Discovering the Frankopan Heritage

17/12/2022

SAINTS - The last resting place of the Frankopan Ozaljski princes

Prince Stephen IV. Frankopan Ozaljski (1507-1575), was the son of Prince Fernandin and Princess Marija Branković. Fernandino's father, therefore Stjepan's grandfather, was the famous Prince Bernardin Frankopan, and his grandmother was Princess Louise of Aragon, a princess of the Neapolitan court. On his mother's side, Stjepan's grandfather was the Serbian despot Jovan Branković, and his grandmother was Jelena Jakšić. At the time, when Maria married Ferdinand, the Serbian despots were, just like the Frankopans, vassals of the Croatian-Hungarian king (the title of despot was given to Jovan by King Vladislav who succeeded the famous King Matthias Corvinus). It is interesting that the Frankopans and the Brankovićs already had one previous marriage alliance at that time. Namely, Hungarian general Vuk Grgurević Branković, son of Jovan's uncle Đorđe (Grgur), married Princess Barbara Frankopan, daughter of Prince Žigmund Frankopan Otočki (Bernardin's uncle).

So, Prince Stephen IV. Frankopan Ozaljski married the Carniola baroness Katarina Egkh von Hungersbach and with her he had one daughter, also Katarina, for whom there is no information about her life and marriage, so I assume that she died as a child. The tombstone of Prince Stjepan has been preserved, but it was placed in a somewhat unfortunate place and is now the threshold of the monastery church. The memorial inscriptions are still slightly visible, but they are quite worn. Folk tradition says that this tombstone was placed on the threshold precisely so that people would step on it, because Prince Stjepan is remembered as a coward and a bully who oppressed the serfs. That's not exactly true. Namely, it is true that one prince Stjepan Frankopan was just like that, but he was not Stjepan IV. The son of Ferdinand, but his somewhat younger cousin who lived at the same time, Prince Stjepan V, son of Prince Nikola VIII. Frankopan of Tržački and Princess Doroteja Blagajska, who was sentenced to death by the royal court of the Zagreb chapter due to his crimes against the Barilović nobles, but that sentence was never carried out.

According to some historians, Prince Stephen IV. he was not the first from the Frankopan family to be buried in the crypt of the Svetice monastery, but rather his father Ferdinad. In Ferdinand's time, the construction of the church and the first monastery was completed, and since he lived on the Ozalj estate, it is very likely that he was buried at Svetice. Since it was common even in those days for spouses to be buried next to each other and next to their deceased children (then the mortality of children was quite high), I am free to conclude that Princess Marija, wife of Prince Fernardin and Princess Katarina, wife of Prince Stjepan IV. and little Katarina were also buried in that very crypt, which would have been completely in line with the customs of the time and their high social position.
Well, that's all from me about the connection between the princes of Frankopan and the monastery of Svetica. Surely there is much more, but that is already a topic for historians and archaeologists.

15/12/2022

Old Town Okić
In 1416, Okić is purchased by Nikola Krčki Frankopan and this famous family holds it until 1470 when Martin Frankopan gives it away to the king.
More info: http://culture-patrol.blogspot.com/2011/07/okic.html

09/06/2022

Soline Cove, located on the northern part of the Island of Krk, was the location of the large saltworks during Frankopan times and the reign of Count Ivan.
The saltworks in Soline didn't just cater to the needs of the Island of Krk but rather supplied many of the mainland settlements with salt as well.

Due to the fact that the production of salt on Krk was plentiful, the Soline saltworks ended up being a direct competitor to Venetian saltworks.
In the year 1480, the Island of Krk fell under the rule of the Republic of Venice, and this resulted in the Dodge of Venice forbidding Count Ivan Frankopan, the last of the Counts of Krk, to produce salt. After this event, the saltworks on Krk never worked again.

A bag of salt hand-painted by the artist Andrea Radojčić, which had been created as a part of In Search of the Frankopan Holdings project, aims to revive the ancient Frankopan saltworks and it achieved public recognition during the Krk Fair in 2020.
Photographer Darko Antolković gave the initial idea for the hand-painted bag of salt, while archaeologist Ranko Starac helped with the selection of the final motif used on the bag.
The motif on the bag of salt from the Krk saltworks is, in fact, an ornament from the Church of St. Mavro in Soline. This ornament is not publicly displayed, and it represents a pilaster with a slot for holding a pluteus from the 9th century.
The word salt is written in Glagolitic script.

To give this fascinating tale more prominence, writer Tomislav Beronić wrote a story titled The Bag of Krk Salt, Soline, the year 1141.

The video and the story are complemented by illustrations by Neven Cetinjanin.

Na sjevernom dijelu otoka Krka nalazi se uvala Soline gdje se u frankopansko doba, za kneza Ivana nalazila velika solana.Solana nije samo proizvodila za otok...

30/05/2022

House of Frankopan

The Frankopan family (Croatian: Frankopani, Frankapani, Italian: Frangipani, Hungarian: Frangepán, Latin: Frangepanus, Francopanus), was a Croatian noble fam...

13/05/2022

If you pass by the village of Soline near Dobrinj, you will notice a large sandy bay, which the locals call Meline. It is well known to the general public for the healing mud and in the summer months, the bay is full of swimmers and “black people” who smear the mud on their skin and, covered in it, walk around waiting for it to dry. Fewer tourists and visitors of the island of Krk know that there used to be salt pans in this bay. This is written on the local information board, but the question is, how many visitors have read it.In order to promote the salt pans and the village of Soline, we came to the conclusion that it would be good to develop something that would bring the story of the salt pans to life. We agreed that it would be best to do it with the product of the salt pans – the salt itself. We asked Andrea Radojčić, our colleague on the project who makes souvenirs and teaches the Glagolitic alphabet, to design a bag of salt that would represent the pans. We asked the archaeologist Ranko Starac to help us select the motif on the bag. He suggested that, together with the word SALT written in the Glagolitic alphabet, we put a pilaster with a pluteus (a slab that is fixed in the groove of the pilaster) from the 9th-century church of St Maurus, which is located near Soline. That is how the bag of salt came to be. The village of Soline belongs to one of the oldest villages of the Dobrinjština area; the villages are first mentioned in a Glagolitic document on December 30, 1230. The document states that a man by the name Juraj Pariježić gives the church of St George in the village Vrh, near Kras – “i po putu ki gre na Solini” (eng. “by the road that leads to Soline”). “In previous centuries, salt pans, where salt was produced, were also famous. These ponds were in a secluded corner of the Dobrinj bay, which is called “Na Melinah” (eng. “On the Meline”), where the village of Soline is now located. On November 1, 1412, Sigismund, the King of Hungary and Croatia, confirmed to Prince Nikola Frankopan that, among other things, the salt pans (lat. maritimas solanas) on the island of Krk, of which Vinciguerra d’ Aragona later writes, were rather excellent (lat. saline excellentissime).”In my opinion, the Frankopan salt pans weren’t only located in the southernmost corner of the Dobrinj bay “where the village of Soline is located today”, but they were also spread all the way to the northernmost corner of the bay. This I conclude from the fact that the entire coast is a vast continuous plain, almost horizontal with the sea. Moreover, in the northernmost corner of the bay, there is an area close to the sea called “Magazini” (eng. storages), and although there are no traces of any storages, there was arable land there, cornfields, and to some extent vineyards. The only thought that imposes itself about the origin of the name “Magazini” is that there used to be salt storages from the Frankopan salt pans. Considering that the salt pans were bountiful and that they rivalled those in Venice, the Doge, out of jealousy, forbid the last Prince of Krk, Ivan Frankopan, to produce salt. The Prince agreed to this on the condition that the Doge regularly sent him a certain amount of salt (it. uno maran di sale) for the needs of the island of Krk. After that, these salt pans were never restored.” – Ive Jelenović in “Mikrotoponimija Dobrinjskog područja na otoku Krku, Hrvatski dijalektološki zbornik, no. 3, 1973”
English translation: Anamarija Brusić

10/03/2022

https://issuu.com/darkoantolkovic/docs/frankopan_women_from_modrus

Read Frankopan Women from Modruš by Darko Antolković on Issuu and browse thousands of other publications on our platform. Start here!

09/03/2022

The remaining three chapels of the Paulines were built on the Veternica hill. They were built on the estate given to the Paulines in 1507 by Lady Beatrice. The only preserved chapel of the three is the Chapel of Holy Mother of God and All Saints, called „Svetinje“ by the people. The other two chapels were knocked down probably before the abolition of the Paulines in 1786.

Among others built by the Paulines around Lepoglava, the Chapel of St. George in Purga stands out with its proportion and beauty. This is one of the m...

09/03/2022

VARAŽDIN
Important owners of the fortress were...

28/02/2022

Bell tower, Vrbnik
The 30-metre high Renaissance bell tower built in 1527 is the crucial element in the recognisable panorama of Vrbnik. According to folklore, it was built from the treasures found in the Frankopan’s castle of Gradec.

19/02/2022

Notes from the chronicles of Frankopans • Modruš • February, 1390
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Count Stjepan II of Krk died in Modruš, probably as a result of severe gout. While still alive, he secured with King Charles that his estates be inherited by his daughter Elizabeth, who was engaged as a child to Count Frederick of Celje, and to whom he bequeathed 40,000 gold florins.
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Knez Stjepan II. Krčki umire u Modrušu vjerojatno od posljedica jakog gihta. Još za života osigurao se kod kralja Karla da njegova imanja naslijedi kći jedinica Elizabeta, zaručena još kao dijete za grofa Fridrika Celjskog, a kojoj je u miraz zapisao 40.000 zlatnih florina.

17/02/2022

Notes from the chronicles of Frankopans • Güssing • February 17, 1459
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Count Martin Frankopan joins the Slavonian nobility gathered around Ban Vladislav Gorjanska, Nikola Iločki and Jan Vitovac, and agrees with the election of German Emperor Frederick III Habsburg as Croatian-Hungarian king and certifies the joint document with his seal. While the other Frankopan counts sided with King Matthias Corvinus.
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Knez Martin Frankopan pridružuje se slavonskom plemstvu okupljenom oko bana Vladislava Gorjanskoj, Nikole Iločkog i Jana Vitovca, pristaje uz izbor njemačkog cara Fridrika III. Habsburga za hrvatsko-ugarskog kralja i svojim pečatom ovjerava zajedničku ispravu. Ostali knezovi Frankopani stali su uz kralja Matijaša Korvina.

16/02/2022

Notes from the chronicles of Frankopans • Dubovac • February 16, 1442
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Count Stjepan III Frankopan issues a document in Senj confirming that he received the town of Dubovac (with all rights and belongings) from Count Ivan Babonić Blagajski "with all rights and belongings" and that he will return it to Simon Cudar if he or his descendants pay him 350 gold forints.
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Knez Stjepan III. Frankopan izdaje u Senju ispravu kojom potvrđuje da je od kneza Ivana Babonića Blagajskog primio grad Dubovac (castelum Dobowacz) „sa svim pravima i pripadcima“ i da će ga vratiti Simonu Cudaru ako mu on ili njegovi potomci isplate 350 zlatnih forinti.