Croatian Glagolitic Script
© by Darko Zubrinic, Zagreb (1995)In the history of Croatian people three scripts were in use:
- Croatian Glagolitic Script,
- Croatian Cyrillic Script (bosancica),
- Latin Script.
Today the Croats are using exclusively the Latin Script.
The Arabica was also in use among the Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It was in fact the Arabic script used for the Croatian language and it constitutes the so-called Adjami or Aljamiado literature, similarly as in Spain. Its first sources in Croatia go back to the 15th century. One of the oldest texts is a love song called Chirvat-türkisi (Croatian song) from 1588, written by a certain Mehmed. This manuscript is held in the National Library in Vienna. Except for literature Arabica was also used in religious schools and administration. Of course, it was in much lesser use than other scripts. The last book in Arabica was printed in 1941.
It is important to emphasize that the earliest known texts of Croatian literature written in the Latin script (14th century) have traces of Church-slavonic influences. Hence, Croatian glagolitic, Cyrillic and Latin traditions cannot be viewed as separated entities. We know that Middle Age Croatian scriptoriums were polygraphic (for example in Zadar and Krk), see [Malic, Na izvorima..., pp 35-56].
Jewels of the Croatian glagolitic culture:
he Croatian Glagolitic alphabet has a long and interesting history of
more than a thousand years. The Croats using the Glagolitic alphabet were
the only nation in Europe who was given a special permission by Pope
Innocent IV (in 1248) to use their own language and this script in
liturgy. More precisely, this permission had formally been given to the
bishop Philip of Senj. However, special care accorded by the Vatican
to the Glagolitic liturgy in subsequent centuries (even by publishing
several Glagolitic missals in Rome), shows that this privilege applied
to all Croatian lands using the Glagolitic liturgy, mostly along the coast.
As is well known, the Latin had been the privileged language in religious
ceremonies in the Catholic Church until the 2nd Vatican Synod held in
1962-1965, when it was decided to allow vernacular national languages
to be used in the Catholic liturgy instead of Latin. It is interesting
that even today the Glagolitic liturgy is used in some Croatian churches.
In 1252 the Pope Innocent IV allowed Benedictine Glagolitic monks in Omisalj on the largest Croatian island of Krk to use the Croatian Church-Slavonic liturgy and the Glagolitic Script instead of Latin.
The Rules of St. Benedict, written in Croatian Glagolitic Script in 13th or14th century, are very probably the earliest known translation of Benedictine rules from Latin into a living language (Croatian Church-Slavonic). Altogether 60 pages are preserved out of 70, that Benedictines had to know by heart.
We also know that Croatian Glagolitic Benedictines existed
in the city of Krk, and on the island of Pasman near Zadar. Even more peculiar
was the existence of Benedictines on the island of Brac near Split, in Povlja,
who used the Croatian Church-Slavonic liturgy, and - the
Croatian Cyrillic Script! It should be noted that members of the Benedictine
monastic order were strict followers of the Latin liturgy and of the Latin
language and script everywhere in Europe - except in parts of the Croatian
littoral.
According to rev. Ivan Ostojic, outstanding specialist on the history
of benedictines in Croatia, in 13th and 14th centuries Croatia had as
many as 70 known benedictine monasteries for monks, and more than 20 for
nuns. This represented tremendous intellectual force in Croatia. Recall
the benedictine motto - Ora et labora. See [Gregory Peroche], p. 40.
Have a look at some exotic Croatian Glagolitic letters and the list of Glagolitic breviaries and missals!
ery important monument, containing an inscription written in
the Croatian Glagolitic alphabet is a stone tablet - Bascanska ploca (Baska Stone Tablet), dating from the end
of 11th century, found in the church of St. Lucy near the town of Baska
on the island of Krk. It contains about
400 Glagolitic characters (dimensions of the tablet: 2x1 sq.m, 800 kg).
Its particular importance lies in the following three words carved in stone:
You can see them in the third line - Z'v'nimir', kral' hr'vat'sk'y, in the most solemn position on the tablet, perfectly centered. Very few nations in Europe can boast of having such an extensive written monument in their vernacular language (with some elements of Church Slavonic) as early as the 11th century.
Look at the
- The Baska Tablet web page
- reconstructed content of the Baska table - with spacings between words. The photo on the right is a reconstruction of the Baska Tablet made by academician Branko Fucic. On the left you can see how it looks now, click on it (98 Kb).
- Wen: Baska tablet, Appleby,
Drenova.
- episode with the British Prince Philip, related to the Baska tablet.
We must point out the following important fact: Glagolitic inscriptions
carved in stone (hundreds of them, the earliest known dating from the
11th century) exist only on Croatian soil, and nowhere else.
There are clear indications that the origin of the famous historical source Sclavorum Regnum, known as Ljetopis popa Dukljanina and Croatian Chronicle, was written in the Glagolitic script. This very old text represents the earliest known historiographical work about Croats and the earliest known literal text in Croatian language.
ne
of the earliest and most important Croatian legal documents is The
Vinodol Code, very different from the Roman law, written in the Glagolitic
alphabet in 1288. It also introduced the institution of witnesses. It
was unique in Europe by determining moral protection and integrity of
women. The Vinodol Code does not allow torture during legal proceedings,
and is considered to be one of the most important documents of medieval
Europe. Among the Slav Codes only the Rus' Code "Pravda" is
slightly older (1282). The first Croatian edition of the Vinodol Code
was published in Zagreb in 1843. Two of its Russian translations with
comments were issued soon after: in Moscow in 1846 and in St. Petersburg
in 1878. A translation of the Vinodol Code into Polish appeared in
1856 and into French in 1896 (Jules Preux: La Loi du Vinodol traduite
et annotée
// Nouv. rev. hist. du droit français et étranger.
- 1896). The code was published in many European countries:
it was translated into at least nine languages. For more information see
here, and at the Croatian
National and University Library in Zagreb.
Vinodolski zakon 1288, scrollable book, National and University Library, Zagreb
There are many other important legal documents regarding medieval Croatia, of which mention should be made
- the Korcula codex (from the island of Korcula, 1214, statute
of the city and island written in Latin),
Istarski
razvod (Istrian Book of Boundaries) from the Istrian peninsula, 1275, written originally in three languages:
Croatian in the Glagolitic alphabet, Latin and German. It defined
the
border between different rulers in Istria.
Only the Croatian Glagolitic version has been preserved. Istarski
razvod
has 53 pp, and mentions the Croatian name expressly 23 times. There
are Italian and Latin translations from Croatian dating from the 16th
century, which kept the original Croatian names for many places, proof
that the population in the Istrian hinterland was dominantly Croatian.
By its juridical and literary value it can be ranked among the most
interesting documents of that time in Europe. It is also the oldest
international diplomatic document written in Croatian. Earlier written
documents bear witness to the presence of the Croats in Istria from
the seventh century. See a nice web page about Istrian
Book of Boundaries provided by The British Library,
London.
- the Statute of the Poljica
Principality (1444, near Split),
written in the Croatian Cyrillic Script. The
Poljica Principality (Poljicka knezija) was a unique phenomenon in Europe.
It existed continuously for almost seven centuries, with its own very
original legal system. Russian scientist P. Alexeev believes that Thomas
More wrote his ``Utopia (The Perfect State)'' (Louvain, 1516) inspired
by the Poljica Principality. Thomas More calls Poljica man - Poly(it)eritu,
i.e. those who use more scripts (3 scripts: Glagolitic, Cyrillic, and
Latin). Legend has it that the Principality was founded by three sons
of dethroned Croatian king Miroslav in the mid 10th century. It was
abolished during the French rule in 1807. As remarked by scientists
already in the 19th century, the "Poljica Statute" is very closely related
to the above mentioned Ruskaya Pravda, though they appeared in very
distant areas (Kiev and Dalmatia). See [Pascenko],
p. 272.
One of the items of Poljica statute is that "everybody has the right to live," contrary to many medieval European laws replete with punishments involving torture. Thomas More added to the 1516 edition of his Utopia a frontispiece showing 4 lines in the Utopian language and Utopian alphabet. According to Alexeev, those who know Glagolitic script, at a first glance cannot resist the idea that ``some letters in these four lines are in fact written in the Glagolitic script'' (see [Mardesic], p. 147). It is rather amazing that there are as many as four to five thosand private legal documents (contracts, testaments, etc.) kept within Poljica families, and wirtten in the Croatian Cyrillic.
We
know of several Croatian city statutes written in the Glagolitic Script:
- the Vrbnik Statute (on the island of Krk), written in 1388,
- the Kastav Statute (1490, near Rijeka), preserved in Latin, translated from the Glagolitic Script,
- Moscenica Statute (~1501, Istria), preserved in Latin, translated from the Glagolitic Script,
- the Veprinac Statute (1507, Istria), preserved in the Glagolitic.
In the Krk diocese there were several parishes with glagolitic village chapters: Baska, Dobrinj, Omisalj, and Vrbnik (on the island of Krk), and Beli, Lubenice, Valun (on the island of Cres).
Except for the very rich sacral literature, there are thousands of other documents proving that the Glagolitic alphabet was also used in the administration and in private communication.
The oldest known Croatian nonliturgical verses (10 poems) are from 1380, written in cakavian dialect in the Glagolitic collection Code Slave 11, which is now held in Bibliothéque Nationale, Paris.
The
famous Czech king Charles IV of Luxemburg built a Glagolitic convent
Emaus (na Slovaneh) in Prague in 1347, where eighty Croatian Benedictines
from the island of Pasman and Senj were invited. It is remarkable that
the convent is not far from the famous
Charles University, built the next year, in 1348 (Charles IV also founded
the
University
of
Vienna in 1365). One of the Glagolitic books from this convent (Emaus)
in Prague came to Reims in 1574, where for centuries the French kings
(Charles IX, Henri II, Louis XIII, Louis XIV) were sworn in by putting
their hands on this holy book, known under the name Texte du Sacre
or Évangéliaire de Reims. This Glagolitic book was
written in 1395, and represents a copy of an older Croatian book, written
probably in Omisalj. In fact, the Glagolitic book was bound together
with a Cyrillic book which is of the Ukrainian (Ruthenic) provenance,
written
in Kiev, and dates from the 12th century (the Cyrillic
part has 16 leaves, and the Glagolitic part has 31 leaves). The book
was ornamented with gold, precious stones and relics, and according to
[Dolbeau], p 26-27, probably calligraphed on the island
of Krk or in a Czech monastery. These Dolbeau's pages are available
at [Studia
Croatica].
The French kings were sworn in with the Glagolitic book with
the following words:
Precious stones, relics, and a part of the true Cross disappeared from the cover of the book during the French revolution. See [Gregory Peroche], p. 62.
Let us cite the following passage from [Castellan, Vidan, p. 31]:
..Selon divers récits, l'Évangéliaire aurait servi lors du sacre des rois de France, notamment ceux de Francois II et Charles IV, puis d'Henri II, Lous XIII et Louis XIV qui "posèrent la main sur son texte en pronoçant la formule du serment" (L. Paris).
In 1485/46 a French pilgrim Gheorge Langherand wrote that in Zadar he heard a "Sclavonic" sermon, that is, a Croatian Glagolitic mass. In 1549 a French Franciscan and cosmograph Andre Thevet noted the prayer "Oce nas" (Our Father) in Croatian language. See [Raukar], p. 360.
According to the renowned Czech linguist Nemec, the influence that the Croatian glagolites in Prague had on the formation of orthography of the Czech language was "neither big nor negligible". The Polish king Vladislaw II Jagiello also opened a Glagolitic convent in Krakow (Kleparz) in 1390, where the Glagolitic priests were active for almost 100 years. His wife Jadviga was of the Croatian descent.
As a young man Charles IV visited for several days the Croatian coastal town of Senj in 1337, when he was only 21. In this important Glagolitic center, with the unique Roman Catholic cathedral where only the Glagolitic liturgy in Croatian Churchslavonic language had been served (instead of Latin rite), he made friends with the nobleman Bartolomej Frankapan. Frankapan supplied him with military escort on his journey to Tirol, where he was to meet his brother.
There exist even earlier important traces of cultural contacts between Czechs and Croats, going back to 10th and 11th centuries. If you visit Prague, we recommend you to see the famous monastery in Sazava, just 60 km from Prague. There you can find the "Croatian room", describing in detail the presence of the Croatian glagolites in Czechia. For additional information see here.
It is worth noting that the famous Czech lexicographer Bartolomej z'Hlouce, better known as Kloret (14/15th centuries), wrote his Latin - Czech dictionary where Latin words are translated into Czech, while words of the Greek or Hebrew origin are translated - into Croatian! For example: sanctus -> svat, hagios -> svet.
The 14th century Czech philosopher Jan z'Holesova wrote in his
tractate about the religious song "Hospodine, pomiluj ny" (= "God,
have mercy on us", sung even today), that it contains many Croatian
words (like hospodine = gospodine). Moreover, he even states that the
Czech language and nation stem from the Croats: ...nos Bohemi et genere
et lingua originaliter processimus a Charvatis, ut nostrae chronicae dicunt
seu testantur, et ideo nostrum boemicale ydioma de genere suo est charvaticum
ydioma..., see [Hercigonja, Povijest hrv.
knjiz. II, p. 63].
A Czech chronicler Pulkava from 14th century
(died in 1380) mentions that "to this day bishops, as well as priests, serve the Holly Mass and
other rituals in their slavic language in archbishoprics and provinces
of Split, Dubrovnik and Zadar." See [Strgacic].
The oldest known Croatian Glagolitic Bible is mentioned already in 1380 in a document from the Zadar archives which mentions "...una Biblia in sclavica lingua", see [Runje, O knjigama..., and his article in [Iskoni bje slovo, p 58, and Grbin's paper, p 116]. Unfortunately, we do not know if the Bible is preserved. From the same archives there is another testimony written in 1389, mentioning "unus libear Alexandri paruus in letter sclaua... Item unus Rimancius scriptus parrtim in latino, partin in sclauo".
An existing Glagolitic Bible is mentioned by the Italian scholar Giovanni Batista Palatino in his book from 1545.
We also know of another handwritten Croatian Glagolitic Bible prepared by Nikola Mojzes from the island of Cres. We know this from Primoz Trubar's foreword to Stipan Konzul's 1557 translation of the New Testament, see [Jembrih]. A Glagolitic Bible in possession of Bernardin Frankapan in the beginning of 16th century is mentioned in [Bratulic, Leksikon..., p. 150], and that were no news about its destiny. Was this the Zadar Glagolitic Bible?
A Croatian Glagolitic Bible had existed in the town of Beli on the island of Cres, according to a source from 1480 (see [Hercigonja, Povijest hrvatske knjizevnosti 2, p 84]). An inventory from 1624, written in Italian, describes the book as follows: "Una biblia, in schiavo in bergamina". According to [Stefanic, Determinante hrvatskog glagolizma, p 27], the minutes of visitations from 1579 and 1609 mention a Croatian Glagolitic Bible in Omisalj on the island of Krk. Many thanks to dr. Vesna Stipcevic for this information.
A Croatian Glagolitic Missal written in the
It has been shown that very early systematic redaction of Croatian Church Slavonic Bible had existed already in the 12th century, see [J. Rienhart].
A Croatian Glagolitic Dominican priest Beniamin
de Croatia, born probably in Split, participated in the preparation
of Gennadij's Bible, the oldest Russian Bible (finished in 1499).
He was the chief collaborator of the Novgorod Archbishop Gennadij, where
he
spent
about 20 years (~1490-1510), at that time the capital of Russia. Beniamin
translated large portions from the Latin text of Vulgata into Russian
(e.g. the Book of Macabians, the Ezra sermons and some other). It is
therefore not surprising that some elements of the Croatian language
can be traced
in this oldest Russian Bible. Beniamin translated also other western
books into Russian. Until his arrival Russia was in contact almost
exclusively
with Byzantine culture. See [Gregory Peroche], p. 69.
I would like to thank academician Eduard Hercigonja for
bringing my attention to Beniamin. See [Horvat,
p. 17], and an article by
academician Zarko Dadic
The Missal of Prince Novak from 1368 is considered as a rare and valuable monument of Croatian Glagolitic cultural heritage. It is held in the Austrian National Library in Vienna. The book was written in Krbava (now a part of Lika). Many specialists say that this is the most beautiful Glagolitic book. Facsimile edition is planned to be published in the near future in Austria.
Probably the most interesting Glagolitic book is a
liturgical book called Missal of Hrvoje, written in 1404 by a Glagolitic
scribe Butko. It has 94 beautiful
illuminations, 380 colourful initials (some of them
in gold), and many more small initials. Some initials contain architectural elements of
the city of Split. The book
has been kept in the Library of the Turkish sultans (Topkapi Saray) in
Constantinople since the 16th century. Once bound in
precious covers, from 19th century Hrvoje's Missal is in leather
binding. It is written in two columns on
488 pp (22.5x31 cm), and contains also some music
notation.
Some outstanding specialists (like Petar Runje and Eduard Hercigonja) believe that Hrvoje's missal was very probably written in Zadar, by a nobleman Butko pok. Budislava (i.e. son of late Budislav), born in the town of Nin, who lived in Zadar since the end of 14th century, see Runje's paper in [Iskoni bye slovo, p. 63]. Zadar at that time is a city of high European culture, see here.
Missale
Hervoiae ducis Spalatensis Croatico-Glagoliticum
(yellow details on are made of golden leaves;
note a nice strawberry at
the bottom of the above photo)
Hrvoje Vukcic Hrvatinic was the duke of Bosnia, a Croat who belonged to Krstyans (members of the Bosnian Church), a Christian religious sect about which we still know very little. Hrvoje also left us another very interesting book, Missal for Krstyans, written in the Croatian Cyrillic Script (ikavian dialect) by Hval in 1404, which is now kept in the University Library in Bologna. This beautiful book is a translation from the Glagolitic original. Moreover, Glagolitic letters can be found on two places.
According to Croatian researcher Josip Hamm, members of the Bosnian Church (Krstyans) particularly appreciated the Glagolitic Script: all the important Bosnian Church books (Nikoljsko evandjelje, Sreckovicevo evandelje, the Manuscript of Hval, the Manuscript of Krstyanin Radosav, etc.) are based on Croatian Glagolitic Church books.
Due to testimonies of Ivan Zovko written in 1899 we also know that Croatian women in Bosnia - Herzegovina had an old custom to embroider Crotian Glagolitic letters.
Here are some of very interesting Croatian Glagolitic monuments from Bosnia and Herzegovina that I scanned:
- two inscriptions carved in stone tablet found in the vicinity of Banja-Luka
(Slatina) from 1471:
- se pisa t(?) i l, ... ("this was written by...", a typical Croatian expression)
- se pi(s)a a? i (reference for both monuments is: [Poviest], see also [Fucic, Glagoljski natpisi -> Slatina]).
- from the Manuscript of Krstyanin Radosav, 15th century (a Glagolitic page from the book written in Croatian cyrillic; the book contains also Croatian Glagolitic Azbuka).
t is worth mentioning that some Russian monks had been using
the Glagolitic as a secret Script. The latest known case dates back to
the 17th century. Even today some children in Croatia use it for the same
purpose. And some of my students as well...
The first
Croatian printed book in Glagolitic letters appeared as early as 1483,
only 28 years after Gutenberg's Bible, 6 years after the first printed
book in Paris and Venice, one year before Stockholm, 58 years before Berlin
and 70 years before Moscow. It was a Missal (440 pp, 19x26 cm),
unfortunately it is not known where it was printed. The Croatian Glagolitic
Script was the fifth to appear in the history of European printing, very
soon after the Latin, Gothic, Greek and Hebrew scripts.
Eleven preserved copies of the first Croatian incunabulum are kept
in
- The Library of Congress in Washington,
- in the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg,
- in the National Library in Vienna,
- in Apostolic Library in the Vatican (two copies),
- and in Croatia (six copies).
The first incunabulum printed in the Croatian language
and in the Latin Script was the Lectionary of Bernardin of Split,
published in Venice in 1495. There is no doubt that it was created on
the basis of earlier Glagolitic lectionaries.
Glagolitic books were printed not only in Croatia (Kosinj, Senj, Rijeka), but also in Venice, which had two Glagolitic churches at that time, and in Rome. Early Croatian printing becomes even more fascinating if we consider that at that time (by the end of the 15th century) invasions of the Ottoman Empire began. We know that the Croats participated in preparation of as many as 150 incunabula in Croatia and western Europe in the period between 1474 and 1500 (i.e. books printed during the earliest period of printing, 1455 - 1500).
There are altogether 71 printed Croatian glagolitic editions in the period from 1483 till 1812 (the so called old-printed glagolitic editions, which do not include Parcic 1893 and several later editions, named so by [Kruming] - in Russian: staropecatnye glagoliceskie knigi). According to Kruming's classification, there are
- 6 incunabulae (15th century),
- 13 from the first half of 16th century,
- 16 from the second half of 16th century,
- 8 from the 17th century,
- 27 from the 18th century,
- 1 from the 19th century (1812).
- Kosinj, 1 (Kosinj breviary from 1491),
- Senj, 7 (1494-1508),
- Rijeka, 6 (1530-31),
- Bologna, 1 (1492, lost incunabulum), 1,
- Venice, 12 (1493-1561),
- Rome (The Vatican), 29 (1628-1812)
- Tübingen, 13 (protestant editions, 1561-1565),
- Nürenberg, 2 (protestant editions, 1561-1565).
Let us mention the name of Dobric Dobricevic
(Boninus de Boninis de Ragusia), Ragusan born on the island of Lastovo, 1454-1528,
who worked as a typographer in Venice, Verona, Brescia. His last years
he spent as the dean of the Cathedral church in Treviso. His bilingual
(Latin - Italian) editions of "Aesopus moralisatus, Dante's "Cantica"
and "Commedia del Divino" were printed first in Brescia in 1487, and then
also in Lyon, France. We know of about 50 of his editions, the greatest
number belonging to the period of 1483-1491 that he spent in Brescia -
about 40. Croatia is in possession of 19 of his editions in 30 copies.
The greatest number of his editions is in possession of the British Museum,
London (22).
Another Croat, known as Jacques Moderne, born in
Buzet (15th century), Istria, printed about 50 music booklets in Lyon,
France.
ccording to the views of most Slavic scholars, the Glagolitic
Script was created by St. Cyrill in the second half of the 9th century.
Not all scholars agree on this point. Some of them believe that it must
have existed earlier, and that it had a natural development over a much
longer period. In any case, some of its letters are quite close to the
corresponding ones from very old oriental scripts: South-Semitic, Samaritan
(an old Hebrew Script), the Cretan linear A and B, Armenian and others.
Some are of the opinion that the appearance of this Script in this part
of Europe was due to extensive migrations from the East. The question
of the origins of the Glagolitic Script seems to be still a difficult
open problem. In the earliest period it also existed in Ukraine, Bulgaria
and Macedonia, but only until the 12th century, when the Cyrillic Script
(which is essentially a Greek Script) became predominant.
The Glagolitic Script began
to acquire a new, angular form in the 12th century, usually referred
to as the Croatian Script. The round
form was also present on earliest Croatian Glagolitic monuments. Let
us list more than 30 of the most important Croatian Glagolitic documents
written in the round Glagolitic or round/angular Glagolitic in the earliest
period (11th and 12th centuries). First those written on parchment:
- the first of the Kiev Folia - which has been written in the Dubrovnik region (11th century), as proved by dr. Agnezija Pantelic;
- Sinai folia from 11th century, used in the Dubrovnik region, see dr. Agnezija Pantelic in [Badurina, pp. 101-111] and [O Kijevskim i Sinajskim...],
- the Vienna Folia (11th century), (see the photo on the right),
- the Glagolita Clozianus (11th century),
- the Budapest fragments (11/12th centuries),
- the Grskovic fragment of Apostle (12th century),
- the Mihanovic fragment of Apostle (12th century),
- the Baska ribbons (12th century),
- the Ljubljana homiliary, fragment of a breviary, (12th century),
- the Split fragment (12/13th centuries),
- the muniment of the `famous Dragoslav', (parchment or paper, preserved in later transcript) January 1, 1100, the earliest mention of Vrbnik and Dobrinj on the island of Krk,
- Vrbnik fragments (1 and 2) of a church book, 12th century, (see Ivan Bercic's "Citanka staroslavenskog jezika", 1864, Prague, or Vjekoslav Spincic's "Crtice iz hrvatske knjizevne kulture Istre", 1926, reprinted by KS, Zagreb 1984),
- the Vrbnik fragment of a breviary, 12th century (ibid.)
- the Krakov fragment, 12th century (see Eduard Hercigonja, his article in [Croatia and Europe], volume I, p 390])
- the Selce fragment, 12th century?,
see Josef Vajs,
As shown by dr. Agnezija Pantelic, Kiev and Sinai folia were used used in the Dubrovnik bishopric by the end of 11th century (see [O Kijevskim i Sinajskim...]. The rest are 18 inscriptions from the 11-12th centuries, carved in stone in the round or the round/angular Glagolitic. It is of interest to stress that Glagolitic monuments carved in stone exist only among the Croats (in today's Croatia and parts of BiH), nowhere else.
- the Valun tablet (11th century; according to dr. Marica Cuncic from 10th century, personal info.),
- the Plomin tablet (11th century; according to dr. Marica
Cuncic from 10th century),
- the Krk tablet (11th century; according to dr. Marica Cuncic from 10th century),
- the Konavle fragment,
(1060), discovered in the region of Konavle south of Dubrovnik in
1997,
- the Zupa Dubrovacka fragment (10th
or 11th century), found in Zupa dubrovacka near the city of Dubrovnik in
2006 (see [Zeravica])
- the Baska tablet (end of 11th century),
- the Baska fragments (end of 11th century), remains of the second
Baska tablet,
- the Senj tablet (end of 11th century),
- the Kijevci fragment (11/12th centuries), north - western Bosnia,
- the Kukuljevich tablet (1095), lost, but its content is known (western Slavonia, between Lipovljani and Novska);
- the Brodski Drenovac stone inscriptions, western Slavonia, according to my estimate the oldest parts belong to 12th century; proof: trapesoidal yat appearing on several places, vaulted Glagolitic D with two eyes, the famous triangular A as on the Baska tablet (on a stone tablet in the church of Sv. Dimitrije, obivously transferred from an older church);
- the Grdoselo fragment (11/12th centuries),
- the Supetar fragment (St. Peter in the Wood, Istria, 12th century),
- the Knin fragment (11/12th centuries),
- the Plastovo fragment (11/12th centuries),
- the Hum graffitto (12th century),
- the Roc abecedarium (approx. 1200),
- the Humac tablet (12th century), Herzegovina.
It is possible that the following monuments should be added to the above list:
- the Marian Evangel (end of 10th century; its provenance is still not clear - Bulgarian specialists think it is of the Bulgarian origin),
- the Paris Glagolitic abecedarium (sometimes called "Bulgarian" in the literature),
- the München abecedarium,
- the Rudina inscription (12th century, western Slavonia).
- the Sveti Kriz fragment (12-13th century) found near Trsat, Rijeka, in 2004.
Source: [Dekovic, Svetokrizki odlomak]
The above list shows that the name ``Bulgarian Glagolitic'' or ``Macedonian Glagolitic'' for the oldest form of the Glagolitic Script is not fully justified.
Investigations of the oldest forms of the Glagolitic Script performed by Dr. Marica Cuncic in her Ph.D. thesis (1985) have led to the discovery of triangular form of the Glagolitic (with triangular shapes occurring in most of the letters), dating from the 9th and 10th century. Its remnants can be found in the Croatian Glagolitic inscriptions - for example on the Valun tablet, Krk tablet, and Plomin tablet (from the islands of Cres, Krk and Istrian peninsula respectively, all from 10th century according to dr. Cuncic), and also on some other oldest Croatian Glagolitic monuments. By transforming the triangles into circles the round type has developed. All three forms can be seen on the Baska Tablet (Bascanska ploca), also in handwritten books as well as in printed books. Hence, the Glagolitic script evolved from the triangular form:
- Triangular Glagolitic (9-10th centuries),
- Round Glagolitic (11-12th centuries),
- Angular Glagolitic (13-19th centuries).
Several outstanding European scholars mention Croatian Glagolitic script in their books already in 16th and 17th centuries:
It is interesting that a table of
the Glagolitic Script was included as early as in 1664 in a book prepared
by Richard Daniel and published in London. It represents a catalogue
of various Scripts in use in the Christian world. The Glagolitic Script
presented there is called expressly the Croatian hand or Alphabetum
Charvaticum. The book contains also the table of Croatian glagolitic quick-script, which
Daniel calls Sclavorum Alphabetum, and Croatian
- Bosnian cyrillic (many thanks to Professor Ralph
Cleminson for this information). The book is entitled Daniels Copy-Book: or, a Compendium of the most usual hands of England, Netherland, France, Spain and Italy, Hebrew, Samaritan, Caldean Syrian, Aegypitan, Arabian, Greek, Saxon, Gotik, Croatian, Slavonian, Muscovian, Armenian, Roman, Florentine, Venentian, Saracen Saracen, Aethiopian, and Indian characters; with all the hands now most in mode and present use in Christiendom... See [Franolic]. Here are two parts of the title page of Daniel's Copy-Book: 
Still earlier, in
1545 in Rome, an Italian encyclopaedist Giovanni Batista
Palatino presented the Glagolitic Script in the second edition of
his book Libro Nouvo (Libro nel qual s'insegna a
scrivere ogni sorte lettera, antica et moderna...), among 29 scripts that he designed for printing.
He claims the Glagolitic (which he calls
Buchuizza -
bukvica) to be created by St. Jerome,
and "different from all other existing Scripts". He
also mentions that there are numerous breviaries and
missals written in the glagolitic, including the Glagolitic Bible (...et anco la
Biblia). In the book a Croatian cyrillic is also
exhibited, with the inscription on the tombstone of the Bosnian Queen
Katarina (15th century).
Luca Orfei created a set of Croatian glagolitic
caracters in Rome in 1589 (Caratteri glagolitici disegnati in pietra e
fatti intagliare in rame da Luca Orfei, Roma, 1589, nr
94). For more information see the monograph "Tre Alfabeti
per gli Slavi", 1985,
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana.- Also a renowned French polyhistorian and encyclopaedist Guillaume
Postel included a table of this script (which he calls Alphabetum
Hieronymianum seu Dalmaticum, aut Illiricum) in his book Linguarum
duodecim characteribus differentium alphabetum ([pdf]
at Bibl. Nationale, Paris) published in 1538. Here is Postel's Glagolitic
table: [pdf].
In 1591 an Italian scholar Angelo Rocca (founder of Angelica
Library at Rome) wrote a book where Glagolitic Script
is included (A. Rocca: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana a
Sixto V... translata, Roma, 1591: Alfabeto glagolitico).- Mavro Orbini, Croatian historian and Benedictine priest, in his book Il regno de gli Slavi, Pesaro 1601, provided the description and the table of the Croatian Glagolitic script (called Buchuiza) and of the Cyrillic (called Chiuriliza). However, one has to be very cautious with interpretations of its content (see [Gavran, IV]). We mention in passing that he also issued Ljetopis popa Dukljanina, one of the oldest Croatian literal texts and historiographical chronicles, dating from 12th century. Orbini's other work concerning the history of Bulgarians represents the beginnings of modern historigraphy of this nation.
- A small table of the twelve Glagolitic and Cyrillic letters was provided by Ivan Tomko Mrnavic in his book Nauk Karstianski (Christian science, published in Latin and Croatian languages in left and right columns respectively), Rim, 1708.
- The French Encyclopedie by Diderot and D'Alambert from 1751 has a table and a short description of the Glagolitic script, called Ilyrien ou Hieronimite (in section Alphabets anciens). This enabled wide European cultural circles to be better acquainted with this exotic script (...Les caracteres illyriens sont singuliers et on y remarque trés peu de rapport avec les alphabets que nous connaissons...). For more information see [Hercigonja: Na temeljima hrvatske knjizevne kulture, pp 49-56].
- A short note about Croatian Glagolitic and Cyrillic (see below) can be found in Viaggio in Dalmazia by Alberto Fortis, Venice 1774. The book is also known to have brought the famous poem of Asanaginica to European public. See also at the Croatian Cyrillic web page.
Sto se bili u gori zelenoj?
Al su snizi al so labutove?
Da su snizi vec bi okopnuli;
Labutove vec bi poletili.
Here is the same text in Croatian Cyrillic quickscript (with slight differences):
Sto se bili u gori zelenoi
Al su snizi al su labutovi
Da su snizi vec bi okopnuli
Labutovi vec bi poletili
The Croats possess an extensive collection of more than 800 legal documents, statutes etc., written in the vernacular between 1100 and the end of 16th century - more than any other Slav nation. This extremely important collection of muniments called Acta Croatica (or listine hrvatske) represents a rich source for the study of the Medieval Croatian language. Most of the documents are written in Glagolitic, some also in Croatian Cyrillic and Latin. "Acta Croatica" is to be published by the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts. The first two incomplete editions were published in 1863 and 1898.
The Croatian Glagolitic Script has hundreds of extraordinary ligatures, resembling real buildings, connecting two, three and sometimes even four or five letters. They had been in extensive use in both handwritten and printed books, and especially in the Croatian Glagolitic quick-script. The Brozich breviary alone, which is a printed book (1561), contains as many as 250 different ligatures. The Croatian Glagolitic Script has very probably more ligatures than any other script in history.
The broken ligatures created by Blaz Baromic (14/15th centuries) represent a unique phenomenon in the history of European printing. The idea was to add one half of a letter to another. This possibility arose from the architecture of Glagolitic letters. Broken ligatures appear in two incunabula: the Baromic breviary printed in Venice in 1493, and the Baromic missal printed in the Croatian city of Senj in 1494. When looking at their pages, one has the impression as if they are handwritten. It is fascinating that the Senj printing house had been active despite the onslaughts of the Turkish Ottoman Empire.
We know of altogether five
Croatian Glagolitic incunabula, whose samples are held in Zagreb, Washington, the Vatican,
St Petersburg, Schwarzau, München, Budapest, Venice, Sibiu (Roumania),
plus one lost incunabulum (from 1492, written by Matej Zadranin). In the
period between 1483 and 1561 altogether 21 titles of
printed Glagolitic
books were issued. The lost 1492 incunabulum (Ispovid opcena) was printed
in Bologna, as we know from the note written in the Tkon collection from
¨1520.
esides of city of Senj, Zadar was also an
important Glagolitic
center during centuries. It is interesting that in numerous Zadar churches
- St Marija, St Donat, St Stjepan, St Mihovil and other - also the Glagolitic
mass was served besides Latin. The same is true even for the Zadar cathedral
of St Stosija. See [Runje].
Thousands of books were printed in the Croatian Glagolitic and some in the Croatian Cyrillic Script during the past centuries, many of them with the generous help of Croatian Protestants who were active in Wittenberg and Urach in Germany in the 16th century. About thirty books were printed in 25,000 copies between 1561 and 1565, 300 of which have been preserved. On the front page of the Glagolitic Cathecismus prepared by the Croatian Glagolitic priest Stipan Konzul from Istria and printed in the German city of Tübingen in 1561, it is explicitly stated to be written in the Crobatischen Sprach (Croatian language). It is interesting that several editions were printed for Italians living in Istria (of course, in Italian and in the Latin script).
The last Croatian Glagolitic book (Missal) was printed in Rome in 1905.
It is little known that a rescript of Austrian-Hungarian King Ferdinand I (1515-1564) granted the Burgenland Croats in Austria, who had to escape before the Turks, the right to choose their own priests who practiced God's service in Croatian vernacular language, and with holly books written in the Glagolitic. This privileges had been cancelled after his death, and since 1569 the Glagolitic was officially forbidden in Croatian parishes in Burgenland in Austria (Gradisce). See Miroslav Vuk-Croata: Hrvatske Bozicnice, HKD Sv. Jernoma, Zagreb 1995, p. 167.
The Glagolitic alphabet represents maybe the most interesting cultural monument of Croatia. Our Glagolitic books (written and printed) and other Glagolitic monuments are scattered in many national libraries and museums of the World, in as many as 25 countries, in about 60 cities outside Croatia:
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The
New York Missal, 1400-1410 written in the region of Zadar or Lika-Krbava,
now in the possession of the Pierpont Morgan
Library in New York. Reprinted
by Verlag Otto Sagner Verlag (Munich) in 1977 with an introduction by
Henrik Birnbaum (USA).
PROVENANCE: Zadar or Lika-Krbava region. Frederick North,
fifth Earl of Guilford (1766-1827), with his bookplate; his sale, Evans,
1830, bought by Thorpe for Sir Thomas Phillips. The underbidder was probably
Sir Frederic Madden, for the British Museum. Phillips paid the colossal
price for this manuscript at the Guilford sale, and considered it one
of his chief treasures. It was often produced at his "desserts of manuscripts"
for the admiration of visitors. This codex was considered by Sir Thomas
Phillips to be one of his chief treasures. In 1966 it was bought by the
Pierpont Morgan Library, New York. For more information
see Croatian Glagolitic in the USA, [Birnbaum], and a monograph (extended
doctoral dissertation) written by Andrew Corin: The New York Missal:
A Palaeographic and Phonetic Analysis, 272 pp, 1991, UCLA, Los Angeles,
USA. Corin's analysis shows that the book was written by
at least 11 scribes, members of a large, unknown
glagolitic scriptorium.
edieval religious plays were performed in Croatian cities and
towns on the squares in front of churches, like in Western Europe. The
first secular dramas were presented in Zagreb and Vukovar as early
as the 14th century (in the Croatian language, written in the Latin Script).
Some of the earliest preserved stage instructions written in the Glagolitic
Script come from the island of Pasman near Zadar.
You can see more about some outstanding Croats in the Middle ages who used the Glagolitic Script:
pelling of Glagolitic Letters, with the corresponding
numerical values, according to George d'Esclavonie (Juraj iz Slavonije,
~1355-1416), Glagolitic priest and university professor on Sorbonne in
Paris (his manuscripts are held in the Municipal library in Tours,
France;
in his accompanying text he wrote:
Istud alphabetum est
Chrawaticum -This is a Croatian Alphabet):
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Please, note well that Glagolitic letters appear naturally in groups of nine: first we have nine glagolitic letters representing 1, 2,..., 9 (az - zemla), then 10, 20,..., 90 (izhe - pokoi), then 100, 200,..., 900 (r'ci - ci), and finally thousands, which start with 1000 (ccrv). It is natural to assume, following this scheme, that the prothoglagolitic had nine values for thousands, and not only five (ccrv, sha, jer, jat, jus, jest-je): 1000, 2000,..., 9000. In other words, the prothoglagolitic seems to have had altogether four groups of nine letters:
Information by mr. Dario Tikulin, amateur from Zadar, who has his own reconstruction of three letters in Croatian glagolitic for special sounds, which went out of written practice long ago. Mr. Tikulin also informed me that Simun Kozicic Zadranin (or Benja; around 1460-1536) in his Glagolitic book Knjižice od žitja rimskih arhireov i cesarov printed in Rijeka in 1531, used the Glagolitic jus in the meaning of the number 5000 (on p 3, line 5 from below). Here it is
...od
slozenija mira *Jus*R*P*Z* (i.e. "...4199 from the creation of the world")
Simun Kozicic Zadranin
(= Simun Kozicic of Zadar), bishop of Modrus, Knjizice od
zitija rimskih arhiereov i cesarov (a part of the title page)
One of preserved manuscripts of George de Sorbonne is held in the Municipal Library of Tours, France. It contains standard prayers like:
in beutiful Glagolitic handwriting, and with his translation into Latin. He refers to Istria as his Croatian homeland: Istria eadem patria Chrawati. My deepest gratitude go to academician Franjo Sanjek and dr. Dragica Malic for their studies about George (Juraj), and for facsimiles.
You can see a fragmentary, yet impressive list of the most important Glagolitic monuments over the centuries (in Croatian).
Jewels of the Croatian glagolitic culture:
It is generally believed, even by specialists, that the last letter of Croatian Glagolitic is Jus. However, this is not true. There is (at least) one more letter, coming after Jus, which is Jest - je (as spelled by George de Sorbonne). Ten important Croatian Glagolitic abecedariums (they contain 33 - 34 letters) confirm this:
- The Roc abecedarium (about 1200),
- Pasman abecedarium (Pasman breviary, 14th century),
- two Lovran abecedariums (Lovran is a town on the Istrian peninsula), see [Fucic, pp 238 and 240],
- two Glagolitic abecedariums of Juraj from Slavonia (George d'Esclavonie or George de Sorbonne), held in France, around 1400,
- Two Glagolitic abecedariums of Bosnian Krstyanin Radosav from 1443, see one of them
- Psalter of Simun Kozicic Benja, printed in 1531 in Rijeka,
- Glagolitic primer from 1527, printed in Venice.
Until 14th century in Croatian glagolitic alphabet Yat was on position 26 (with numerical value 800) and Shcha on position 31. By the end of 14th century they change their positions, so that since then it was Scha that had numerical value 800 instead of Yat. See [Fucic, Glagoljski natpisi p.14], and also [Fucic, Brojevi u glagoljici].
An important personality in the history of Glagolitic script is Dragutin Antun Parcic, a 19th century lexicographer, linguist and Glagolitic priest.
Places to visit in Croatia, possessing Glagolitic monuments:
- permanent Exhibition of the Glagolitic Script (Izlozba glagoljice) in Rijeka, which we strongly recommend to you (prepared by academician Branko Fucic and prof Vanda Ekl; address: Dolac 1, near Korzo in the center, 10-13, 18-20, every day except Sunday and Monday).
- the Alley of Glagolites (Aleja glagoljasa) joining the cities of Roc and Hum in northern Istria (7 km). We recommend that you stop in the village Bernobici near Hum, where there is a Glagolitic lapidarium. Don't miss seeing Roc and Hum - the smallest city in the world!
- permanent Exhibition of the Glagolitic Script in a Franciscan convent of St. Paul on the beautiful island of Galevac (also called Skoljic), near the town of Preko on the (much larger) island of Ugljan (close to Zadar). Contact address: dr. fra Bozo Sucic, Samostan sv. Pavla, 23273 Preko, Croatia. Also an interesting annual International art workshop "Jadertina" is held on Skoljic.
- Glagolitic lapidarium in Valun on the island of Cres,
- The exotic city of Vrbnik on the island of Krk.
- the Baska tablet (Bascanska ploca, replica) in the church of St. Lucy in Baska on the island Krk.
- Blaca, a remote hermitage built on cliffs on the island of Brac, is indeed a fascinating place. It was founded by Croatian Glagolitic hermits, who fled here from the Turks in the 16th century. The last Glagolitic hermit was Don Niko Milicevic, who was also an astronomer of international reputation, with his published works in such prestigeous journal as "Astornomische Nachrichten" in Vienna, and with rich international correspondence. After his death in 1963 the place was transformed into museum.
- In the village of Gata (which belongs to very old Poljica principality) near Omis, not far from Split, there is a monument to unknown Glagolitic priest, carved by Kruno Bosnjak in 1989.
- Glagolitic path in the village of Gabonjin near Dobrinj on the island of Krk (conceived and realised by Mr Svetko Usalj in 2001).
- and more.
We provide several tables of various types of Glagolitic characters:
- round and angular Glagolitic,
- quick-script and angular Glagolitic (see also Croatian Glagolitic quick-script page),
- some Glagolitic ligatures,
- spelling of Glagolitic letters according to George d'Esclavonie (Juraj iz Slavonije), 14/15th centuries,
- caligraphic letters.
It is very probable that some Glagolitic documents are held in private collections. I would deeply appreciate any such information.
- Glagolitic Breviary of Vitus of Omisalj (1396), written by academician Branko Fucic on the occasion of its 600th anniversary.
- Discovering the Glagolitic Script of Croatia,
Long Room of the Dublin University Trinity College Library, Ireland,
from 20th November 2000 till 20th February 2000. The representative
catalogue with very nice photos and detailed
comments exists. We know of three Glagolitic documents containing texts
of Irish provenance:
- A Croatian Glagolitic miscellany from the first half of 15th century, held in Oxford (Bodleian Library), contains St. Patrick's Purgatory. The Oxford Miscellany also contains Philbert's Vision which originated probably in Latin in England in the 13th century.
- Tundal's vision (Visio Tugdali), an Irish legend from 12th century, is contained in the Petris Miscellany from 1468, the most important Glagolitic collection.
- De Morte Prologus (an imaginary discussion between Man and Death), contained in a Croatian Glagolitic miscellany from 15th century (National and University Library of Ljubljana, Slovenia), and in the Petris Miscellany from 1468.
According to Marin Tadin, Oxford Bodleian Glagolitic Missals (from Canconici collection) have large initials that are of considerable artistic merit.
In 1626 the archbishop of Zadar informed the Congreation de Propaganda Fide that in Dalmatia ther were 113 (hundred and thirteen) catholic parishes in which Glagolitic liturgical books were used. See [Krasic, p. 82].
Glagolitic monuments on the web:
- Relief with the figure of St. Martin, Senj, 1330
- Lintel with Glagolitic inscription, Baska, 1626
- Reliquiary with Glagolitic inscription, Novi, 16th century
Important projects for the future:
- Glagolitic palaeogrpahy (and also Croatian cyrillic);
- Acta Croatica; in Surmin's last 1898 edition
of Acta Croatica which is rather incomplete, we read a 1288 muniment
about Stipan from old Dubrovnik, the Glagolitic bishop of Modrus
in Lika, p. 74); see also [Modrus,
p. 112]. The content of the muniment is here.
As pointed out to me by Mihaela Sokic from Dubrovnik, the Old Dubrovnik (Stari grad Dubrovnik) refers to a Bosnian town north of Sarajevo that had existed also after the fall of Bosnia under the Turks in 1463 (nahija Stari Dubrovnik). This town in Middle Bosnia was founded by merchants from the famous Dubrovnik. See a series of three articles by Perica Mijatovic under the common title "Zla kob starobosanskog grada Dubrovnika," in Stecak, Sarajevo, No 65, No 66, and No 67, 1999, and also Pavao Andjelic [PDF]. - detailed catalogue of the Croatian Glagolitic (nobody knows by how many units the preserved Croatian Glagolitic heritage is represented, not even in thousands: 4000, 5000,...?).
Remarks. Some of the most outstanding Encyclopedias in the world contain errors in the presentation of the Croatian Glagolitic Script. As an illustration, we consider the Encyclopedia Britannica only. There it is stated that our national script has no ligatures. However, there are hundreds of them in handwritten books (and their remains) preserved from the 13th to 16th centuries. Another mistake is that the golden period of the Croatian glagolism falls in the 16th and 17th centuries, which should be corrected to 12-16th centuries. The 16th century represents already the beginning of the fall of this script, which is closely related to the Ottoman occupation of large parts of Croatia, and consequently, the enormous material impoverishment of the Croats. It is also claimed that "The oldest extant secular materials in Glagolitic date from 1309." Such materials have existed only in Croatia, nowhere else. I do not know what secular materials from 1309 Encyclopedia Britannica has in mind. If "secular" means "non liturgical", than the oldest known such material is the muniment of "famous Dragoslav" from January 1, 1100 (yes, eleven hundred) where the towns of Vrbnik and Dobrinj on the island of Krk are mentioned for the first time. It is also claimed that Glagolitic script "is still used, however, in the Slavonic liturgy in some Dalmatian and Montenegrin communities." For Montenegrin communities this is not true. Some of the above mentioned errors have obviously been taken from monographs of a British palaeographer David Diringer, and are still uncritically spread by other scholars. Finally, no mention of the Croatian Cyrillic Script was made in any of the encyclopaediae I consulted so far.
Some of important Crotian glagolitic monuments have been destroyed by Italian irredenta, especially in the period of Italian occupation between 1919 and 1943. In Istria various glagolitic inscriptions were destroyed with sledge and chisel: in Lindar, on the cemetery in Mutovrana, in the parish church of St. Juraj in Plomin, on the Sovinjak belltower, in the Church of St. Antun in Vrh, three glagolitic monuments in Hum (one of them at the very entrance, left of the city gates), and other, see [Zgaljic] p. 39. During the Italian occupation of islands of Losinj and Cres the last Glagolitic priest was Frane Krivicic from Valun. In 1930 the Glagolitic mass was still served in several places on the island of Cres, but in secret. See [Milanovic, pp 88-89].
Aleksandar Belich, a linguist from Belgrade, has been probably the only one who tried to attach the Serbian name to the Croatian Glagolitic ("serbo-croatian" Glagolitic, in 1915 and 1926).
Additional information:
- Obshtezhitie, the webpage for the study of cyrillic and Glagolitic manuscripts and early printed books, maintained by the University of Portsmouth (UK),
- facsimiles of Croatian Glagolitic books (handwritten and printed),
- recent references related to the Croatian Glagolitic and Croatian cyrillic (bosancica).
- List of the most important Glagolitic monuments over the centuries (in Croatian).
- Baska tablet
- Croatian Glagolitic Epigraphy, academician Branko Fucic
- Croatian Glagolitic manuscripts abroad
- Glagolitic heritage related to Lika, Krbava and Senj
- Senjske inkunabule i Senjska tiskara
- Glagoljica u Slavoniji (in Croatian)
- Hrvatski drzavni arhiv (Croatian State Archives) - glagoljica
- What Was the Name of the Glagolitic Seminary in Priko? by Benedikta Zelic Bucan
- The Croatian Language in Liturgy, author Anonymous (signed with initial V.)
- The Croatian Glagolitic Heritage, by Marko Japundzic
- El idioma croata en la liturgia, an article published in Studia Croatica, 1996 3(132) (Buenos Aires)
- Krunidbena glagoljska knjiga u Francuskoj, Darko Zubrinic; available also in Spanish: El libro glagolitico de la coronacion en Francia (translated from Croatian by Joza Vrljicak, Studia Croatica, Buenos Aires)
- Dialogos, Ensemble vocal féminin, Katarina Livljanic (chant glagolitique)
- Staroslavenski institut, Zagreb
- Old Church Slavonic Sample Texts at TITUS
- Mala pocetnica kurzivne glagoljice
- Glagoljica na podrucju Vinodola
- Provided by the British Library, London:
- Sime Ljubic: Borba za glagoljicu na otoku Losinju, 1881.
- Drustvo prijatelja glagoljice (Scripturae Glagoliticae Amicorum Societas), Zagreb
- Mala enciklopedija hrvatske glagoljice
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