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SOME REMARKS ON MEDIEVAL CROATIAN PILGRIMAGES.

Zoran LADI, Zagreb

The author gives an overview ofthe Medieval Croatian pilgrimages from the first mention in the 9th
to the beginning ofthe 16th century.
The study takes in consideration general description of the Catholic peregrinating phenomenon on
the local church for numerous participants and necessmy structure: assistance atid services like
hospices and protection, confessors, songs, penance services, many vows and different devotions.
The historical data of the creativity and exemplarity of Croatian pilgrims greatly inspired Dante
Alighieri in his Divina Comedia. The minor /iterats in the Medieval and Renaissance patrimony
also knew the Croatian pilgrims as the French writer Michel Eyquem de Montaigne mentions in the
middle of the 16th century Croatian pilgrims in Loreto.

Perhaps the most famous mention of pilgrims in medieval literature is that by Dante in
Divine Comedy where he devided pilgrims according to the destination in three groups:

romei, palmieri and pelegrini.

Less knowu, but for the researcher of Croatian medieval pilgrimages of equal importance,
is Dante' s mention of pilgrims from Croatia in Divine Comedy:
As when a pilgrim from a distant land,
Perhapsfromfar Croatia, comes to Rome

To see the veil ofSaint Veronica (Paradise, XXXI)'

recording on that way centuries long tradition ofpiety and pilgrimage practice. Four centuries before Dante's verses, in ninth century, first pilgrim from Croatia was mentioned in
the sources. The Ragusan chronicle Dinko Ranjina in Anali di Ragusa has described the
Ovaj rad je proitan kao izlaganje na meunarodnoj znanstvenoj konferenciji, na temu kranske civilizacije u
Europi, odranom u Lublinu u Poljskoj od 2. do 6. rujna 1996. godine te je kao saetak predstavljen u
konferencijskom priruniku.
Presented at the International conference on Christian civilization in Lublin (Poland) from 2nd to 6th of
September 1996. The abstract was published in manual prepared for the conference.
1

Dante ALIGHIERI, The Divine Comedy, The Folio Society, London 1979., p. 453.

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Z.

Ladi,

Some Remarks on Medieval Croatian Pilgrimages

votive pilgrimage ofpriest Ivan to Jerusalem in 843 2 In the course of the same century the
names of several Croatian nob les have been marked in the evangeliarium from Cividale in
Italy (duke Trpimir, Branimir, Petar, Marija, Dragovid, Presila, son of Trpimir Petar and
later duke Branimir). First Croatian pilgrims were the members of the ruling families and
their suite, and the members of clergy. Unfortunately, as far as the lower strata of society
are concerned early medieval sources do not contain information on pilgrimages. The
process of Christianization of populus in Croatian hinterland, hardly approachable mountain area, has started just century ago and went slowly being much less successful than
Christianization of nobility.
During the following centuries the number of pilgrims from Croatia increased. From the
end of the thirteenth century ,the pilgrims from all strata of Croatian medieval society are
mentioned in the sources. Illustrativc is, in that respect, the request written to Pope Martin
the V" in 1419. In the document is written: Cum ad Urbem, causa peregrinacionis et
aliis, quamplures concurrant de partibus Ungariae et Sc/avoniae laici et a/ii utriusque
sexus christian i and there are not confessors qui linguas, vide/ic et Ungaricam et Sc/avo-

nicam, intelligeret. Wishing to solve that problem it is proposed Benedictin monk Thomas filius Andree to be confessor for Hungarians and Croats pilgrimaging to Rome since
he linguas et ydiomata predicta intelligit et intelligibi/iter ac eciam talicum loquitur ... <<. 3
Process of democratization of pilgrimages (i. e. spreading of the practice of pilgrimaging
in all levels of society), characteristic of Western and Central Europe at that time, is
especially documented in last wills of the citizens of medieval communities in Dalmatia.
Numerous last wills from the end of thirteenth through fourteenth and fifteenth centuries
present grateful material especially for statistic research in the field of social and religious
history. However, for most of Dalmatian towns, except Zadar and ibenik, researches of
medieval pilgrimages have not yet been done.
In the second half of the fourteenth century, according to information from last wills, l 03
persons have pilgrimaged from Zadar to different pilgrimage shrines in Western and Southem Europe and in Asia Minor. Most popular destination of the pilgrims from Zadar was
Rome i. e. limina apostolorum Petri et Pauli, followed by St Jacob in Compostela (19),
and Jerusalem (12), at that time the most famous pilgrimage centers in Europe.' From
ibenik in the period of 15 years in the second half of the fifteenth century 68 pilgrims
have travelled to the same pilgrimage centers.' First preliminary research of documents

PERII, E., V!festi o nqjstar(iim hrvatskim hodoe:a.~ima, in: Zbornik radova Treeg hrvatskog mariolokog
simpozija Naa protenita i Crkva na putu, uredio A. Rebi, Zagreb 1985., p. 550.

Povijesni spomenici zagrebake biskupije, sv. V, 1395.-1420., skupio i priredio A. Lukinovi, Zagreb 1992.,
p. 579. lt is worth to mention that this document, once more, proves the theory about bi!inguality ln the area of
the Northern Croatia and Southern Hungary.

LADI, Z., Prilog proucavanju hodoac}ef1ja iz Zadra u druglH polovici 14. stofjea, in: Croatica Christiana
Periodica, 32, XVII, p. 25.

KOLANOVI, J., Prilog pov(iesti ,\ibenskih hodoaa

Periodica, Vl, Zagreb 1982., p. 27.

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11

kasnom srednjem vijeku, in: Croatica Christiana

CCP 39(1997) str. 19-24

from Dubrovnik and Kotor in fourteenth and fifteenth centuries shows that pilgrimaging
was customary pious ha bit of citizens of these cities as well.
Besides the above mentioned Ioca sanctissima pilgrims from Croatia have pilgrimaged to
numerous interregional and regional pilgrimage shrines, especially in neighboring Italy: to
Assisi in the church of Our Lady de Angelis (sheltering the chapel of the Porciuncula), to
Bari in the church of St Nicholas, to Pesaro, in the church of St Michael on the Mount
Gargano, in the church of St Mary in Calena, but also much further to the monastery of St
Catherine on the Mount Sinai and to church of St Anthony in Vienna and in France.
In the last wills two types of pilgrimage are usually mentioned: legatory and personal one.
Ifpilgrimage was legatory, what was not rarely since testators often redacted their wills on
deathbed, usually the amount of money to be given for pilgrimage was precisely marked
by notary. E. g. citizen of Kotor Franciscus Marci Basilii bequeathed 20 yperpers guod
dentur uni homini, qui vadat Romam.f. Persons pilgrimaging instead oftestators were usu-

ally members of clergy, seldom friends and acquaintances and in some cases even former
slaves or servants. E. g. Goyslaua uxor quondam Petri Bogdan i Negomire from Dubrovnik
giving freedom to her anci/la ab amni vincu/o servitutis requested then that ipso Deua
vadat pro anima (Goyslaue op. a.) Assisi um. 7
Regarding the fact that most of the medieval pilgrims pilgrimaged once in their life-time
the travels were often organized so that pilgrims could visit several centers during the
journey. There is one beautiful example from Zadar when Maria Iadratina redacted her
will after decision to visit limina beatorum apostolorum Petri, Pauli et Jacobi de Galicia.'
Scholars have already pointed out that in the Middle Ages retum was not considered as

important moment of pilgrimage since it was expirienced as monodrama in three acts:

departure, journey, and stay in the holy place<<,' and to dye on the places situated close to
the shrines of the saints, near to Ioca sacra, was considered as help full for the redemption
of the soul.
What were the routes that pilgrims from Croatia used to reach various pilgrimage centers?
The factor which to a great extent eased pilgrimaging from Croatia was the closeness of
sea. As far as Italian shrines are concerned they were relatively easily reached since the

naval communications between the cities on the East and West coasts of Adriatic sea were
considerably developed during the entire Middle Ages. Numerous contracts between Senj,
Zadar, Split, Dubrovnik, Kotor and the other East Adriatic cities on the one side and
Venice, Ancona and Bari on the other side of Adriatic confirm intensive sea-trade relationships, especially in the Late Middle Ages. When pilgrimaging from Croatia to Rome or
Assisi pilgrims were using this developed and for a long time existed sea routes. To distant
pilgrimage centers such as St Jacob in Compostela, Jerusalem or St Catherine on the
(. MAYER, A., Kotorski spomenici (Monumenta Cataren,\ia), vol. l, Zagreb 1951., pp. 257-258.
7

LUI. J., Spisi dubrovake kancelarfje (Monumenta historica rugusina), knj. IV, zapisi notara Andrije
Benee 1295.-1301, testamenta 1295.-1301., Zagreb 1993., p. 345.

~ ZJAI, M., Spisi zadarskih biljenika Henrika i Creste Tarallo 1279-1308, Zadar 1959., p. 66.
9

ANJEK, F., Crkva i h:~Canstvo u Hrvata. Srednji v(jek, Zagreb 1993., p. 353.

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Z. Ladi, Some Remarks f?ll Medieval Croatian Pilgrimages

Mount Sinai, pilgrims from Croatia travelled, after landing in the port ofVenicc, Barcelona or Jaffa, by using well known network of pilgrimage routes in continental Europe and
Asia Minor.
On the basis ot travel-books and diaries written by European, pilgrims travelling and
describing land, people and customs on the East coast of Adriatic sea it is possible to
reconstruct the network of sea and land routes used by Croatian pilgrims travelling to Holy
Land and surrounding areas. When pilgrimaging from Dalmatian cities pilgrims have stopped in several important stations in order to restore the supplies of the food and drink.
Most important stations on the East coast of Adriatic sea were: Pula, Senj, ibenik, Zadar,
Split, Hvar, Dubrovnik, Kotor and Albanian port Dra. Great importance of East Adriatic
communities as a trade and pilgrimage centers frequently visited by the foreigners has
resulted in foundation of numerous hospitals starting from the beginning of the thirteenth
century." E. g. first hospital in Dubrovnik was established as a private and civil foundation
in the thirteenth century, and in the 1347 the decision to build hospital supported by state
was made." The care about the pilgrims and the other travellers, is also reflected in the
decrees: of the statute laws of few cities: Zadar (in statute law from 1448) and Split and
Senj (in statute laws from 1388). Besides secular there were also church institutions being
especially defined to give accommodation for the pilgrims and the other travellers. The
pilgrims could find the place for overnight in numerous Benedictine monasteries in coastal
as well as in continental Croatia. One of the important charitative function of Benedictine
monks was taking care for the travellers and poor. Also, there were numerous Hospitaler's
and Templar's monasteries having as a main task >>defense of the roads and travellers-pilgrims and crusaders on the roads. 12
Besides the hospitals giving accommodation to pilgrims from all European nations there
were special institutions - institutes and consulates giving services to the members of
only one nation. When travelling to Jerusalem, pilgrims from Croatia could find accommodation in consulate of the Republic of Dubrovnik or by Croatian Franciscans already
from the end of the fourteenth century. Similar function in Rome had College of St
Jerome whose foundation is, partly, a consequence of the increasing number of pi1grims
from Croatia ad limina apostolorum towards the end of the Middle Ages. The College
has got the name according to widespread conviction in that time about the Slavic
origin of St Jerome who has been considered as >>protector and incorporator of Croatian literature." Request for foundation of the college was delivered to Pope Nicholas
the V'' in 1451 and argumented: >>ln the City (i. e. Rome) there are numerous hotels
w KAR BI, D., Marginalne grupe u hrvatskim srednjovjekovnim dru.\-tvima od druge polovine X/ll. do poetka
XVI. sto(ieCa. in: Historijski zbornik, god. XLIV( l), pp. 63-73.
11

KREKI, B., Dubrovnik in the 14'" and 15111 century; A City Between Ea~t and West, University ofOklahoma
Press 1972., p. 109.

12

DOBRONI, L., ViteSki redovi. Templari ilvanovci u Hrvatsk(?i, Zagreb 1984.,p. 177.

n KATII, R.,

Ustanove sv. Jeronima tl Rimu i pov(iest hrvatske kulture i narodnosti, in: Homo imago et
amicus Dei (ovjek slika i prijatelj Boji), Zbornik u ast Ivana Goluba, priredio R. Peri, Papinski Hrvatski
zavod svetog Jeronima, Rim 1991., p. 319.

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CCP 39(1997) str. 19-24

belonging to various nations but SlaVic and Dalmatian nation does not have its hotel.1 4
One of the most popular pilgrimage destination of the pilgrims from Croatia in Middle
Ages (and it is up to our days) was Loreto. Religious ties that connect Croatian pilgrims to
Loreto have their roots in the medieval legend according to which the Nazareth house
so-called Santa casa was brought from Trsat in Croatia to Loreto in Italy in 1294. Originally, Santa casa was brought to Trsat after the fall of Holy Land to Seldjucs. The legend,
telling about transportation of Nazareth house on the wings of angels, seems to have
historical background since recent archeological excavations show that some of the stones
built in the walls of the church in Loreto have been brought from Holy Land after the fall
of the fort Acre 1291. The knights retreating from the Holy Land took the stones and when
travelling by the East Adriatic coast stopped near Rijeka. For some reason the stones were
brought to Trsat and after being there for three years transported for short to Recanati in
Italy and finally to Loreto. Soon Loreto became local and from sixteenth century international pilgrimage center.
Pilgrimaging to Loreto frequently and in great number, especially from the period of
Renaissance, pilgrims from Croatia became ones more recorded in the literature. French
renaissance writer Michel Eyquem de Montaigne ( 1533-1592) describing the behavior
of pilgrims from Croatia in Loreto wrote: >>(they) are saying so much of reproach and
votive to Mother of God wishing her to return to them; they regret so repentant they gave
her opportunity to leave them that it is wonderful."

Saetak
Zabiljeke o hrvatskim srednjovjekovnim

hodoaima

U radu autor iznosi saeti pregled ppvijesti hrvatskih hodoaa od prvih spomena u 9. stoljeCu do poetka 16. stoljea. U radu su koriteni poznati podaci. kojima su se sluili neki nai
povjesniari, npr. spomen hrvatskih hodoasnika u Danteovoj Boanskoj komediji, ali i
manje poznati podaci o spomenu hrvatskih hodoasnika u srednjovjekovnoj i renesansnoj lite-

raturi, npr. spomen hrvatsldh hodoasnika u Loretu sredinom 16. stoljea zabiljeen od francuskog pisca Michela Eyquema de Montaignea.
Prvi spomeni Hrvata kao hodoasnika odnose se na drutvenu elitu- hrvatske kneeve Trpimira, Branimira, pripadnike njihovih obitelji i njihove pratnje, te sveenstva. No, kao i u ostalim
europskim zemljama, i u Hrvatskoj dolazi do tzv. demokratizacije hodoasnitva pa se od kraja
13. stoljea u izvorima nalaze podaci o obinim ljudima, graanima i seljacima, koji odlaze na
14

lbidem.

15

TOMASOVI, M., Montaigne o hrvatskim hodoc,'asnicima u Loretu i trgovcima u Anconi, in: MoguCnosti,

god. XLI, br. 4-6, Split 1994., p.l20.

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Z.

Ladi,

Some Remarks on Medieval Croatian Pilgrimages

hodoaa u Rim, Jeruzalem, Santiago de Compostelu i niz drugih manjih hodoasnikih sredita. Nekada su vrlo rijetki pojedinci imali privilegiju stjecati sve blagodati koje su ova Ioca
san eta davala fjudima, a od kraja 13. stoljea, te osobito od 1300. kada je proglasena prva
Jubilarna godina, sve prednosti hodoaa mogli su uivati pripadnici svih slojeva drutva. Na
teme{ju objavljenih i neobjavljenih izvora autor je izloio i odreene kvantitativne rezultate
koji pokazuju pravce hodOaa, broj hodoasnika, udio mukih i enskih hodoasnika itd.
Kako se srednji vijek bliio kraju tako je i broj hodoasnika iz dalmatinskih komuna (Zadra,
ibenika, Dubrovnika) te iz hrvatskog zalea i Slavonije rastao. Zato i ne zauuje da se u
jednom dokumentu iz 1419. godine moli papu Martina V. da postavi za ispovjednika u Rimu
benediktinca Tomu za Hrvate i Maare koji u velikom broju dolaze u Rim iz hodoasnikih i
drugih razloga. U molbi se navodi da Toma linguas et ydiomata predicta intelligit et intelligibiliter ac eciam talicum loquitur ... .
Autor nadalje napominje da su za spoznaju hodoasnitva u Hrvatskoj veliki utjecaj imali
samostani Temp/ara i Ivano vaca, redova kojima je jedna od zadaa bila i zatita hodoasnika
na putovima. Pridodamo li tome i injenicu da je u svakoj dalmatinskoj komuni postojao
hospital kojije, osim za prihvat bolesnih i siromanih, slutio i kao prenoite putnicima i hodoa
snicima moeino rei daje kultura odnoenja i spoznaja hodoasnika bila prilino razvijena u
srednjo'dekovnoj Hrvatskoj. Uostalom, to nam potvruju i mnogobrojni dnevnici, pisani od vie ili
manje zadovoljnih putnika i hodoasnika na putu kroz nae krajeve.

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