Historical Data in the Marginal Notes of Glagolitic Missals and Breviaries from Beram in Istria

Abstract

The article presents about 70 marginal notes in Glagolitic liturgical codices from Beram, a place not far from Pazin in Istria, which are worthy of historiographical attention and originate from the mid-15th to the early 17th century. All of them, except one, are written in the Glagolitic script in the Croatian language. Beram was a parish in the Habsburg part of the Diocese of Poreč, a commune (rural municipality) and Städtl (town) in the Principality of Pazin and one of the most important places of Glagolitic culture. The notes were written consciously and spontaneously on the margins of liturgical codices and provide valuable information not only on local, but also generally on social, economic, and church history. The events recorded in the marginal notes are here presented in chronological order, with interpretation, and some of their authors are singled out, including those who became known in the history of Croatian literacy. The original records, following the “great history” from a marginal position, primarily speak about the consequences of certain circumstances and events (wars, robberies, epidemics, climate changes, etc.) on the everyday life of their authors. They are often like pictures from genre painting (peinture de genre), because they talk about people of modest background and their everyday life. Local ecclesiastical and secular dignitaries discuss the beginning of a new war between the Habsburg Monarchy and the Republic of Venice while drinking quality wine, an elderly priest becomes homeless in the whirlwind of war, and a student, satisfied with his school progress, casually writes that the harvest was good that year in Istria. The chronographic marginalia from Beram are therefore an excellent building material for a historiographical presentation of everyday life.