Croatian polymath, cosmopolitan, inventor, linguist and bishop.

Faust

Dino

He gained world fame with the project of the flying man, the Pelješki bridge was created using his designs, and he designed the fire and water clock...

Faust Vrančić was a Croatian polymath, cosmopolitan, inventor, linguist and bishop. He lived in the time of the Renaissance - a historical period that placed trust in one's own mind at the center of its philosophy. Therefore, the breadth of his intellectual interests is not surprising.

He was born into the family of father Mihovil, a humanist, and mother Katarina from the noble Dobrojević family. He was described as a handsome boy, with dark hair and large eyes with a deep and warm look.

During the fall and winter, he lived in his native Šibenik, while he would spend the hot summers in a summer house on the island of Prvić, where the family hid from the hustle and bustle of the city, but also from the deadly plague that ravaged the cities.

He was very curious and bright, with a quick and imaginative mind that longed for everything that was unknown, so his uncle Antun, a diplomat and Hungarian archbishop, invited him to apprentice in Požun (today's Bratislava).

He made excellent progress there. Although the uncle was not prone to emotional outpourings, Faust "got under his skin". The boy loved it the most when his uncle invited him to the bishop's palace. There, Antun would tell him about the most exciting events of his life, and he would end the stories with a moral message. He instilled in his beloved nephew a love for his homeland and for knowledge.

On November 12, 1569, Antun writes to his brother Mihovil, Faust's father:

"Namely, sometimes he asks for more expensive clothes, sometimes more books than he can understand. (...) On the first of October, I sent him a hundred gold škudos, with the intention of sending him another hundred within a month. So I gave him the opportunity to use the first money to get dressed and get ready for the winter, and from the second to live and buy books."

The uncle decided to support the further education of the talented boy, so he enrolled him at the University of Padua. Faust began studying law and philosophy there. As part of his studies, he also studied mathematics and natural philosophy - the forerunner of physics.

After finishing his studies, he went to visit his uncle in Hungary, but the uncle died soon after. So young Faust went. to Rome where he joined the Croatian brotherhood of St. Jerome. He soon met Maria Zar, the daughter of a Venetian patrician. He was mesmerized by her, so he decided to marry her, and thus change his own life from the roots.

He accepted the service of military commander of the city of Veszprém in Hungary and administrator of the bishop's estates there. It is believed that thanks to this experience he got the first incentives and ideas for his inventions. Soon his family expanded by two members - a daughter and a son.

After two years, he became a secretary at the court of the Roman-German emperor and the Croatian-Hungarian king Rudolf II. Habsburg in Prague. The emperor was fascinated by science, especially astronomy and alchemy, and gathered the greatest minds of the time at court. Socializing with intellectuals broadened Faust's interests.

Soon the family was struck by a tragic accident - the death of Faust's beloved wife. Then Faust goes to Italy and joins the Barnabite church order. He devoted the last ten years of his life to writing and publishing his works.

One of his most significant works was "Machinae novae" - Faust's technical manual, the most valuable work in the field of European technical culture of that time. It is believed that he prepared it for almost forty years. The manual contains fifty-six descriptions of various inventions, devices and constructions.

One of the most important constructions described in the book, which is still used today, is the "Iron Bridge". It was the first representation of the idea of ​​a bridge suspended by chains. Such bridges are ideal for crossing large spans, and nowadays chains have been replaced by steel ropes.

"We called this bridge iron because it is suspended by many iron chains on two towers that were built on both banks, and it hangs in the middle. The towers will have their own doors to allow or stop passengers on the bridge," wrote Vrančić in his manual.

The first such bridge was built almost two hundred years later in England, and some of the most famous bridges built according to this principle are the bridge over Strömsund in Sweden, the Anzac bridge in Australia, Dr. Franjo Tuđman's bridge near Dubrovnik and, of course, the bulky and newest Pelješki bridge.

One of Faust's more intriguing inventions presented in the book is the so-called "Flying Man", i.e. the first printed project of a parachute in the history of technical culture. Although da Vinci sketched the parachute, it is believed that Vrančić gave it a completely different shape, which he accompanied with a detailed technical description. The project shocked the public at the time and brought Faust worldwide fame and recognition.

An interesting invention was also Vrančić's "Fire Clock", i.e. "fire alarm clock". It was made of a rope that should be divided into as many parts as the hours should be shown. Each division has one suspended pebble which, burning the rope, falls into the pot. The impact of the stone on the crucible indicates the elapsed time. As Vrančić writes: "Therefore, fire can really be used as an alarm clock, then it will first light the candle, and then it will wake you up".

Vrančić made a great contribution to the development of the Croatian language by writing the "Dictionary of the Five Most Respected European Languages", which was the first printed dictionary of the Croatian language. It is based on the Chakavian base with Štokavian elements, and Vrančić calls the language "Dalmatian". It is also interesting that Vrančić created a solution for writing the phoneme /č/, which he decided to write as cs. This way of writing is still used by Hungarians today.

For the rest of his life, Faust remained attached to his hometown. This is evidenced by the fact that he wished to meet the end of his life in Privić. He set out on his way to his homeland, but his sudden death in Venice prevented him from fulfilling his last wish. The father of the parachute and the "Croatian Leonardo da Vinci", as the Vatican media called him, was buried in the church of St. Mary of Mercy in Prvić Luka on the island of Prvić.

Friend Mrnavić, describing Faust's spirituality and modesty, told him at his farewell speech that he should rest "in the bare earth among the dead bodies of the poor, so that at least when dead he could joyfully achieve what he could not do while alive."

Croatian homo universalis

For centuries, a legend circulated that Vrančić, ill and in old age, wanted to test his most famous invention by jumping from the tower of a Venetian church.

English bishop John Wilkins, one of the first secretaries of the "Royal Society" in London, in the book "Mathematical magic or the wonders that may be performed" claimed that in 1616, Vrančić, then sixty-five years old, tested his parachute by jumping from the bell tower of a Venetian church .

But he was not the only one. And from other regions where Vrančić stayed, for example from Vespri, the town where he was the commander of the fortress, there was a legend that Vrančić tried his most famous invention there.

The "flying man" or the invention called "Homo volans" was first constructed and presented by Vrančić in his book "Machinae novae" or "New Machines" - a technical manual containing drawings and constructions of 56 of Vrančić's inventions.

"Homo volans" is considered the first printed project of a parachute in the history of technical culture. For a long time, it was believed that Vrančić himself tried out his quadrangular parachute, which he described in detail. Some say that he jumped from the bell tower of the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, while others state that it was with the 86-meter high bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Martin in Bratislava.

But in recent times, Ph.D. Iva Kurelac refuted that thesis. The first soft parachute was made by the French inventor Jean-Pierre Blanchard (1753–1809), and it was used for the first time only at the beginning of the 19th century, when jumping from a balloon.

However, due to the detailed and functional construction he created, Vrančić is still considered the "father of the parachute".

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