Kingdom of Croatia | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1527–1868 | |||||||||||
| Anthem: Carevka [hr] | |||||||||||
.jpg) Map of Croatia, Dalmatia, Slavonia, Bosnia, Serbia, Istria and theRepublic of Ragusa in the 18th century | |||||||||||
| Status | Inpersonal union withKingdom of Hungary (withinHabsburg monarchy,Austrian Empire andAustria-Hungary) | ||||||||||
| Capital | Zagreb(1557–1756) Varaždin(1756–1776) Zagreb(1776–1868) | ||||||||||
| Common languages | Official: Latin (until 1784; 1790–1847) German (1784–1790) Croatian (1847–1868) | ||||||||||
| Religion | Catholic Church | ||||||||||
| Demonym | Croats | ||||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | ||||||||||
| King | |||||||||||
• 1527–1564(first) | Ferdinand I | ||||||||||
• 1848–1868(last) | Franz Joseph I | ||||||||||
| Ban | |||||||||||
• 1527–1531(first) | Ivan Karlović | ||||||||||
• 1867–1868(last) | Levin Rauch de Nyék | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Sabor | ||||||||||
| Historical era | Early Modern period | ||||||||||
• Election ofFerdinand I | 1 January 1527 | ||||||||||
| 26 January 1699 | |||||||||||
| 11 March 1712 | |||||||||||
| 15 March 1848 | |||||||||||
| 30 March 1867 | |||||||||||
| 26 September 1868 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Florin | ||||||||||
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| Today part of | |||||||||||
TheKingdom of Croatia (Croatian:Kraljevina Hrvatska;Latin:Regnum Croatiae;Hungarian:Horvát Királyság,German:Königreich Kroatien) was part of theLands of the Hungarian Crown, but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods of time, including its final years. Its capital wasZagreb. It was also a part of the lands of theHabsburg monarchy from 1527, following theElection in Cetin, and theAustrian Empire from 1804 to 1867.
The Kingdom of Croatia had large territorial losses inwars with the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century. Until the 18th century, the kingdom included only a small north-western part of present-dayCroatia around Zagreb, and a small strip of coastland aroundRijeka, that were not part of theOttoman Empire or part of theCroatian Military Frontier. Between 1744 and 1868, the Kingdom of Croatia included a subordinate autonomous kingdom, theKingdom of Slavonia. The territory of the Slavonian kingdom was recovered from the Ottoman Empire, and was subsequently part of the Military Frontier for a short period. In 1744, these territories were organized as the Kingdom of Slavonia and included within the Kingdom of Croatia as an autonomous part. In 1868, they were merged into the newly formedKingdom of Croatia-Slavonia.
Following the fall of themedieval Kingdom of Hungary at theBattle of Mohács, in 1527 theCroatian andHungarian nobles needed to decide on a new king. The bulk of the Croatian nobilityconvened the Croatian Parliament in Cetin and chose to join theHabsburg monarchy under the Austrian kingFerdinand I ofHabsburg.[3][4] Some nobles dissented and supportedJohn Zápolya, but the Habsburg option fully prevailed in 1540, when John Zápolya died.
Territory recovered by the Austrians from theOttoman Empire was formed in 1745 as theKingdom of Slavonia, subordinate to the Croatian Kingdom. In 1804 theHabsburg monarchy became theAustrian Empire which annexed theVenetian Republic in 1814 and established theKingdom of Dalmatia. After theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (by which the Austrian Empire became theAustro-Hungarian Empire) and theCroatian–Hungarian Settlement (Nagodba) of 1868, the Kingdom of Croatia and Kingdom of Slavonia were joined to create theKingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within theHungarian part of the empire, while the Kingdom of Dalmatia remained acrown land in theAustrian part of the empire.
The change of leadership was far from a solution to the war with the Ottomans, in fact, theOttoman Empire gradually expanded in the 16th century to include most ofSlavonia,western Bosnia andLika. After many battles against the Turkish invaders in which Croatian troops participated (Battle of Gorjani,Siege of Klis,Siege of Krupa,Battle of Belaj,Siege of Kőszeg,Battle of Otočac etc.), Croatian territory under Habsburg rule was 25 years later reduced to about 20,000 km2 (7,700 sq mi). In 1558, the parliaments of Croatia and Slavonia were united after many centuries into one. The centre of the Croatian state moved northward from coastal Dalmatia, as these lands were conquered by the Ottomans. The town of Zagreb gained importance, as did nearbyVaraždin.[5]
Taking advantage of the growing conflict between KingSigismund II of Poland andMaximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor,Suleiman the Magnificent started his sixth raid of Hungary in 1565 with 100,000 troops. They successfully progressed northwards until 1566 when they took a small detour to capture the outpost of Siget (Szigetvár) which they failed to capture ten years previously. The small fort was defended by CountNikola IV Zrinski and 2,300–3,000 men. They were able to hold their ground for a month, and decimated the Ottoman army before being wiped out themselves. This siege, now known as theBattle of Szigetvár, bought enough time to allow Austrian troops to regroup before the Ottomans could reachVienna.[6][5]
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By orders of the king in 1553 and 1578, large areas of Croatia and Slavonia adjacent to the Ottoman Empire were carved out into theMilitary Frontier (Vojna krajina orVojna granica) and ruled directly from Vienna's military headquarters. Due to the dangerous proximity to the Ottoman armies, the area became rather deserted, so Austria encouraged the settlement ofSerbs,Germans,Hungarians,Czechs,Slovaks andRusyns/Ukrainians and other Slavs in the Military Frontier, creating an ethnic patchwork.The negative effects offeudalism escalated in 1573 when the peasants in northern Croatia andSlovenia rebelled against their feudal lords over various injustices such as unreasonable taxation or abuse of women in theCroatian and Slovenian peasant revolt.Matija Gubec and other leaders of the mutiny raised peasants to arms in over sixty fiefs throughout the country in January 1573, but their uprising was crushed by early February. Matija Gubec and thousands of others were publicly executed shortly thereafter, in a rather brutal manner in order to set an example for others.
After theBihać fort finally fell to the army of the BosnianpashaHasan Pasha Predojević in 1592, only small parts of Croatia remained unconquered. The remaining 16,800 km2 (6,500 sq mi) where around 400,000 inhabitants lived were referred to as the "remnants of remnants of the once great and renowned Kingdom of Croatia" (Latin:reliquiae reliquiarum olim magni et inclyti regni Croatiae).[7][8]
By 1699, the Ottoman Empire was driven out of Ottoman Hungary and Croatia, throughout the course ofGreat Turkish War, and Austria brought the territory back under central control.
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Croatia was one of the crown lands that supported EmperorCharles VI'sPragmatic Sanction of 1713[4] and supported EmpressMaria Theresa in theWar of the Austrian Succession of 1741–48 and theCroatian Parliament signed their ownPragmatic Sanction of 1712. Subsequently, the empress made significant contributions to Croatian matters, by making several reforms in the administrative control of the Military Frontier, the feudal and tax system. In 1767 she founded the Croatian Royal Council (Croatian:Hrvatsko kraljevinsko vijeće) as royal government of Croatia and Slavonia, with its seat in Varaždin, later in Zagreb, presided by theban, but it was abolished in 1779 when Croatia was relegated to just one seat in the governing council of Hungary (the Royal Hungarian Council of Lieutenancy, also known as the Hungarian Vice-regency Council, headed by thepalatine), held by theban of Croatia. The empress also gave the independent port ofRijeka to Croatia in 1776. However, she also ignored the Croatian Parliament.
With thefall of theVenetian Republic in 1797, its possessions in the easternAdriatic mostly came under the authority ofFrance which passed its rights to Austria the same year. Eight years later they were restored toFrance as theIllyrian Provinces, but won back to theAustrian crown by 1815.
In the 19th century Croatianromantic nationalism emerged to counteract the non-violent but apparentGermanization andMagyarization. The Croatian national revival began in the 1830s with the Illyrian movement. The movement attracted a number of influential figures and produced some important advances in theCroatian language and culture. The champion of the Illyrian movement wasLjudevit Gaj who also reformed and standardized Croatian. The official language in Croatia was Latin until 1847 when it became Croatian.[4]
By the 1840s, the movement had moved from cultural goals to resisting Hungarian political demands. By the royal order of January 11, 1843, originating from the chancellorMetternich, the use of the Illyrian name and insignia in public was forbidden. This deterred the movement's progress but it couldn't stop the changes in the society that had already started.
Springtime of Nations - 1848
In therevolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire, the CroatianBanJosip Jelačić cooperated with the Austrians in suppressing theHungarian Revolution of 1848 by leading a military campaign into Hungary, successful until theBattle of Pákozd. Despite this contribution, Croatia was later subject to Baron Alexander vonBach's absolutism as well as Hungarian hegemony under BanLevin Rauch when the Austrian Empire was transformed into a dual monarchy ofAustria-Hungary in 1867.
From 1848 to 1850 Croatia was governed by the Ban's Council (Croatian:Bansko vijeće) appointed by the Ban and theParliament or theCroatian-Slavonian Diet (Croatian:Sabor; in 1848 first Diet with the elected representatives was summoned). In 1850 the Ban's Council was transformed into Ban's Government (Croatian:Banska vlada) which, after the introduction of theabsolutism (31 December 1851), was under the direct control of the Austrian Imperial Government in Vienna. From 1854 to 1861 theImperial-Royal Croatian-Slavonian Lieutenancy (presided by the ban) in Zagreb (Croatian:Carsko-kraljevsko namjesništvo za Hrvatsku i Slavoniju), under the Austrian Ministry of Interior, was the main governing body of the Croatian-Slavonian crown land (Kronland). After the fall ofBach's absolutism (theOctober Diploma of 1860 and theFebruary Patent of 1861), the Royal Croatian-Slavonian Court Chancellery (Croatian:Kraljevska hrvatsko-slavonska dvorska kancelarija) in Vienna - from 1861 to 1862 "courtly (aulic) department for Croatia and Slavonia" (ministry) - and the Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Royal Council of Lieutenancy (also known as the Croatian-Slavonian-Dalmatian Vice-regency Council, it was headed by the ban; Croatian:Kraljevsko namjesničko vijeće) in Zagreb were founded. These remained Croatian-Slavonian government until 1868.[9]
Ban Jelačić had succeeded in the abolition ofserfdom in Croatia, which eventually brought about massive changes in society: the power of the major landowners was reduced and arable land became increasingly subdivided, to the extent of risking famine. Many Croatians started emigrating to theNew World countries in this period, a trend that would continue throughout the next hundred years and create a large Croatiandiaspora.
The Illyrian movement was rather broad in scope, bothnationalist andpan-Slavist. It would eventually develop into two major causes:
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The loss of Croatian domestic autonomy was rectified a year after theAustro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867, when in 1868 theCroatian–Hungarian Settlement was negotiated, which combined Croatia and Slavonia into the autonomousKingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. With this agreement, the Kingdom of Croatia received autonomy in administrative, educational, religious and judicial affairs.[10] However, thegovernor (ban) was still appointed by Hungary, 55% percent of all tax money went toBudapest, and Hungary had authority over the biggest sea port ofRijeka (something that was reportedly not part of the Settlement actually agreed upon).
The Kingdom of Croatia was divided into counties (Croatian:županije;German:Comitate (modern spellingKomitate) orGespanschaften;Hungarian:vármegyék;Latin (also in other languages):comitatus).
For most of the period of Habsburg rule the Kingdom of Croatia was divided into three counties:
These were direct continuations of the medieval counties of Croatia. (The remainder had fallen to theOttomans, and when conquered by the Habsburgs had become part of either theMilitary Frontier or theKingdom of Slavonia.) In the late 18th century a fourth –Severin County – existed, carved out of the part of Zagreb County west of theKupa, but it lasted for less than a decade before being reintegrated; however, the coastal area was instead attached to theCorpus separatum of Fiume (Rijeka) as theHungarian or Croatian Littoral.
The Littoral and most of Zagreb County, although not Zagreb itself or anything north of the Sava, was annexed to the NapoleonicIllyrian Provinces in the 1809Treaty of Schönbrunn. After the Napoleonic wars in 1815 this territory was returned to Austria but initially formed part of theKingdom of Illyria (as theKarlstädterKreis and part of theFiumaner Kreis); it was returned to Zagreb County and the Littoral in 1822. As of 1842 the Littoral included (in addition to Fiume) the settlements ofBakar (Buccari),Kraljevica (Porto-Rè) andNovi Vinodolski (Novi).[11] The counties remained more-or-less unchanged until therevolutions of 1848.
In the period following the revolutions of 1848 substantial changes took place in the region. The SlavonianSyrmia Countyde facto became part of the self-declaredSerbian Vojvodina in 1848; the eastern half of Syrmia officially became part of theVoivodeship of Serbia and Banat of Temeschwar crown land in 1849.Međimurje, Fiume and the Littoral became part of Croatia. Croatia and Slavonia were formally a single crown land in 1853.[12] The counties were restructured in 1850[13] and again in 1854.[14] In 1850 the counties were formally referred to in German asGespanschaften and were divided into political districts akin tothose of modern Austria,[13] much like most of the rest of the Empire. In 1854 they were referred to asComitate and a different system ofBezirke subordinate to the counties was introduced,[14] which mirrored the structure introduced to the re-establishedKreise in other crown lands. The city of Zagreb/Agram was also made directly subordinate to the kingdom and several other cities were directly subordinate to their counties (rather than aBezirk).[14]
In 1850 the SlavonianVirovitica County became Osijek (Essek) County and it absorbed the rump of Syrmia.[13] In 1854 the western exclave ofPožega County (Kutina) went to Zagreb (Agram) and western parts of Osijek County (the area around Virovitica) went to Požega County.[14]
In 1850 Varaždin (Varasdin) County absorbed Međimurje (die Murinsel), except for the area aroundLegrad, which went to Križevci (Kreutz) County.[13] Fiume (Rijeka), the Hungarian/Croatian Littoral and western parts of Zagreb (theProcessus Montanus) became the new Rijeka (Fiume) County.[13] Križevci County was dissolved in 1854 and partitioned between Zagreb and Varaždin counties.[14]
Croatian and Slavonian counties 1850–54:
Croatian and Slavonian counties from 1854:
The Zagreb, Varaždin and Rijeka counties constituted Croatia, while Požega and Osijek counties constituted Slavonia.
In 1860 the pre-1848status quo was largely restored and the counties reverted to their pre-1848 state. However, Rijeka County was retained until the restructuring of the counties of Croatia-Slavonia in 1886, despite the restoration of the city itself to Hungary.
According to the 1802 data, the population of the Kingdom of Croatia included 400,000 (98.8%)Roman Catholics, 4,800 (1.2%)Eastern Orthodox Christians and 40Protestants.[15]
In 1840, a Hungarian statisticianFenyes Elek analyzed the ethnicity in the countries belonging to the Hungarian Crown. According to the data he collected and processed, 526,550 people lived in the Kingdom of Croatia, out of which 519,426 (98.64%) wereCroats, 3,000 (0.56%)Germans, 2,900 (0.55%)Serbs and 1,037 (0.19%)Jews.[16][17] Population data by counties:
Primorje County
Varaždin County
Zagreb County
Križevci County
The first modern population census was conducted in 1857 and it recorded religion of the citizens. Population by religion in the counties of Kingdom of Croatia:[18]
In 1848 the Kingdom of Croatia adopted a new official flag and coat of arms. The new flag was the Croatian tricolor of red, white, and blue, and it was to remain the symbol of Croatia up to the present day. The coat of arms adopted in 1848 was an amalgam of three coats of arms, one for Croatia, another for theKingdom of Dalmatia, and another for theKingdom of Slavonia. The Kingdom also used the name "Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia" during certain periods (though this was not recognized by the Empire). The Kingdom still controlled theKingdom of Slavonia, but did not control theKingdom of Dalmatia. In 1852 the imperial Austrian government, which never recognized the tricolor as official, banned its use, along with the coat of arms. Between 1852 and 1861 the Kingdom of Croatia used the red and white flag, and its old chequy coat of arms. The tricolor was used again after 1861 (October Diploma andFebruary Patent) and became official after 1868.
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