The first computer font for the most important Croatian Middle Age legal document from the 13th century
| Our dear friend Nenad Hančić, living in Duesseldorf, Germany, has created a superb new computer font representing the famous Vinodol Code, a very old and important Croatian legal document dating from the 13th century, more precisely, from 1288. This is the first font representing the most important Croatian Middle Age legal document (download font). As we can see, the Vinodol Code was written in Croatian Glagolitc script more than two hundred years before the discovery of America. Congratulations to Nenad Hančić for great job!  Here is an illustration of the font: the word hrvatski (i.e., Croatian, as adjective, with the meaning of Croatian language), in Nenad Hančić’s font and below it is the same word as it appears in the original of the manuscript, which is kept in the National and University Library in Zagreb. |
Vinodol Code from 1288, the earliest known law written in Croatian language, and one of the most important early Croatian legal documents.
It was written in Croatian Glaglagolitic Script, preserved in its transcription from the 16th century.
The original is kept in the National and University Library in Zagreb. It was written more than two hundred years before the discovery of America. 
As we see, Croatian Glagolitic Script is totally different from Latin, Cyrillic and Hebrew Scripts.
In the first row, under three consecutive tildas, one can see the letters called ČRV, SLOVO, ON and less visible OT after them,
which in this case have the meaning of numbers 1000, 200, 80 and 8, that is, the meaning is the year 1288.
The first two lines are: In the Name of God, Amen. In the year of Our Lord 1288, first year of the indiction, the sixth day of the month of January.
Reading the Vinodol Code, for those who know Croatian and the Glagolitic Script.
| Vinodol Code, 1288 One of the earliest and most important Croatian legal documents is The Vinodol Code, very different from the Roman law, written in the Glagolitic alphabet in 1288. It also introduced the institution of witnesses. It was unique in Europe by determining moral protection and integrity of women. The Vinodol Code does not allow torture during legal proceedings, and is considered to be one of the most important documents of medieval Europe. Among the Slav Codes only the Rus’ Code “Pravda” is slightly older (1282). The first Croatian edition of the Vinodol Code was published in Zagreb in 1843. Two of its Russian translations with comments were issued soon after: in Moscow in 1846 and in St. Petersburg in 1878. A translation of the Vinodol Code into Polish appeared in 1856 and into French in 1896 (Jules Preux: La Loi du Vinodol traduite et annotée // Nouv. rev. hist. du droit français et étranger. – 1896). Vinodolski zakon 1288, scrollable book, National and University Library, Zagreb The Statute of Vinodol from 1288, British Croatian Review No. 14, May 1978, in English, with commentaries (Ante Cuvalo web site) Source www.croatianhistory.net |
Croatian Glagolitic Script has hundreds of exotic ligatures, which give this script a special flavor.
Children in Croatia like to use it as a secret script.
Recognizing persons of Croatian descent who have excelled in the practice of law
and/or made an outstanding contribution to the law or legal scholarship.
Formated for CROWN by Darko Žubrinić
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