The Narrative Hagiographic Source of the Old Croatian Play Muka svete Margarite

Abstract

The article contributes to the debate on the primary narrative hagiographic source of the Old Croatian octosyllabic saint play Muka svete Margarite [‘The Passion of Saint Margaret’], which is preserved in the Florentine Miscellany and the Šibenik Manuscript from the 16th century, as well as in the Zadar Manuscript from the first half of the 17th century. It argues that the play’s source was likely a Latin version of the widespread prose legend of Saint Margaret, pseudoepigraphically attributed to Theotimus. This Latin origin was previously postulated by Carlo Verdiani, although he eventually failed to substantiate his hypothesis convincingly. The present article verifies the plausibility of Verdiani’s view. Also, it challenges a competing interpretation by Eduard Hercigonja that Muka svete Margarite draws on the Croatian Glagolitic hagiographic tradition. The article demonstrates that the Old Croatian play contains numerous motifs common to Latin versions of the Pseudo-Theotimus legend that are not attested in the Croatian Glagolitic translation. Furthermore, while Hercigonja claims that Muka svete Margarite shares specific motifs exclusively with the Croatian Glagolitic legends, the article shows that those same motifs also appear in the Latin hagiographic tradition. The demonstrated affinity between Muka svete Margarite and the Latin prose legend also sheds new light on the degree of proximity between the play’s versions and their hypothetical urtext.