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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2019
This article analyzes the “De Bellis Gothorum,” a long neglected and misunderstood history of the ancient Goths written in 1472–73 by Nicholas of Modruš, the leading Croatian-Illyrian bishop at the papal curia. By placing the work in its proper context, this article reconstructs a previously unknown episode in the political history of the fifteenth-century Adriatic. It is argued that the “De Bellis Gothorum” was in fact a national history that was meant to provide a trans-Adriatic network of Croatian and Bosnian nobles and churchmen with support from Naples and the papacy for their border wars against the Ottomans and reestablishment of their national kingdom.
This article has been a long time in the making. I owe thanks, first and foremost, to my dissertation supervisors, Niels Gaul, James Hankins, and Neven Jovanović, for their support and guidance at the beginning of my research on Nicholas of Modruš; to John Christopoulos, Diego Pirillo, David Rosenthal, and Peter Sposato, for commenting on the first drafts of the article; and, finally, to the anonymous referee, for helping me fine-tune my argument.