Korespondencija fra Martin Nedić ‒ Ljudevit Gaj 1839.-1841. Prilog proučavanju odjeka ilirskog pokreta u Bosni i Hercegovini
Correspondence between fr. Martin Nedić and Ljudevit Gaj 1839-1841. A Contribution to the Study of the Reflection of the Illyrian Movement in BH

Summary/Abstract: This paper analyses the contribution of fr. Martin Nedić(1810-1895) to the literature and publicist writing of the Illyrian movement, but not in its entirety, but rather in a relatively short period of time, framed by his two poems: “Razgovor koga vile ilirkinjeimadoše u pramalitje”from 1835 and “Razgovor koga vile ilirkinjeimadoše u pramalitje”from 1841,as well as by his correspondence with LjudevitGaj from 1839 to 1841, which was connected to the manuscripts of the mentioned poems and the problems linked to their publication. Firstly, a broader historical context of the time when Nedić’s conversations were recorded is analysed. Thereby, the authors shortly refer to the political conditions of the time in Bosnia and Herzegovina, marked with continual obstruction of modernization attempts of the central Ottoman government in Istanbul by the agas and beys of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which brought about violence and lawlessness, i.e. the violation of basic human rights of Christians. The authors base their conclusion on relevant historical sources and literature as well as on Nedić’s letters from Bosnia which were published in the Illyrian people’s paper in Zagreb, and two poems of his Conversations. The paper also analyses the causes of a contradictory relation of the Bosnian Franciscans towards the Illyrian movement thereby confirming the thesis according to which the positive attitude of most Franciscans towards Illyrian ideas was the result of the acceptance of the idea about South-Slavic solidarity as the pre-condition for the salvation from the oppressive Ottoman system, and the negative stance of the minority was conditioned by the fact that the bearers of the Great Serbian political options attempted to use the Illyrian programme for the promotion of exclusively Great Serbian aims. The authors attempt to find the answer to the question why are the sources which can document the direct relations between fr. Martin Nedić, as the “first Illyrian of Bosnia” and Ljudevit Gaj, as the leader of the Illyrian movement, so scarce. This was especially reflected in the fact that Gaj did not answer to any of the four Nedić’s letters connected to the publishing of the Conversations. It can be concluded that the reason for this lays in the fact that he Habsburg and Ottoman authorities considered the Illyrian ideas as potentially dangerous for the basic state interests, believing that Illyrism, if it came into connection with the Russian pan Slavism, through Serbia and Montenegro, could have threatened the existence of both Empires. Therefore, Nedić’s articles where not signed, and their authorship was determined only subsequently. At the end of the paper, there is a comparative analysis of the contents of Nedić’s two poems of Conversations from 1835 and 1841, whose Latin transcription, is for the first time followed by a translation into Croatian, with critical apparatus and the interpretation of their formal, content, symbolical and political meaning.

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