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Croatian nobility

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Croatian nobility refers to the noble families of Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Istria and Republic of Ragusa.

General history of Croatian nobility

The nobiliary status of the members of the original twelve tribes that constituted Croatian statehood in the Middle Ages preceded any royal grant. The following document compiled only a few years before the medieval Croatian state of inland Dalmatia was destroyed by the Turkish wars explains how only the male descendants of the original twelve tribes had the right to landownership.

“Magnifice domine amice noster! Ad requisitionem eiusdem vestre magnificencie nobis litteritorie factam in facto et consuetudine huius regni Crovatie in possessionibus videlicet hereditariis, eviticiis et acquisitis, vestre magnificencie certificamus, easdem consuetudines notificamus, qualiter descendunt hereditaria et patrimonialia nobilium Chrohatorum, quod omnes possessiones omnium nobilium duodecim generationum regni Crovatie descendunt in prolem masculinam germanis propinquis de eorum prole descendent de uno in aliud, que possessiones dictorum nobilium non sunt alienande extraneis in eorum preiudicio, neque pro anima testare neque legare ultra tre gognaios: de possessionibus vero eviticiis et acquisitis per antecessores nobilium sive per predecessores eorum pro ut est descriptum et postmodum relicte eorum heredum, ipse possessiones transire debent per omnes descendentes ab illo, a quo ipsa bona fuerunt acquisita simili modo et conditione, prout alia bona patrimonialia antiqua transeunt de prole in prolem, ut suprascriptum est. Item de possessionibus evictis et acquisitis, quod si aliquis nobilis evicisset seu acquisivisset suo solo evictu et acquisitu, ipse nobilis habet libertatem, ipsa bona, per ipsum evicta et acquisita, alienare, eo quia ea, que solus acquisivit, solus distribuere potest. Feminina autem proles non habet partem in possessionibus patrimonialibus, sed de bonis mobilibus debet adornari, cum transiverit ad inc ( ?). Quas consuetudines per presentes nostras litteras vestre magnificiencie declaramus. Data Thinini feria secunda proxima ante festum beati Martini episcopi et confessoris, anno domini 1459.” “Michael Sifkovich de Prozor regnorum Dalmacie et Croatie vicebanus. Judices nobilium Croatorum sedis Tniniensis.” Ljubić, Listine X, p. 146.

Thus, in the mediaeval state of Croatia only nobles by right of blood (iure sanguinis), i.e. the male descendants of the original twelve tribes, could own land. When this mediaeval statehood was destroyed by the Turkish wars in the 16th century, the surviving Croatian nobles migrated north and settled around Zagreb in that part of Slavonia still under the crown of Hungary-Croatia. The immigrant nobles carried their identity with them and re-named Croatia that part of Slavonia in which they settled. These new arrivals found different laws defining nobiliary status. It was the legal status of the land tenure that established whether the owner was noble or not. If your holding carried literae donationales you were nobilis; otherwise you were a colonus. Thus a man’s legal condition could change if he left one type of land tenure for another. Younger sons who had to leave the noble estate of their father to take over a farm (sessio, quartalitium) subjected to manorial dues had no right to be termed nobilis in legal documents. The ancient nobility iure sanguinis of the twelve tribes had no longer political significance unless supported by a noble estate. This system is found codified in the Corpus Juris Hungarici of 1517, compiled by I. Werboczy: Partis I, Titulus 6, #2. "Ad nobilitatem itaque comprovandam, non petuntur in judicio exhiberi insignia, vel arma nobilitaria; sed solae literae donationales, vel statutoriae, cum declaratione possessionariae collationis editae, produci debent: imo illis non habitis, literae duntaxat expeditoriae super solutione Quartalitiorum (dummodo tempus praescriptionis jurium regalium transcendisse dignoscatur) confectae, ad comprobationem hujusmodi nobilitatis abunde sufficiunt." Starting in the 17th century, and to the end of the Habsburg empire, patent letters of nobility from the emperor-king for outstanding merit in the military and civil service became the rule. In this late form of nobility a manorial type of land tenure was not necessarily implied.

In Dalmatia and Istria several Venetian titles were granted and during the French occupation, French titles were granted.

Following the collapse of Austria-Hungary following World War I, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia) stopped giving hereditary titles.

Between 1941-1943 King Tomislav II of the Independent State of Croatia granted about 60 titles of duke, marquess, count, viscount and baron but mostly to non-citizens.

Families

Kings

Dukes

Marquesses

Counts

Viscounts

Barons

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