Aleksandar Soloveov as an investigator of Baltazar Bogisic's heritage and of legal and historical documents from the 15th till the 19th century

In: Zbornik Matice Srpske za društvene nauke: Proceedings for social sciences, Heft 123, S. 71-89

Abstract

This paper discusses Aleksandar Solovyev?s research which he primarily carried out in Bogisic?s archive in Cavtat, as well as the research including other sources relevant for the legal history of our nation in the Dubrovnik region, in other coastal areas and in the countries in their immediate hinterland; all the documents belong to the period from the 15th till the 19th century. Although he discovered most of these documents in Bogisic?s archive, Solovyev got documents from other sources, too. Solovyev published the greatest part of these materials in the editions of The Serbian Royal Academy, but he also published some treatises and articles in the following magazines: Arhiv za pravne i drustvene nauke, Godisnjica Nikole Cupica and some others. Furthermore, the author particularly underlines the fact that Solovyev - in his introductory texts accompanying his publications - also did the scientific and critical analysis of the collected historical material. Studying Bogisic?s archive in Cavtat, Solovyev also got interested in the very personality of Baltazar Bogisic. In his articles in Arhiv za pravne i drustvene nauke, Solovyev particularly presented his discoveries about Bogisic?s archive, he also found an unknown manuscript of Bogisic?s, the one about a law project written for the rebels from Herzegovina when they rose against the Turks for the liberation of the Serbian nation in 1875. In his collaboration with the Herzegovian rebells, Bogisic expressed his Serbian patriotic feelings, too. As for his nationality, Bogisic felt to be a Serb (?a Serb catholic?, as he used to say), but also a member of the South Slavic nation. Thus Solovyev in one of his articles (in French) described Bogisic?s activity in the elaboration of the law projects for the newly liberated Bulgaria, which remained less known in our country. Discussing Bogisic?s patriotic activity, too, the author also presents other facts about his nationality. Although the results of Solovyev?s research work discussed in this paper were available to our scientific public, our scholars have not written about them so far.