House of Frankopan - History

History

The Frankopan family is a leading Croatian aristocratic family which dates back to the 12th Century and even earlier to Roman times.

Along with the Zrinski family it had, in Croatian history, ranked high in terms of importance by virtue of power, wealth, fame, glory and role in Croatia's public life. They are closely connected with the Roman patrician Frangipani family. The Frangipani were a Roman princely family, earlier called Onicii or Anicii. The family took the name Frangipani in the 8th Century. In 837 four brothers of the Frangipani family left Rome: Michele chose Venice as his domicile and Nicolò Dalmatia and Slavonia. The descendants of Michele obtained the island of Krk from the Venetians. The Frankopan family is mentioned in Croatian documents in 1133 when Dujam Frankopan is recorded as ruler and lord of the island of Krk and of areas of Dalmatia. Around 1200 the family owned wide areas on the mainland, including the Castle of Ribnik, near Karlovac.

In 1227 the Mongol prince Genghis Khan advanced from Poland toward Hungary whose King, Bela IV, resisted bravely but finally had to seek refuge in Dalmatia. King Bela stayed with the Frankopans who assisted him with arms and funds and brought him into safety in Veglia and then brought him back to his own land. As reward the King gave the Frangipani the county of Segn with surrounding lands and the castle of Modrus.

In 1246 there was another war, between Frederic of Austria and Bela, who, with the assistance of the Frankopans, won a victory. As a further reward, King Bela then, by Royal Decree, created the Frankopans Lords of their territory for them and their descendants.

The Frankopans constantly supported the Catholic Church. In particular, Nikola Frankopan reconstructed the Holy House of Our Lady in 1294 in Tersatto (Trsat). It is recorded that, in 1291, Nikola Frankopan, sent a delegation to Nazareth to measure the Holy House after the House had been saved, presumably by the Crusaders, and brought to Trsat, or Tersatto, on the Adriatic Coast where the Frankopans had a Castle. In 1294 Nikola Frankopan, gave the Holy House to the Pope to be placed on Papal lands, at Loreto, near Ancona.

Although the possessions of the family were exposed to every assault both from the east and the west, their power increased steadily until the 17th century when their lands reached further east. The Zrinski and Frankopan families came into closer affinity by marriage ties until in the eyes of the European courts they had become one of the most important families of Croatia.

In 1420 the Swedish King Erik of Pomerania called Ivan VI Frankopan, the eldest son of the Croatian ban Nikola IV, to Sweden to accompany the Swedish King to the Holy Land and later to assist the King at the Court in Sweden. Ivan VI Frankopan lived in Sweden at intervals between 1420 and 1430. After his father's death he returned to his home country. His eldest son called Mattias (Matija) stayed in Sweden.

In 1425 Emperor Sigismund confirmed the princely title of Nicolaus Frankopan and his relatives and granted the family the privileges of red wax, (Rotwachsprivilegien), i.e., the right to use red wax for their seals, a privilege reserved for sovereign families. Sigismund underlines at the end of this document that no one must ever dispute these rights of the family.

Bernát Frangepans (abt. 1450 died aft.1527) paternal grandmother Dorottya de Garay, was from a prominent Hungarian noble family. Through ancestry from royal Spanish families Bernát had even Árpad ancestry (the Árpad dynasty founded the Kingdom of Hungary.) The famed Nikola Šubić Zrinski, who died fighting and won the title of "Hero of Sziget," became the first outstanding example of the epithet "bulwark of Christianity". The Frankopan family was persecuted after the Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy, where the Prince and Marquess Fran Krsto Frankopan led an uprising against Habsburg King Leopold I, to make Croatia independent. He, and his brother-in-law, Petar Zrinski, were executed in Wiener Neustadt.

Some lines of the family died out. The line of Stephen II Frankopan, Ban of Croatia (d. 1481), died out with Catherine Frankopan in the 16th century. The line of Sigismund Frankopan expired with Francis Frankopan, Bishop of Eger in 1542. The Thessaloniki branch died out in 1572 with Francis Frankopan, Ban of Croatia; and the Trsat branch died out with Francis Christoph Frankopan in 1671 (and in the female line with Julianna Frankopan, Countess of Traun).

Doimo III Frangipani or Frankopan, Count of Veglia, (died 1348), married Elisabetta Subich, daughter of Jakab, Count of Bribir (died after 1347).

One branch of the Frankopan family survived. Dr Peter Frankopan, eldest son of the present Frankopan family, Senior Fellow of Worcester College at Oxford University and Director of the University's Centre for Byzantine Studies, states that the present family split from other branches of the Frankopan family in the 14th century. From Doimo III Frangipani or Frankopan, (+ 1348), Count of Veglia, married Elisabetta Subich, daughter of Jakab, Count of Bribir (+ post 1347); see