MAGNIFICAT ANIMA MEA DOMINUM Croatian Reworking and Exegesis by Marko Marulić
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Abstract
In this paper, the author continues his research started in 2009 on the lost Croatian prose texts compiled by Marko Marulić (1450–1524) for his sister Bira (Elvira, Vera), authored by himself and his close friend Frane Božićević. The author analyses the exegesis of Magnificat from Firentinski zbornik [Florentine Miscellany Ms. Ashb. 1582] of this handwritten manuscript preserved in Florence by comparing it to the corresponding printed text of the Latin Bible (1489) from Marko Marulić’s private library, with his own notes and miniature drawings. It is deducted that the author of the exegesis – the manuscript originates from Split – partly takes over, translates, and paraphrases the commentaries of Nicholas of Lyra, published in parallel – verse by verse – with the Latin text from the Bible, owned and annotated by Marulić. Since no other writer from Split of his time possessed nor, furthermore, annotated the Bible, it was concluded that Marulić, along with other copious evidence and indications, is the author of the said exegesis and of Firentinski zbornik. This at last confirms Carlo Verdiani’s (1957) long-contested thesis, attributing the authorship of the compilation of texts to Marulić. This verification has affected a whole range of Croatian prose manuscripts, which should also be attributed to Marko Marulić. In view of the fast-approaching 500th anniversary of the father of Croatian literature’s death (1524–2024), the author's findings face a more demanding Croa-tian philology with major text-critical and editorial challenges.