Božidar Vuković

Palladin Božidar Vuković
Native name	Божидар Вуковић
Born	after 1465 Đurići, Podgorica, Crnojevići Zeta (now Montenegro)
Died	c. 1540 Republic of Venice
Cause of death	Natural
Resting place	Monastery of Starčeva Gorica, Lake Skadar
Other names	Podgoričanin
Ethnicity	Serb
Citizenship	Republic of Venice
Occupation	printer
Known for	Founder of the Serbian Venetian Printing House.
Notable work(s)	Služabnik (1517)
Home town	Podgorica
Spouse(s)	Della Vechia
Children	Vićentije Vuković

Božidar Vuković Podgoričanin (Serbian Cyrillic: Божидар Вуковић, Italian: Dionisio della Vecchia, Latin: Dionisius a Vetula; c. 1466 — c. 1540) was one of the first printers of Serb^[1] books. He founded the famous Serbian Venetian Printing House.

He achieved lordship (војвода/vojvoda, palladin) in heritage for his family from Emperor Charles V in 1533.

Biography

Early life

According to his own books, Vuković was born after 1465. In his 1519/20 Psalter, Vuković had signed himself as "Božidar Vuković of the Đurići, of Podgorica" (Божидар Вуковић од Ђурића, Подгоричанин). While it is indubitable that he descents from the Podgorica region (today's eastern Montenegro, its Capital City), is most likely that he was born in the very town of Podgorica, since he did own a house in it and several parcels of land in its vicinity, as recorded even after his emigration to Western Europe when he grew up - the lands he owned were probably family heritage. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that his sister remained behind in Podgorica, probably in their family property. The question of the origin of the Đurić family he belongs to is a bit more blurry, but it possible that they descend from the east, Shkodër's region, where it is known Vuković had possessed also some property, as well as very close living cousins.

Vuković and his family were subjects of the Venetian Republic, which had established a corpus of off-shore possessions along the Adriatic coastline - along its eastern reaches, the Venetian possessions cut deeper into the territory of the Balkan peninsula, engulfing eastern portions of Montenegro and northern parts of Albania. The Serbian Despotate had lost its last possession in the region with the fall of Medun to the Ottoman Turks, the regional cities had found salvation in the patronage of the Venetian Republic, an important Mediterranean naval factor, by giving themselves up into their hands. The expansionism of the Ottoman Empire might have been the cause of Vuković's family's decision to seek shelter in the more safe and fortified home that Podgorica offered - or the reason might have been more practical; namely the expansion of trading services - his family was later in Venice frequently practicing trade.

As the Ottomans were pushing through even last remains of the independent Balkan Christian feudal states, Božidar Vuković had migrated to Venice during the late 15th or early 16th century, along with his brother Nikola. Podgorica fell into Ottoman hands in 1474 during the Ottoman-Venetian war; there are indications Božidar Vuković might have fled the Balkans in the waves of refugees fleeing from the Ottomans, in particular after the fall of the Montenegrin throne of Cetinje in 1496 and the subsequent flight of its last Medieval ruler Đurađ of the Crnojevićs to Venice across Budva.

Venice

When Montenegro fell to Ottoman Turkish occupation in 1496, Vuković fled with Crnojević to Venice, where he earned his living as a merchant. He joined the Eastern Orthodox Christian commune as well as became a member of the "St. George The Greek" brotherhood, enlisting as "Bozhidar of Veche, a Serb" after paying his fee, also signing him later on every occasion like that.^[2] He later also became Chairman of the Venice-based Saint George Brotherhood.

At the time, Venice was one of the centers of European printing, and there was a lack of Serb liturgical books in the lands conquered by the Ottomans. Therefore, Vuković decided to use his personal earnings and open a printing press with Serbian letters in 1519 or 1520.

Vuković married a noble woman of the Della Vechia family, whose surname he added to his; he was known by this name in Italy. On some occasions, he used the title vojvoda (duke), but it is uncertain who bestowed it to him or when. In accordance with his last wish, his body was carried back to his homeland and buried in the monastery of Starčeva Gorica in Lake Skadar. His son, Vićentije Vuković, inherited the press and continued doing the work that his father started. In 1597 the Serbian Venetian Printing Press passed into the hands of an Italian named Giorgio Rampazetto, who printed two important books -- the Collection of Travelers and the earliest Serbian primer. In Venice in the 1670s Jerolim Zagurović, a native of Kotor, was active as a printer. The Serbian Venetian Printing Press would continue working for another century.

Work

The oldest printed book in Serbian-Slavonic was first issued in 1483, from the printing-press of Andreas Torresanus, de Asula (1451–1529) in Venice. A few years later the Serbian nobleman Božidar Vuković bought a printing-press in Venice and established it at Obod in Montenegro, from which he issued in 1493 the first church book—the Otoich -- printed on Serbian territory. (There is a copy of this book in the British Museum). Vuković's printing press operated in two phases. In the first one (1519–1520), he printed Služabnik (1517) and Psaltir sa posledovanjem i časlovcem (Psalter, 1520). In the second phase (1536–40), which came after a long break, he published five more books in Serbian Cyrillic: Zbornik (1536), Molitvenik (Prayer book, 1536), Oktoih petoglasnik (1537), Minej (The Book of Months, 1538), Molitvenik trebnik (1539 or 1540). All of his editions are printed versions of liturgical works in Serbian redaction of Church Slavonic that have long been in church use. In addition to remedying the dearth of Serbian books, he also wanted to produce books which were printed in smaller letters, making them more compact and easier to carry. His editions were intricately prepared, with well-proportioned letters and fine miniatures. Vuković collaborated with other Serb refugees in Venice such as hieromonk Pahomije from Rijeka Crnojevića in Montenegro (ot Crne Gori or Reki), hierodeacon Mojsije of Budimlje (ot serbskije zemlji, otčstvom že ot mjesta naricamego Budimlja) and priests Teodosije and Genadije from the Mileševa monastery.

His venture is explained by reasons of sale, his care for his soul's sake, and of patriotism ("I saw the compiling of the printing presses of Godly scriptures in Greek, French and other languages, and I wished eagerly to compile in printing press also our Serb and also Bulgarian ones").

He distributed it his books to monks via Kotor and Dubrovnik. The books influenced not only Serbian printing, but also Bulgarian, Romanian and Russian printing. In his first testament, Vuković left his printing press to the monasteries in Lake Skadar, his homeland. He later revised it and left it to his son Vićentije Vuković, who carried on the enterprise of his father, and their printing-press continued to work up to 1597, issuing several church books in the Serbian-Slavonic language. During the first half of the 16th century the Serbians had printing-presses in Belgrade, Skadar (Scutari) on the river Bojana, Goražde (in Bosnia), Miloševo and elsewhere. But in the second half of the century all printing absolutely ceased in the Serbian countries under the direct rule of the Turks, and was not resumed until the middle of the 18th century. Most of the printing during the Ottoman period, however, was produced in Russia, and Serbian-territories occupied by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but only under special licence. Books for the use of the churches and schools had to be imported from St. Petersburg, Moscow, Venice, Trieste, or Vienna, depending on the political circumstances of the day.

Legacy

He later revised it and left it to his son Vićentije Vuković, who carried on with his father's work. After a Kotoran nobleman by the name of Jerolim Zagurović, the Serbian Venetian Printing Press slowly declined, being taken over by native Venetians themselves.

In 2012 Serbian writer Katarina Brajović published a novel about Božidar Vuković titled 'A Printer and Veronika' (Serbian: Штампар и Вероника, чудесна повест Божидара Вуковића Подгоричанина).^[3]

Postscript

Inventor Nikola Tesla's most prized book was the 236-page Služabnik, printed in Venice in 1517, by Božidar Vuković. This rare book is now on display in the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum in Independence, Missouri.

See also

• Hieromonk Makarije, founder of Serbian and Romanian printing

References

Sources