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Marin Držić (1508 – 1567)
One of Dubrovnik’s
most cherished cultural
icons is Marin Držić,
the sixteenth-century
playwright who was
(as far as we know) the
first person to write
a major drama in the
Croatian language.
Despite writing in an
archaic dialect that
is difficult for modern
audiences to follow,
Držić is the one
Croatian dramatist that
local schoolchildren are
forced to read at least
once in their lives.
Born into a family
of merchants, Držić
s t u d i e d t h e o l o g y
in Siena and it was
here that he came
into contact with early
Renaissance theatre.
After failing to make much of a mark in any post-university
career, however, Držić spent his mid-thirties working
as secretary to Austrian diplomat Count Christoph von
Rogendorf – exposure to the court life of Vienna and
Constantinople providing Držić with plenty of useful plot
ideas. Držić’s most productive period occurred during his
forties, when he wrote a series of comedies and farces, and
at least one tragedy (“Hecuba”), the text of which is now lost.
These plays were performed during the Dubrovnik carnival
season or at the high-society social functions of the local
nobility. Failing to achieve much in the way of either fame or
fortune however, Držić returned to Italy in 1562. Previous
experience of diplomatic intrigues under von Rogendorf
probably left Držić with inflated ideas of his own conspiratorial
abilities, and he hatched a plot to overthrow the Dubrovnik
Republic with help from Italian princes. Ruler of Florence
Cosimo de Medici failed to answer Držić’s letters on the
subject, and the playwright ended a largely frustrated and
unfulfilled life in Venice in 1567.
The cultural heritage of Dubrovnik played a crucial role in
the Croatian national revival of the nineteenth century, when
Renaissance literary gems were dusted off and hailed as
landmarks of artistic achievement. It was seventeenthcentury
poet Ivan Gundulić who initially profited most from
this process of literary archeology, and it wasn’t until the
1930s that people seriously considered putting Drzic’s works
back on the Croatian stage. Since then Držić has become an
important symbol of Dubrovnik’s contribution to European
culture, and his works usually enjoy a central role in the
annual Dubrovnik Festival.
However Dubrovnik has always struggled to make Držić
relevant to foreign visitors and there are no signs of anyone
hitting on the magical formula any time soon. The Marin
Držić House-Museum (see page 35) is a pretty amusing
place to visit but for all the wrong reasons: despite the
relative lack of any meaningful exhibits, visitors are given a
headphone commentary on which hammy actors plod their
way through a series of Držić-penned text, rendered here in
awful English translation. All of which is a great shame when
one considers that Držić is as important to his own language
as Shakespeare and Molière are to theirs.
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Orlando
One o f Dubrovnik’s
best-loved landmarks
is Orlando’s Column,
a pillar in the centre of
busy Luža Square with
a sword-brandishing
k n i g h t s t a n d i n g to
attention on its northern
side. Erected in 1414, it
has always served as
an unofficial symbol of
Dubrovnik’s freedomloving
status – and it’s
here that the Libertas
banner is ritually unfurled
to mark the opening of
the Dubrovnik Festival
every July.
Orlando is the Italian
(and Dubrovnik dialect)
name for Roland, a legendary eighth-century Frankish
knight who died heroically defending a Pyrenean pass
from an army of Saracens. The tale was popularized
by the Chanson de Roland, an eleventh-century
Norman-French poem that was spread across Europe
by wandering troubadours. Preaching chivalrous values
such as loyalty to one’s liege and a readiness to fight
unto the last, the Chanson was hugely popular in courtly
circles and was also useful as a propaganda tool,
encouraging western knights to join the Crusades.
The original Roland was thought to have been a nephew
of the great Frankish Emperor Charlemagne, and his cult
was cultivated by rulers eager to associate themselves
with imperial glamour. Roland’s popularity spread
throughout German-speaking Europe during the reign
of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV, and it was here that
statues of Roland began to catch on in a big way – no
self-respecting city wanted to be left without one. Over
50 statues of the knight sprung up in various locations,
with Dubrovnik being the southernmost city to sprout
an example.
How and why Roland-mania arrived in Dubrovnik remains
unclear. The city was well acquainted with the world of
central Europe (indeed Charles IV’s son Sigismund of
Luxemburg passed through here in 1396), so it’s no
surprise that the knightly cult found expression here too.
Local chroniclers developed the appealing but wholly
improbable theory that Roland himself once visited
Dubrovnik, duelling with a Saracen pirate called Spuzente
and saving the city in the process. Placing a statue of
Roland in a prominent city square was a subtle way of
reminding Dubrovnik’s Ottoman suzerains that the locals
would always identify with Christian Europe rather than
Constantinople.
The statue was knocked over by a storm in 1825, and
lay forgotten in a storehouse until someone thought it
wise to re-erect it in 1878. Since then the angelic-faced
little knight has become the city’s most popular social
focus, presiding over countless chance meetings and
assignations.
www.inyourpocket.com
Winter 2011/2012
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