| Hval Manuscript Hval's Miscellany Hvalov zbornik |
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A manuscript from the Hval Manuscript, from medieval Bosnia.
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| Created | 15th century |
| Location | Kingdom of Bosnia |
| Author(s) | Hval Krstyanin |
| Purpose | Bosnian Church codex |
The Hval Manuscript or "Hval's Miscellany" is a 353 page 15th century Bosnian Church codex.
It was written in 1404 by Hval Krstyanin in Bosnian/Croatian Cyrillic Script (bosančica or bosanica) in ikavian accent with a Glagolitic introduction that reads, "in honour of praised sir Hrvoje, duke of Split and the knight of Lower Country and others." It has been decorated with miniatures and other artistic elements. The codex contains parts of the Bible, hymns and short theological texts. The tradition of the Bosnian/Croatian Cyrillic Script goes back to the 12th century and lasted continuously until the 18th century, with sporadic uses even in the 20th century. This beautiful book is a translation from the Glagolitic original. Moreover, Glagolitic letters can be found on two places in the book.
The codex is one of the most famous manuscripts belonging to the Bosnian Church in which there are some iconographic elements which are not in concordance with the supposed theological doctrine of Bosnian Christians ( Annunciation, Crucifixion and Ascension). All the important Bosnian Church books (Nikoljsko evandjelje, Sreckovicevo evandelje, the Manuscript of Hval, the Manuscript of Krstyanin Radosav,....) are based on Croatian Glagolitic Church books, probably because Croatia embraced Christianity before Bosnia.
The Hval Manuscript is kept in the University Library in Bologna, Italy. New analyses of style and painting techniques show that they were inscribed by at least two miniaturists. One painter was painting on the blue background, and the other was painting on the gold background in which the miniatures are situated in a rich architectonic frame. These miniatures belong to medieval Bosnia, but according to their iconographic and artistic values, to the Gothic art probably from the Dalmatian painters in the 15th century.