Puneet Varma (Editor)

Fojnica Armorial

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Date
  
Uncertain

Dedicated to
  
King Stefan Dušan

Script
  
Cyrillic script

Scribe(s)
  
Stanislav Rubčić

Exemplar(s)
  
1

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Contents
  
Heraldry; 139 coats of arms

Previously kept
  
Franciscan monastery in Fojnica

The so-called Fojnica Armorial (Bosnian, Croatian, Serbian Fojnički grbovnik/Фојнички грбовник, also known as Ilirski grbovnik "Illyrian armorial") is an early modern roll of arms including heraldry of South Slavic history. The manuscript is named after the Franciscan monastery in Fojnica where it was kept.

Contents

Dating

  • The presence of the manuscript in the Fojnica monastery is first attested in the year 1800.
  • 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. The title page of the armorial itself purports a creation date of 1340.

    • Importance

    The manuscript is an important source of the classical heraldry of the Balkans 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. 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.

    References

    Fojnica Armorial Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA