Johannes Lucius
 | The neutrality of this article is disputed. |
Joannes Lucius (Italian: 'Giovanni Lucio', Croatian: 'Ivan Lučić'; September, 1604 - January 11, 1679, was a historian from Dalmatia. His greatest and most famous work is De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae (The Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia), which includes valuable historical sources, a bibliography and six historical maps.
Life and works
Lucius was born in a noble family in Traù (today Trogir, Croatia), in the Venetian Dalmatia. After some schooling in his hometown, he went to Rome, where he spent two years, and then obtained his Ph.D. in ecclesiastical and civil law in the University of Padua. He returned to Traù and held various offices, but he returned back to Rome in 1654. Here he became a member of the Fraternity of Saint Jerome and then its president. He participated in the work of many scientific academies of his age and wrote to scientists from Dalmatia, Italy and Europe.
He wrote a number of historical works in Italian and Latin. His greatest and most famous work is De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae (The Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia). The book was published after the war of Candia, a critical moment for the Republic of Venice.
In his book Lucius pointed out the difference between the Romance and Slavic Dalmatia, the habits of the people and the cultural borderlines.
It was first printed in Amsterdam in 1666. This book provides an overview of the history of Dalmatia and Croatia from the prehistory to the 15th century. While his predecessors and contemporaries used suppositions as much as facts, Lucius founded his estimates on genuine sources. At the end of the book, he included certain valuable historical sources and a bibliography with his comments. The book had six historical maps. One of these, the historical map Illyricum hodiernum (Illyria Today) was dedicated by Joannes Blaeu, Lucius' publisher, to the Croatian ban Petar Zrinski [1]. Since everyone was looking up to antiquity, the Zrinski believed their ancestors were Roman aristocrats. Lucius showed them that their roots reached back to the famous medieval dukes of Šubić from Bribir.
Lucius participated in the dispute about the authenticity of the text of Trimalchio's Banquet by the Roman satirist Petronius, which had been found in Traù. Although some contemporaries and later historians sometimes resented his cold and pedantic style, it was necessary in a time ripe with uncritical and sloppy works.
He published the history of his hometown and region in Venice Memoriae istoriche di Tragurio, ora detto Trau (Traù in Historical Literature; 1673). He also published a book of Roman inscriptions from Dalmatia, including the inscriptions collected by the famous poet and writer Marko Marulić. Shortly before his death, Lucius prepared the Statute of Traù for printing. He died in Rome, where he was buried in the Church of St Jerome.
Significance
Joannes Lucius was the first Dalmatian historian who critically examined and used historical sources: documents and chronicles, inscriptions and last wills. His historical methodology is far above his time.
He wrote to many famous people from Ragusa, especially Stefano Gradi, the head of the Vatican Library. His numerous letters, revealing him as a man of integrity and a skillful writer, are a valuable fresco of the conditions of his time.
Lucius' work, written in a lapidary and clear style, based on critical considerations, is the cornerstone of the modern historiography about Dalmatia[1]. In Croatia today Lucius is considered the father of modern cotemporary Croatian historiography.