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The Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy (Croatian: urota zrinsko-frankopanska; 1664-1670) was a movement in which the Croatian noblemen of the Zrinski and Frankopan families rebelled against their ruler, King Leopold I of the Habsburg family. They felt he disregarded the treaty that he was bound to upon being crowned as the king of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, especially after the Vasvár Peace in 1664.
In Hungarian historiography the conspiracy also named Wesselényi conspiracy after the highest ranking (count palatine) member.
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The Conspirators
The leaders of the conspiracy were ban Nikola Zrinski (viceroy of Croatia) and palatine Ferenz Wesselényi (viceroy of Hungary). The conspirators were soon joined by dissatisfied royal families from Croatia and Hungary, like Fran Krsto Frankopan and Nikolas's brother Petar from Croatia and from the Hungarian nobility: the prince of Siebenbürgen Ferenz Rakoczy, high justice of the Court of Hungary Ferenc Nadasdy, the archbishop of Ostrogon, Gyorgy Lippay and Erazmo Tatenbach, a feudal lord from Steiermark. The conspiracy and rebellion was entirely led by nobility. "Opća enciklopedija jugoslavenskog leksikografskog zavoda". Opća enciklopedija, svezak 8.. (1982). Zagreb: Jugoslavenski Leksikografski Zavod.
Prelude
Without consolidated support from the commoners the conspirators were forced to seek help from France, Poland and the Ottoman empire; this was never delivered. The leaders of the conspiracy died under mysterious circumstances. Ban Nikola Zrinski died in a hunting accident, far from any companion. He was succeeded in his conspirator's role by his brother Petar. Lippay and Wesselényi died of natural causes, simultaneously.
Rebellion
The conspiracy had been in preparation for six years, but was ill executed. Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan started the armed rebellion in 1670. Unbeknownst to them, the Habsburg court and Emperor Leopold I had gotten wind of the conspiracy from two sources, a translator during negotiations with Croatian conspirators and the high justice of the court of Hungary, Nadasdy.
The rebellion failed without much bloodshed, as the main conspirators realized as it was futile to press on.
After the rebellion
Petar Zrinski and Fran Krsto Frankopan were ordered to the Emperor's Court. The note said that, as they had ceased their rebellion and had repented soon enough, they would be given mercy from the Emperor if they would plead for it. They were arrested the moment they arrived in Vienna and put on trial. They were held in Wiener Neustadt. and beheaded on April 30, 1671. Nadassdy was executed on the same day, and Tattenbach was executed later on December 1, 1671.
The trial
In those ages, nobility enjoyed a few privileges that commoners did not. One of them was the right to be tried by a court assembled of peers. The conspirators were first tried by the Emperor's court assembly. After the verdict, they requested their rights as nobles. Another court was assembled of nobility from parts of the empire which were far away from Croatia or Hungary, and accepted the previous (death) verdict. Petar Zrinski's verdict read: "he committed the greatest sins than the others in aspiring to obtain the same station as his majesty, that is, to be an independent Croatian ruler and therefore he indeed deserves to be crowned not with a crown, but with a bloody sword".
Conspiracy-rebellion or legal uprising?
The right to a trial by one's peers was not granted to conspirators or rebels who openly defied or rebelled against the Crown. As this right was granted by the Court, historians in Croatia now refer to the "rebellion" as a legal uprising. Pacta conventa gives the right to openly defy and rebel against a ruler that will not fulfill duties assigned him by the pact. The pact stated a minimal amount of solders must be stationed on the border with the Ottoman Empire, and actions from the king that went against the rightful claims of the Kingdom (Croatia-Hungary) would render the pact void and anyone would then have the right to dethrone the king. The garrison request was never fulfilled, and the foreign policy could be interpreted as going against the rightful claims of Hungary and Croatia (see Peace of Vasvár).
The aftermath
During the trial and after the execution, the estates of the royal families were pillaged, and their families scattered. The destruction of these powerful feudal families ensured that no similar event took place until the bourgeois era. Petar's wife (Katarina Zrinska) and two of their daughters died in convents, and his son, Ivan, died mad after a terrible imprisonment and torture as did Katarina, the very symbol of Croatia's destiny.
The bones of Zrinski and Frankopan remained in Austria-Hungary for 248 years, and it was only after the fall of the monarchy that their remains were moved to the crypt of Zagreb Cathedral.
External links
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