Jure Grando

Jure Grando (also Giure Grando ) († 1656) was a farmer from the village of Kringa in Istria ( Republic of Venice , now Croatia ). He is considered the first vampire documented in writing .

biography

Most of the data come from the report by Freiherr Johann Weichard von Valvasor . He mentions this case for the first time in his folklore book " The Honor of the Hertzogthums Crain ". According to this, Grando is said to have emerged from his grave in 1672, sixteen years after his death, and terrorized his home village as Strigon , known as the undead . Obviously the idea was widespread that the revenant was chasing after the peasants' wives at night , because they believed that someone like Grando would crawl over their wives / and really sleep / howol wouldn’t say a word .

Valvasor reveals, however, that it was more an explanation for adultery or for the widows forbidden sexual intercourse with men, especially since these widows are still young and beautiful / by very carnal spirits / are really and vigilantly sedated . To emphasize the reprehensibility of such practices, a Strigon was attributed with unnatural abilities, for example walking around the village around midnight and knocking on house doors. A few days later, someone would die in the houses he knocked on. The farmers would then claim: Strigon ate him .

Valvasor himself has called these ideas superstition . According to the custom, such a horror could only be stopped when nine men from the village exhumed the body of Jure Grando, because the ghost would not let them rest / before they punched a stake from Dorn-Holtz through his body . In the present case, however, the impaler was so discouraged that another man had to cut off the dead man's head while a third protected him by holding a crucifix in front of him. According to Valvasor's testimony, this practice seemed widespread in Istria, although the authorities severely punished such practice because the disturbance of the peace of the dead was contrary to Christian belief.

reception

literature

In European literature, Erasmus Francisci dealt with Jure Grando in “Der infernal Proteus, or Tausend-Künstige Verstell” (Nuremberg, 1690) and Johann Joseph von Görres in the multi-volume work “Die christliche Mystik” (Regensburg, 1836–42) . Most recently, the Croatian author Boris Perić used the material in his novel “Vampire” (2006).

tourism

For several years now, attempts have been made in Kringa to inspire tourists for the place with the story of Jure Grando .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g} Johann Weichard Valvasor: The honor of the Duchy of Crain, Volume VI, From the Istrian language / Sitten und Gewohniken, pp. 327-41, especially pp. 335f.
2. ↑ See Massimo Introvigne : Antoine Faivre, Father of Contemporary Vampire Studies. In: Richard Caron (ed.): Ésotérisme, gnoses & imaginaire symbolique: mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre , Leuven 2001, p. 598, note 18.
3. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ http://www.mg.co.za/article/2006-04-24-croatian-dracula-revived-to-lure-tourists

literature

• Antoine Faivre : Du Vampire villageois aux discours des clercs (Genèse d'un imaginaire à l'aube des Lumières) , in: Antoine Faivre, Jean Marigny (ed.): Les Vampires. Actes du Colloque de Cerisy, 4-11 août 1992 (Cahiers de l'Héretisme) , Paris 1993, pp. 45-74; on Jure Grando pp. 45–8.

Web links

Wikisource: Report on Jure Grando in Die Ehre des Hertzogthums Crain  - Sources and full texts