Petar Zrinski

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Petar Zrinski (Croatian: Petar Zrinski, Hungarian: Zrínyi Péter; Vrbovec 6.6.1621-1671) was a Croatian warrior and member of the Zrinski noble family.

Contents 1 Zrinski family 2 Zrinski-Frankopan plot 3 Death of Nikola Zrinski 4 Final revolt and suppression 5 Trial and execution 6 Katarina Zrinski 7 Execution of the peers 8 See also 9 External links

[edit] Zrinski family

Grandson of one of the greatest Croatian Ban, Nikola Šubić Zrinski who died in the tragic and heroic siege of Siget, a town in the western Hungary where Turkish invasion force to Vienna had been stopped.

His family had possessed large estates throughout all of Croatia and had family ties with the second largest Croatian landowners the Frankopanfamily.

[edit] Zrinski-Frankopan plot

Together with his older brother Nikola Zrinski and his brother in law Fran Krsto Frankopan, Petar was involved in the Zrinski-Frankopan plot. The origins of the plot were in the shameful Peace of Vasvár, in which all victories of the previous war against the Ottoman empire were not exploited for any territorial gains. Together with Croatians the plot also involved many members of the Hungarian high nobility.

[edit] Death of Nikola Zrinski

In the preparations of the plot, plans were distrupted by the dead of the leader Nikola Šubić Zrinski in the wood near Čakovec where he hunted a boar. After the death of his brother Nikola Zrinski, Petar became Ban(Viceroy) of Croatia.

[edit] Final revolt and suppression

Petar and his younger companion Krsto Frankopan nevertheless continued planning the plot don't knowing that the court was already following them through it's intelligence. When they tried to trigger the revolt by taking the command of the Croatian troops they were quickly repulsed and revolt collapsed. Finding themselves in desperate position they finally went to Vienna to ask emperor Leopold of the Hapsburg dynasty for forgiveness. They were promised not to be sentenced to dead but emperor broke his word and put them to jail.

[edit] Trial and execution

This led them being tried in Vienna the next year. They were sentenced to death for high treason and publicly executed in Wiener Neuerstadt in 1671. Petar Zrinski's estates were confiscated and it also happened to the Frankopan's. This was a great loss for the Croatia because they were the leaders of the country's nobility. After his death Zrinski family had been extinguished in the next twenty years. Adam Zrinsky was shot in the back in the battle of Slankamen under suspicious circumstances. And his younger relative, same-named Petar Zrinski, died in the prison without successors. Fran Krsto Frankopan was in the time of death the last male member of his famous family.

[edit] Katarina Zrinski

Petar's wife Katarina Zrinski is famous in her own right. After the death of Petar she was forced into seclusion in a monastery where she remained until her death.

Zrinski and Frankopan realized the treacherousness of the "Christian" Leopold and the crimes of Vienna, spending their last hours awaiting their tragic fate, in complete devotion to God and in the belief that the idea of a liberated Croatia would nonetheless be realized. See what consolation fills the lines of Petar's last letter to Katarina. All that they regretted was that they should be executed so miserably, that they did not die like their glorious ancestors in battle. They were sentenced to death for high treason. For Petar Zrinski the verdict was read that "he committed the greatest sins than the others in aspiring to obtain the same station as his majesty, that is, to be an independent Croatian ruler and therefore he indeed deserves to be crowned not with a crown, but with a bloody sword".

[edit] Execution of the peers

On April 30th, 1671, Petar Zrinski and F. K. Frankopan were led to their place of execution. Both up to the last moment maintained their complete lucidity. "Today we have pardoned each other our transgressions. Therefore I ponder this letter and ask you for everlasting forgiveness. If I have mistreated you in some way, or offended you, forgive me. In the name of our Father, I am quite prepared to die and I am not afraid". So wrote Petar Zrinski in the letter of pardon to his wife Katarina. Frankopan also wrote a very sensitive letter to his wife. "My dear Julia, I would lie with all my soul to leave behind a last commemoration of my deepest love, but I am naked and miserable". Before his death Petar allegedly tied his hair up in a handkerchief made by his wife, so that the executioner's axe should fall directly on his neck without obstruction. He wanted with his death to show that which he could not with this life, that a Croat knows how to die courageously. Only on the second blow did the executioner cut off first off Zrinski's head. The same thing happened in the case of F.H. K. Frankopan. Yet the court did not rest until the families of Zrinski and Frankopan were utterly destroyed. Two of Petar's daughters died in the convent. His son Ivan, after a terrible imprisonment and torture, died mad. So did Katarina, the very symbol of Croatia's destiny, the woman who in herself combined Spartan devotion and bravery with the wisdom of Athens. Nikola's son Adam died struck down in all probability by an Austrian soldier in a battle near Slankamen, twenty years after the decapitation of Petar Zrinski and F. K. Frankopan. Frankopan lost his son who died at a very young age. His family remained without male descendants, something in which only Vienna could triumph. Se disappeared from Croatian history, political and cultural life two most illustrious families. With their death Croatia became like a widow in mourning. By now it is not very difficult to prove that there was indeed no question of any conspiracy, but rather of an attempt that promised to save Croatia. Zrinski and Frankopan did not even try to answer the court in Vienna on the terms in which Vienna dealt with them, but rather wished to counteract its injustices with what was then a quite justifiable diplomacy. Vienna had seen the whole danger of such an undertaking whose cause was rooted in the dissatisfaction among Hungarians and Croats occasioned by the unfavorable peace of Vasvar. Leopold knew what was going on. He wished to settle the matter, but above all he wished to exculpate himself. The ministers of the crown proved to be the worst rascals in the entire history of the monarchy in removing their opponents by murder as adversaries to whom even the diplomatic game was begrudged. European courts were ready to promise much, to be involved in intrigues, but small nations serve only as their morsels until they could come to an agreement with the larger nations on the divisions of the spoils. All this I would not even mention were not such situations prevalent today.

Letter by Petar Zrinski to his wife Katarina Zrinski:

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.

Count Petar Zrinski

[edit] See also

• Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy

[edit] External links

• Petar Zrinski - [1]
• Fran Krsto Frankopan and Petar Zrinski - [2]

Petar Zrinski's portrait, along with his consort and brother-in-law Fran Krsto Frankopan, is on the front of the 5 kuna banknote. - [3]

Preceded by Nikola Zrinski

Ban of Croatia 1665-1671

Succeeded by Nikola Erdödy