Abstract
The aim of this study is to explore how the social, religious, and cultural phenomenon of medieval heresy has been presented in the historical romance Plameni inkvizitori by Marija Jurić Zagorka: from the concept itself to its literary appropriation in the novel. Through a careful examination of the given textual evidence, the essay also attempts to prove the accuracy and authenticity of the novel’s historical background and, by extension, Zagorka’s literary work—a fact that has frequently been contested.
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Notes
This is the allusion to the 1939 Zagorka’s text Neznana junakinja hrvatskoga naroda (The unknown heroine of Croatian folk, 1939). On 52 pages, the text sketches the events from the Croatian past to show readers that Croatian women were active and dynamic agents in the creation of Croatian history. In her text, Zagorka refers not only to the famous Croatian female historical or folk tale figures (e.g. Queen Elizabeth the Cuman or Mila Gojsalić) but also to her own and her female contemporaries’ participation in the Croatian political and cultural upheavals from 1897 to 1907.
I thank the University of Osijek, Croatia, for a grant that made research for this essay possible.
They are: the novel cycle Grička vještica (The Grič witch, 1911–1926): Tajna Krvavog mosta (The Secret of the Bloody Bridge, 1911–1912), Kontesa Nera (Countess Nera, 1912–1913), Malleus Maleficarum (The hammer of witches, 1913–1914), Suparnica Marije Terezije I i II (Maria Theresa’s rival I and II, 1918), Buntovnik na prijestolju (The rebel on the throne, 1918), Dvorska kamarila Marije Terezije (Maria Theresa’s court camarilla, 1926), Plameni inkvizitori (The flaming inquisitors, 1928–1929), Gordana (Gordana, 1934–1935), and Kraljica Hrvata (The queen of Croats, 1937).
The following essays and book chapters address different aspects of Marija Jurić Zagorka’s work: Babić, Snježana and Biljana Oklopčić. “Jadranka i brak—‘san koji živi zauvijek’.” Kako će to biti divno!: Uzduž i poprijeko. Brak, zakon i intimno građanstvo u povijesnoj i suvremenoj perspektivi. Ed. Anita Dremel, Lada Čale Feldman, Lidija Dujić, Rada Borić, Sandra Prlenda, Maša Grdešić and Renata Jambrešić Kirin. Zagreb: Center for Women’s Studies, 2015. 70–79. Biljana Oklopčić and Lucija Saulić. “Jadranka i kult pravog ženstva.” Kako će to biti divno!: Uzduž i poprijeko. Brak, zakon i intimno građanstvo u povijesnoj i suvremenoj perspektivi. Ed. Anita Dremel, Lada Čale Feldman, Lidija Dujić, Rada Borić, Sandra Prlenda, Maša Grdešić and Renata Jambrešić Kirin. Zagreb: Center for Women’s Studies, 2015. 59–69.Oklopčić, Biljana. “Osijek as an Urban Text in Marija Jurić Zagorka’s Vitez slavonske ravni.” Ed. Ewa Rewers. Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers PWN, 2015. 199–212.Oklopčić, Biljana. “Visualizing City in Central European Literature of the Twentieth Century.” Przegląd Kulturoznawczy 4. 18 (2013): 274–286.Oklopčić, Biljana and Ana-Marija Posavec. “Gotički tekst, kontekst i intertekst Tajne Krvavog mosta Marije Jurić Zagorke.” Fluminensia 25. 1 (2013): 21–31.Oklopčić, Biljana and Ana-Marija Posavec. “Viktorijanski goticizam Tajne Krvavog mosta Marije Jurić Zagorke.” Širom svijeta: O Zagorki, rodu i prostoru. Ed. Anita Dremel. Zagreb: Center for Women’s Studies, 2012. 151–164.Oklopčić, Biljana. “Stankin spol: nevolje s rodom u Tajni Krvavog mosta Marije Jurić Zagorke.” Malleus maleficarum: Zagorka, feminizam, antifeminizam. Ed. Maša Grdešić. Zagreb: Center for Women’s Studies, 2011. 35–52.Oklopčić, Biljana. “Popularne povijesne romanse Marije Jurić Zagorke.” Književna smotra 161–162. 3–4 (2011): 105–114. Oklopčić, Biljana. “Mit i ritual u Kćeri Lotršćaka.” Kako je bilo: O Zagorki i ženskoj povijesti. Ed.Sandra Prlenda. Zagreb: Center for Women’s Studies, 2011. 59–74.Oklopčić, Biljana and Mirna Jakšić. “Slavonska razglednica by Marija Jurić Zagorka: Zrcaljenje stvarnog u fikcionalnom u Vitezu slavonske ravni.” Mala revolucionarka: Zagorka, feminizam i popularna kultura. Ed. Maša Grdešić. Zagreb: Center for Women’s Studies, 2009. 119-138.Oklopčić, Biljana. “Plameni inkvizitori u kontekstu gotičkog romana.” Neznana junakinja—nova čitanja Zagorke. Eds. Grdešić, Maša and Slavica Jakobović Fribec. Zagreb: Center for Women’s Studies, 2008. 157–179.Oklopčić, Biljana. “Plameni inkvizitori u kontekstu gotičkog romana.” Ubiq 2 (2008): 141–158.
If not otherwise stated, all the translations from Croatian to English have been done by the author of the essay.
If not otherwise stated, all the translations from German to English have been done by the author of the essay.
Up to 1231, bishops and priests were instrumental in heretic hunts.
In order to avoid repetition, the workings of the Inquisition will be explained in detail in the chapter analyzing Zagorka’s depiction of the Inquisition in the novel.
His name can be translated as Knight Falcon. This is the alias used by Prince Ivan Okićki.
The power of collective superstition is also exemplified by the inclusion of flagellants and lepers in the novel’s plot.
This quote also shows a certain inconsistency in Zagorka’s use of historical facts: the peak of Konrad von Marburg’s heretic hunt was from 1227 to 1233.
Zagorka uses the terms bogomils and patarens interchangeably.
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Oklopčić, B. Medieval heresy in Croatian historical romances: a case study of Marija Jurić Zagorka’s Plameni inkvizitori . Neohelicon 43, 559–576 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-016-0346-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11059-016-0346-9