Junije Palmotic - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Junije Palmotić, (also Junius Palmotta) (?1606 - 1657) was a Croatian

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...

baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

writer, Ragusan patrician, and dramatist from the Republic of Ragusa

Republic of Ragusa

The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...

(now 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...

). Alongside Vinko Pribojević

Vinko Pribojevic

Vinko Pribojević was a Croatian historian and ideologue, best known as the founder of the pan-Slavic ideology.Pribojević was born on the island of Hvar...

and Juraj Križanić

Juraj Križanic

Juraj Križanić , also known as Yuriy Krizhanich, was a Croatian Catholic missionary who is often regarded as the earliest recorded pan-Slavist and anti-Normanist.-Early life, education, and early missionary work:...

, he was an early pioneer of the ideas of Slavic unity

Pan-Slavism

Pan-Slavism was a movement in the mid-19th century aimed at unity of all the Slavic peoples. The main focus was in the Balkans where the South Slavs had been ruled for centuries by other empires, Byzantine Empire, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Venice...

.

Palmotić's parents were Džore (Georgius) Palmotić and Ora (Uršula) Gradi, who was related to the Gundulić family. Ore was close cousin of Dživa, the mother of great poet Ivan Gundulić

Ivan Gundulic

Ivan Franov Gundulić is the most celebrated Croatian Baroque poet from the Republic of Ragusa. His work embodies central characteristics of Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: religious fervor, insistence on "vanity of this world" and zeal in opposition to "infidels." Gundulić's major...

, which made Junije his nephew. Ore and Džive were the daughters of two Gradi's (brothers Pavlo and Miho). He had an older brother Džore and younger Ivan, who died young in his childhood.

Little is known about his schooling, but he may have attended city school as it was mandatory for male nobles. It is known that he attended a private school opened in 1619 by the Jesuits and whose lecturers included, in the next few generations, Ivan Gradi, Ignjat Tudiši, Marin Gundulić, Ivan Dražić and Bartol Kašić

Bartol Kašic

Bartol Kašić was a Croatian linguist. He wrote the first Croatian grammar and translated the Bible and the Roman Rite into Croatian...

. As Palmotić's teachers in that school, Stjepan Gradi especially mentions Ignjat Tudisi and a Sienese

Siena

Siena is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008...

Italian, Camillo Gori.

Aged 18, he became a member of the Great Council in the Republic of Ragusa

Republic of Ragusa

The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...

. He began to write while still young, writing in continuation of the tradition of Ivan Gundulić

Ivan Gundulic

inspired by Ovid

Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso , known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria...

, Virgil

Virgil

Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...

, Tasso

Tasso

-People:*Torquato Tasso, the famous Italian 16th-century poet, author of Gerusalemme liberata**Tasso, Lament and Triumph, a symphonic poem by Franz Liszt based on the poet*Bernardo Tasso, his father, also a poet...

and Ariosto. Although influenced by the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

literary tradition, Palmotić wrote in his native Croatian language

Croatian language

, as well as translating libretti from Italian . He also translated the Christias di Girolamo Vida, the Christiade, an 'Illyrian' poem in 24 verses, that was posthumously published 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...

in 1670.

Although his poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

was melodramatic and dealt primarily with mythological

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

topics, his drama focused on contemporary Dubrovnik

Dubrovnik

, particularly the life of the aristocracy.

His nephew Stjepan Gradi, ambassador and Vatican librarian, wrote about his life, supplying precious material to future biographers.

All the works of Palmotić were published by the end of the 19th century by the Croatian Cultural Association

Matica hrvatska

Matica hrvatska is one of the oldest Croatian cultural institutions, dating back to 1842. The name is somewhat idiosyncratic, best translated as "The Croatian Centre" . It is the largest publisher of Croatian language books...

Works http://books.google.cl/books?id=p3oGybOY1w4C&pg=PA301&dq=palmotic&ei=WnuWS6OPDYnolQTVkqmzAw&cd=1#v=onepage&q=palmotic&f=false

Pavlimir
Captislava
Bisernica
Danica
Kristijada (dedicated to the queen Cristina from Sweden)

Four of his important dramas are Pavlimir, Danica, Bisernica and Captislava. Narratives connected with the founding of Dubrovnik inspired his Pavlimir. This is a sort of Ragusan "Aeneid," Pavlimir corresponding to Aeneas. He comes from abroad, founds the city of Dubrovnik, marries the beautiful Margareta, whom he discovers there, and becomes otac slovenskog naroda (the father of the Slavonic people). The Danica is a dramatized episode from Ariosto's "Orlando Furioso" (IV-VI), transplanted and acclimatized to the Bosnian and Ragusan soil. Danica is the enslaved daughter of the Bosnian king, Ostoja. She was saved by the Ragusan knight Matijas, who later became the ban of Croatia. Some motifs of this play are akin to Shakespeare's comedy "Much Ado About Nothing." Captislava is less historic and more fantastic; the chief rdles are played by ghosts and nymphs. Captislava (read: Tsaptislava) is the daughter of the King of Captat (Tsaptat (Cavtat

Cavtat

Cavtat ) is a town in the Dubrovnik-Neretva County of Croatia. It is on the Adriatic seacoast 15 km south of Dubrovnik and is the centre of the Konavle municipality.-History:...

) or Epidaurum). She is in love with the Hungarian prince, Gradimir, but the father wants her to marry a Serbian prince. A nymph helps her in this cabal, and she elopes with the Hungarian prince, while her sister marries the Serbian prince.2 The Bisernica is still more fantastic. It is virtually the continuation of the Captislava, and almost all important roles are played by vilenice (nymphs) and vilenici (dragons).

In addition to these four dramas, in which Palmotta celebrated the exploits of Slavic heroes, he wrote several imitations based on Latin and Italian sources. Thus the material for his Allina was taken from Ariosto, and for the Armida from Tasso. The mythological play Atalanta is based on Ovid's "Metamorphoses" (bk. X), and the NatecaAe Ujata i

'On the text of this drama, see the article of R. Brandt, "Prinos k tekstu Palmotta Captislave," in the Grada za povest knizevnosti hrvatske, IV (1904), pp. 150 ff.

Works http://books.google.cl/books?id=p3oGybOY1w4C&pg=PA301&dq=palmotic&ei=WnuWS6OPDYnolQTVkqmzAw&cd=1#v=onepage&q=palmotic&f=false

Further reading