Nikša Ranjina's Miscellany
Encyclopedia
Nikša Ranjina's Miscellany, or simply Ranjina's Miscellany, is the oldest lyrical miscellany of Croatian
vernacular lyric poetry
, one of the most important pieces of Croatian Renaissance
literature.
Writer of the miscellany is a Dubrovnik
nobleman Nikša Ranjina
, who started copying down poems in his childhood. He started writing them in 1507 as a thirteen-year-old boy, and it is not known when he finished the piece. The resulting voluminous manuscript corresponds in character to English Tottel's Miscellany
. Poems in the miscellany deal chiefly with the topic of love and are written prevalently in doubly rhymed dodecayllabic
meter. Most of the poems are authored by Šiško Menčetić
and Džore Držić
, and a minority by other, unknown poets, representing the first generation of Dubrovnik Petrarchists. Miscellany is written in very readable handwriting, in a very pedantic and reliable way.
Love is being celebrated and described in the miscellany not as much as a topic of poet's intimate perception, but rather as a form of social play governed by prescribed norms of conduct. Poems list various phases and forms of love: wooing, declaration of love, plea to return love, celebration of physical and spiritual attributes of the loved one, "fairy maidens", pain of unrequited love etc. As recipients, objects of poet's messages, fairies, maidens, Amor
, but also various objects and phenomena are referred to.
In a literary and historical perspective, Ranjina's Miscellany represents a synthesis of diverse literary influences, ranging from troubadour-knightly and medieval Italian, all the way to various instances of Petrarchan
poetry and Petrarchism. Sometimes the relationships with vernacular, Croatian folk lyrics are emphasized, even though it's hard to make precise judgment on it as there are no other records of Croatian folk lyrics of that period.
Ranjina's Miscellany contains more than 800 poems, in a very unusual organization, likely reflecting its multifarious origins. It is composed from two parts. The first part of 610 poems contains poems authored probably only by Šiško Menčetić
and Džore Držić
, arranged alphabetically according to the first word of the poem, without the attribution of the authorship. The second part (poem 611-820) lists poem of various authors, again in alphabetical order, some of which can be ascribed to Menčetić since they're found also in the manuscripts of that author. For some of them it cannot be definitely ascertained whether they're Menčetić's or Držić's (but certainly are written by one of them). One of the poems has been signed by Marin Krstičević, and to him are also attributed a couple of poems expressing the maiden's complaint, linked wit the baracola type, the girl shouting the name of her beloved to the oncoming sailors. One can also with certainty be assigned to Mato Hispani, and two of the poems are Vetranović
's; the authorship of the rest of the poems has been variously guessed. A number of poems, displaying through the acrostic the name of Kata, are usually attributed to a certain Andrija Zlatar ('Andrew the Goldmisth'), sometimes identified with Andrija Čubranović, of whom again nothing is known for certain except that a zingaresca, now attributed to Mikša Pelegrinović
, was published under his name. Some of the Kata poems are typical of the new sentiment and style.
The anonymous folk-style poems (na narodnu, as they were dubbed a hundred years ago by the first editor of the collection, Vatroslav Jagić
) were previously attributed to Džore Držić. Some of them seem to be just recorded oral poetry, but some imitate the country-side manner with an attitude of good-humoured teasing. Some again, as Odiljam se ('I Take My Leave of You') are nodoubtedly remnants of an older, pre-Petrarchan fashion. Authors of folk-stype poems abundantly and consciously lean on the poetry of the contemporary oral poetry, incorporating sporadically elements of non-folk origin, such as the rhyme form or the elements of more "scholarly" concepts of loving relationship.
The manuscript of the Miscellany was published in two critical editions: the first by Vatroslav Jagić
in 1870 and the second by Milan Rešetar
in 1937, in a completely reorganized edition in which some obsolete Jagić's assumptions were abandoned. Both of the editions were in the Academy's series of Stari pisci hrvatski ('Old Croatian writers'), and expanded with the poems originating from younger manuscripts. The original of Ranjina's Miscellany was held in the library of Zadar
gymnasium
and has been destroyed during the Axis
bombings in the WW2.
Nikša Ranjina's Miscellany is nowadays chiefly mentioned with regard to Menčetić's and Držić's name, which is in fact misleading. Had not Ragusan noblemen compiled his manuscript, their poems would still be known from younger sources. Ranjina's Miscellany is above all an important source of anonymous texts it has preserved and which do not make appearance in other sources. Without it, an insight into the production of smaller poets from the end off the 15th century and the beginning of the 16the century, not known by name nowadays and probably not all that important, could not have been gained, and that insight is valuable for establishing the type, dynamics and the development of the contemporary Dubrovnik literary life. The miscellany also bears witness of the popularity of the first generation of Dubrovnik love poets, i.e. it is an important evidence of the early spread - almost dominance, of vernacular love lyrics in Dubrovnik. It was obviously at the beginning of the 16th century a well-established phenomenon having developed a series of completely formal conventions.
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
vernacular lyric poetry
Lyric poetry
Lyric poetry is a genre of poetry that expresses personal and emotional feelings. In the ancient world, lyric poems were those which were sung to the lyre. Lyric poems do not have to rhyme, and today do not need to be set to music or a beat...
, one of the most important pieces of Croatian Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
literature.
Writer of the miscellany is a Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
nobleman Nikša Ranjina
Nikša Ranjina
Nikša Andretić Ranjina or Nicola Ragnina was a writer and noblemen from the Republic of Ragusa , most famous as the compiler of Ranjina's Miscellany....
, who started copying down poems in his childhood. He started writing them in 1507 as a thirteen-year-old boy, and it is not known when he finished the piece. The resulting voluminous manuscript corresponds in character to English Tottel's Miscellany
Tottel's Miscellany
Songes and Sonettes, usually called Tottel's Miscellany, was the first printed anthology of English poetry. It was published by Richard Tottel in 1557, and ran to many editions in the sixteenth century.-Richard Tottel:...
. Poems in the miscellany deal chiefly with the topic of love and are written prevalently in doubly rhymed dodecayllabic
Dodecasyllable
Dodecasyllable verse is a line of verse with twelve syllables. 12 syllable lines are used in a variety of poetic traditions, including Italian and French poetry, and in poetry of the Southern Slavs...
meter. Most of the poems are authored by Šiško Menčetić
Šiško Mencetic
Šišmundo Menčetić Vlahović, , or Sigismondo Menze was a poet from the Republic of Ragusa, chiefly creating his opus in the 15th century.-Biography:...
and Džore Držić
Džore Držic
Džore Držić was a Croatian poet and playwright, one of the fathers of Croatian literature.This respectable citizen of Dubrovnik, the uncle of the greatest Croatian playwright Marin Držić, the rector of the Church of All Saints, the chancellor of the Dubrovnik chapter, a contemporary of the poet...
, and a minority by other, unknown poets, representing the first generation of Dubrovnik Petrarchists. Miscellany is written in very readable handwriting, in a very pedantic and reliable way.
Love is being celebrated and described in the miscellany not as much as a topic of poet's intimate perception, but rather as a form of social play governed by prescribed norms of conduct. Poems list various phases and forms of love: wooing, declaration of love, plea to return love, celebration of physical and spiritual attributes of the loved one, "fairy maidens", pain of unrequited love etc. As recipients, objects of poet's messages, fairies, maidens, Amor
Cupid
In Roman mythology, Cupid is the god of desire, affection and erotic love. He is the son of the goddess Venus and the god Mars. His Greek counterpart is Eros...
, but also various objects and phenomena are referred to.
In a literary and historical perspective, Ranjina's Miscellany represents a synthesis of diverse literary influences, ranging from troubadour-knightly and medieval Italian, all the way to various instances of Petrarchan
Petrarchan
The Petrarchan sonnet is a verse form that typically refers to a concept of unattainable love. It was first developed by the Italian humanist and writer, Francesco Petrarca. Conventionally Petrarchan sonnets depict the addressed lady in hyperbolic terms and present her as a model of perfection and...
poetry and Petrarchism. Sometimes the relationships with vernacular, Croatian folk lyrics are emphasized, even though it's hard to make precise judgment on it as there are no other records of Croatian folk lyrics of that period.
Ranjina's Miscellany contains more than 800 poems, in a very unusual organization, likely reflecting its multifarious origins. It is composed from two parts. The first part of 610 poems contains poems authored probably only by Šiško Menčetić
Šiško Mencetic
Šišmundo Menčetić Vlahović, , or Sigismondo Menze was a poet from the Republic of Ragusa, chiefly creating his opus in the 15th century.-Biography:...
and Džore Držić
Džore Držic
Džore Držić was a Croatian poet and playwright, one of the fathers of Croatian literature.This respectable citizen of Dubrovnik, the uncle of the greatest Croatian playwright Marin Držić, the rector of the Church of All Saints, the chancellor of the Dubrovnik chapter, a contemporary of the poet...
, arranged alphabetically according to the first word of the poem, without the attribution of the authorship. The second part (poem 611-820) lists poem of various authors, again in alphabetical order, some of which can be ascribed to Menčetić since they're found also in the manuscripts of that author. For some of them it cannot be definitely ascertained whether they're Menčetić's or Držić's (but certainly are written by one of them). One of the poems has been signed by Marin Krstičević, and to him are also attributed a couple of poems expressing the maiden's complaint, linked wit the baracola type, the girl shouting the name of her beloved to the oncoming sailors. One can also with certainty be assigned to Mato Hispani, and two of the poems are Vetranović
Mavro Vetranovic
Mavro Vetranović was a prolific Croatian writer and Benedictine friar from Dubrovnik.Born in Dubrovnik in 1482, he entered the Benedictine Order in 1507 on the island of Mljet, and after a period of education in Monte Cassino in Italy returned to Mljet as the abbot of the monastery...
's; the authorship of the rest of the poems has been variously guessed. A number of poems, displaying through the acrostic the name of Kata, are usually attributed to a certain Andrija Zlatar ('Andrew the Goldmisth'), sometimes identified with Andrija Čubranović, of whom again nothing is known for certain except that a zingaresca, now attributed to Mikša Pelegrinović
Mikša Pelegrinovic
Mikša Pelegrinović was a Croatian poet from Dalmatia.-Biography:Pelegrinović was born around the year 1500 in the town of Hvar on the island of the same name. He came from a noble family originating in the Apulian town of Barletta and was a son of Marijan and Nikolica...
, was published under his name. Some of the Kata poems are typical of the new sentiment and style.
The anonymous folk-style poems (na narodnu, as they were dubbed a hundred years ago by the first editor of the collection, Vatroslav Jagić
Vatroslav Jagic
Vatroslav Jagić was a Croatian language researcher and a famous expert in Slavic languages in the second half of the 19th century.-Life:...
) were previously attributed to Džore Držić. Some of them seem to be just recorded oral poetry, but some imitate the country-side manner with an attitude of good-humoured teasing. Some again, as Odiljam se ('I Take My Leave of You') are nodoubtedly remnants of an older, pre-Petrarchan fashion. Authors of folk-stype poems abundantly and consciously lean on the poetry of the contemporary oral poetry, incorporating sporadically elements of non-folk origin, such as the rhyme form or the elements of more "scholarly" concepts of loving relationship.
The manuscript of the Miscellany was published in two critical editions: the first by Vatroslav Jagić
Vatroslav Jagic
Vatroslav Jagić was a Croatian language researcher and a famous expert in Slavic languages in the second half of the 19th century.-Life:...
in 1870 and the second by Milan Rešetar
Milan Rešetar
Milan Rešetar was a Serb-Catholic, linguist, Ragusologist, historian and literary critic.After the gymnasium in Dubrovnik, he attained studies of classic Philology and Slavistics in Vienna...
in 1937, in a completely reorganized edition in which some obsolete Jagić's assumptions were abandoned. Both of the editions were in the Academy's series of Stari pisci hrvatski ('Old Croatian writers'), and expanded with the poems originating from younger manuscripts. The original of Ranjina's Miscellany was held in the library of Zadar
Zadar
Zadar is a city in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea. It is the centre of Zadar county and the wider northern Dalmatian region. Population of the city is 75,082 citizens...
gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
and has been destroyed during the Axis
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...
bombings in the WW2.
Nikša Ranjina's Miscellany is nowadays chiefly mentioned with regard to Menčetić's and Držić's name, which is in fact misleading. Had not Ragusan noblemen compiled his manuscript, their poems would still be known from younger sources. Ranjina's Miscellany is above all an important source of anonymous texts it has preserved and which do not make appearance in other sources. Without it, an insight into the production of smaller poets from the end off the 15th century and the beginning of the 16the century, not known by name nowadays and probably not all that important, could not have been gained, and that insight is valuable for establishing the type, dynamics and the development of the contemporary Dubrovnik literary life. The miscellany also bears witness of the popularity of the first generation of Dubrovnik love poets, i.e. it is an important evidence of the early spread - almost dominance, of vernacular love lyrics in Dubrovnik. It was obviously at the beginning of the 16th century a well-established phenomenon having developed a series of completely formal conventions.