Nikola Bošković

Nikola Bošković (pronounced [nǐkola bôʃkoʋit͡ɕ], 1642 – 18 September 1721) was a Ragusan merchant, whose travels in Ottoman Raška were included in Illyricum sacrum. He is best known as the father of Roger Joseph Boscovich (Ruđer Bošković).

Nikola Bošković
Born	1642 (1642) Orahov Do, Ottoman Empire (modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Died	18 September 1721(1721-09-18) (aged 78–79) Dubrovnik, Republic of Ragusa (modern-day Croatia)
Citizenship	Republic of Ragusa
Occupation(s)	writer, trader
Spouse	Paola Bettera

Origin

Franjo Rački wrote, based on a manuscript from the Franciscan library in Dubrovnik, that Nikola was the son of a Boško from Orahovo (Orahov Do, near Popovo polje, then Bosnia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire, present-day Bosnia and Herzegovina), and that the family had adopted the surname Bošković after his father.^[1] He had a brother, Petar (d. 1724).^[2]

Šime Ljubić,^{[3][failed verification – see discussion]} and later Milenko S. Filipović and Ljubo Mićević,^[4] wrote that his father's name was actually Matijaš (or Matija) which could be seen from marital permission which he gave to Nikola.^{[clarification needed]}

Boško Bošković, father of Nikola Bošković, was mentioned in the document from 1690 ("Bosikus Boscouich de Popouo mihi cancellario optime notus") from which is evident that family surname Bosković is much older and was surname of his ancestors long time before they arrive to Dubrovnik.^[5]

Work

Nikola came to Ragusa (Dubrovnik), Republic of Ragusa, as a boy when his parents had sent him to become an apprentice to wealthy Ragusan merchant Rad Gleđević, who then dispatched him to Yeni Pazar (Novi Pazar) in the Ottoman Empire (in the Sandžak region of today's Serbia) to learn from the local traders. Bošković returned to Dubrovnik as a very wealthy man.^[1][6] His father then also moved to Dubrovnik.^[1]

His travels through "Raška" (Old Serbia) were written down by a Jesuit priest Riggeputti as Relazione della Provincia della Rassia, who was collecting material for his work Illyricum Sacrum, a history of Christianity in the Balkans. Bošković described the historical and sacral monuments of Raška including Orthodox monasteries and royal palaces, and also commented on the "sad state" of the Roman Catholic Church in these lands under the Ottoman rule.^[7] After settling down in Dubrovnik, Nikola married a daughter of a local noble of Italian origin, Paola Bettera (Pavica Betera). The two had eight children, the second youngest, Ruđer Bošković (Roger Boscovich), being the most famous.^{[citation needed]}

Origin debate

There is a debate on the ethnicity and origin of Nikola Bošković.

In 1910 Branislav Petronijević reviewed an article by Vladimir Varićak about Ruđer Bošković and stated that Ruđer Bošković's descent is "at least as much Serb as it is Croat" and that the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (in Belgrade) should collaborate with the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (in Zagreb) to publish a reprint of all of Bošković's works to celebrate the 200th anniversary of his birth.^[8]

An English translation of Bošković's "Theory of Natural Philosophy" was published by the Open Court Publishing Company in 1922, prefaced by Branislav Petronijević's biography of Bošković.^[9] In 1925, Vladimir Varićak published a review of it, and criticized it extensively for various factual errors, among other things for asserting without references that the Bošković family was "of purely Servian origin", that Boško was "an orthodox Serbian peasant" and that Nikola became "a Roman Catholic" in Dubrovnik.^[10]

In 1995 a Montenegrin author named Slobodan Šćepanović published an article in the journal of the Institute of History of Montenegro where he claimed, based partly on "oral history", that Nikola Bošković converted to the Catholic faith from Orthodoxy, and that he was a descended from a Montenegrin clan.^[6][11]

According to Serbian sources, the Bošković brotherhood, originally surnamed Pokrajčić, had settled the village from the surrounding mountains of Popovo.^[12] Branches of the brotherhood also settled the surroundings of Stolac.^[13]

In 2012, the Serbian newspaper Press published an article claiming Nikola Bošković was a Serb, based partly on Serbian president Boris Tadić's claims that Ruđer Bošković was a "Serb Catholic".^[14] Croatian academics lambasted such claims, with Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts members saying Tadić "needed to learn something", and another saying it was beneath him to even comment on such a statement.^[15]

References

1. Franjo Rački (1887-02-14). "Rugjer Josip Bošković - Životopisna crta". Rad. Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts (90): 2 (11). Retrieved 2013-02-09.
2. Pavle Popović (1972). Iz književnosti (in Serbian). Matica srpska. p. 156.
3. Šime Ljubić, O odnošajih među republikom mletačkom i dubrovačkom, Rad JAZU, LIV, 1880, p. 564-5
4. Milenko S. Filipović, Ljubo Mićević, Popovo u Hercegovini, Sarajevo 1959, p. 63
5. Sivirić Marijan, 2003, Migracije iz Hercegovine na dubrovačko područje od potresa 1667. do pada Republike 1808. godine https://library.foi.hr/lib/knjiga.php?B=20&sqlx=39037&ser=&sqlid=20&sqlnivo=&css=&H=&U=MIGRACIJE #page= 204
6. Pejašinović, Zoran (2006-01-14). (in Serbian). Porijeklo. Archived from the original on 2012-02-04. Retrieved 2012-02-20.
7. Drace-Francis, Alex (2008). Bracewell, Wendy; Drace-Francis, Alex (eds.). Under Eastern eyes: a comparative introduction to East European travel writing on Europe. Central European University Press. ISBN 978-963-9776-11-1.
8. Vladimir Varićak (1910-11-12). "Ulomak Boškovićeve korespondencije". Rad (in Croatian). Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts: 244–245 (252–253). Retrieved 2013-02-09.
9. Child, James Mark (1922). A Theory of Natural Philosophy. Chicago, London: Open Court Publishing Company. p. 11.
10. Vladimir Varićak (1925-01-23). "U povodu državnog izdanja Boškovićeva djela "Theoria philosophiae naturalis"". Rad (in Croatian). Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts: 161-168 (167-174). Retrieved 2013-02-09.
11. Šćepanović, Slobodan (1995). "O porijeklu porodice i korijenima predaka Ruđera Boškovića". Istorijski Zapisi (in Serbian). Podgorica, Montenegro: Istorijski institut Crne Gore. 3: 143–157.
12. Jeremija D. Mitrović (1992). Srpstvo Dubrovnika. Srpska književna zadruga. p. 124. ISBN 9788637903192. Преци Руђера БошковиЬа прво су као властела носили презиме ПодкравиЬи односно Покра]чиЬи. Рано су се спустили у Попово поље, у село Орахов До или Орахово, где су се размножили као Бошкови- Ьи. Из 1629. сачувана је једна изјава људи написана „т сагаНеге ПНпсЬо оуего 8етапо" (српским пи- смом). Из овог херцеговачког српског ...
13. Историски записи. Vol. 68. с.н. 1995. p. 154. огранака братства БошковнЬа у Орахов До и околицу Гтоца, што )е утврЬено, као што смо вищ'ели, на основу тамоииьег предала н других извора. Исто тако, правац иселзаван.а, куда су сс креталп при селидби, ко)а су усмеренъа ...
14. Stanko Stamenković; Veljko Miladinović (2012-01-15). "Kradimo domaće". Press (in Serbian). Retrieved 2012-02-20.
15. . Doznajemo (in Croatian). 2012-01-16. Archived from the original on 2012-01-18. Retrieved 2012-02-22.