Zrinski family
The Zrinski family, known also as Zrínyi in Hungarian, was a Croatian noble family, influential in the Hungarian Kingdom during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe.
The Zrinskis, "those of Zrin", is a branch of the Šubić family, which arose when king Louis I the Great needed some of the Šubićs' fortresses for his coming wars against Venice, and the city of Zadar in particular. Louis I took their estates around Bribir in the Hrvatsko Primorje hinterlands (they used to be known as "princes of Bribir") and gave them the Zrin estate in the Croatian region of Banovina, near the modern city of Petrinja.
Princess Jelena Šubić married Vladislav Kotromanić. Their first born child Tvrtko I became the Ban of Bosnia and since 1377 the King of Bosnia. Their niece and adopted daughter Elizabeta Kotromanić, Elisabeth of Bosnia, married Louis I the Great. Elizabeth's and Louis' daughters succeeded their father and became queens in their own right, Mary of Hungary and Jadwiga of Poland, respectively.
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 poems in Croatian language.
The family gave four bans of Croatia (viceroy s):
- 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)
- Peter 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 Croat from Požega 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 increased, so that they possessed the territory between the rivers Krka and Zrmanja and the sea by the 13th century. At the outset of the 14th 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 16th century, Ban Nikola Zrinski gained dominion over Medjimurje with its capital at Čakovec.
It is less known that successors of Zrinski family are by occasion still alive in Greece under the family name Sdrinias. The common knowledge is that noble families Zrinski and Frankopans were perished by death sentence in Wiener Neustadt on April 30th 1671 because of their role in the so called Zrinski-Frankopan Plot (in Hungarian historiography called Wesselényi Plot) against the Emperor.
Other members
Quotes
Deeds are better witnesses than men
- 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 humbled 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
Miscellaneous
The Croatian football club NK Zrinjski from the city of Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina is named after the Zrinski family.