Dominik Mandic
Encyclopedia
Dominik Mandić was a Bosnian Croat historian
and politician
, a member of the Franciscan Order
. His history books are essential reading for the history of medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina.
in Herzegovina
. He completed his primary education in Široki Brijeg
, where he attended the famous Franciscan high school, but graduated from the last two years in Mostar
. He studied theology
in Fribourg
and obtained his Ph.D. in church history
. When he returned to Mostar, he became a teacher of religion
in the Mostar state high school. The Franciscan Province of Herzegovina elected him as their head. Although he was invited to teach in Rome, his own province asked him to become the headmaster of the classical high school in Široki Brijeg, which he accepted.
In the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
(1918-1941), Mandić had some pro-Yugoslavian ideas in the beginning, but he soon sobered, seeing that the state had no future and no place for Croats
. In 1939 he was appointed a member of the central administration of the Franciscan Order
in Rome
as the representative of all the Franciscan provinces in Slavic countries and the chief treasurer of the Order. He was still in Rome when war broke out in his homeland in 1941.
When the Independent State of Croatia
(NDH) was established, he showed little enthusiasm. He believed it was a political act which disregarded the free will of the Croatian people
. In the clerical spheres, he talked against the persecutions of Serbs
, Roma and Jews
, motivated by his Christian and humanist ideals, and asked Croats to refrain from retaliation against Serbs after the chetnik
atrocities around Mostar
in April 1941.
He realistically estimated that the conditions of the creation of NDH were unfavorable for it to survive in the long term, so he participated as a mediator in several attempts to make contact with the Western Allies
since 1942, foreseeing the defeat of the Axis Powers
. His mediation was unsuccessful, however. Mandić's influence was more useful in 1945, when he managed to save several hundreds of Croatians escaping the communist terror of the new Yugoslavia
and to organize social care for several tens of thousands of refugees. He founded the Croatian press in the refugee camp of Fermo
, which printed newspapers and books for Croatian refugees.
Pursuant to the agreement between the Allies and Yugoslavia, a hunt for notable Croats in Italy
started in 1946 and 1947. Mandić used the resources of the Order to help dozens of most important Croatian officers (Ustasha) and intellectuals to avoid extradition, which would mean certain death, by providing them with passports for overseas countries, especially Latin America
. In 1952 he moved to Chicago
, where he became the head of the Herzegovina Franciscans in North America
. Mandić spent the rest of his life in Chicago, doing spiritual and scientific work.
, which includes today's area of Bosnia and Herzegovina
.
Mandić's work is characterized by meticulous groundwork, skilful use of sources in many languages (along with classical languages, he used Italian, French, Russian, Spanish, English, German, Polish, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak), archivist's patience and precision, as well as a brilliant knowledge of nuances of church history, especially in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For these reasons, his history books are ripe with the data collected by the author from numerous sources, which makes them essential reading for anyone writing about the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina
, especially the period until the 18th century.
and Hum has not been written yet, the other objection is more serious.
Mandić was an old-fashioned historian who did not present topics in a multidisciplinary way (archeology, history of art
, paleography, historical linguistics, demographic and economic trends, culturological research etc.). Therefore, his opus can be included in the group of older Croatian historians such as with Vjekoslav Klaić
or Ferdo Šišić
.
What is worse, Mandić's uncritical approach and an almost naïve faith in often contradictory ancient sources (De Administrando Imperio
by Constantine VII
, Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
, Orbini's
writings), and his reliance on questionable texts such as Pacta conventa
, made a part of his opus not only obsolete, but also unreliable. Actually, Mandić corrected and sometimes successfully disclosed contradictions in old sources, but only when their claims went against the Croatian national interests. In cases when fantastical claims supported the Croatian point of view, Mandić accepted them unquestioningly.
, Mandić's opus was often rejected and ignored even in the segments where Mandić is impeccable, i.e. in the reliable and detailed presentation of various aspects of history.
The fact that Dominik Mandić did not simply write a nationally biased history (which would be easy to refute and ridicule) is confirmed by the proscriptions against his work under communist Yugoslavia
. Ethnic History of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a major work in his opus, was proscribed; any owner of the book was liable to go to prison. Why such extreme measures? His book included many facts on the Croatian aspects of the old Bosnian state, which was very inconvenient for the promoters of Serbian
and Bosniak ambitions in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although such repression may seem grotesque now, it was by no means unique: Stalinist historians used the same methods, following Orwell's
maxim: Who controls the past controls the future.
and her approach to the early medieval Croatian history
in the 1960s. The dispute was covert because Mandić was an anticommunist emigrant. Nada Klaić had the advantage of a modern scientific and multidisciplinary approach and a well-founded critical analysis of historical sources, while Mandić made stronger analyses of church history (a crucial aspect of the Middle Ages
).
Two aspects stand out in this wide dispute. Firstly, the superior modern approach of Nada Klaić positively influenced the Croatian historiography as a whole. Secondly, the background of the dispute was a clash between two equally non-scientific positions, the one overplaying (Mandić) and the other downplaying (Klaić) the Croatian aspect, neither of which has managed to become the foundation of Bosnian medieval studies. After Mandić's weakly founded claims (e.g. on the North African origin of Vlachs
), Nada Klaić made even weaker claims (e.g. on the arrival of the Croats from Slovenia
/Carantania).
Modern Croatian historiography dealing with Bosnia and Herzegovina, exemplified in the works of Pejo Ćošković, Mladen Ančić, Franjo Šanjek, and Pavao Anđelić, mostly accepts the multidisciplinary approach of Nada Klaić, amended with more recent scientific discoveries, but it refutes her national reductionism caused by the communist ideology trying to remove the Croatian aspect of the history of Bosnia and Hum.
Historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...
and politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, a member of the Franciscan Order
Bosnian Franciscans
Franciscan Province of Bosna Srebrena is a province of the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
. His history books are essential reading for the history of medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Life
Mandić was born in Lise, near the town of Široki BrijegŠiroki Brijeg
-Name:The name of the city means "the wide hill" in Croatian . The city is also sometime referred to as "Široki Brig" and among the inhabitants of Herzegovina simply as "Široki" . Between 1945 and 1990, the name was officially Lištica, after the river that flows through it.-Geography:The river...
in Herzegovina
Herzegovina
Herzegovina is the southern region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. While there is no official border distinguishing it from the Bosnian region, it is generally accepted that the borders of the region are Croatia to the west, Montenegro to the south, the canton boundaries of the Herzegovina-Neretva...
. He completed his primary education in Široki Brijeg
Široki Brijeg
-Name:The name of the city means "the wide hill" in Croatian . The city is also sometime referred to as "Široki Brig" and among the inhabitants of Herzegovina simply as "Široki" . Between 1945 and 1990, the name was officially Lištica, after the river that flows through it.-Geography:The river...
, where he attended the famous Franciscan high school, but graduated from the last two years in Mostar
Mostar
Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...
. He studied theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
in Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
and obtained his Ph.D. in church history
History of Christianity
The history of Christianity concerns the Christian religion, its followers and the Church with its various denominations, from the first century to the present. Christianity was founded in the 1st century by the followers of Jesus of Nazareth who they believed to be the Christ or chosen one of God...
. When he returned to Mostar, he became a teacher of religion
Religious education
In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion and its varied aspects —its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles...
in the Mostar state high school. The Franciscan Province of Herzegovina elected him as their head. Although he was invited to teach in Rome, his own province asked him to become the headmaster of the classical high school in Široki Brijeg, which he accepted.
In the period of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Kingdom of Yugoslavia
The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a state stretching from the Western Balkans to Central Europe which existed during the often-tumultuous interwar era of 1918–1941...
(1918-1941), Mandić had some pro-Yugoslavian ideas in the beginning, but he soon sobered, seeing that the state had no future and no place for Croats
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
. In 1939 he was appointed a member of the central administration of the Franciscan Order
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
as the representative of all the Franciscan provinces in Slavic countries and the chief treasurer of the Order. He was still in Rome when war broke out in his homeland in 1941.
When the Independent State of Croatia
Independent State of Croatia
The Independent State of Croatia was a World War II puppet state of Nazi Germany, established on a part of Axis-occupied Yugoslavia. The NDH was founded on 10 April 1941, after the invasion of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers. All of Bosnia and Herzegovina was annexed to NDH, together with some parts...
(NDH) was established, he showed little enthusiasm. He believed it was a political act which disregarded the free will of the Croatian people
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
. In the clerical spheres, he talked against the persecutions of Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
, Roma and Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
, motivated by his Christian and humanist ideals, and asked Croats to refrain from retaliation against Serbs after the chetnik
Chetniks
Chetniks, or the Chetnik movement , were Serbian nationalist and royalist paramilitary organizations from the first half of the 20th century. The Chetniks were formed as a Serbian resistance against the Ottoman Empire in 1904, and participated in the Balkan Wars, World War I, and World War II...
atrocities around Mostar
Mostar
Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...
in April 1941.
He realistically estimated that the conditions of the creation of NDH were unfavorable for it to survive in the long term, so he participated as a mediator in several attempts to make contact with the Western Allies
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
since 1942, foreseeing the defeat of the Axis Powers
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
. His mediation was unsuccessful, however. Mandić's influence was more useful in 1945, when he managed to save several hundreds of Croatians escaping the communist terror of the new Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
and to organize social care for several tens of thousands of refugees. He founded the Croatian press in the refugee camp of Fermo
Fermo
Fermo is a town and comune of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo.Fermo is located on a hill, the Sabulo with a fine view, on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway....
, which printed newspapers and books for Croatian refugees.
Pursuant to the agreement between the Allies and Yugoslavia, a hunt for notable Croats in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
started in 1946 and 1947. Mandić used the resources of the Order to help dozens of most important Croatian officers (Ustasha) and intellectuals to avoid extradition, which would mean certain death, by providing them with passports for overseas countries, especially Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
. In 1952 he moved to Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, where he became the head of the Herzegovina Franciscans in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. Mandić spent the rest of his life in Chicago, doing spiritual and scientific work.
Mandić as historian
The greatest part of Mandić's history work was made abroad, especially in the USA. His central interest is medieval Croatian historyMedieval Croatian state
Medieval Croatia can refer to:* Principality of Pannonian Croatia - medieval duchy in existence between the 7th and 10th centuries A.D.* Principality of Littoral Croatia - medieval principality in existence between the 8th century and 925 A.D....
, which includes today's area of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
.
Mandić's work is characterized by meticulous groundwork, skilful use of sources in many languages (along with classical languages, he used Italian, French, Russian, Spanish, English, German, Polish, Hungarian, Czech and Slovak), archivist's patience and precision, as well as a brilliant knowledge of nuances of church history, especially in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
For these reasons, his history books are ripe with the data collected by the author from numerous sources, which makes them essential reading for anyone writing about the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
-Pre-Slavic Period :Bosnia has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times. In the late Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes known as the Illyrians. Celtic migrations in the 4th and 3rd century BCE displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former...
, especially the period until the 18th century.
His shortcomings
From today's perspective, the chief shortcomings of Mandić are his lack of modernity and uncritical attitude towards historical sources. While the first weakness can be somewhat justified by the fact that a complete modern history of old BosniaBosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
and Hum has not been written yet, the other objection is more serious.
Mandić was an old-fashioned historian who did not present topics in a multidisciplinary way (archeology, history of art
History of art
The History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...
, paleography, historical linguistics, demographic and economic trends, culturological research etc.). Therefore, his opus can be included in the group of older Croatian historians such as with Vjekoslav Klaić
Vjekoslav Klaic
Vjekoslav Klaić was a Croatian historian and writer, most famous for his monumental History of the Croats.Klaić was born in Garčin near Slavonski Brod as the son of a teacher. He was raised in German spirit and language, since his mother was German. Klaić went to school in Varaždin and Zagreb...
or Ferdo Šišić
Ferdo Šišic
Ferdo Šišić was a Croatian historian, the founding figure of the Croatian historiography of the 20th century. He made his most important contributions in the area of Croatian early Middle Ages.- Life :...
.
What is worse, Mandić's uncritical approach and an almost naïve faith in often contradictory ancient sources (De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio is the Latin title of a Greek work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is...
by Constantine VII
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
, Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja is a medieval chronicle originally written by a Catholic monk of the Cistercian order by the name of Roger for the Croatian Ban Paul Šubić because an order form by Ban Šubić and a quote of Catholic monk have been discovered...
, Orbini's
Mavro Orbini
Mavro Orbin was a writer, ideologue and historian from the Republic of Ragusa...
writings), and his reliance on questionable texts such as Pacta conventa
Pacta conventa (Croatia)
Pacta conventa was an alleged agreement concluded between King Coloman of Hungary and the Croatian nobility. While some claim it was a voluntary union of the two crowns, leaving Croatia as a sovereign state, others argue that Hungary simply annexed Croatia outright and forced an agreement...
, made a part of his opus not only obsolete, but also unreliable. Actually, Mandić corrected and sometimes successfully disclosed contradictions in old sources, but only when their claims went against the Croatian national interests. In cases when fantastical claims supported the Croatian point of view, Mandić accepted them unquestioningly.
His importance
Because of his ideological intention to prove the historically Croat nature of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the BosniansBosnians
Bosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Bosnian Serbs and...
, Mandić's opus was often rejected and ignored even in the segments where Mandić is impeccable, i.e. in the reliable and detailed presentation of various aspects of history.
The fact that Dominik Mandić did not simply write a nationally biased history (which would be easy to refute and ridicule) is confirmed by the proscriptions against his work under communist Yugoslavia
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
. Ethnic History of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a major work in his opus, was proscribed; any owner of the book was liable to go to prison. Why such extreme measures? His book included many facts on the Croatian aspects of the old Bosnian state, which was very inconvenient for the promoters of Serbian
Greater Serbia
The term Greater Serbia or Great Serbia applies to the Serbian nationalist and irredentist ideology directed towards the creation of a Serbian land which would incorporate all regions of traditional significance to the Serbian nation...
and Bosniak ambitions in contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. Although such repression may seem grotesque now, it was by no means unique: Stalinist historians used the same methods, following Orwell's
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...
maxim: Who controls the past controls the future.
Dispute with Nada Klaić
Mandić was involved in a dispute with the Croatian historian Nada KlaićNada Klaic
Nada Klaić was a Croatian historian. She was influential and controversial Croatian medievalist of the 20th century.-Academic career:...
and her approach to the early medieval Croatian history
Medieval Croatian state
Medieval Croatia can refer to:* Principality of Pannonian Croatia - medieval duchy in existence between the 7th and 10th centuries A.D.* Principality of Littoral Croatia - medieval principality in existence between the 8th century and 925 A.D....
in the 1960s. The dispute was covert because Mandić was an anticommunist emigrant. Nada Klaić had the advantage of a modern scientific and multidisciplinary approach and a well-founded critical analysis of historical sources, while Mandić made stronger analyses of church history (a crucial aspect of the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
).
Two aspects stand out in this wide dispute. Firstly, the superior modern approach of Nada Klaić positively influenced the Croatian historiography as a whole. Secondly, the background of the dispute was a clash between two equally non-scientific positions, the one overplaying (Mandić) and the other downplaying (Klaić) the Croatian aspect, neither of which has managed to become the foundation of Bosnian medieval studies. After Mandić's weakly founded claims (e.g. on the North African origin of Vlachs
Vlachs
Vlach is a blanket term covering several modern Latin peoples descending from the Latinised population in Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. English variations on the name include: Walla, Wlachs, Wallachs, Vlahs, Olahs or Ulahs...
), Nada Klaić made even weaker claims (e.g. on the arrival of the Croats from Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
/Carantania).
Modern Croatian historiography dealing with Bosnia and Herzegovina, exemplified in the works of Pejo Ćošković, Mladen Ančić, Franjo Šanjek, and Pavao Anđelić, mostly accepts the multidisciplinary approach of Nada Klaić, amended with more recent scientific discoveries, but it refutes her national reductionism caused by the communist ideology trying to remove the Croatian aspect of the history of Bosnia and Hum.
Works
- Hrvati i Srbi, dva stara različita naroda (Croats and Serbs, Two Ancient and Different Peoples)
- Bogumilska crkva bosanskih krstjana (The Bogumil Church of Bosnian Christians)
- Crvena Hrvatska (Red Croatia)
- Državna i vjerska pripadnost sredovječne Bosne i Hercegovine (State and Religion in Medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina)
- Etnička povijest Bosne i Hercegovine (Ethnic History of Bosnia and Herzegovina)