I researched Brbinj surnames from the 17th, 18th and part of the 19th centuries primarily using the Glagolitic registry books of the parish of Brbinj, along with other sources, such as the Franciscan cadastre for the cadastral municipality of Brbinj from 1824 or the population census of the Zadar islands from 1608.

The oldest preserved Glagolitic registers of the Brbinj parish, i.e. excerpts from those books, date from 1601, and from the middle of the 17th century we have preserved complete registers of births, deaths, marriages and lists of the state of souls of the Brbinj parish, with which it is possible to analyze the genealogies of Brbinj families in detail and systematically about which I wrote in more detail on the page about the methodology and sources I used during the research https://dugiotokgenealogy.com/metodologija/ .

Data on Brbinje families and surnames before the oldest preserved Glagolitic registers are more difficult to collect, and there are certainly no such systematic databases as Glagolitic registers or later Latin registers. In the State Archives in Zadar, however, various materials are preserved from which we learn the surnames and first names of the residents of Brbinj at that time. This material is mostly related to the purchase and sale of real estate in the area of Brbinj or to the maintenance, purchase and work on the salt pans in Brbinj, or the wills of residents of Brbinj are in question.

Here I will provide some of that information that has already been made public by various authors. What is characteristic of the surnames that I will mention is that they are mostly not surnames of Brbinj families from the period of the Glagolitic registers.

Does this mean that were another population that lived in Brbinj at that time?

I believe that it is not about some other population that lived in Brbinj in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, and then suddenly disappeared. I think that it is, at least in most cases, about the fact that Brbinj families were designated by different surnames. Immigration of individuals or, more rarely, of smaller families was certainly possible, and the same thing happened during the time when the Glagolitic registers were being kept, which is especially evident when men came to "vlaštvo" in certain Brbinj families. I described one example of a young married couple moving to Brbinj, which apparently did not end well, in the chapter on the Brbinj surnames Pesić and Macina https://dugiotokgenealogy.com/prezimena-pesic-i-macina/ .

First of all, it must be kept in mind that it is known in theory that surnames themselves were viewed differently at that time because surnames were, for most people, relatively new. Mass use of surnames in our region was introduced after the Council of Trent. Ante Strgačić, historian and one of the last Glagolitic priests, writes that although Croatian surnames appear as early as the Middle Ages, they actually only began to be systematically recorded after the Council of Trent (1548-1563). Namely, according to the provisions of that council, pastors had to enter the act of baptism and marriage in special books, and they had to keep these books carefully.[1] Ivica Vigato, who researched records from island of Silba wrote[2] that Church strongly forbiddened marital relations between close relatives so it was necessary to record into the church books not only a name, but also a surname. Priests got directions for a way tocreate and run those church books, so Vigato writes that on the book cover of the churh book of death from 1613. from island of Silba exists record which imposes priests to write not only the name of the deceased person and theirs fathers name, but also the surname, and all of this under the threath of fine.

Vigato also writes[3] that surnames in 17th century weren t that closely systematized as they are today so it is clear that they show up in different forms. Priests who wrote using Glagolitic script were writting them down in the way they heard it without much possibility to check the correctness of the surnames in some older documents. By time one of the variant of certain surname will prevaile.

In his book Glagolitic in the Zadar Archdiocese in the Middle Ages, Petar Runje brought information from some documents related to real estate or wills from Brbinj, then some Brbinj surnames from the specified period and names of Brbinj residents without a specified surname.

Priest Stjepan "de Signa", resident of Zadar, on July 28, 1377, with the permission of the abbot of St. Krševana sells some of her properties in Brbinj on Dugi otok to Ivan Marinić from the island of Maun.[4]

Priest Marko "de Verbigno" on Dugi otok conveys the will of a deceased parishioner[5], there are many such wills from various parishes, the priest Butko serves in the church in Brbinj on Dugi otok and handed over the will on June 26, 1385 to Dminč, Marica's husband, who declared the will on June 18, and died soon after. Marica is obliged to make a painting for the church of St. Kuzma and Damjan in Brbinj.[6]

Juraj Perčinić, of the late Ilija, priest and parish priest in Brbinj, on May 15, 1455, bought a vineyard in Brbinj in the area called "Podvrsach".[7]

On August 27, 1462, "Martin Radoevich scriptor littere sclave habitator insule Ezii" is mentioned in Zadar.[8]. There is an interesting connection between Martin Radoević, a Glagolitic writer, and Dobrica Skosnić, the widow of the late Krešul from Brbinj. Namely, on March 13, 1464, Martin accepts Dobrica for an apartment and food for the rest of her life and promises to take care of her like a mother, clothe and feed her as best he can, so he accepts her for an apartment on Iža. She had a son Ivan, who died, and Martin is his son-in-law.[9]

Runje found information that the first significant assembly of Glagolitic priests took place at the end of February 1504, when twenty of them met in Zadar and in the church of St. Donat to choose two representatives from among themselves who should represent them before the patriarch in Venice, the papal delegate or any other body.[10] Among the twenty-somethings is the priest Šimun, pastor in Brbinj on Dugi otok. And at the end of 1504, Glagolitic priests from the islands of Zadar met[11], among them Šimun Crosić, pastor of St. Kuzma and Damjan in Brbinj on Dugi otok.

In May 1536, one of the largest gatherings of priests in the Zadar area took place (about forty priests), Glagolitic priests, all because of the difficult financial situation for them and their regiment, and then they begged for forgiveness from their taxes.[12]  Šimun Križić from Brbinj is mentioned among them.

In the book Veli rat[13] Kristijan Juran brings some information about the people of Brbinj who sell land in Veli rat or change the vineyard on Zverinac for a vineyard in the area of Sakarun, as well as information about residents of other places who buy and sell land in the area of Brbinj.

Deed summaries 1429: Antun, son of the late Juraj from Soline and Šimun from Kali sell a vineyard in the Brbinj area to Grgur Giljarić from Dragove (DAZD, ZB, IO, b. Jedina, volume I/1, 37/v)[14]

Deed summaries 1455: Luka Norac, of the late Ivanuš from Brbinj, with the consent of Petar de Begna as the owner of the land, sells to Grgur de Vinturin as the representative of Pavel Parević from Silba, three and a half acres of vineyards in Veli Rat, in the area of Oključi (DAZD, ZB, ICa, b. V, sv. VII/3, CVIIIIr)[15]

Summaries of documents 1593: Šimun Škifić called Perulić from Brbinj, now a resident of Veli rat, in exchange for a vineyard in Veli Rat, in the area of Sakarun near Blato, on the land of the Zadar archdiocese, gives don Lovre Hrišić, of the late Martin, pastor in Božava, vineyards on Zverinac (DAZD, ZB, SV, b. I, sv. I/9, 2v-3r)[16]

In the book Island of Rava[17] Kristijan Juran, working on the history of the property of the resident population on the island of Rava, states that in the twenties of the 15th century, Ivan Čmel bought some plots of land on the Ravi from Tomac Obradić from Iž and Dominik of the late Marin from Sali, and the heirs of the late Dražoja and Ive Prvoničić from Luka, Jakov Jadrijević from Brbinj, Kršul Jarac from Sali, Jure Košić from Dragovi, etc are mentioned as owners as well.[18].

There is more published information about the old inhabitants of Brbinj, which I will bring later. It is possible to connect some of these surnames with later Brbinj surnames, which will be the subject of my further research.

[1] Strgačić, Ante: Inventory of register books of the State Archives in Zadar, Arhivski vjesnik, II, Zagreb, 1959.

[2] Vigato, Ivica: Surnames in the Glagolitic registers of the dead and baptized on the island of Silba, p. 179

[3] Vigato, Ivica: Surnames in the Glagolitic registers of the dead and baptized on the island of Silba, p. 194.

[4] Runje Petar: Glagolitic in the Zadar Archdiocese in the Middle Ages, Zadar, 2005, p. 57., original document DAZd, SZN, Petrus de Sercana, vol. And, the candle. 1, fol. 2, 28. VII. 1377

[5] Runje Petar: Glagolitic in the Zadar Archdiocese in the Middle Ages, Zadar, 2005, p. 70., original document DAZd, SZN, Petrus de Sercana, vol. And, the candle. 1, fol. 6, 06. IV. 1383.

[6] DAZd, SZN, Articutius de Rivignano, St. V, sacred. 3, 26. VI. 1385.

[7] Runje Petar: Glagoljica u zadarskoj nadbiskupiji u srednjem vijeku, Zadar, 2005., str. 136., izvorni dokument DAZd, SZN, Nicolaus Benedicti, sv. I, svešć. 16, 15. V. 1455.

[8] dakle glagoljski pisac

[9] Runje Petar: Glagolitic in the Zadar Archdiocese in the Middle Ages, Zadar, 2005, p. 145., original document DAZd, SZN, Johannes de Calcina, vol. VI, consciousness. 9, fol. 3, 13. III. 1463/64.

[10] Runje Petar: Glagolitic in the Zadar Archdiocese in the Middle Ages, Zadar, 2005, p. 174.  

[11] Runje Petar: Glagolitic in the Zadar Archdiocese in the Middle Ages, Zadar, 2005, p. 178.

[12] Runje Petar: Glagolitic in the Zadar Archdiocese in the Middle Ages, Zadar, 2005, p. 180/81, original document DAZd, SZN, Johannes Michael Mazzarellus, vol. I, 17 V. 1563.

[13] Veli rat, editors Ante Uglešić and Josip Faričić, University of Zadar, 2013.

[14] Veli rat, editors Ante Uglešić and Josip Faričić, University of Zadar, 2013, Historical materials and notes on the Veli rat from the 14th to the 16th century, Kristijan Juran, p. 165.

[15] Veli rat, editors Ante Uglešić and Josip Faričić, University of Zadar, 2013, Historical materials and notes on the Veli rat from the 14th to the 16th century, Kristijan Juran, p. 165.

[16] Veli rat, editors Ante Uglešić and Josip Faričić, University of Zadar, 2013, Historical materials and notes on Veli rat from the 14th to the 16th century, Kristijan Juran, p. 170.

[17] Island of Rava, edited by Josip Faričić, University of Zadar, Zadar, 2008, Juran, Kristijan: Contributions to the history of Rava from the end of the 13th to the middle of the 17th century, p. 287

[18] DAZ, ZB, NB, b. the only one, st. I/1, 14v-15r, TP, b. III, vol. IV/7, 243r; TP, b. III, vol. IV/7, 252v-253r; TP, b. III, vol. IV/8, 297r-v.