Petar Crni

Petar Crni (Latin: Petrus Zerni) was a Croatian nobleman, dignitary and Latin poet in the second half of the 11th century.

Biography He was most likely born in the city of Split during the middle of the 11th century, to Gumaj, who was the son of Mihača. Other sources claim he was the son of Črne, the prior of Split. His brother Dabrus was a monk of the royal monastery of St. Stephen Beneath the Pines near Split. He was a sympathizer of the reforms of Pope Gregory VII and thus on the side of the latinist column in Dalmatia and Croatia, despite his Slavic (Croat) background. He was eventually married to Anna, daughter of the Split nobleman Maius Favo.

He is mostly known for founding the monastery of St. Peter in Selo, a location in medieval Poljica, together with his wife on 11 October 1080 during the reign of king Demetrius Zvonimir. The building complex included residential buildings, encompassed with a wall. Petar Crni endowed the monastery with land (in Poljica, Split and the island of Brač) and adorned it with art, silver utensils and eucharistic vestments. The monastery had a rich library at its disposition for its time - around 25 scrolls, although none of it survives. Peter's verses are regarded as being original and standing out to similar poetry at that time.

The first four verses are:

Footnotes