''Plorantis Croatiae saecula duo'' (English: "Two centuries of Croatia in mourning") is a poetical work by

Pavao Ritter Vitezović Pavao Ritter Vitezović (; 7 January 1652 – 20 January 1713) was a Habsburg-Croatian polymath, variously described as a historian, linguist, publisher, poet, political theorist, diplomat, printmaker, draughtsman, cartographer, writer and printe ...

, published in 1703 in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

. As with many of Vitezović's works, it is written in

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

. The unusual structure of the work makes it difficult to classify, being variously described as a poeticized

chronicle A chronicle (, from Greek ''chroniká'', from , ''chrónos'' – "time") is a historical account of events arranged in chronological order, as in a timeline. Typically, equal weight is given for historically important events and local events ...

,Whose Love of Which Country?
Sandor Bene, pp. 392-393

historical epic Epic films have large scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The term is slightly ambiguous, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply big-budget films. Like epics in the classical literary sense, it is often focused on a hero ...

, pseudo-autobiography,Plorantis Croatiae saecula duo. Diskurzivne adaptacije i performativne funkcije marijanskog toposa
Zrinka Blažević, 2005 or

allegory As a List of narrative techniques, literary device or artistic form, an allegory is a wikt:narrative, narrative or visual representation in which a character, place, or event can be interpreted to represent a meaning with moral or political signi ...

. Containing nearly 2000 lines of verse, the poem recounts the previous two hundred years of

Ottoman Wars A series of military conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and various European states took place from the Late Middle Ages up through the early 20th century. The earliest conflicts began during the Byzantine–Ottoman wars, waged in Anatolia in ...

The Croatian-Slavonian Kingdom: 1526–1792
Stanko Guldescu pp. 295 being narrated in first person by a personified Croatia, who is presented as an allegory to the Catholic topos of the weeping mother (

Stabat Mater The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III.Saba ...

). These events, including wars, plagues, famines, are given as a history of personal suffering to the personification, containing detailed psychosomatic elements. It is dedicated to the Austrian field marshal Johann Ferdinand Josef Herberstein.Herberstein, Ivan Ferdinand Josip
Hrvatska enciklopedija LZMK. Pristupljeno 25. lipnja 2016.

Reception

On the last three pages, Vitezović included three poems written by the Zagreb canons Petar Črnković, Franjo Josip Vernić and Franjo Kralj. These were written in honor of Vitezović and represent a valuable insight into contemporary reception of his work. They praise Vitezović as an equal to

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

. Zrinka Blažević of the

University of Zagreb The University of Zagreb (, ) is a public university, public research university in Zagreb, Croatia. It is the largest Croatian university and one of the oldest continuously operating universities in Europe. The University of Zagreb and the Unive ...

praised his work ''Two Centuries of Croatia in Mourning'' as among the best Croatian poetical works in Latin, containing great aesthetic qualities and an unusual narrative structure.

References

{{italic title 1703 poems Croatian poetry 18th-century books in Latin Works by Pavao Ritter Vitezović