola’s
descendants in the litigation with the heirs of Katarina Kukuja. He was one of the
judges in the division of assets among the heirs of Nikola and Dujam Marulić.
While pleading for his own son Frane, he also took up the case of Marulić’s
brother, Šimun, endeavouring to get them permission to return from exile, to which
the vice-count of Split Pietro Bellegno had condemned them.
We have a few other hints about the closeness of the Srića or Srićić and the
Marulić families. Marulić wrote a laudatory epigram to the previously mentioned
Frane Srića, and an epitaph for his son Jerolim. The Petar Srićić referred to in
Judita was one of the judges of the curia and one of the witnesses before whom
Marulić’s will was read. This closeness contributes to the understanding of the
trouble he took about the printing of Judita. It was expressly pointed out that the
work was printed thanks to his »care and diligence«, which probably means that
he provided funds to cover the costs of printing, found typesetters for the work in
a language unknown to the Venetian printers and perhaps also carried out some
editorial tasks.
The other native of Split, Don Dujam Balistilić, was canon primicerius of
the Church of Split from 1479 to 1506. It was to him, gossip and friend, that the
poet dedicated Judita, composing a lengthy and important dedicatory epistle. At
Balistrilić’s request, Marulić translated the celebrated work De imitatione Christi
into Croatian. Don Dujam was in the chapter’s committee that handled the suit
against Archbishop Bartolomeo Averoldi (1495), about whose avarice Marulić
wrote an ironical epigram. Common to Balistrilić and Marulić was that they
fiercely defended their assets and were no strangers to litigation. The appendix
to this paper contains two accounts from the archives of the old Split Commune.
One is a suit against Balistrilić for an unpaid debt and for an assault on Canon
Babalić, who was trying to collect on the debt. (Marulić referred to this event in
an ironical Latin epigram: Ad Helyam Babalum implagatum / To Elijah Babalić,
who got thrashed). Ultimately both of them suddenly retired from active public
life. Balistrilić probably did this just before the end of his life (after 1506), retiring
to Nečujam Cove on Šolta Island. A little later, in 1509, he was joined by Marulić,
who spent two years there and completed a number of his works.
Keywords
Petar Srića; Dujam Balistrilić; Judita; court cases
Hrčak ID:
277986
URI
Publication date:
10.6.2022.
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