Primož Trubar or Primož Truber (1508– 28 June 1586)[1]
was the Protestant
reformer, most known as the author of the first Slovene
language printed book, the founder and the first superintendent of
the Protestant Church of the Duchy of
Carniola, notable for consolidating the Slovene
language. Trubar is the key figure of Slovenian cultural history and
in many aspects a major historical personality.
Life and work
Trubar was born in the village of Rašica (now in the Municipality of Velike Lašče) in the Duchy of
Carniola, then under the Habsburgs.
In the years 1520–1521 he attended school in Rijeka, in
1522–1524 he continued his education in Salzburg.
From there he went to Trieste under the tutorship of the Roman Catholic bishop Pietro Bonomo,
where he got in touch with the Humanist writers, in particular Erasmus of Rotterdam. In 1527 the bishop
Pietro Bonomo assigned Trubar a priest position in Loka pri Zidanem Mostu. In 1528 he
enrolled at the University of Vienna, but did not complete
his studies. In 1530 he returned to the Slovene Lands and became a preacher. He
gradually leaned towards Protestantism and was expelled from Ljubljana
in 1547.
In 1550, while a Protestant preacher
in Rothenburg, he wrote the first two books
in Slovene, Catechismus
and Abecedarium, which were then
printed that year in Schwäbisch Hall by Peter Frentz. Catechismus also contained the first
Slovene musical manuscript in print. Altogether, Trubar authored 22 books in
Slovene and two books in German. He was the first to translate parts of the
Bible to Slovene. After the exhortation by Pier Paolo Vergerio, he translated the Gospel of
Matthew in 1555 and until 1577 in three parts published the
translation of the entire New Testament.
Trubar died in Derendingen,
Holy Roman Empire (now part of the city of Tübingen,
Germany), where he is also buried.
Commemoration
The monument to Primož Trubar by Franc Berneker. White
marble, 1910. The statue stands at the entrance to Tivoli Park,
opposite the Museum of Modern Art, in
Ljubljana. In 1986, the Slovenian television produced a TV series, directed by
Andrej Strojan with the screen play written by Drago Jančar,
in which Trubar was played by the Slovenian actor Polde Bibič.
Trubar was commemorated on the 10 tolar banknote in 1992, and on the Slovenian 1 euro coin in 2007. In 2008,
the Government of Slovenia proclaimed the Year
of Primož Trubar and the 500th anniversary of Trubar's birth was celebrated
throughout the country. A commemorative €2 coin and a postage stamp
were issued. An exhibition dedicated to the life and work of Primož Trubar, and
the achievements of the Slovenian Reformation Movement was on display at the
National Museum of Slovenia from 6 March
to 31 December 2008.
In 2009, the Trubar Forum
Association printed Trubar's Catechism and Abecedarium in modern Slovene, in a
scholarly edition that includes both the Trubar-era Slovene and the modern
Slovene translation with scholarly notes. The "Sermon on Faith", a
portion of the Catechism, is available in modern Slovene, English, German and
Esperanto.
Since 2010, 8 June is commemorated in Slovenia as the Primož Trubar Day. Google
celebrated his 505th birthday anniversary with a dedicated Google Doodle.
