The eminent Albanian author Pjetër Bogdani called himself a Macedonian in 1685

Petar Bogdanov or Albanized Pjetër Bogdani (Italian Pietro Bogdano, born around 1630 in Gur i Hasit near Kukës; died December 1689 in Pristina) was a Catholic Bishop of Shkodra and Archbishop of Skopje and an important author of early Albanian literature.

Pjetër Bogdani - Pietro Bogdano - Petar Bogdanov


His book Cuneus Prophetarum, written in 1685, is regarded as the first significant prose work in Albanian language. The fact that generally receives no attention, on the title page of this work the author calls himself: Petro Bogdano - Macedone.

According to the 'official historiography', Pjetër Bogdani's family belonged to the "narrow elite of the Catholic Albanians", but perhaps one should consider, rather, he was simply a Catholic from Albania. The young Bogdani received his first training in the Franciscan monastery of Tschiprowzi in northwestern Bulgaria. Later he studied at the Illyrian (= Slavic) seminar in Loreto in Italy.



From 1651 to 1654 he worked as a parish priest in the northern Albanian Pulti, after which he studied until 1656 at the seminary of the Propaganda Congregation in Rome, where he earned his doctorate in both philosophy and theology.

On March 6, 1656 he was appointed Bishop of Shkodra and Administrator of the Archdiocese of Antivari. In Shkodra he worked as bishop until 1677, the administration of Antivari he held until 1671. During the Austro-Turkish War, Bogdani had to leave Shkodra. As the head of the Catholics in Albania, he was not without good reason a sympathizer of the Habsburg monarchy. From 1664 to 1669 he lived in the villages of Barbullush and Rjoll near Shkodra.

On November 8, 1677, he succeeded his uncle Andrea Bogdani as Archbishop of Skopje.

His anti-Turkish stance, his high office in the Catholic Church and not least because he was the spearhead of the Christian rebellion in Kosovo in 1690, Pjetër Bogdani had to flee from the Ottoman rulers to Ragusa. From there he went to Venice and Padua for some time.

In Padua Bogdani was kindly received by Cardinal Gregorio Barbarigo, in whose service he had been 22 years earlier. Cardinal Barbarigo was responsible for the affairs of the Catholic Church in the countries of the East at the Curia, and he was interested in the cultures of the Balkans and the Levant. That is why he promoted Bogdani's literary activity and financed the printing of his works.

After Bogdani had his main work Cuneus Prophetarum printed in Padua, he returned to the Balkans in March 1686. There he was committed to the uprising of the Christian residents against Ottoman rule.

When the Austrian army reached Kosovo in the Great Turkish War in 1689, he brought several thousand volunteers to the Habsburg troops. In December 1689, Bogdani died of illness in Pristina and was buried in the local Great Mosque, which was converted back into a church. His grave was later destroyed by Ottoman soldiers and the bones dumped in the street.

Cuneus Prophetarum


The Cuneus Prophetarum (Eng. "The Host of Prophets") is a theological treatise consisting of two parts.

The first part is based on texts from the Old Testament, the second deals with the life of Jesus.



Picture: The front page of the book displayed at the national museum in Tirana, Albania

First, Bogdani deals with the creation of man. This is followed by a long section on prophecy, to which the work owes its title. The focus is on the prophets of the Bible, alongside the predictions of various pagan sibyls are included in verse form, which, according to Bogdani's presentation, also point to the coming of the Messiah. The individual chapters of the New Testament section deal with various aspects of Christ's ministry: his life, his miracles, death on the cross, the resurrection and the second coming at the end of time. Attached is a short section from the Book of Daniel in eight different languages and a brief family history of the Bogdani.

Pjetër Bogdani had already brought the manuscript of his book in Albanian to Padua. Presumably so that the papal censors could check it more easily, the congregation De Propaganda Fide requested an Italian translation before going to press. Bogdani worked on this in 1685.




Eventually his book was printed in two languages, with the two versions side by side in columns. The long parallel text is still an important source for today's Albanology.

For the Albanian text, Bogdani used the Latin alphabet, to which he added a few Cyrillic (= Slavic) letters for special sounds of the Albanian language. The few Albanian-language books by Pjetër Budi, Lekë Matrënga and Frang Bardhi, which were then in the possession of the Roman Propaganda Congregation, served as linguistic models.

The Cuneus Prophetarum was reprinted in Venice in 1691 and 1702.

The title page reads as follows:

Cuneus prophetarum de 
Christo salvatore mundi 
et eius evangelica veritate, 
italice et epirotice contexta, 
et in duas partes diuisa 
a Petro Bogdano Macedone
Sacr. Congr. de Prop. Fide alumno, 
Philosophiae & Sacrae Theologiae Doctore, 
olim Episcopo Scodrensi & Administratore 
Antibarensi, nunc vero 
Archiepiscopo Scuporum 
ac totius
regni Serviae 
Administratore
pars prima

While the person Bogdani is today called by the 'official historiography' without exception as an Albanian, this fact (probably derived from his place of birth Kukës) must be questioned. Because, Bogdani referred to himself in his work as a "native Macedonian".




Latin:
Se il sole ha le sue macchie, se la Luce le sue ombre, se il Cielo li suoi mostri, non ti rechi maraviglia, o Lettore, se nel legger il mio Libro scoregani qualcherrore. Tavvertisco, per scusarne alscuni, che lo Stampore non ha vognizione della lingua Albanese, e che io, per esser nato Macedone, non ho potuto haver la lingua italiana del tutto purgata.

English:

When the sun has its spots, when the light has its shadows, when the sky shows it, you will not be surprised, oh reader, if you discover some mistakes while reading my book. I apologize that the printer does not understand the Albanian language and that, as a native Macedonian, I could not have completely clean up the Italian language.

Used Literature: Cuneus Prophetarum and Wikipedia for the brief introduction of Bogdani 

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