Andrija Zmajević#Biography

The Zmajević family hailed from Vrba, a village from the region of the Njeguši tribe; when the last members of the Crnojević family left the Principality of Zeta, Nikola Zmajević and his cousins Ivaniš and Vučeta moved to Kotor, at the beginning of the 16th century. There, they quickly converted from Eastern Orthodoxy in favor of Roman Catholicism, by marrying "Latin" women.{{sfn|Zmajević|1996a|p=8}}{{sfn|Živković|2016|p=214}} Becoming appealed and somewhat wealthy, the family acquired property and gained a reputation and a name in Kotor.{{sfn|Zmajević|1996a|p=8}}

Andrija Zmajević was born in Perast, in the Bay of Kotor, at the time part of the Republic of Venice, in late July 1628. His grandmother Anđuša had moved from Kotor to Perast in the early 17th century, after the death of her husband.{{sfn|Zmajević|1996a|p=8}} After finishing the Franciscan primary school in his native town, Andrija Zmajević continued his education in Kotor, before moving to the College for the Propagation of the Faith, in Rome, where he earned a doctorate of philosophy and theology.{{sfn|Babić|2016|p=289}}{{sfn|Djukanović|2023|p=408}} In 1656, back in Perast, he became the town's pastor and the abbot of the monastery of St. George, on the Sveti Đorđe Island.{{sfn|Djukanović|2023|p=408}} In 1664, he became the vicar of the bishopric of Budva, where he remained after being appointed as titular archbishop of Bar in 1671, as the latter city was under Ottoman rule.{{sfn|Djukanović|2023|p=408}}

He collected epic and lyric folk songs and transcribed the works of Dubrovnik poets, notably Ivan Gundulić. His most important theological and historical work is Ljetopis Crkovni (“Church Chronicles”), completed in 1675{{sfn|Babić|2016|p=292}} and illustrated by himself and his countryman Tripo Kokolja. Written in proto-Serbo-Croatian, the book focuses on the South Slavs and records some of their secular history. Zmajević saw them as a single people and hoped that they would eventually unite under the Roman faith, including the Eastern Orthodox Serbs. In particular, the writer greatly admired Saint Sava, whom he incorrectly considered as faihtful to the Holy See.

With the exception of the poem Od pakla, published in Venice in 1727, all his works remained in manuscript during his lifetime, some of which have been lost.{{sfn|Babić|2016|p=292}} Among the most notable are:Poezija Dubrovnika i Boke Kotorske u doba renesanse, baroka i prosvećenosti, Zlata Bojović{{page needed|date=March 2022}}{{sfn|Babić|2016|p=292}}

1. Ljetopis crkovni (“Church chronicles”)
2. Svadja Lazarevih kćeri, Brankovice i Miloševice (“The Quarrel of Lazar's daughters, wife of Branko and wife of Miloš”)
3. Boj Peraški (“The Battle of Perast”); lost
4. Slovinskoj Dubravi (“Of Slavic Dubrovnik”)
5. Tripu Škuri (“Of Tripo Škura”)
6. Od pakla (“From Hell”); lost

Zmajević wrote both in Latin and in the vernacular language, which he called "Slavic" (slovinski){{cite book | title = When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods | author = John V. A. Fine, Jr. | date = 5 February 2010 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wEF5oN5erE0C&pg=PA300 | page = 300 | isbn = 978-0472025602 | access-date = 27 March 2022}} and which he wrote using both Latin and Cyrillic scripts.{{Cite book | url = https://www.yumpu.com/xx/document/read/18381614 | title = Primjeri filantropije u Crnoj Gori do kraja XX vijeka | first = Dragutin | last = Papović | publisher = Fond za aktivno građanstvo | location = Podgorica | year = 2009 | isbn = 978-9940-9210-0-2 | via = YUMPU | language = sh | page = 33 }} He justified his decision to write in Cyrillic script since it was used by the "Illyrian" and overall Slavic world.{{Cite book|url=https://www.rastko.rs/rastko-cg/umjetnost/mpantic-xvi-xviii/xvii.html | publisher = Srpska književna zadruga | via = Project Rastko | first = Miroslav | last = Pantić | title = Knjizevnost na tlu Crne Gore i Boke Kotorske od XVI do XVIII veka | year = 1990 | access-date=2019-07-04 | quote = illyrica elementa B. Cyrili, quibus universa nostra natio utitur, "sveti Ćirilo takođe istomu jeziku učini slova, kojimi ne samo Dalmacija i Srbija, dali Polonija, Moskovija, Rusija, Moldavija, Bulgarija i ostale države na susjedstvu služe se"}}

The Croatian Encyclopedia describes him as a 'Croatian archbishop and writer' and notes that his few remaining works are archived by HAZU.{{cite encyclopedia | url = https://www.enciklopedija.hr/clanak/zmajevic-andrija | language = hr | encyclopedia = Croatian Encyclopedia | title = Zmajević, Andrija | publisher = Miroslav Krleža Institute of Lexicography | year = 2021 | access-date = 26 March 2022}}

{{Reflist}}

• Prednjegoševsko doba, Titograd 1963.{{author missing|date=March 2022}}{{ISBN missing|date=March 2022}}
• {{cite journal |last=Babić |first=Vanda |title=Zmajevići - prilog kulturnoj povijesti Mediterana |journal=Istorijski zapisi |date=2016 |volume=LXXXIX |issue=3-4 |pages=287–303 |language=hr}}
• {{cite book |last=Djukanović |first=Bojka |title=Historical Dictionary of Montenegro |year=2023 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=London |isbn=9781538139141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PgmmEAAAQBAJ}}
• {{cite thesis |type=PhD |last=Živković |first=Zoran D. |date=2016 |title=Mediteranski svet u srpskoj književnosti |trans-title=Mediterranean World in Serbian Literature |publisher=University in Belgrade |language=sr |url=https://nardus.mpn.gov.rs/bitstream/handle/123456789/6463/Disertacija4420.pdf}}
• {{cite book |last=Zmajević |first=Andrija |editor-last=Pižurica |editor-first=Mato |editor-link=Mato Pižurica |title=Ljetopis crkovni |trans-title=Church chronicles |series=Književnost Crne Gore od XII do XIX vijeka |volume=I |date=1996a |publisher=Obod |location=Cetinje |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BJBiAAAAMAAJ |language=sr |oclc=39054095}}
• {{cite book |last=Zmajević |first=Andrija |editor-last=Pižurica |editor-first=Mato |editor-link=Mato Pižurica |title=Ljetopis crkovni |trans-title=Church chronicles |series=Književnost Crne Gore od XII do XIX vijeka |volume=II |date=1996b |publisher=Obod |location=Cetinje |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3IxiAAAAMAAJ |language=sr |oclc=39054095}}

{{Serbian literature}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zmajevic, Andrija}}

Category:Serbian Roman Catholic priests

Category:1628 births

Category:1694 deaths

Category:Republic of Venice poets

Category:People from Perast

Category:Archbishops of Antivari

Category:Serbian male poets

Category:Montenegrin poets

Category:Montenegrin male writers

Category:Roman Catholic writers

Category:Venetian period in the history of Montenegro

Category:Venetian Slavs

Category:17th-century Serbian writers

Category:17th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the Republic of Venice

Category:Montenegrin Roman Catholic archbishops