Fran Krsto Frankopan

Fran Krsto Frankopan (1643-1671) was a Croatian nobleman of the Frankopan family, a noted poet and politician in the 17th century.

Early life and poetry

Born in Karlovac, Croatia, twenty years younger than his brothers, Fran Krsto Frankopan was an authentic poet in his own right. 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, 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 not only in Croatian, but also in any language of this work of Molière's. Along with Petar Zrinski, his brother Nikola, Fran Krsto Frankopan and his sister Katarina, contributed greatly to 17th century Croatian poetry and literature. It is also certain that Zrinski and Frankopan were not behind the other European courts in the literary field.

Death

Duke Fran Krsto Frankopan and his brother-in-law Ban (viceroy) Petar Zrinski were both outstanding statesmen, warriors and writers, are among the most beloved figures in the history of Croatia. They had a great successes in liberating the areas occupied by the Ottoman Turks. However, the Viennese Military council, instead of supporting them to free the rest of the Hungarian and Croatian lands, signed a shameful peace treaty with the Ottomans, by which the liberated territories had to be given back to them, causing Frankopan and Zrinski to rebel against the king, Leopold I. The result of the rebellion against Vienna was a cruel public decapitation of Zrinski and Frankopan in Wiener Neustadt near Vienna in 1671. Fran Krsto Frankopan wrote a very sensitive letter to his wife. "My dear Julia, I would lie with all my soul to leave behind a last commemoration of my deepest love, but I am naked and miserable". The deaths of Zrinski and Frankopan fell hard on Croatia. 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. Vienna had seen the whole danger of such an undertaking whose cause was rooted in the dissatisfaction among Hungarians and Croats occasioned by the unfavorable peace of Vasvar.

Legacy

• Fran Krsto Frankopan's portrait, along with Petar Zrinski's, is on the front of the 5 kuna banknote. [1]
• His poems are still popular and are written in a unique Croatian dialect [2]
• The remains of Fran Krsto Frankopan and Petar Zrinski were buried in the Cathedral of Zagreb in 1919.

Quotes

Conscription

In to the army, into the army, knightly elite,
Whomever a dauntless mother has raised;
Strike up the drums everywhere on hears the kettledrums;
The fifes and the trumpets are heard afar off;
Glorious companies are mustering.
Get up, get up, you envious idlers;
In the army, in the army, brave heroes,
Make ready post haste sabers and muskets;
Yourselves and your steeds deck out in chivalry;
Right now come together to the glorious flag.
Dispel from your heart all vapors of fury;
Put before you're the shield of courage;
Dearer to you will be glory, fame and honor
Than one instant, one moment of living in shame:
He who dies honorably lives forever.
— Fran Krsto Frankopan "Is it possible, Almighty Creator, that such injustice oppresses your country?" — Fran Krsto Frankopan "O God, you who set Croatia as a bulwark of Christianity, remember our sufferings through the century". — Katarina Zrinska

See also

• Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy

External links

• Fran Krsto Frankopan - [3]
• Poems, in Croatian