Martin Segon

Martin Segon
Born	Novo Brdo, Serbian Despotate (now Kosovo)
Died	1482 or 1485
Residence	Ulcinj, Republic of Venice (now Montenegro)
Citizenship	Serbian, Venetian
Education	PhD in Law PhD in Canon law
Alma mater	University of Padua
Occupation	Writer, Catholic bishop and humanist
Title	Bishop of Ulcinj
Parent(s)	Jovan de Segonis
Martin Segon Subject Description of the national customs of the late medieval Balkans Biographical sketch of Skanderbeg Literary movement Humanism Notable works Martino Segono di Novo Brdo, vescovo di Dulcigno. Un umanista serbo-dalmata del tardo Quattrocento

Martin Segon (Latin: Martinus Segonius Nouomotanus, Italian: Martino Segonocode: it is deprecated ) was a Serbian writer, Catholic Bishop of Ulcinj, and a notable 15th-century humanist.

Biography

Segon was born in Novo Brdo, in the Serbian Despotate. The name of Segon's father was Jovan de Segonis, and he was from Kotor. Segon was a canon in the church of St. Maria in Novo Brdo. He probably moved to Ulcinj when Novo Brdo was captured by the Ottoman Empire in 1455.

He was educated in Padua and wrote his works in Latin language. Segon received a PhD in "both laws" (Doctor of law and Doctor of Canon Law) at the University of Padua in 1475. Segon was a prelate when he died in 1482, or in 1485.

Works

When the Ottoman Empire started to capture more and more European territory, the Popes sent missionaries to the Balkans to spy on the Ottoman forces and their organization of the territories they captured. One of the missionaries was Martin Segon. Pope Sixtus IV instructed Martin Segon to travel across the Balkans and investigate routes which could be used to intercept the Ottomans. He sent the text he wrote to pope Sixtus IV at the beginning of 1480, before Gedik Ahmed Pasha organized the Ottoman invasion of Otranto. Segon's report overcame its main purpose because it included Segon's observations mainly about Serbia (and in less extent other regions) at the end of 15th century, its history, ethnology, geography, castles, monasteries, Ragusan traders, people and their character, Battle of Kosovo, epic poetry etc. Felix Petančić used the manuscript written by Martin Segon and published it in 1522 under the title De itineribus in Turciam libellus.

Only one section of his work that was translated in Italian is preserved. That extract was unknown until professor Agostino Petrusi from Milano published it in 1981 within his book titled Martino Segono di Novo Brdo, vescovo di Dulcigno. Un umanista serbo-dalmata del tardo Quattrocento. A part of the text he wrote is short but very important biographical sketch on Skanderbeg (Italian: Narrazioni di Giorgio Castriotto, da i Turchi nella lingua loro chiamato Scander beg, cioe Alesandro Magnocode: it is deprecated ).

External links

• Malo djelo poštovanoga gospodina Martina de Segonis, po narodnosti Kotoranina, a porijeklom Srbina iz Novomonta, drukčije Novobrda, nazvanog po milosti božjoj Episkopa Ulcinjskog preblaženom Sikstu IV, Rimskom papi – Text of the work of Martin Segon on Serbian language

• "Становништво словенског поријекла у Албанији" – Зборник радова са међународног научног скупа одржаног на Цетињу 21, 22. и 23. јуна 1990. Марица Маловић-Ђукић, "Пилот у средњем веку" – "Код писца касног средњег века Мартина Сегона (умро 1485 )" (Serbian)