“For the purpose of scientific analysis of epistolographic communication among prominent Croatian humanists, three epistles have been analyzed from the beginning of the unpublished work entitled De Rebus Dalmaticis written by a humanist and historian Dinko Zavorović coming from Šibenik. They contain Zavorović’s dedication to the famous Croatian scholar Faust Vrančić as well as the two epistles he exchanged with his friend, the Šibenik’s archipresbyter Toma Suričević. The scientific analysis is based on the transcription of the Latin text of the mentioned epistles, made according to the best manuscript of Zavorović’s De rebus Dalmaticis, kept in Venetian library Marciana under the catalog number Cl. X. Cod. XL-3652. At the structural level, the work is divided into three parts. In the first, the text of Zavorović’s dedication to Faust Vrančić was analyzed, presenting newer knowledge of their friendly relations. The second part refers to the two epistles Zavorović exchanged with Šibenik’s archipresbyter Toma Suričević on the same day. In the examples from the transcribed Latin text, the relationship between Suričević and Zavorović was analyzed, and some lesser known details were presented regarding the background of the literary scandal during which the original version of De rebus Dalmaticis was lost.
A special chapter is devoted to parts of the text of epistles in which Marko Marulić is mentioned. Analysis thereof shows how Zavorović, among other things, found the greatest incentive to write about the history of Dalmatia precisely in Marulić’s Latin translation of the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, which he used several decades before the work was printed. We analyzed in detail also the quotations from Zavorović’s epistle to Suričević, which testify to the completely unknown fact that Marko Marulić may have buried the books in the walls of the church of St. Mary on the island which Zavorović calls Surium. Based on the analysis of the texts from Zavorović’s epistle to Suričević, the analysis of the toponim Surium, and today’s available information on the churches of St. Mary located in the area of Šibenik and Split archipelago, we also presented the assumptions about the locations where the buried Marulić’s books could be found.
The paper in general addresses the written communication among prominent Croatian humanists, and seeks to highlight the importance of the research of epistolographic material that provides valuable information on the life of famous historical figures. The transcript of the Latin text of all three epistles is attached to the work, beginning with the work entitled De Rebus Dalmaticis by Dinko Zavorović, a historian from Šibenik.”

Summary of the paper: Kurelac, I. Dinko Zavorović, Faust Vrančić and Toma Suričević in the light of epistolar exchange. // Colloquia Maruliana 17, 17 (2008), pp. 73-89.