Andrija Kačić Miošić

Andrija Kačić Miošić (pronounced [ǎndrija kâtʃitɕ mîoʃitɕ]; 17 April 1704 – 14 December 1760) was a Croatian poet and Franciscan friar, as well as a descendant of the Kačić noble family, one of the oldest and most influential Croatian noble families.

Andrija Kačić Miošić
Andrija Kačić Miošić
Born	(1704-04-17)17 April 1704 Brist, Republic of Venice (now Brist, Croatia)
Died	14 December 1760(1760-12-14) (aged 56)
Occupation	Franciscan friar
Nationality	Croatian
Education	Zaostrog monastery and Buda
Literary movement	Enlightenment
Notable works	Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga (Pleasant Conversation of Slavic People, 1756), a history in verse

Biography

Born in Brist near Makarska, he became a Franciscan friar. He was educated at Zaostrog monastery and Buda, as well as in Osijek. He taught philosophy at Zaostrog and in Sumartin on Brač where he resided from 1745 to 1750, before returning to Zaostrog where he spent the rest of his life.^[1]

His first written work was Elementa peripatethica juxta mentem subtilissimi doctoris Joannis Duns Scoti in 1752, a manual of scholastic philosophy based on the teachings of the Franciscan theologian and philosopher Duns Scotus.^[1][2]

His most important work is A Pleasant Conversation of the Slavic People (Croatian: Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskog, 1756), a history in verse, in which Kačić Miočić, influenced by the ideals of the Enlightenment, tried to spread literacy and modern ideas among common people. The original contained 41 poems while an expanded edition released in 1759 had 136 poems.^[1] It was the most popular book in the Croatian-speaking lands for more than a century. It also played a key role in the victory of the Shtokavian dialect as the standard Croatian language. It contain poems about Skanderbeg, which were basis for the tragedy Skenderbeg written by Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski in the 19th century.^[3] They were also basis for Život i viteška voevanja slavnog kneza epirskog Đorđa Kastriota Skenderbega written by Jovan Sterija Popović in 1828.^[4]

Statue of Andrija Kačić Miošić in Makarska

Using the ten-syllable verse of folk poetry and relying on Mavro Orbini and Pavao Ritter Vitezović, Kačić Miošić narrates and sings about the history of the Slavic peoples from the antiquity to his age.^[2] He, like Ivan Gundulić, describes the Slavic peoples from the Adriatic to the North Sea as one people. The book exalts many heroes from the famous Croatian families of the age of the Ottoman wars. His most important work also contained a lot of references and praise for the Bosnian nation and its historical events.^[2] Since the book includes some important folk poems, many readers considered it a folk songbook.

Pleasant Conversation is mostly didactic in tone and of little artistic value, but later served as a valuable source of historic data and gave inspiration for future Croatian writers.^{[citation needed]}

His other work is a chronicle called Korabljica (1760).^[1]