{ "id": "ep4fyfnfdy", "slug": "vinodol-code", "title": "Vinodol Code", "updated": "2026-10-15", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history" }, { "id": "society.history.europe", "label": "European history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.europe" }, { "id": "society.history.europe.eastern-europe", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.europe.eastern-europe" }, { "id": "society.history.europe.eastern-europe.ee-balkans-medieval", "label": "Medieval Balkans (681 to 1500)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.history.europe.eastern-europe.ee-balkans-medieval" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe.eastern-europe.ee-balkans-medieval", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1000 to 1799: Medieval Balkans (681 to 1500)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe.eastern-europe.ee-balkans-medieval", "path": [ { "id": "geo.eeu", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1000", "label": "Eastern Europe · 1000 to 1799", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1000" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1000.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1000.society" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1000.society.history", "label": "History and archaeology", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1000.society.history" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe", "label": "European history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe.eastern-europe", "label": "Eastern Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe.eastern-europe" }, { "id": "geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe.eastern-europe.ee-balkans-medieval", "label": "Medieval Balkans (681 to 1500)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.eeu.t1000.society.history.europe.eastern-europe.ee-balkans-medieval" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Vinodol Code (Vinodolski zakonik) is a legal code of 77 articles adopted on 6 January 1288 in Novi, the oldest Croatian legal monument, written in Glagolitic script.", "snippet": "The Vinodol Code (Vinodolski zakonik) is a legal code of 77 articles adopted on 6 January 1288 in Novi, the oldest Croatian legal monument, written in Glagolitic script.", "node": "society.history.europe.eastern-europe.ee-balkans-medieval", "markdown": "# Vinodol Code\n\nThe **Vinodol Code** (Vinodolski zakonik) is a legal code of 77 articles adopted on 6 January 1288 in Novi (today Novi Vinodolski), regulating relations between the Counts of Krk, the feudal lords of the Vinodol district, and the district's nine municipalities.[1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) • [2](https://vinodol.hr/6-sijecnja-1288-godine-potpisan-je-vinodolski-zakonik/) It is the oldest Croatian legal monument and one of the oldest written Slavic laws, written in [Glagolitic script](https://www.edgepedia.org/glagolitic-script) in the [Croatian language](https://www.edgepedia.org/croatian-language).[3](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808) • [4](https://hjp.znanje.hr/?chapter=04-vinodolski&show=povijest)\n\n| Fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Date and place | 6 January 1288 (Epiphany), in Novi, in the hall of the dukes of Krk, Vinodol, and Modruš[1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) • [3](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808) |\n| Issuers | Representatives of nine Vinodol municipalities together with the Counts of Krk (the Frankopans)[5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) • [1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) |\n| Contents | 77 articles, mostly customary law, on criminal, procedural, inheritance, and administrative matters[2](https://vinodol.hr/6-sijecnja-1288-godine-potpisan-je-vinodolski-zakonik/) • [3](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808) |\n| Language and script | Croatian (called \"hervatski\" in the text itself), in Glagolitic script[5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) • [3](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808) |\n| Manuscript | A 16th-century Glagolitic transcript of 14 parchment leaves, National and University Library in Zagreb, call number R 4080[5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) • [1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) |\n| First printed | By Antun Mažuranić in 1843[5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) |\n\n## Origin: issuers and date\n\nRepresentatives of the nine Vinodol municipalities, Novi Grad (Novi Vinodolski), Ledenice, Bribir, Grižane, Drivenik, Hreljin, Bakar, Trsat, and Grobnik, gathered in council and wrote down agreed provisions together with the customary law known to them.[1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) • [5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) A local heritage account records the assembly as meeting in the Frankopan castle in Novigrad \"before the presence of Prince Leonard\".[6](https://tz-novi-vinodolski.hr/en/explore-and-experience/culture-and-history/vinodol-code/)\n\nThe code's background was the subjection of the previously free Vinodol municipalities to the Counts of Krk, later known as the Frankopans, by a grant of King Andrew II. Sources date this grant differently: the Croatian language portal gives 1255,[4](https://hjp.znanje.hr/?chapter=04-vinodolski&show=povijest) while the Vinodol municipality page gives 1225 by the donation charter of the Croatian-Hungarian king Andrew II, adding that conflicts with free peasants lasted until 1288, when the Vinodolci recognized the island counts' rule and received some concessions.[7](https://tz-vinodol.hr/vinodolski-zakonik/)\n\n## Contents\n\nThe code is a compendium of mostly customary law in 77 articles, elaborating relations between the free Vinodol towns and the counts of [Krk](https://www.edgepedia.org/krk); besides inheritance, criminal, and procedural law it also regulates administrative-law questions and the status of the Church.[2](https://vinodol.hr/6-sijecnja-1288-godine-potpisan-je-vinodolski-zakonik/) • [3](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808) • [8](https://hit.ffzg.unizg.hr/en/other-activities/they-wrote-in-glagolitic-script/virtual-exhibition/the-vinodol-law/) A local account holds that the authors sought to protect the commoners from the excessive influence of feudal authority, particularly in judicial matters.[6](https://tz-novi-vinodolski.hr/en/explore-and-experience/culture-and-history/vinodol-code/)\n\n## Transmission\n\nThe surviving manuscript is not the original. By the sound of its closing provisions, a copy was kept in each Vinodol town; the extant text is a Glagolitic transcript from the 16th century, coming from the archives of the Modruš or Krbava chapter in Novi and now held in the National and University Library in Zagreb (R 4080).[1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) • [9](https://www.ljevakskole.hr/blog/clanak-123) • [5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) Sources place the transcript in the first half[1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) or the latter half[5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) of the 16th century. The original of 1288 was written in liturgical (constitutional) Glagolitic, while the transcript is in cursive Glagolitic; the legal text has no title, is written on 14 parchment leaves with initials decorated with plant-geometric motifs and marginal drawings, and was bound in leather in the 19th century.[9](https://www.ljevakskole.hr/blog/clanak-123) • [2](https://vinodol.hr/6-sijecnja-1288-godine-potpisan-je-vinodolski-zakonik/)\n\n## Political influence\n\nThe code was made in several excerpts, one for each town of Vinodol, so that each municipality held its own copy of the agreed law.[1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) Its provisions fixed the respective powers of the duke of the Vinodol region and the municipalities: the count's right to requisition livestock was conditioned on compensation, and municipal officers could not testify to acts of their own term of service for a year after it ended.[5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432) • [1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) Its evidentiary rules replaced torture and ordeal with witnesses and regulated oaths in commercial claims, defining who could be believed and up to what sums.[1](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/) • [5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432)\n\n## Reception and assessment\n\nThe code was first published by Antun Mažuranić in 1843 and has since been translated into numerous European languages, including Russian, Polish, French, and German.[5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432)\n\nScholars view it not only as a source of law but as a witness to Croatian language, script, and culture; the law itself calls its language \"hervatski\", one of the earliest confirmations of Croatian linguistic identity.[3](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808) • [5](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432)\n\nAnother scholarly account stresses that it arose not from the will of a ruler or feudal lord but by agreement between the Vinodol municipalities and the count.[3](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Statute of Vinodol, Novi Vinodolski official city pages](https://novi-vinodolski.hr/en/the-statute-of-vinodol/)\n2. [6. siječnja 1288. godine potpisan je Vinodolski zakonik](https://vinodol.hr/6-sijecnja-1288-godine-potpisan-je-vinodolski-zakonik/)\n3. [Prisega kao dokazno sredstvo u Vinodolskom zakonu](https://hrcak.srce.hr/clanak/354808)\n4. [Vinodolski zakon, Hrvatski jezični portal](https://hjp.znanje.hr/?chapter=04-vinodolski&show=povijest)\n5. [Combating Corruption in Croatia in the Middle Ages: The Law Code of Vinodol (1288) and Statute of Krk/Vrbnik (1388)](https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/327432)\n6. [Vinodol Code, Tourist Board Novi Vinodolski](https://tz-novi-vinodolski.hr/en/explore-and-experience/culture-and-history/vinodol-code/)\n7. [Vinodolski Zakonik, TZ Vinodolske općine](https://tz-vinodol.hr/vinodolski-zakonik/)\n8. [The Vinodol Law, University of Zagreb virtual exhibition](https://hit.ffzg.unizg.hr/en/other-activities/they-wrote-in-glagolitic-script/virtual-exhibition/the-vinodol-law/)\n9. [Inicijali i crteži u važnom hrvatskom spomeniku iz 13. stoljeća](https://www.ljevakskole.hr/blog/clanak-123)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › History and archaeology › European history › Eastern Europe › Medieval Balkans (681 to 1500)*\n\n*Initially written Sep 24, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/vinodol-code", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/vinodol-code.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Vinodol Code\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/vinodol-code. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Vinodol Code](https://www.edgepedia.org/vinodol-code)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/vinodol-code](https://www.edgepedia.org/vinodol-code). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Vinodol Code\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/vinodol-code. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Vinodol Code is a legal code of 77 articles adopted on 6 January 1288 in Novi, the oldest Croatian legal monument, written in Glagolitic script." }