Nikola Modruski

Nikola Modruski

One of the most important Croatian humanists in the 15th century was bishop Nikola Modruski, the creator of the first known Latin incunabula written by a Croat author (“Oratio in funere Petri Cardinalis S. Sixty,” 1474, Rome). At the same time he was a great promoter of the Croatian Glagolitic Script. He was also the papal nuncio at the court of the Bosnian ban (viceroy) Stjepan Tomasevic and at the court of king Mathias Corvin in Budim. His huge library, whose origin is from Modrus, was left to the Vatican. He wrote a treatise in defence of the Glagolitic Script in Modrus bishopric. It is regarded to be the first polemic treatise in the history of Croatian literature. It is interesting that Nikola Modruski was born in Boka kotorska. In 1474 he printed the first book among the Croats, in the Latin language. For additional information see here.

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