THE LEGEND OF VLADIMIR AND COSARA IN RAZGOVOR UGODNI NARODA SLOVINSKOGA AND IN ITS LATIN TRANSLATION

Abstract

is article investigates the legend of Duklian prince Ioan Vladimir and Theodora Kosara – the daughter of Bulgarian king Samuil in the book Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga by the Dalmatian writer Andrija Kačić Miošić, as well as in the Latin translation of the book, made by Emerik Pavić. The historical situation on the Balkans during the seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries provoked the growing native writers’ interest towards the past. Many South Slavic authors searched for examples of heroism and greatness of the Slavsin written documents and oral legends. They strived to emphasize the linguistic and cultural affinity between them and included common characters, folklore and legendary motifsin their literary works. The real historical facts and the heroic myths about the might and the unification of the Slavic ethnos in “Pisma od kralja Vladimira” and in the other parts of “Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga” inspired the southern Slavicpeoples and gave them hope that they might be free and powerful again as they had been formerly. The extensive translation in Latin popularized the Bulgarian history and folklore, not only among Slavic, but also among other European nations. The legend of Duklian prince Ioan Vladimir and the Bulgarian princess Theodora Kosara went beyond the times it was created, described and printed.