Middle Ages, Renaissance

In the period after the Great Schism and demarcation between Eastern and Western churches in 1054, this part of the Adriatic fell "de facto and de jure" under the jurisdiction of the Roman Church, which created the need for the church to strenghten its new position.

One of the first religious orders to work in that regard were the Benedictines who were universaly present in Dalmatia, Croatia, Boka Kotorska, and Sirmium from the 9th to the 14th century, founding over 100 monasteries in the effort to spread influence of the Western Church. Although the Benedictines are present in Croatia since 821, when entire of Croatia came under Frankish rule, their rejuvenation through strengthened Roman Church influence in the second half of the 11th century led to a new wave of construction of Benedictine monasteries.

Activity of the Croatian king Petar Kresimir IV (picture 7) should also be viewed with this in mind as he meets the requirements of the Pope and helps spreading this Order throughout the Croatian kingdom. It can be argued that he gave them a particularly great honor by placing two monasteries in his regal city where they were donated the finest royal estates. In order to adapt to the surrounding community in which they are active and where the Slavic language was dominant, the Benedictines have started remarkable works in the scriptoria of their monasteries to translate religious books from Latin to Church Slavonic (Old Church Slavonic). First text that was necessary to translate to Old Slavonic were the Regulations of St. Benedict. We have a known transcript of these regulations from the 14th century that was created in the monastery of St. Cosmas and Damian (picture 4) on Ćokovac which was made on the basis of the template from 12th century or earlier.

This leads to the assumption that the first translation of these regulations to Old Slavonic was made in the scriptorium of the monastery of St. John the Evangelist in Biograd, and by analyzing the language of the old Croatian edit it had a mixture of Old Slavonic and local expressions. (picture 5) The letter used by the Benedictines was Latin alphabet, but since the Glagolitic was equally used in Slavic countries, they advocated the Slavic language to be used in Church teachings and services. Glagolitic alphabet was one of the alphabets developed for Old Slavic language which was created in the 9th century by Constantine Cyril, a Byzantine monk from Thessaloniki. From the 12th century Glagolitic alphabet was no longer in use in the Slavic countries as it was replaced first by the Cyrillic and from the 16th century the Latin. A special feature in Croatia was the continuing use and development of the Glagolitic alphabet, transforming it to angular Glagolitic script during the 13th century.

The fact is that the Church in Croatia, just like elsewhere, was one of the main sources of literacy in both religious and everyday life, and the most deserving for preserving Glagolitic alphabet through many centuries all the way to present. (picture 6)

The fate of the church after it was given to the monastery of St. John the Evangelist is unknown but it seems it continued to have some function and was renovated. One of the major question to solve the issue of dating ot the church is whether the stone church furniture, dated to the end of the 5th and early 6th century and used for the Biograd Cathedral built in the 11th century (picture 8), was transferred from this church or did it come only from the early Christian church of St. Mary from Glavica in Biograd.

The church of St. Andrew existed during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance during prosperity Rogovo abbey, and later thanks to the care of Benedictines from Ćokovac. The church had to be rebuilt several times because of the frequent conflicts in the region, mainly due to the ravaging first by the Venetians and later because of the repeated Turkish invasions.

It is undisputed that the Bošana site was particularly important for the abbey of St. John the Evangelist as they built a port for the purposes of the estate Rogovo (molum Rogue). Several positions along the coast in the area Bošana are possible locations of the stone pier. This port was created to facilitate maritime communication with the wider region and especially for connection with the Benedictine monastery of St. Cosmas and Damian on the hill Ćokovac, Pašman. The Benedictines chose and were given the monastery on the Ćokovac hill after their return from Šibenik where they had taken refuge after the Venetian destruction of Biograd in 1125 when their monastery of St. John was destroyed. The Benedictines remained on Ćokovac because of the uncertain times that have ruled for the next 400 years. The wish to return and rebuild the monastery in Biograd was hindered as the order gradually lost its size and importance, while Biograd and its hinterland was ravaged during the Ottoman times.

It is well-known that the definitive end of this church came as a consequence of the Turkish invasion of Biograd during 1646 when the Turkish army cannons fired towards Biograd and Pašman channel from this position in Bošana. After the destruction of the church, it has never been renewed and was forgotten.