Fojnica Armorial

The so-called Fojnica Armorial (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Fojnički grbovnik/Фојнички грбовник, also known as Ilirski grbovnik "Illyrian armorial") is an еarly modern Catholic roll of arms, including heraldry of South Slavic history, that is related to the early ideas of romantic nationalism and illyrism. The manuscript is named after the Franciscan monastery in Fojnica where it was kept.[1]

Fojnica Armorial
Bosnia and Herzegovina
The combined coat of arms on the first page of a fictional "Illyrian Empire", based on the one found in the Ohmućević Armorial. The divisions are labelled with letters as follows: (A) Macedonia, (B) Slavonia, (C) Bosnia (the star-and-crescent of "Illyria" is present in an inescutcheon in the Bosnian coat of arms), (D) Bulgaria, (E) Dalmatia, (F) Serbia, (G) Croatia, (H) Rascia, (I) "Primordia", with an added imperial double-headed eagle (labelled J)
DateUncertain
Scribe(s)Stanislav Rubčić
Dedicated toKing Stefan Dušan
ScriptCyrillic
ContentsHeraldry; 139 coats of arms
Exemplar(s)1
Previously keptFranciscan monastery in Fojnica
Discovered1800

Dating
  • Radiocarbon dating of the Armorial from 2016 by which two samples were dated have concluded: thick paper, cal 1635–1662, and thin paper, cal AD 1695–1917.[2]
  • Alexander Soloviev dated it to in between 1675 and 1688, i.e. in the context of the revolts against Ottoman rule during the Great Turkish War.
  • Other scholars have proposed dates of the late 16th or early 17th century.[3]

Importance

The manuscript is an important source of the classical heraldry of the Balkan Peninsula, alongside the Korenić-Neorić Armorial of 1595, and the "Illyrian Armorial" (Society of Antiquaries of London MS.54) collected by Edward Bourchier, 4th Earl of Bath before 1637.

Roll

The manuscript contains a total of 139 coats of arms. It begins with a depiction of the Bogorodica, saints Cosmas and Damian, and Saint Jerome. There follows a title page, written in Cyrillic, which attributes the work to one Stanislav Rubčić, in honour of King Stefan Dušan, with the date 1340. The date of 1340 is result of pseudepigraphy.[4] There is an added note in Latin, dated 1800, which testifies that the manuscript had been kept in Fojnica monastery "from time immemorial". Then there is as page showing a combined coat of arms consisting of eleven parts. After this, there are ten coats of arms of late medieval realms of the region, Macedonia (Macedoniae), "Illyria" (Vllvriae), Bosnia (Bosnae), Dalmatia (Dalmatie), Croatia (Crovatiae), Slavonia (Slavoniae), Bulgaria (Bvlgariae), Serbia (Svrbiae), Rascia (Rasciae) and "Primordia" (Primordiae), followed by coats of arms of noble families.

See also

References
  1. Срђан Рудић, Властела Илирског грбовника: The Nobility of the Illyric Coat of Arms, Volume 52 of Посебна издања, Editor Тибор Живковић, Istorijski institut, Beograd, 2006, ISBN 8677430555, pp. 289-294.
  2. Horvatinčić, Nada et al. Radiocarbon dating of Ahdnama and Armorial from the Fojnica Franciscian Monastery, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 8th International Symposium, Edinburgh, 27 June - 1 July, 2016, p. 143.
  3. Sima M. Ćirković, The Serbs, Wiley-Blackwell, 2004, ISBN 978-0-631-20471-8, p. 133.
  4. Dubravko Lovrenović, Franjo Miletić, Fojnički grbovnik, Rabic, 2005, str. 23-24.

Sources
  • B. Belović, O heraldičkom spomeniku u Fojničkom manastiru (a heraldic monument from Fojnica monastery"), Zastava, 59/1928, 100, 3, 101, 3.
  • Dubravko Lovrenović, Fojnički grbovnik, ilirska heraldika i bosansko srednjovjekovlje ("the Fojnica Armorial, Illyrian heraldry and mediaeval Bosnia"), Bosna Franciscana, br. 21, god. XII, Sarajevo, 2004, 172-202.
  • FOJNIČKI GRBOVNIK = THE FOJNICA ARMORIAL ROLL (facsimile edition), Rabic, 2005, ISBN 978-9958-703-58-4.
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