John Van Antwerp Fine Jr. Professor Emeritus | |
---|---|
Born | Princeton, New Jersey, United States | 9 September 1939
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Professor of history |
Awards | Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities, US & Canada |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | Harvard University |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Balkan and Byzantine history |
Sub-discipline | Medieval Bosnia,Bosnian Church |
Institutions | University of Michigan |
John V. A. Fine Jr. (born September 9,1939) is an American historian and author. He is professor emeritus of Balkan and Byzantine history at the University of Michigan and has written extensively on the subject.
He was born in 1939 and grew up in Princeton,New Jersey,in a family of educators. His father,John Van Antwerp Fine Sr. (1903–87),was Professor of Greek History in the Classics Department of Princeton University,and his grandfather,John Burchard Fine,founded Princeton Preparatory Schools,while his granduncle,Henry Burchard Fine,was a dean and professor of mathematics at the Princeton. [1] [2] His mother,Elizabeth Bunting Fine,was also a classicist and taught Latin and Greek at Miss Fine’s School,founded by his grandaunt. [1]
Fine Jr.'s undergraduate and graduate training was at Harvard University,where he studied Byzantium,the Balkans,and medieval Russia. He earned his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1968 and began teaching at the University of Michigan in 1969.
Medievalist Paul Stephenson,lead professor at the School of History and Heritage,University of Lincoln,and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society,expressed high regard for Fine's work and compared him with the likes of Paul M. Barford,Simon Franklin,Jonathan Shepard. [3]
His academic interests range from theology and the history of Christianity to Byzantium and the medieval and modern Balkans. His publications have become standard in the field,notably his surveys of the Medieval Balkans (1983 and 1987). In 1998,John V. A. Fine Jr. retired from Michigan,becoming a professor emeritus. [4]
He has also revolutionized the way scholars understand the Bosnian Church (first published in 1975;republished in England in 2006),showing that it was not heretical.
Fine has also contributed to the understanding of Bosnian history,working to correct popular misconceptions,especially during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. He co-authored Bosnia and Hercegovina:A Tradition Betrayed with former student Robert J. Donia (1994),a work published in England,the US,and in Bosnian translation in war-time Sarajevo (1995). He traveled to and lectured in the besieged cities of Sarajevo and Mostar during the war.
In 2006,Fine published a study of notions of ethnicity in Croatia from the medieval period to the nineteenth century titled When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans. In 2008,Emily Greble Balić,gave a positive review stating that "(o)ne of the book's great strengths is Fine's analysis of premodern "ethnic" identity". [5] In 2009,John K. Cox of North Dakota State University reviewed it largely positively,noting some points of criticism. [6] James P. Krokar review from 2009 was also positive,stating that the book is "extremely important" addition to "South Slavic history,and to the debate on the modernity of the nation." [7] The same year,Neven Budak of the University of Zagreb gave a mixed review,noting both some positive and negative aspects. On the negative side,Budak complained alleging "ideological prejudices" and "preconceived conclusions". He claimed that "the author did not prepare methodologically,nor did he become acquainted with the relevant works of non-Croatian authors",that Fine's approach to the topic "contrary to stated intentions - is traditionalist in its method,superficial and unreliable",alleging inappropriate "attitude towards Croats". [8]
Zachlumia or Zachumlia, also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia. In some periods it was a fully independent or semi-independent South Slavic principality. It maintained relations with various foreign and neighbouring powers and later was subjected to Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Bosnia, and at the end to the Ottoman Empire.
The Kingdom of Croatia entered a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary in 1102, after a period of rule of kings from the Trpimirović and Svetoslavić dynasties and a succession crisis following the death of king Demetrius Zvonimir. With the coronation of King Coloman of Hungary as "King of Croatia and Dalmatia" in 1102 in Biograd, the realm passed to the Árpád dynasty until 1301, when the (male) line of the dynasty died out. Then, kings from the Capetian House of Anjou, who were also cognatic descendants of the Árpád kings, ruled the kingdoms. Later centuries were characterized by conflicts with the Mongols, who sacked Zagreb in 1242, competition with Venice for control over Dalmatian coastal cities, and internal warfare among Croatian nobility. Various individuals emerged during the period, such as Paul I Šubić of Bribir, who was representing the most powerful Croatian dynasty at the time, the Šubić noble family. These powerful individuals were on occasion able to de facto secure great deal of independence for their fiefdoms. The Ottoman incursion into Europe in the 16th century significantly reduced Croatian territories and left the country weak and divided. After the death of Louis II in 1526 during the Battle of Mohács and a brief period of dynastic dispute, both crowns passed to the Austrian House of Habsburg, and the realms became part of the Habsburg monarchy.
Tomislav was the first king of Croatia. He became Duke of Croatia c. 910 and was crowned king in 925, reigning until 928. During Tomislav's rule, Croatia forged an alliance with the Byzantine Empire against Bulgaria. Croatia's struggles with the First Bulgarian Empire eventually led to war, which culminated in the decisive Battle of the Bosnian Highlands in 926. In the north, Croatia often clashed with the Principality of Hungary; the state retained its borders and, to some extent, expanded with the disintegrated Lower Pannonia.
Trpimir II was King of Croatia from 928 to 935. He was from the Trpimirović dynasty. Trpimir was probably the son of Duke Muncimir and younger brother of King Tomislav.
Krešimir III was King of Croatia from 1000 until his death in 1030. He was from the Trpimirović dynasty and founder of the Krešimirović branch of the family. He was the middle son of former King Stjepan Držislav. Until 1020, he co-ruled with his brother Gojslav.
Vladislav or Ladislas was the Duke of Croatia. In sources he is mentioned as the Duke of Dalmatia and Liburnia, having succeeded his uncle Borna, a Frankish vassal. He is mentioned only in the 9th-century Royal Frankish Annals, regarding year 821. Borna had died between January and October 821, during a war against Frankish rebel Ljudevit, Duke of Pannonian Croatia. Borna's nephew Vladislav succeeded him, by the people's will and emperor's approval. Vladislav ruled from Nin as a loyal vassal of the Frankish Emperor Lothair I. In historiography, his realm has been referred to as Dalmatian Croatia or Littoral Croatia, where he was succeeded by Duke Mislav.
Borna was the duke of Croatia from c. 810 to 821 and vassal of the Frankish Empire. He resided in Nin and was the ruler of most of the Croats in northern Dalmatia.
Vinko Pribojević was a Venetian Slavic historian and Dominican monk, best known as one of the founders of the early pan-Slavic ideology.
Vukac Hrvatinić was a Bosnian magnate with the title of knez in the service of Ban Tvrtko Kotromanić of Bosnia, who elevated him to title of vojvoda (transl. duke) later on. He belonged to the Hrvatinić noble family which served the Banate of Bosnia.
Bernardin Pavlović was a Franciscan writer from Dubrovnik, born in Ston. He had two works printed in Venice in 1747 which he wrote were "in Croatian". The title of the second work notes it's printed in "our worthy Croatian language" for "the use of the Croatian people", which was noticed by Vatroslav Jagić and later by John V. A. Fine as one of increasingly many examples of how the term Croatian came into use in addition to the existing more generic Illyrian (Slavic) terminology in Dalmatia.
John the Deacon was a Venetian deacon, secretary to the doge of Venice and a chronicler.
Pomorje, also known as the Lands of Pomorje, is a medieval term, used in Byzantine title, and at end of the 12th century, during the reign of Stefan Nemanja (1166–1196), inherited by Serbian monarchs, thus becoming part of the Serbian title, whose rulers were styled with the title: "crowned king and autocrat of all Serbian and coastal lands".
Prozor Fortress is a medieval fortress situated in the continental part of Split-Dalmatia County, in inland Dalmatia, just above the town of Vrlika in Croatia. From its origin as a small stronghold built by the ancient Illyrian tribe Dalmatae, it developed into a fortress in the 15th century, during the reign of Bosnian feudal lord Hrvoje Vukčić Hrvatinić.
The Hrvoje's Missal is a 15th-century missal written in Glagolitic alphabet.
Radoslav was a Serbian Prince who ruled over the early medieval Principality of Serbia at the beginning of the 9th century. He succeeded his father, prince Višeslav, who ruled at the end of the 8th century. Radoslav was succeeded by his son, prince Prosigoj.
The "Lands of the Hungarian Crown" was the titular expression of Hungarian pretensions to the various territories that the King of Hungary ruled nominally or absolutely.
The Duchy of Croatia was a medieval state that was established by White Croats who migrated into the area of the former Roman province of Dalmatia c. 7th century CE. Throughout its existence the Duchy had several seats – namely, Klis, Solin, Knin, Bijaći and Nin. It comprised the littoral – the coastal part of today's Croatia – except Istria, and included a large part of the mountainous hinterland as well. The Duchy was in the center of competition between the Carolingian Empire and the Byzantine Empire for rule over the area. Croatian rivalry with Venice emerged in the first decades of the 9th century and would continue through the following centuries. Croatia also waged battles with the Bulgarian Empire and with the Arabs; it also sought to extend its control over important coastal cities under the rule of Byzantium. Croatia experienced periods of vassalage to the Franks or to the Byzantines and of de facto independence until 879, when Duke Branimir was recognized as an independent ruler by Pope John VIII. The Duchy was ruled by the Trpimirović and Domagojević dynasties from 845 to 1091. Around 925, during the rule of Tomislav, Croatia became a kingdom.
Soli or Só was a zemlja of the medieval Bosnian state, located in today's northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, centered around the town of Tuzla. Initially, a Slavic župa, the County of Soli became an integral part of Kulin's Bosnia and later both of Banate of Bosnia and of the Kingdom of Bosnia.
The Eparchy of Dalmatia is a diocese or eparchy of the Serbian Orthodox Church, having jurisdiction over the region of Dalmatia, in Croatia. Since 2017, Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Dalmatia is Nikodim Kosović.
Liudemuhls or Ljudemisl was a medieval Slavic duke, vassal to the Franks, who was in power in 823 in parts of Dalmatia known as the Duchy of the Croats.