House of Pejačević
Encyclopedia
The Pejačević or Pejácsevich family is an old Croatia
n noble family
, remarkable during the period in history marked by the Ottoman war
in the Kingdom of Croatia in the Union with Hungary and Austro-Hungarian Empire respectively. Notable members of the family were politicians, clerics, artists, senior military officers, bans (viceroys) of Croatia and other high state officials. They were very potent and influential in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country, and especially distinguished in the region of Slavonia
. In German, the family name was sometimes rendered Pejacsevich, i.e. a simplified variant of the Hungarian spelling.
The origin of the family dates back to the 14th-century territory of southeastern Croatia
and the neighboring medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina
. There are sources that connect the ancestors of the family with the Bosnian king Stjepan Dabiša (English: Stephen Dabisha), who ruled from 1391 to 1395, and his son Parčija (English: Parchia). Parčija's descendants used to be called Parčević (Parchevich). One of several family branches that came out of them later (in the 16th century) was the Pejačević family.
The 59th volume of the „Archive for the Austrian History“ issued by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna in 1880 includes a long chapter about Baron Petar Parčević (*1612 – †1674), the archbishop
of Marcianople
, a town in eastern Bulgaria
. The text of that chapter is based on the researches made by Count Julijan Pejačević (*1833 – †1906), a chronicler of the family. Despite the doubts of some historians, later analyses mostly showed and confirmed that he had a history-based approach and his theses had been proven. This refers particularly to the research of Bulgarian historiography, including those conducted by Bojan Penev and Boris Jocov in the 1920s and 1930s. The research dealt with the connected families of Parčević and Pejačević (as well as some other related families) during their residence in the territory of today's Bulgaria (then occupied by the Ottoman Empire
). Particular facts have been described in Encyclopedia Bulgaria (1981-1997) (Енциклопедия България), issued in Sofia
, in detail.
. Encyclopedia Bulgaria specifies that Parčija arrived there with his family along with Ragusan
merchants. The reason for that migration has not been determined with certainty, but it was most probably caused by disputes and conflicts among the noblemen in southeastern Croatia
and Bosnia
, where Parčija had his estates.
Having lived the first years in Veliko Tarnovo
(until 1399), the Parčević family moved to the west of the country and settled in a little town named Chiprovtsi
. This is why some historians believe that the Pejačević family originated from there. At that time Chiprovtsi was a mining and metalsmithing centre, developed by German (Saxon) miners, who arrived in 13th and 14th century. Ragusan
merchants and Bosnian Franciscan priests came there as well. They were all Roman Catholics, and a mixture of nationalities and religions was created in Chiprovtsi at that time. The Ottomans
, who conquered that region soon after that, made this ethnic mixture even more various.
The branches of Parchevich family lived not only in Chiprovtsi, but also in the neighboring villages, even founding some new ones, like Kneže (Knezhe), Pejakovo or Pejačevo (Pe'yachevo) and Čerka (Cherka). Some of the branches of the family later took the names of these places, creating family names like Knežević, Pejačević and Čerkić.
in Zagreb
in his work „Act Bulgariae ecclesiastica from Father Eusebius Fermenjin as ethnologic source“ published in Miscellany for the works of the scientific conference „Life and work of the father Eusebius Fermenjin“ in 1998. The author has written that the catholic Franciscans had arrived from medieval Bosnia in western Bulgaria at the time of Bosnian vicar Bartul Alvernski (Bartholomew of Alverno), who himself originated from Italy, in 1366.
Contact between the ancestors of the Pejačević family and members of the Franciscan order must have been started at the very beginning, but they were intensified by the end of the 16th century, when the Catholic enclave in Chiprovtsi was visited by missionaries
sent by the pope. Clement VIII (1592–1605), for example, sent to Bulgaria his visitator Petar Zlojutrić, a Bosnian Franciscan, better known as Petar Solinat (born in the town of Soli in medieval Bosnia, today's Tuzla
). Solinat did not come back to Rome, but stayed in Bulgaria and in 1601 became the first Catholic bishop of the new diocese of Sofia
, situated in Chiprovtsi. He succeeded in achieving permission from the Ottoman authorities to open some new Catholic monasteries, parishes and even a new school.
Pejačevićs and their related families were affiliated with Franciscans through schooling of their children or entering of their members into the Franciscan order. One of the best examples was already mentioned Petar Parčević, the Franciscan, writer and archbishop
, born in Chiprovtsi and educated in Italy
.
origin of the Pejačević family. It is indisputable that a great deal of Bulgarian Catholics, especially those in the Chiprovtsi enclave and its surroundings, originated from medieval Croatian and Bosnian territory, and particularly from the Republic of Ragusa
(present-day Dubrovnik
). Not only the tight connection between the Bulgarian Catholics and Franciscans itself, but the organizational belonging of the monks to the Franciscan Province of Silver Bosnia prove that.
There are historical documents related to Bulgarian Catholics, originating from several different regions of Bulgaria (e.g. Chiprovtsi
, Sofia
, Targovishte
, Rakovski
etc.), among which many private letters, that are written in Italian, Latin
, German and Croatian language
as well. Vitomir Belaj, PhD, has specified that some documents have been written in Croatian Ikavian dialect, the others in Dubrovnik speech, both however influenced by the Bulgarian language. It is interesting that the language of Ragusan merchants, who had lived in Bulgaria for several generations, in some documents is called „Bosnian“ and in others „Illyrian“.
Among the most important documents there are visitators' reports and reports about the situation of the churches, which in the same way, as mentioned above, document the „ethnocultural processes“, status and continuity of the Catholic population in different parts of Bulgaria. In the Catholic Church in Chiprovtsi both Bulgarian and Croatian languages were spoken, and the children of Bulgarian and Croatian ethnic groups attended school side by side.
Last but not least, the fact that the surnames of the Chiprovtsi
Catholic families, including Pejačević, ended with „ić“ does not indicate Bulgarian ethnic origin, but is characteristic for a Croatian identity.
If there is any doubt (based on the lack of material evidence) that the Pejačević family is directly related to Bosnian king Stjepan Dabiša (in male line), there is no doubt about its Croatian origin.
In the difficult circumstances of the Ottoman
occupation of Chiprovtsi region, the Pejačevićs succeeded in keeping their Croatian identity, and moreover, they joined the uprising against the conquerors during the Ottoman-Austrian war
that followed after the siege of Vienna in 1683.
imperial army, supported by some European states, penetrated deep into the Ottoman territory in south-eastern Europe, which encouraged the Chiprovtsi Catholics in 1688 to rise up against the occupiers in order to free Bulgaria.
The leaders of the uprising
were brothers Ivan and Mihail Stanislavov together with Bogdan Marinov, all ethnic Bulgarians. Đuro II (Bulgarian
: Georgi; English: George) Pejačević (*1655 – †1725), a son of Matija I, joined the leadership, too. After heavy fighting, the Ottomans managed to suppress the uprising by the end of 1688 and destroyed Chiprovtsi and neighboring villages like Klisura, Zhelezna and Kopilovtsi. The surviving inhabitants, including Đuro's brothers Marko II (Mark), Ivan (John) and probably Nikola (Nicholas), together with their families, fled to the north, until they reached the Habsburg controlled territories.
and Transilvania, to the Hungarian town of Pécs
and soon after that to Osijek
in Slavonia
, a northeastern Croatian province. Josip Bösendorfer, PhD, Croatian historian, wrote in the scientific journal „Narodna starina“ (English: Folk Art Antiquities), published in 1932 in Zagreb, that „those Chiprovtsians came to Osijek from Pecs, because they escaped from Rákóczi
's uprising. Hence, they occurred in the first decade of the 18th century. All the families were connected through marriages, they witnessed each other's public documents, they were godparents and marriage witnesses, and testified in court and law procedures as well“.
Bösendorfer listed the families coming from Chiprovtsi that settled in Osijek, describing them and giving their family trees, in this order: Margićs, Gegićs, Stejkićs, Čerkićs, Frankolukins, Nikolantins, Lekićs, Adamovićs, Pejačevićs.
-Hungarian King Charles III of Habsburg
acknowledged the Pejačević brothers as Baron
s on behalf of the old title their ancestors received in Bulgaria.
While some family members stayed in Osijek (e.g. brothers Marko II (*1664 – †1727) and Ivan (*1666 – †1724)), the others settled in Srijem and Bačka
, two provinces at the frontier of Croatia. In her work „Pejačević family and Virovitica
“, published in 2006 as a part of the Miscellany of works for the international symposium titled „725 years of Franciscans in Virovitica“ (under auspices of HAZU – Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
), professor Silvija Lučevnjak, the director of Našice
Heritage Museum, wrote that Đuro Pejačević left the army service in 1696 and started to work as manager of a post office in Bač district. Like his brothers, he was very skilful in commercial matters as well, and he gained more and more property. Pejačevićs traded real estates, houses, cattle and cereals, doing business up to Austria and northern Italy.
Nikola II Leopold Pejačević (*1706 – †1732), one of Đuro's sons, became manager of the duke Odescalchi's estate in Ilok
(1728–1730). In that lucrative business he had the help from his brother Đuro III and cousin Marko III Aleksandar, a son of Ivan Pejačević.
At the beginning of the 1730s, the family strongly increased its power and property. It bought estates in Orahovica
and Feričanci
(1730), Našice
and Podgorač
(1734), and soon after that (1745) a great Mitrovica estate. In 1745 Marko III Aleksandar (*1694 – †1762) was appointed administrator of the newly formed Srijem county, and in 1751 he was announced the grand iupanus (župan
) of that county.
, so Marko III Aleksandar was given the right to buy Virovitica
and Retfala
estates. The rest of Mitrovica's estate in his ownership got a new district seat – Ruma
.
On August 29, 1749, the Holy Roman Empress and the Croato-Hungarian Queen Maria Theresa of Austria
granted the Virovitica estate to Baron Marko III Aleksandar Pejačević, and it became the most significant property of the family in the second half of the 18th century. Marko's heirs kept it for the following 92 years, until 1841.
In the time of Baron Marko, the Pejačević family achieved the largest territorial expansion and became one of the greatest landowners in Slavonia
. Although he faced the serf rebellions, he was recognized for improving the economic development of the area he ran. When he died in 1762, leaving no children behind, his property was inherited by his relatives Leopold (*1740; †1765), a great-grandson of Đuro II, and Josip II (Joseph) of Našice (*1710; †1787), a son of Marko II.
there for his family, after he had finished his military service and returned home. Našice stayed part of the family's property for the next 211 years, until 1945. As several male members of the family died within a couple of years of each other in the 1760s, Josip inherited all their possessions, because he remained the only heir in the whole family.
After Josip's death, all of his property was divided among his children Žigmund (Sigismund; *1741; †1806), Josipa Elizabeta (Josephine Elizabeth), Karlo III Ferdinand (Charles III Ferdinand; *1745; †1815) and Antun (Anthony; *1749; †1802).
Karlo III Ferdinand is considered the founder of the Našice branch, because he inherited the estate of the same name. By the end of 18th and the beginning of 19th century he started with preparations for construction of a new castle in Našice, with the support of his son Vincencije Ljudevit (Vincent Louis; *1780; †1820). The castle was completed and furnished in 1812. Later (in 1865) it was enlarged and architecturally enriched to become a gorgeous baroque edifice.
The Našice branch of the family has its representatives today, living outside of Croatia. They are interested in the return of their castles in Našice, expropriated
after World War II, back in their hands.
estate in 1769. On July 22, 1772, the Holy Roman Empress and the Croato-Hungarian Queen Maria Theresa of Austria
gave him the title of hereditary count, and since then the whole family carries the full name „Pejačević of Virovitica“.
Josip was succeeded in Virovitica by his youngest son Antun, a Habsburg
imperial army lieutenant field marshal
with an outstanding military career. In 1800 Antun had a beautiful new castle built in the center of Virovitica, but soon he died (in 1802) and did not live to see the completion of construction.
Virovitica branch was continued by Antun's sons Antun (*about 1775; †1838) and Stjepan (Stephen; *after 1775; †1824), who did not run the estates successfully and fell into debt. In 1841 Antun Pejačević (*1810; †1862), Antun's son, sold Virovitica estate and moved to Buda
, Hungary. Neither he nor his brother Ivan Nepomuk Pejačević (John of Nepomuk
; *1803; †1855) – also living in the capital of Hungary – had any children, so this branch of the family died out. Some historians call it the Buda branch.
and Retfala to his eldest son Žigmund (*1741; †1806), who established the Ruma-Retfala branch of the family. Žigmund had only one son (Ivan Nepomuk; *1765; †1821), but nine grandchildren, so his family branch expanded in the first half of the 19th century. His grandchildren either did not marry or had only female children, so the family branch ceased to exist at the beginning of the 20th century.
The most notable representative of that branch was Count Petar Pejačević (*1804; †1887), the eldest son of Ivan Nepomuk. He performed a lot of state and public functions, among which were the grand župan
of Križevci County, grand župan of Virovitica County, grand župan of Srijem County, member of the Croatian Parliament, minister for Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia in the Hungarian government and imperial and royal chamberlain
. During the turbulent period following the revolutions of 1848
, he came into conflicts with the Croatian Parliament, because of his radically Hungarian nationalism
-oriented attitude.
of Croatia
, Ladislav /Ladislaus
/ and Teodor /Theodore
/.
Count Ladislav Pejačević
(*1824; †1901) was the son of Ferdinand Karlo Rajner /Rainer
/ (*1800; †1878), and the grandson of Karlo III Ferdinand, the founder of Našice branch. He was an influential Croatian politician, member of Croatian Parliament from the Unionist Party of Croatia
and member of the delegation of Parliament that signed the Croatian-Hungarian Agreement in 1868. In 1880 Sabor – the Parliament of Croatia – elected him as Ban
of Croatia, and he remained in office until 1883.
As the reincorporation of the Croatian
and Slavonian
Frontiers into Croatian-Slavonian Crown land was proclaimed on July 15, 1881, Ladislav Pejačević was given the task to perform it. On August 1, 1881, he took over the administration of the former Frontiers.
On August 24, 1883, he quit after the Council of ministers in Vienna
concluded that bilingual Croatian-Hungarian official emblems in Croatia
, installed by the Hungarian administration, should stay and were not allowed to be removed from the official buildings. He was then succeeded by Károly Khuen-Héderváry
, a Hungarian political hardliner, whose reign was marked by strong Hungarization
.
Count Teodor Pejačević
(*1855; †1928), the eldest son of Ladislav Pejačević, was a long-term župan
of Virovitica County and Ban
of Croatia from 1903 to 1907. He also took part as the Minister for Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia in the Hungarian Government from 1913 to 1917.
At the beginning of the 20th century, he was faced with a new direction of Croatian policy marked by political alliance between Croats
and Serbs
in Austria-Hungary
for mutual benefit. A Croat-Serb Coalition
was formed in 1905 and it governed the Croatian lands from 1906 until the dissolution of the Dual Monarchy in 1918. As Teodor Pejačević supported the ruling Coalition in its resistance towards the Hungarian quest in 1907 to introduce the Hungarian language to be the official language on railways in Croatia, he was forced to resign.
Among his children, the best known is his daughter Dora
, a Croatian composer.
Today in Croatia lives only a descendant of a female line of the Pejačević family, baron Nikola Adamović of Čepin
, knight and ambassador of the Order of Malta to the Republic of Croatia.
The family members who live in Argentina are descendants of count Petar Pejačević (*1908; †1987), who was the second son of Marko VI (*1882; †1923) and the grandson of Teodor Pejačević. Marcus, the younger son of Petar and the current head of that branch (born in 1940 in Osijek
, who has been living in Buenos Aires
for a while), negotiates with the mayor of Našice the ways and procedures of return of the Našice Castle, expropriated
after the Second world war, back to the family ownership.
Ladislav (Laszlo) Pejačević, born in 1941, a member of another branch of the family who lives in Vienna, is a descendant of Petar's younger brother Geza (born in 1917). He is also interested in return of the part of the former property the family had in Našice.
The successors of Marko VII, the youngest brother of Petar Pejačević, who was born in 1923 in Budapest
, live in Great Britain: his son Peter, born in 1954 in London, and his grandson Alexander, born in 1988.
According to available sources, there are living members of another branch of the family, who originate from Karlo IV Pejačević (*1825; †1880), the second son of Ferdinand Karlo Rajner and younger brother of Ladislav, ban of Croatia. Karlo's great-grandson Andrija (Andrew), born in 1910, moved to the United States of America, where he got married in 1954 in Pasadena
, and where his daughter was born.
The German Minister of Defence, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
, is a descendant of this family, through Ludwine, Countess Pejacsevich de Verocze, married to Jakob, Count of Eltz
.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n noble family
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
, remarkable during the period in history marked by the Ottoman war
Ottoman wars in Europe
The wars of the Ottoman Empire in Europe are also sometimes referred to as the Ottoman Wars or as Turkish Wars, particularly in older, European texts.- Rise :...
in the Kingdom of Croatia in the Union with Hungary and Austro-Hungarian Empire respectively. Notable members of the family were politicians, clerics, artists, senior military officers, bans (viceroys) of Croatia and other high state officials. They were very potent and influential in the political, social, economic and cultural life of the country, and especially distinguished in the region of Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
. In German, the family name was sometimes rendered Pejacsevich, i.e. a simplified variant of the Hungarian spelling.
Sources of family origin
| Croatian Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) The Kingdom of Croatia was an administrative division that existed between 1527 and 1868 within the Habsburg Monarchy . The Kingdom was a part of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods of time, including its final years... Noble Family |
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| Country | Croatia Croatia Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ... , Bulgaria, Hungary Hungary Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The... |
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| Ancestral house | Parčević | |||
| Founding | 14th century | |||
| Titles | barons (1712), counts of Virovitica Virovitica Virovitica is a Croatian town near the Croatian-Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,663, with 21,327 people in the municipality... (1772) |
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| Founder | Dmitar Pejačević | |||
| Ethnicity | Croatian Croats Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have... |
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| Family branches | Virovitica (extinct) Ruma-Retfala (extinct) Našice Našice Našice is a town in the Osijek-Baranja county of Croatia, population 7,894 , total municipality population 16,228 . It is located on the northern slopes of Krndija Mountain in eastern Slavonia, 51 km southwest of Osijek; elevation 157 m.... (present) |
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The origin of the family dates back to the 14th-century territory of southeastern Croatia
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
The Kingdom of Croatia , also known as the Kingdom of the Croats , was a medieval kingdom covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans.Established in 925, it ruled as a sovereign state for almost two centuries...
and the neighboring medieval Bosnia and Herzegovina
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
-Pre-Slavic Period :Bosnia has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times. In the late Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes known as the Illyrians. Celtic migrations in the 4th and 3rd century BCE displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former...
. There are sources that connect the ancestors of the family with the Bosnian king Stjepan Dabiša (English: Stephen Dabisha), who ruled from 1391 to 1395, and his son Parčija (English: Parchia). Parčija's descendants used to be called Parčević (Parchevich). One of several family branches that came out of them later (in the 16th century) was the Pejačević family.
The 59th volume of the „Archive for the Austrian History“ issued by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna in 1880 includes a long chapter about Baron Petar Parčević (*1612 – †1674), the archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
of Marcianople
Marcianopolis
Marcianopolis or Marcianople was an ancient Roman city in Thracia. It was located at the site of modern day Devnya, Bulgaria.-History:...
, a town in eastern Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. The text of that chapter is based on the researches made by Count Julijan Pejačević (*1833 – †1906), a chronicler of the family. Despite the doubts of some historians, later analyses mostly showed and confirmed that he had a history-based approach and his theses had been proven. This refers particularly to the research of Bulgarian historiography, including those conducted by Bojan Penev and Boris Jocov in the 1920s and 1930s. The research dealt with the connected families of Parčević and Pejačević (as well as some other related families) during their residence in the territory of today's Bulgaria (then occupied by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
). Particular facts have been described in Encyclopedia Bulgaria (1981-1997) (Енциклопедия България), issued in Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, in detail.
Bulgarian period
The Parčević family settled in the second half of the 14th century in BulgariaBulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
. Encyclopedia Bulgaria specifies that Parčija arrived there with his family along with Ragusan
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
merchants. The reason for that migration has not been determined with certainty, but it was most probably caused by disputes and conflicts among the noblemen in southeastern Croatia
Kingdom of Croatia (medieval)
The Kingdom of Croatia , also known as the Kingdom of the Croats , was a medieval kingdom covering most of what is today Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans.Established in 925, it ruled as a sovereign state for almost two centuries...
and Bosnia
History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
-Pre-Slavic Period :Bosnia has been inhabited at least since Neolithic times. In the late Bronze Age, the Neolithic population was replaced by more warlike Indo-European tribes known as the Illyrians. Celtic migrations in the 4th and 3rd century BCE displaced many Illyrian tribes from their former...
, where Parčija had his estates.
Having lived the first years in Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo
Veliko Tarnovo is a city in north central Bulgaria and the administrative centre of Veliko Tarnovo Province. Often referred to as the "City of the Tsars", Veliko Tarnovo is located on the Yantra River and is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, attracting many tourists...
(until 1399), the Parčević family moved to the west of the country and settled in a little town named Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi is a small town and municipality in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border...
. This is why some historians believe that the Pejačević family originated from there. At that time Chiprovtsi was a mining and metalsmithing centre, developed by German (Saxon) miners, who arrived in 13th and 14th century. Ragusan
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
merchants and Bosnian Franciscan priests came there as well. They were all Roman Catholics, and a mixture of nationalities and religions was created in Chiprovtsi at that time. The Ottomans
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, who conquered that region soon after that, made this ethnic mixture even more various.
The branches of Parchevich family lived not only in Chiprovtsi, but also in the neighboring villages, even founding some new ones, like Kneže (Knezhe), Pejakovo or Pejačevo (Pe'yachevo) and Čerka (Cherka). Some of the branches of the family later took the names of these places, creating family names like Knežević, Pejačević and Čerkić.
Genealogy of the first family members
- Parčija – mentioned in 1386
- Nikola I (English: Nicholas) Parčević – son of Parčija
- Andrija I (Andrew) Parčević – son of Parčija
-
-
- Petar I (Peter) Parčević – son of Andrija I, died after 1423.
-
- Nikola II Parčević – son of Petar I, mentioned in 1437–1470.
-
- Gjoni (Gioni, Ivan, John) Parčević – son of Nikola II, mentioned in 1481, had sons:
-
- Ivan I Parčević – mentioned in 1563
- Stjepan (Stephen) Knežević
- Tomislav (Tomo, Thomas) Tomagjonović
- Dmitar (Demetrius) Pejačević – mentioned in 1561–1563, the first to call himself Pejačević
-
- Nikola I Pejačević
-
- Juraj I (Đuro, George) I Pejačević – baron, married Margareta Parčević
-
- Marko I (Mark) Pejačević
- Matija I (Matthew) Pejačević – married Agata Knežević, died about 1688.
-
Connections with Franciscans
During the long period of their residence in Bulgaria, the Pejačević family was continually connected with the Franciscan order of the Province of Silver Bosnia. The Franciscan members had arrived to Bulgaria earlier, somewhere in the mid-14th century. This has been specified by Vitomir Belaj, PhD from the Faculty of PhilosophyUniversity of Zagreb
The University of Zagreb is the biggest Croatian university and the oldest continuously operating university in the area covering Central Europe south of Vienna and all of Southeastern Europe...
in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
in his work „Act Bulgariae ecclesiastica from Father Eusebius Fermenjin as ethnologic source“ published in Miscellany for the works of the scientific conference „Life and work of the father Eusebius Fermenjin“ in 1998. The author has written that the catholic Franciscans had arrived from medieval Bosnia in western Bulgaria at the time of Bosnian vicar Bartul Alvernski (Bartholomew of Alverno), who himself originated from Italy, in 1366.
Contact between the ancestors of the Pejačević family and members of the Franciscan order must have been started at the very beginning, but they were intensified by the end of the 16th century, when the Catholic enclave in Chiprovtsi was visited by missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
sent by the pope. Clement VIII (1592–1605), for example, sent to Bulgaria his visitator Petar Zlojutrić, a Bosnian Franciscan, better known as Petar Solinat (born in the town of Soli in medieval Bosnia, today's Tuzla
Tuzla
Tuzla is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina. At the time of the 1991 census, it had 83,770 inhabitants, while the municipality 131,318. Taking the influx of refugees into account, the city is currently estimated to have 174,558 inhabitants...
). Solinat did not come back to Rome, but stayed in Bulgaria and in 1601 became the first Catholic bishop of the new diocese of Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, situated in Chiprovtsi. He succeeded in achieving permission from the Ottoman authorities to open some new Catholic monasteries, parishes and even a new school.
Pejačevićs and their related families were affiliated with Franciscans through schooling of their children or entering of their members into the Franciscan order. One of the best examples was already mentioned Petar Parčević, the Franciscan, writer and archbishop
Archbishop
An archbishop is a bishop of higher rank, but not of higher sacramental order above that of the three orders of deacon, priest , and bishop...
, born in Chiprovtsi and educated in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
.
Facts about Croatian origin
There are many facts to prove the CroatianCroats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
origin of the Pejačević family. It is indisputable that a great deal of Bulgarian Catholics, especially those in the Chiprovtsi enclave and its surroundings, originated from medieval Croatian and Bosnian territory, and particularly from the Republic of Ragusa
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
(present-day Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
). Not only the tight connection between the Bulgarian Catholics and Franciscans itself, but the organizational belonging of the monks to the Franciscan Province of Silver Bosnia prove that.
There are historical documents related to Bulgarian Catholics, originating from several different regions of Bulgaria (e.g. Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi is a small town and municipality in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border...
, Sofia
Sofia
Sofia is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria and the 12th largest city in the European Union with a population of 1.27 million people. It is located in western Bulgaria, at the foot of Mount Vitosha and approximately at the centre of the Balkan Peninsula.Prehistoric settlements were excavated...
, Targovishte
Targovishte
Targovishte is a city in Bulgaria, capital of Targovishte Province. It is situated at the northern foot of the low mountain of Preslav on both banks of the Vrana River. The town is 335 km away to the north-east from the capital Sofia and about 125 km to the west from the city of Varna...
, Rakovski
Rakovski (town)
Rakovski is a town in southern Bulgaria, in the historical region of Thrace. It is located in the Plovdiv Province. The town is also the centre of the Rakovski Municipality. Rakovski was founded in 1966 with the merging of three villages — General Nikolaevo, Sekirovo and Parchevich...
etc.), among which many private letters, that are written in Italian, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, German and Croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
as well. Vitomir Belaj, PhD, has specified that some documents have been written in Croatian Ikavian dialect, the others in Dubrovnik speech, both however influenced by the Bulgarian language. It is interesting that the language of Ragusan merchants, who had lived in Bulgaria for several generations, in some documents is called „Bosnian“ and in others „Illyrian“.
Among the most important documents there are visitators' reports and reports about the situation of the churches, which in the same way, as mentioned above, document the „ethnocultural processes“, status and continuity of the Catholic population in different parts of Bulgaria. In the Catholic Church in Chiprovtsi both Bulgarian and Croatian languages were spoken, and the children of Bulgarian and Croatian ethnic groups attended school side by side.
Last but not least, the fact that the surnames of the Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi
Chiprovtsi is a small town and municipality in northwestern Bulgaria, administratively part of Montana Province. It lies on the shores of the river Ogosta in the western Balkan Mountains, very close to the Bulgarian-Serbian border...
Catholic families, including Pejačević, ended with „ić“ does not indicate Bulgarian ethnic origin, but is characteristic for a Croatian identity.
If there is any doubt (based on the lack of material evidence) that the Pejačević family is directly related to Bosnian king Stjepan Dabiša (in male line), there is no doubt about its Croatian origin.
In the difficult circumstances of the Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
occupation of Chiprovtsi region, the Pejačevićs succeeded in keeping their Croatian identity, and moreover, they joined the uprising against the conquerors during the Ottoman-Austrian war
Great Turkish War
The Great Turkish War refers to a series of conflicts between the Ottoman Empire and contemporary European powers, then joined into a Holy League, during the second half of the 17th century.-1667–1683:...
that followed after the siege of Vienna in 1683.
Chiprovtsi Uprising in 1688
The HabsburgHabsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
imperial army, supported by some European states, penetrated deep into the Ottoman territory in south-eastern Europe, which encouraged the Chiprovtsi Catholics in 1688 to rise up against the occupiers in order to free Bulgaria.
The leaders of the uprising
Chiprovtsi Uprising
The Chiprovtsi Uprising was an uprising against Ottoman rule organized in northwestern Bulgaria by Roman Catholic Bulgarians, but also involving many Eastern Orthodox Christians...
were brothers Ivan and Mihail Stanislavov together with Bogdan Marinov, all ethnic Bulgarians. Đuro II (Bulgarian
Bulgarian language
Bulgarian is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.Bulgarian, along with the closely related Macedonian language, demonstrates several linguistic characteristics that set it apart from all other Slavic languages such as the elimination of case declension, the...
: Georgi; English: George) Pejačević (*1655 – †1725), a son of Matija I, joined the leadership, too. After heavy fighting, the Ottomans managed to suppress the uprising by the end of 1688 and destroyed Chiprovtsi and neighboring villages like Klisura, Zhelezna and Kopilovtsi. The surviving inhabitants, including Đuro's brothers Marko II (Mark), Ivan (John) and probably Nikola (Nicholas), together with their families, fled to the north, until they reached the Habsburg controlled territories.
First years
Pejačevićs were one of the Catholic families from Chiprovtsi in Bulgaria that moved, most probably through WallachiaWallachia
Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...
and Transilvania, to the Hungarian town of Pécs
Pécs
Pécs is the fifth largest city of Hungary, located on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the south-west of the country, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administrative and economical centre of Baranya county...
and soon after that to Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
in Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
, a northeastern Croatian province. Josip Bösendorfer, PhD, Croatian historian, wrote in the scientific journal „Narodna starina“ (English: Folk Art Antiquities), published in 1932 in Zagreb, that „those Chiprovtsians came to Osijek from Pecs, because they escaped from Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi Hungarian aristocrat, he was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden...
's uprising. Hence, they occurred in the first decade of the 18th century. All the families were connected through marriages, they witnessed each other's public documents, they were godparents and marriage witnesses, and testified in court and law procedures as well“.
Bösendorfer listed the families coming from Chiprovtsi that settled in Osijek, describing them and giving their family trees, in this order: Margićs, Gegićs, Stejkićs, Čerkićs, Frankolukins, Nikolantins, Lekićs, Adamovićs, Pejačevićs.
Affirmation of baronage
On June 10, 1712, the Holy Roman Emperor and the CroatoKingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)
The Kingdom of Croatia was an administrative division that existed between 1527 and 1868 within the Habsburg Monarchy . The Kingdom was a part of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods of time, including its final years...
-Hungarian King Charles III of Habsburg
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
acknowledged the Pejačević brothers as Baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
s on behalf of the old title their ancestors received in Bulgaria.
While some family members stayed in Osijek (e.g. brothers Marko II (*1664 – †1727) and Ivan (*1666 – †1724)), the others settled in Srijem and Bačka
Backa
Bačka is a geographical area within the Pannonian plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east of which confluence is located near Titel...
, two provinces at the frontier of Croatia. In her work „Pejačević family and Virovitica
Virovitica
Virovitica is a Croatian town near the Croatian-Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,663, with 21,327 people in the municipality...
“, published in 2006 as a part of the Miscellany of works for the international symposium titled „725 years of Franciscans in Virovitica“ (under auspices of HAZU – Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts
The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts is the national academy of Croatia. It was founded in 1866 as the Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts , and was known by that name for most of its existence.- History :...
), professor Silvija Lučevnjak, the director of Našice
Našice
Našice is a town in the Osijek-Baranja county of Croatia, population 7,894 , total municipality population 16,228 . It is located on the northern slopes of Krndija Mountain in eastern Slavonia, 51 km southwest of Osijek; elevation 157 m....
Heritage Museum, wrote that Đuro Pejačević left the army service in 1696 and started to work as manager of a post office in Bač district. Like his brothers, he was very skilful in commercial matters as well, and he gained more and more property. Pejačevićs traded real estates, houses, cattle and cereals, doing business up to Austria and northern Italy.
Nikola II Leopold Pejačević (*1706 – †1732), one of Đuro's sons, became manager of the duke Odescalchi's estate in Ilok
Ilok
Ilok is the easternmost town and municipality in Croatia. Located in the Syrmia region, it lies on a hill overlooking the Danube river, which forms the border with the Vojvodina region of Serbia. The population of the town of Ilok is 5,036, while the total municipality population is 6,750...
(1728–1730). In that lucrative business he had the help from his brother Đuro III and cousin Marko III Aleksandar, a son of Ivan Pejačević.
At the beginning of the 1730s, the family strongly increased its power and property. It bought estates in Orahovica
Orahovica
Orahovica is a town in Slavonia, Croatia. It is situated on the slopes of the mountain Papuk and positioned on the state road D2 Varaždin-Koprivnica-Našice-Osijek.-Economy:...
and Feričanci
Fericanci
Feričanci is a municipality in Osijek-Baranja county, Croatia. There are 2,418 inhabitants, 96% who are Croats....
(1730), Našice
Našice
Našice is a town in the Osijek-Baranja county of Croatia, population 7,894 , total municipality population 16,228 . It is located on the northern slopes of Krndija Mountain in eastern Slavonia, 51 km southwest of Osijek; elevation 157 m....
and Podgorač
Podgorac
Podgorač is a municipality in Osijek-Baranja County, Croatia. There are 3,314 inhabitants, 79% of whom are Croats ....
(1734), and soon after that (1745) a great Mitrovica estate. In 1745 Marko III Aleksandar (*1694 – †1762) was appointed administrator of the newly formed Srijem county, and in 1751 he was announced the grand iupanus (župan
Zupan
Żupan was a long garment, always lined, worn by almost all males of the noble social class in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, typical male attire from the beginning of the 16th to half of the 18th century, still surviving as a part of the Polishnational dress.- Derivation :The name żupan has...
) of that county.
Gaining the Virovitica estate
In the meantime (1747), a part of Mitrovica's demesne land had been included into the Military FrontierMilitary Frontier
The Military Frontier was a borderland of Habsburg Austria and later the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, which acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire...
, so Marko III Aleksandar was given the right to buy Virovitica
Virovitica
Virovitica is a Croatian town near the Croatian-Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,663, with 21,327 people in the municipality...
and Retfala
Retfala
Retfala is one of the districts of the city of Osijek in Croatia....
estates. The rest of Mitrovica's estate in his ownership got a new district seat – Ruma
Ruma
Ruma is a town and municipality located in Vojvodina, Serbia at . In 2002 the town had a total population of 34,229, while Ruma municipality had a population of 60,006.-History:...
.
On August 29, 1749, the Holy Roman Empress and the Croato-Hungarian Queen Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
granted the Virovitica estate to Baron Marko III Aleksandar Pejačević, and it became the most significant property of the family in the second half of the 18th century. Marko's heirs kept it for the following 92 years, until 1841.
In the time of Baron Marko, the Pejačević family achieved the largest territorial expansion and became one of the greatest landowners in Slavonia
Slavonia
Slavonia is a geographical and historical region in eastern Croatia...
. Although he faced the serf rebellions, he was recognized for improving the economic development of the area he ran. When he died in 1762, leaving no children behind, his property was inherited by his relatives Leopold (*1740; †1765), a great-grandson of Đuro II, and Josip II (Joseph) of Našice (*1710; †1787), a son of Marko II.
Family branches
Considering the relative large size and territorial distribution of the family, historians have divided it into the several branches, according to the most significant assets. Hence the following branches came out: Našice branch, Virovitica branch and Ruma-Retfala branch.Našice branch
Našice estate was the one of the family's properties managed by Josip II Pejačević. He bought it on August 3, 1734, together with his brother Ignjat Tomo (English: Ignatius (Iggy) Thomas). He built a manor houseManor house
A manor house is a country house that historically formed the administrative centre of a manor, the lowest unit of territorial organisation in the feudal system in Europe. The term is applied to country houses that belonged to the gentry and other grand stately homes...
there for his family, after he had finished his military service and returned home. Našice stayed part of the family's property for the next 211 years, until 1945. As several male members of the family died within a couple of years of each other in the 1760s, Josip inherited all their possessions, because he remained the only heir in the whole family.
After Josip's death, all of his property was divided among his children Žigmund (Sigismund; *1741; †1806), Josipa Elizabeta (Josephine Elizabeth), Karlo III Ferdinand (Charles III Ferdinand; *1745; †1815) and Antun (Anthony; *1749; †1802).
Karlo III Ferdinand is considered the founder of the Našice branch, because he inherited the estate of the same name. By the end of 18th and the beginning of 19th century he started with preparations for construction of a new castle in Našice, with the support of his son Vincencije Ljudevit (Vincent Louis; *1780; †1820). The castle was completed and furnished in 1812. Later (in 1865) it was enlarged and architecturally enriched to become a gorgeous baroque edifice.
The Našice branch of the family has its representatives today, living outside of Croatia. They are interested in the return of their castles in Našice, expropriated
Confiscation
Confiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
after World War II, back in their hands.
Virovitica branch
As the sole heir, Josip II Pejačević took over the ViroviticaVirovitica
Virovitica is a Croatian town near the Croatian-Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,663, with 21,327 people in the municipality...
estate in 1769. On July 22, 1772, the Holy Roman Empress and the Croato-Hungarian Queen Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa of Austria
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions and the last of the House of Habsburg. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands and Parma...
gave him the title of hereditary count, and since then the whole family carries the full name „Pejačević of Virovitica“.
Josip was succeeded in Virovitica by his youngest son Antun, a Habsburg
Habsburg Monarchy
The Habsburg Monarchy covered the territories ruled by the junior Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg , and then by the successor House of Habsburg-Lorraine , between 1526 and 1867/1918. The Imperial capital was Vienna, except from 1583 to 1611, when it was moved to Prague...
imperial army lieutenant field marshal
Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
with an outstanding military career. In 1800 Antun had a beautiful new castle built in the center of Virovitica, but soon he died (in 1802) and did not live to see the completion of construction.
Virovitica branch was continued by Antun's sons Antun (*about 1775; †1838) and Stjepan (Stephen; *after 1775; †1824), who did not run the estates successfully and fell into debt. In 1841 Antun Pejačević (*1810; †1862), Antun's son, sold Virovitica estate and moved to Buda
Buda
For detailed information see: History of Buda CastleBuda is the western part of the Hungarian capital Budapest on the west bank of the Danube. The name Buda takes its name from the name of Bleda the Hun ruler, whose name is also Buda in Hungarian.Buda comprises about one-third of Budapest's...
, Hungary. Neither he nor his brother Ivan Nepomuk Pejačević (John of Nepomuk
John of Nepomuk
John of Nepomuk is a national saint of the Czech Republic, who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia. Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional...
; *1803; †1855) – also living in the capital of Hungary – had any children, so this branch of the family died out. Some historians call it the Buda branch.
Ruma-Retfala branch
In his will, dated September 15, 1780, count Josip II Pejačević left his estates RumaRuma
Ruma is a town and municipality located in Vojvodina, Serbia at . In 2002 the town had a total population of 34,229, while Ruma municipality had a population of 60,006.-History:...
and Retfala to his eldest son Žigmund (*1741; †1806), who established the Ruma-Retfala branch of the family. Žigmund had only one son (Ivan Nepomuk; *1765; †1821), but nine grandchildren, so his family branch expanded in the first half of the 19th century. His grandchildren either did not marry or had only female children, so the family branch ceased to exist at the beginning of the 20th century.
The most notable representative of that branch was Count Petar Pejačević (*1804; †1887), the eldest son of Ivan Nepomuk. He performed a lot of state and public functions, among which were the grand župan
Zupan
Żupan was a long garment, always lined, worn by almost all males of the noble social class in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, typical male attire from the beginning of the 16th to half of the 18th century, still surviving as a part of the Polishnational dress.- Derivation :The name żupan has...
of Križevci County, grand župan of Virovitica County, grand župan of Srijem County, member of the Croatian Parliament, minister for Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia in the Hungarian government and imperial and royal chamberlain
Chamberlain (office)
A chamberlain is an officer in charge of managing a household. In many countries there are ceremonial posts associated with the household of the sovereign....
. During the turbulent period following the revolutions of 1848
Revolutions of 1848
The European Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Spring of Nations, Springtime of the Peoples or the Year of Revolution, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe in 1848. It was the first Europe-wide collapse of traditional authority, but within a year reactionary...
, he came into conflicts with the Croatian Parliament, because of his radically Hungarian nationalism
Magyarization
Magyarization is a kind of assimilation or acculturation, a process by which non-Magyar elements came to adopt Magyar culture and language due to social pressure .Defiance or appeals to the Nationalities Law, met...
-oriented attitude.
Bans of Croatia
The Pejačević family has produced a number of prominent and famous people through history, among which were the two BansBan (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
of Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Ladislav /Ladislaus
Ladislaus
Ladislav is a name of Slavic origin. It is composed of the name of the ancient Slavic goddess of love Lada and the Slavic word slava . The name means He who worships Lada or He who glorifies Lada and has pagan roots...
/ and Teodor /Theodore
Theodore
-The name:*Includes the etymology of the name and a longer list of people whose full name includes some version of the name Theodore.-Ancient people:*Theodorus of Samos, inventor and architect*Theodorus of Cyrene, mathematician...
/.
Count Ladislav Pejačević
Ladislav Pejačević
Count Ladislav Pejačević of Virovitica ; Sopron, April 5, 1824 – Našice, April 7, 1901) was a Croatian aristocrat, politician and statesman, a member of the Pejačević noble family, remarkable and influential in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
(*1824; †1901) was the son of Ferdinand Karlo Rajner /Rainer
Rainer
The name Rainer comes from the Germanic name Reginar, composed of the two elements ragin and heri . The name was brought to Britain by the Normans.Cognates:*Dachine Rainer , British poet and anarchist...
/ (*1800; †1878), and the grandson of Karlo III Ferdinand, the founder of Našice branch. He was an influential Croatian politician, member of Croatian Parliament from the Unionist Party of Croatia
Unionist Party
-United Kingdom:In the United Kingdom the term "unionist' may indicate support for either;* the 1707 Act of Union between Scotland and England or,* the 1800 Act of Union between Ireland and Great Britain....
and member of the delegation of Parliament that signed the Croatian-Hungarian Agreement in 1868. In 1880 Sabor – the Parliament of Croatia – elected him as Ban
Ban (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
of Croatia, and he remained in office until 1883.
As the reincorporation of the Croatian
Croatian Krajina
The Croatian Military Frontier was a territory in the Habsburg Monarchy, including the Austrian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.-History:...
and Slavonian
Slavonian Krajina
The Slavonian Military Frontier or Slavonian Krajina was part of the Habsburg Military Frontier. It was formed out of territories the Habsburgs conquered from the Ottoman Empire and included southern parts of Slavonia and Syrmia; today the area it covered is mostly in eastern Croatia, with its...
Frontiers into Croatian-Slavonian Crown land was proclaimed on July 15, 1881, Ladislav Pejačević was given the task to perform it. On August 1, 1881, he took over the administration of the former Frontiers.
On August 24, 1883, he quit after the Council of ministers in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
concluded that bilingual Croatian-Hungarian official emblems in Croatia
Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg)
The Kingdom of Croatia was an administrative division that existed between 1527 and 1868 within the Habsburg Monarchy . The Kingdom was a part of the Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods of time, including its final years...
, installed by the Hungarian administration, should stay and were not allowed to be removed from the official buildings. He was then succeeded by Károly Khuen-Héderváry
Károly Khuen-Héderváry
Dragutin Károly Khuen-Héderváry, also known as Károly Count Khuen-Héderváry de Hédervár , was a Hungarian politician, the ban of Croatia in the late nineteenth century. He succeeded the temporary reign of Ban Hermann Ramberg in 1883. Khuen's reign was marked by a strong magyarization...
, a Hungarian political hardliner, whose reign was marked by strong Hungarization
Magyarization
Magyarization is a kind of assimilation or acculturation, a process by which non-Magyar elements came to adopt Magyar culture and language due to social pressure .Defiance or appeals to the Nationalities Law, met...
.
Count Teodor Pejačević
Teodor Pejačević
Count Teodor Pejačević of Virovitica was a Croatian politician who served as Ban of Croatia-Slavonia between 1903 and 1907....
(*1855; †1928), the eldest son of Ladislav Pejačević, was a long-term župan
Zupan
Żupan was a long garment, always lined, worn by almost all males of the noble social class in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, typical male attire from the beginning of the 16th to half of the 18th century, still surviving as a part of the Polishnational dress.- Derivation :The name żupan has...
of Virovitica County and Ban
Ban (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
of Croatia from 1903 to 1907. He also took part as the Minister for Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia in the Hungarian Government from 1913 to 1917.
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
and Serbs
Serbs
The Serbs are a South Slavic ethnic group of the Balkans and southern Central Europe. Serbs are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and form a sizable minority in Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia and Slovenia. Likewise, Serbs are an officially recognized minority in...
in Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
for mutual benefit. A Croat-Serb Coalition
Croat-Serb Coalition
The Croat-Serb Coalition was a major political alliance in Austria-Hungary during the beginning of the 20th century that governed the Croatian lands . It represented the political idea of a cooperation of Croats and Serbs in Austria-Hungary for mutual benefit...
was formed in 1905 and it governed the Croatian lands from 1906 until the dissolution of the Dual Monarchy in 1918. As Teodor Pejačević supported the ruling Coalition in its resistance towards the Hungarian quest in 1907 to introduce the Hungarian language to be the official language on railways in Croatia, he was forced to resign.
Among his children, the best known is his daughter Dora
Dora Pejacevic
Dora Pejačević was a Croatian composer, a member of Pejačević noble family.-Biography:Dora Pejačević was born in Budapest, a daughter of Croatian ban Teodor Pejačević and Hungarian Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya, herself a fine pianist. Her mother gave her first piano lessons...
, a Croatian composer.
Family members in recent times
By the end of the Second world war almost all members of the family emigrated from Croatia (as well as their relatives from Hungary and Slovakia) to many countries throughout the world, like Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany, Great Britain, Spain, Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela and USA, where some of their relatives already had lived before.Today in Croatia lives only a descendant of a female line of the Pejačević family, baron Nikola Adamović of Čepin
Cepin
Čepin is a town and municipality in Osijek-Baranja County, Croatia. It is located in northeast Slavonia, 10 kilometers southwest from Osijek. The first name of the settlement was Villa de Chapo....
, knight and ambassador of the Order of Malta to the Republic of Croatia.
The family members who live in Argentina are descendants of count Petar Pejačević (*1908; †1987), who was the second son of Marko VI (*1882; †1923) and the grandson of Teodor Pejačević. Marcus, the younger son of Petar and the current head of that branch (born in 1940 in Osijek
Osijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
, who has been living in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
for a while), negotiates with the mayor of Našice the ways and procedures of return of the Našice Castle, expropriated
Confiscation
Confiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
after the Second world war, back to the family ownership.
Ladislav (Laszlo) Pejačević, born in 1941, a member of another branch of the family who lives in Vienna, is a descendant of Petar's younger brother Geza (born in 1917). He is also interested in return of the part of the former property the family had in Našice.
The successors of Marko VII, the youngest brother of Petar Pejačević, who was born in 1923 in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, live in Great Britain: his son Peter, born in 1954 in London, and his grandson Alexander, born in 1988.
According to available sources, there are living members of another branch of the family, who originate from Karlo IV Pejačević (*1825; †1880), the second son of Ferdinand Karlo Rajner and younger brother of Ladislav, ban of Croatia. Karlo's great-grandson Andrija (Andrew), born in 1910, moved to the United States of America, where he got married in 1954 in Pasadena
Pasadena, California
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Although famous for hosting the annual Rose Bowl football game and Tournament of Roses Parade, Pasadena is the home to many scientific and cultural institutions, including the California Institute of Technology , the Jet...
, and where his daughter was born.
The German Minister of Defence, Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg
Karl-Theodor Freiherr zu Guttenberg is a German politician of the Christian Social Union ....
, is a descendant of this family, through Ludwine, Countess Pejacsevich de Verocze, married to Jakob, Count of Eltz
Eltz
The House of Eltz is a noted German noble family of the Uradel. The Rhenish dynasty has had close ties to the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia since 1736.-History:...
.
See also
- Bans (viceroys) of Croatia
- History of CroatiaHistory of CroatiaCroatia first appeared as a duchy in the 7th century and then as a kingdom in the 10th century. From the 12th century it remained a distinct state with its ruler and parliament, but it obeyed the kings and emperors of various neighboring powers, primarily Hungary and Austria. The period from the...
- Croatian nobilityCroatian nobilityCroatian nobility refers to the noble families of Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Istria, Bosnia and Republic of Ragusa.-General history of Croatian nobility:Croatian nobility titles mostly were granted by the kings of Croatia, later kings of Hungary-Croatia...
- Ladislav PejačevićLadislav PejačevićCount Ladislav Pejačević of Virovitica ; Sopron, April 5, 1824 – Našice, April 7, 1901) was a Croatian aristocrat, politician and statesman, a member of the Pejačević noble family, remarkable and influential in the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia within the Austro-Hungarian Empire...
- Teodor PejačevićTeodor PejačevićCount Teodor Pejačević of Virovitica was a Croatian politician who served as Ban of Croatia-Slavonia between 1903 and 1907....
- Dora PejačevićDora PejacevicDora Pejačević was a Croatian composer, a member of Pejačević noble family.-Biography:Dora Pejačević was born in Budapest, a daughter of Croatian ban Teodor Pejačević and Hungarian Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya, herself a fine pianist. Her mother gave her first piano lessons...
External links
- Pejačević family list – Czech-Hungarian version of the names
- Pejačević – one of the distinguished noble families of Podravina, a region in Croatia
- Georgi Peyachevich – one of the leaders of the Chiprovtzi uprising
- Photos of some family members
- Pejačević family in Našice
- St. Francis of Assisi on the Mount Alverno in Italy
- The history of Chiprovtsi
- Franz Xavier de Peyachevich, Jacob Peyachevich and Christopher Peikich influenced the philosophical thought in Bulgaria in the spirit of Catholic scholasticism
- Two Pejačević castles in Našice
- A Našice castle – transfer negotiations to the old owners