Zrinski
From Freepedia
The Zrinski family, known as Zrínyi in Hungarian, was a noble family from Croatia influential in the Kingdom of Hungary during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe.
The Zrinskis, "those of Zrin", were initially created when the King of Hungary retaliated against the Šubić family in 1347 for their disobedience during a dynastic struggle between the Arpads and the Angevins, confiscated their estates around Bribir (they used to be known as "princes of Bribir") in the Dalmatian hinterlands and gave them the Zrin estate in the Croatian region of Banovina, near today's Petrinja.
The Zrinskis were Croats and played a crucial role in the history of the Croatian state, both before their arrival to Zrin and after. On the other hand, they also had the national identity called hungarus or natio hungarica, which means somebody from the kingdom of Hungary, regardless of the language they speak. They were one of many noble families in the Kingdom of Hungary.
Because they lived, worked and intermarried with nobility from all parts of the multiethnic kingdom, it was natural and expected to be fluent in four or five languages. It is sure, that Nicholas Zrinski spoke at least Croatian, Hungarian, Italian, Turkish and of course Latin. It is also interesting that he is the most prominent Hungarian poet in the 17th century, while his brother Peter is known for his Croatian poems.
The family gave four bans of Croatia:
- Nicholas Šubić Zrinski (Nikola Šubić Zrinski in Croatian, Szigeti Zrínyi Miklós in Hungarian) (1508-1566, ban: 1542-1556)
- George Zrinski (Juraj Zrinski in Croatian, Zrínyi György in Hungarian) (ban: 1622-1626)
- Nicholas Zrinski (Nikola Zrinski in Croatian, Zrínyi Miklós in Hungarian) (1620-1664, ban: 1647-1664)
- Petar Zrinski (Petar Zrinski in Croatian, Zrínyi Péter in Hungarian) (1621–30 March 1671, ban: 1665-1670)
Joannes Torquatus de Corbavia who was the ban between 1521 and 1524 had also married one Helen Zrinski. Another Helen Zrinski was the wife of Francis I Rákóczi (whom she married in 1666) and of Imre Thököly (whom she married in 1682).
During Stanley's expedition in Africa in 1882, his explorer and confidant Dragutin Lerman in Congo discovered the waterfalls which he named "Zrinski chutes."
Already at the end of the twelfth century the Šubić family whose native place was Bribir inherited the title of princes and later on their power steadily increase so that in the thirteenth century they possessed the territory between the rivers Krka and Zrmanja and the sea. At the outset of the fourteenth century, Pavao Šubić governed Bosnia as far as the Drina. Later on the town of Zrin by which they gained the epithet, Zrinski fell into their hands. In the sixteenth century, ban Nikola Zrinski gained dominion over Medjimurje with its capital at Čakovec.
Quotes
- Deeds are better witnesses than men
- Petar Zrinski
Last Letter of Ban Petar Zrinski to his wife Katarina:
- My dear heart;
- Do not be too sorrowful and upset on account of this letter. God's will be done. Tomorrow at ten o'clock they will cut off my head and your brother's too. Today we pardoned each other with all our heart. Therefore I ponder this letter and ask you for everlasting forgiveness. If I have mistreated you in some way, or offended you, as well I know, forgive me. In the name of our Father I am quite prepared to die and am not afraid. I hope that the Almighty God who has humiliated me in this world will have mercy on me. I would pray to him and ask him to whom tomorrow I hope to come that we may meet each other in everlasting glory before the Lord. I know nothing else to write to you about, neither our son nor the rest of our poor possessions. I have left this to God's will. Do not be sorry, everything had to be so. In Wiener Neustadt, the day before the last day of my life, at seven o'clock in the evening, April 29th, 1671. May Almighty God bless you together with our daughter Aurora Veronika.
- Petar Zrinski
