Author: Ana Šimić
One of the most distinctive features of Croatian cultural identity is triliteracy, i.e. the fact that during their history the Croats used three different scripts: one of Roman origin (the Latin alphabet) and two of Slavic origin (Glagolitic and Cyrillic).
The history of Croatian literacy began with the Latin script, initially used to write Latin which was the official language of Western European medieval civilization and culture. The oldest Latin-script and Latin-language inscriptions associated with the Croats are linked to early rulers: the Baptisterry of Duke Višeslav (8th/9th century), the Trpimir Inscription (9th century), the Branimir Inscription (888), the Inscription of Queen Jelena (976), and others. The oldest known Latin-script text written in the Croatian language dates from the 14th century—The Rule and Order of the Dominican Nuns of Zadar (1345).
Long before adopting the Latin script for writing Croatian, Croats have already been writing their language in Glagolitic — as seen in the Plomin Inscription (10th/11th century), the Krk Inscription (11th century), and the Baška Tablet (c. 1100) — and later also in Cyrillic, as evidenced by the Supetar Fragment (12th century) and the Povlja Threshold (1184).
The concept of triliteracy is most closely connected to the Glagolitic tradition, as those who knew Glagolitic were typically also familiar with both Cyrillic and Latin scripts. This is evident in various Croatian-written monuments. It is not surprising, for example, that the Breviary of Vid of Omišalj (1396), written in Glagolitic, included Latin initials and later Cyrillic annotations. Such a combination is much less common in texts written mainly in the Latin script, especially in Latin language texts.
Although often associated with the Middle Ages, the use of three scripts did not end with that period. This is clearly evidenced by the Glagolites of Poljica, known for their simultaneous use of all three scripts: Glagolitic for liturgical purposes, Cyrillic for recording birth records, and Latin for official correspondence, particularly with the archbishop, who used Latin.
Croatian tradition of using three scripts is one of the outcomes of what historian T. Raukar identifies as a key issue in early Croatian history: bridging the gap between the Romance-speaking population of the Byzantine-controlled coastal cities and the Slavic (Croatian) population of the inland Croatian kingdom. Each of these cultural spheres brought its own script or scripts, along with the cultural heritage those scripts embodied. Over a thousand years later, it is clear that this encounter gave rise to one of the richest and most intriguing phenomena in Croatian cultural history—the Croatian triliteracy.