| Perast manuscript | |
|---|---|
| Perast, Venetian Empire (modern-day Montenegro) | |
| Date | end of 17th century |
| Place of origin | Perast, Venetian Republic (modern-day Montenegro) |
| Scribe(s) | Nikola Mazarović |
| Author(s) | Unknown, speculations about some of songs being authored by Andrija Zmajević or probably Nikola Burović |
| Condition | without coverpage |
| Contents |
|
| Previously kept | in the house of noble family Smecchia or family Balović in Perast |
| Discovered | by Srećko Vulović |
The Perast manuscript (Serbian: Перашки рукопис) is a manuscript written around 1700 which contains the earliest records of the heroic songs in decasyllable verse (Serbian: deseterac).[1]
The origin of the songs recorded in Perast manuscript is not the end of the 17th century because they must have had long development before they were recorded.[2] The Perast manuscript contains eight bugarštica songs and one drama. The topic of four bugarštica and drama is the Battle of Kosovo, while others tell other historical events, like of Bajo Pivljanin.
The oral folk poetry was very popular in Kotor bay and during the 18th century, people began recording them. Some of their manuscripts survived until modern days, many of unknown authorship.[3] Therefore, besides the Perast manuscript known as Balovićs manuscript, many other 18th century manuscripts written in Perast survived until modern-days, most notable of them being manuscript written in 1775. This manuscript is known as Mazarović's manuscript. It does not contain bugarštica but ten-syllable verse songs which are other versions of bugarštica songs from the earlier manuscript.
The earliest known records of heroic songs in deseterac, however, date from about 1700 and they are found in a Dalmatian manuscript (the older Perast manuscript), where it is stated that they are collected from the oral tradition of the people in that region ...