Notes on two unpublished copies of the Introduzione intorno a’ Serviani di rito greco esistenti nella Dalmazia by Matteo Karaman

Abstract

This article offers preliminary observations about the manuscript tradition of the less-studied work of Matteo (Matej) Karaman (1700-1771), archbishop of Zara (Zadar), dated 10 April 1750 and titled Introduzione per rapporto a’ Serviani di Rito Greco esistenti nella Dalmazia, loro derivazione, dogmi, costumi, e pretese di sottrarsi dalla dipendenza de’ Vescovi Latini delle rispettive diocesi, ed esser assoggettati ad un Vescovo dalla loro Nazione (Introduction to the Serbs of Greek Rite existing in Dalmatia, their origins, dogmas, traditions, and pretensions to remove themselves from dependence on the Latin bishops of the respective dioceses and to be subjects of a bishop of their nation). The article sheds light on two unedited copies of the work preserved in the Cicogna Codex 2764 and in PDC699 in the Library of the Museo Correr in Venice. By comparing these two copies of the work and Karaman’s work to other similar texts, we find that his Informazione played an important role in the confessional controversies in Venetian Dalmatia in the Settecento.