The Textual Transmission of Iter Buda Hadrianopolim, a Travelogue by Antun Vrančić

Abstract

Croatian humanist, diplomat and prelate Antun Vrančić (1504 – 1573) produced a number of literary works, among which the travelogue Iter Buda Hadrianopolim holds a special place, since it was written as a testimony of Vrančić’s first mission to Constantinople (1553 – 1557), on which he was sent by order of Emperor Ferdinand I (1503 – 1564). The text is preserved in the form of Vrančić’s autograph and three transcripts as part of the geographical and historical work De Illyrico Caesaribusque Illyricis by Croatian humanist Ivan Tomko Mrnavić (1580 – 1637), and was published twice, in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. This paper provides an insight into the textual transmission of Iter Buda Hadrianopolim based on the findings the authors arrived at while preparing a critical edition of this text by Vrančić. A philological comparison of Vrančić’s manuscript and the preserved transcripts provides an answer to the question which copy is closest to Vrančić’s original, while a comparison of the manuscript and editions indicates that the existing editions are unreliable for linguistic, stylistic or historiographical research due to errors which hinder the correct reading of the text. This, along with the fact that no critical edition of the text exists, is why a new philological treatment of this text by Vrančić according to the principles of modern neo-Latin studies was necessary.

Keywords: Antun Vrančić, Iter Buda Hadrianopolim, travelogue, humanism, textual transmission