Andrija Zmajević (Cyrillic: Андрија Змајевић; 6 June 1628 - 7 September 1694) was a Baroque poet, the Archbishop of Antivari and a theologian.

Contents

• 1 Biography
• 2 Work
• 3 Legacy
• 4 References
• 5 Sources

Biography

Zmajević was born in Perast, in the Bay of Kotor, at the time part of the Republic of Venice (now Montenegro) in late July 1628. The Zmajević family hailed from Njeguši; when the last members of the Crnojević family left Principality of Zeta, Nikola Zmajević and his cousins Ivaniš and Vučeta moved to Kotor. Becoming appealed and somewhat wealthy, the family quickly converted from Christian Orthodoxy in favor of Roman Catholicism.

Work

He also collected epic and lyric folk songs and transcribed works of the poets of Dubrovnik, notably Gundulić. His only published work, the song "Od pakla" ("Hell") saw the light of day in Venice in 1727. Almost all of his other works remained in m*cripts. He wrote:

1. Hronika or Ljetopis crkveni (Church Annals or Church Chronicles) illustrated by himself and his countryman Tripo Kokolja.
2. Svadja Lazarevih kćeri, Brankovice i Miloševice ("The Quarrel of Lazar’s daughters, wife of Branko and wife of Miloš")
3. Peraški boj ("The Battle of Perast").
4. Slovinskoj Dubravi (Of Slavic Dubrovnik")
5. Tripu Škuri ("Of Tripo Škura)

Zmajević's 1675 Church Chronicle had recorded much secular history.

Zmajević wrote both in Cyrillic and in Latin scripts. Zmajević called the language in which he wrote "Slavic" (slovinski). He justified his decision to write in Cyrillic script since it was used by the "Illyrian" and overall Slavic world.

Zmajević saw all the South Slavs as the same people and hoped for the Orthodox Serbs to be united in the Roman faith. He praised Saint Sava, while incorrectly depicting him as faithful to Rome.

Legacy

The Croatian Encyclopedia describes him as a 'Croatian archbishop and writer' and notes that his few remaining works are archived by HAZU.

References

Sources

• Prednjegoševsko doba, *ograd 1963.