Petar Zrinski

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Petar Zrinski (Hungarian: Zrínyi Péter; June 6, 1621 – April 30, 1671), was a Croatian warrior and member of the Zrinski noble family.

Nikola Šubić Zrinski
Nikola Šubić Zrinski

Contents

[edit] Zrinski family

Petar Zrinski was born in Vrbovec, a small town near Zagreb, and was the great-grandson of one of the greatest Croatian Ban, Nikola Šubić Zrinski who died in the tragic and heroic siege of Szigetvár, 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 Frankopan family.

[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 conspiracy. 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 numerous Croatians, the plot also involved many members of the Hungarian high nobility.

In the preparations of the plot, plans were distrupted by the death of the leader Nikola Zrinski in the woods near Čakovec. After the death of his brother, Petar became Ban (Viceroy) of Croatia.

[edit] Final revolt and suppression

Petar and his brother-in-law Krsto Frankopan nevertheless continued planning the plot not knowing that the court was already following their moves. When they tried to trigger the revolt by taking the command of the Croatian troops they were quickly repulsed and the revolt collapsed. Finding themselves in a desperate position, they finally went to Vienna to ask emperor Leopold I of the Hapsburg dynasty for forgiveness. They were promised not to be put to death, but emperor broke his word and put them to jail.

[edit] Trial

This led the two men being tried in Vienna the next year. They were sentenced to death for high treason. Zrinski and Frankopan realized the treacherousness of Leopold and the crimes of Vienna, and spent 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. All they regretted was that they should be executed so miserably, that they did not die like their glorious ancestors in battle. 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".

Petar Zrinski's estates were confiscated, which also happened to belong to the Frankopans. The deaths of Zrinski and Frankopan were a great loss for Croatia because they were the leaders of the country's nobility. The Zrinski family would be extinguished in the next twenty years, as Adam Zrinski was shot in the back in the battle of Slankamen, and his younger relative, same-named Petar Zrinski, died in the prison without any successors. Fran Krsto Frankopan was in the time of death the last male member of his famous family.

Petar's wife Katarina Zrinska 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.

[edit] Execution

On April 30th, 1671, Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan were led to their place of execution. Both up to the last moment maintained their complete lucidity. Petar wrote in his last letter to his wife Katarina, "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".

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 a Croat knows how to die courageously. Only on the second blow did the executioner cut off Zrinski's head. However, the court did not rest until the families of Zrinski and Frankopan were destroyed, and made life difficult for them. Two of Petar's daughters died in the convent. His son Ivan, after a terrible imprisonment and torture, died mad. So did Katarina, seen as the symbol of Croatia's destiny. 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. Jelena Zrinski (Hungarian: Ilona Zrínyi), Petar's daughter, however, lived until 1703 and managed to bring on the legacy of his father; she married Francis I Rákóczi, became the mother of Francis II Rákóczi, and later, alongside his second husband Imre Thököly, fought the Austrians right until the final defeat of the Thököly uprising.

By now it is not very difficult to prove that there was indeed a conspiracy, but rather of an attempt that promised to save Croatia and Hungary. 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 Vasvár. Leopold wished to settle the matter, but above all he wished to exculpate himself.

[edit] Final letter to Katarina

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] Legacy

  • Petar Zrinski's portrait, along with Fran Krsto Frankopan, is on the front of the 5 kuna banknote. [1]
  • Is still regarded as an important symbol of Croatian history. Many songs and stories have been made detailing his life and bravery.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Preceded by
Nikola Zrinski		 Ban of Croatia
1665-1671		 Succeeded by
Nikola Erdödy