Ivan Lučić
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Ivan Lučić (also Lucić, Lucius; September, 1604 - January 11, 1679) was a Croatian historian. He is considered the father of Croatian historical science.
[edit] Life and works
Lučić was born in a noble family in Trogir. After some schooling in his hometown, he went to Rome, where he spent two years, and then obtained his Ph.D. in ecclesiastical and civil law in Padua. He returned to Trogir and held various offices, but went again to Rome in 1654. Lučić became a member of the Fraternity of Saint Jerome and then its president. He participated in the work of many scientific academies of his age and wrote to scientists from Croatia, Italy and Europe.
While in Rome, he wrote numerous historical works, which he published in Latin. His greatest and most famous work is De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae (About the Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia). It was first printed in Amsterdam in 1666. This book provides an overview of the history of Croatia from the prehistory to the 15th century. While his predecessors and contemporaries used imagination as much as facts, Lučić founded his history on genuine sources. At the end of the book, he included certain valuable historical sources and a bibliography with his comments. The book had six historical maps. The historical map Illyricum hodiernum (Illyria Today) was dedicated by Joannes Blaeu, Lučić's publisher, to the Croatian ban Petar Zrinski.
Lučić participated in the dispute about the authenticity of the text of Trimalchio's Banquet by the Roman satirist Petronius, which had been found in Trogir. Although some contemporaries and later historians sometimes resented his cold and pedantic style, it was necessary in a time ripe with uncritical and sloppy works.
He published the history of his hometown and region in Venice under the Italian title Memoriae istoriche di Tragurio, ora detto Trau (Trogir in Historical Literature; 1673). He also published a book of Roman inscriptions from Dalmatia, including the inscriptions collected by the famous Croatian poet Marko Marulić. Shortly before death, Lučić prepared the Statute of Trogir for printing. He died in Rome, where he was buried in the Croatian Church of St Jerome.
[edit] Significance
Ivan Lučić was the first Croatian historian who critically examined and used historical sources: documents and chronicles, inscriptions and last wills. His historical methodology is far above his time. There is much love for his homeland in his work. It is no coincidence that he had contacts with the powerful Croatian noble family of Zrinski. Since everyone was looking up to antiquity, the Zrinski believed their ancestors were Roman aristocrats. Lučić showed them that their roots reached back to the famous medieval dukes of Šubić from Bribir.
He wrote to many famous people from Dubrovnik, especially Stjepan Gradić, the head of the Vatican Library. His numerous letters, revealing him as a man of integrity and a skillful writer, are a valuable fresco of the conditions of his time.
Lučić's work, written in a lapidary and clear style, based on critical considerations, is the cornerstone of the modern Croatian historiography. Like Marko Marulić and Marin Držić in the Croatian literature, or Bartol Kašić in the Croatian language and linguistics, Ivan Lučić was an admirably accomplished founder.
