Fran Krsto Frankopan

Fran Krsto Frankopan (Hungarian: Frangepán Ferenc Kristóf; 4 March 1643 – 30 April 1671) was a Croatian baroque poet, nobleman and politician. He is remembered primarily for his involvement in the failed Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy. He was a Croatian marquess, a member of the Frankopan noble family and its last male descendant.

Fran Krsto Frankopan
Portrait in 1671, at the time of his execution
Born(1643-03-04)4 March 1643
Bosiljevo, Croatia, Habsburg Monarchy
(now Croatia)
Died30 April 1671(1671-04-30) (aged 28)
Wiener Neustadt, Austria, Habsburg Monarchy
(now Austria)
Resting placeZagreb Cathedral, Croatia
OccupationPoet, Politician
LanguageCroatian
Notable worksElegia
Gartlic za čas kratiti

Biography

Early life and poetry
Fran Krsto Frankopan with Petar Zrinski.

Born in Bosiljevo, Croatia, twenty years younger than his brothers, Fran Krsto Frankopan was an authentic poet in his own right. Following the death of his father, Vuk Krsto Frankopan, he was sent to be schooled in Zagreb, where he enrolled at the Jesuit academy. He lived at today's Habdelić street in the Upper Town, before continuing his education in Italy.[1] There he published his first poetic work in Latin language, Elegia, at age of only 13, in 1656. He underwent various poetic influences, none of which was able to deafen his own inspiration. In such a vein was written his The Garden in which to Cheat Time (Gartlic za čas kratiti), a personal account of the poet's experiences while in prison.

Living in an area bordering on several Croatian dialects, Frankopan mainly wrote his poetry in the Kajkavian-ikavian dialect of the Croatian language (as seen in his poem Srića daje kaj misal ne zgaje). In prison, Frankopan translated Molière's Georges Dandin, the first translation to Slovenian and any Slavic language.[2]

Along with Petar Zrinski, his brother Nikola, Frankopan and his sister Katarina (Petar´s wife), contributed various works of poetry and prose to 17th century Croatian literature.

Coat of arms of Fran Krsto Frankopan

Peace of Vasvár

Both Frankopan and his brother-in-law Ban (viceroy) Petar Zrinski were described as competent statesmen and prolific writers. They have seen successes in negotiating and liberating the ethnic Hungarian and Croatian areas occupied by the waning Ottoman Empire. However, the Viennese military council, wishing to curb the Hungarian influence in the Monarchy, decided to ultimately sign a peace treaty with the Ottomans, by which the liberated territories had to be ceded back to the Ottoman Empire. Hungarian and Croatian nobles saw the resulting peace treaty, the Peace of Vasvár, as utterly unfavourable and disgraceful to their interests. In response, Frankopan and Zrinski decided to raise a rebel against the king, Leopold I.

Death
Tombstone of Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan in Wiener Neustadt

Frankopan and Zrinski were seized by the Royal guard while in Vienna. As a punishment for sedition, they were sentenced to be executed in Wiener Neustadt in 1671.

The deaths of Zrinski and Frankopan caused an outrage among Croatian nobles. 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. Viennese officials later recognized that the main reason for the rebellion was the dissatisfaction among Hungarians and Croats prompted by the unfavorable Peace of Vasvár, rather than unprovoked sedition.

The remains of Fran Krsto Frankopan and Petar Zrinski were handed over to the Croatian authorities and buried in the Cathedral of Zagreb in 1919, following World War I.

List of works

From the following list only Elegia was published during Frankopan's lifetime, the rest was found in manuscript following his execution at Wiener Neustadt.[3]

Lyric
  • Elegia (1656), written in Latin
  • Gartlic za čas kratiti, completed c. 1671
  • Various pious poems
  • Zganke za vrime kratiti
  • Sentencije vsakojaške

Prose
  • Trumbita sudnjega dneva
  • Preljubljeno zlato i izabranice moga srca

Drama
  • Jarne bogati (translation from Moliere, written in Slovene)

Legacy

The portraits of Frankopan and Zrinski are depicted on the obverse of the Croatian 5 kuna banknote, issued in 1993 and 2001.[4]

His poems are still popular and are written in a unique Croatian dialect [5]

Quotes

He who dies honorably lives forever.

— Fran Krsto Frankopan, Conscription

Is it possible, Almighty Creator, that such injustice oppresses your country?

— Fran Krsto Frankopan
gollark: Eh, it seems as if it would be annoying to set up.
gollark: I'm vaguely wondering if I could get away with running the old MIB on r/MemeEconomy.
gollark: Eh, it sort of worked, and I had a good idea for fixing it.
gollark: I should really go `git clone` all the old MemeEconomy stuff in case it gets randomly taken down.
gollark: The old system was "v1"/"Season 1", this is... "v2 alpha".

See also

References
  1. https://vijesti.hrt.hr/31564/roen-fran-krsto-frankopan
  2. http://philologicalstudies.org/dokumenti/2008/vol1/2/6.pdf
  3. Bibliography of Fran Krsto Frankopan at Matica hrvatska
  4. Croatian National Bank. Features of Kuna Banknotes Archived May 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine: 5 kuna Archived 2009-05-06 at the Wayback Machine (1993 issue) & 5 kuna Archived 2009-05-06 at the Wayback Machine (2001 issue). – Retrieved on 30 March 2009.
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