Cetingrad Charter

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Charter of Cetingrad (1527)
The state seal of the Kingdom of Croatia is in the middle of the Cetingrad Charter
Juraj III. Frankopan, owner of Cetin Castle

The Charter of Cetingrad is a Croatian state document issued on January 1, 1527 in Cetingrad by the Croatian General Assembly ( Sabor ) . Through them Ferdinand I of Habsburg (1503–1564), Archduke of Austria , was elected King of Croatia .

The charter re-expressed Croatian state constitutional law and confirmed the ability to independently and voluntarily decide on fundamental state affairs - including the free choice of the king. At that time, the Kingdom of Croatia, together with Slavonia , was in personal union with Hungary and belonged to the so-called countries of St. Stephen's Crown . Since the Croatian-Hungarian King Ludwig II Jagiello died on August 29, 1526 in the Battle of Mohács and remained without descendants, the Croatian General Assembly gathered in Cetingrad and elected the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand as King of Croatia, as stated in the charter has been confirmed in writing by Cetingrad.

The text of the charter first contains a list of the names of the present Croatian nobles , church dignitaries and other members of the (lower) nobility, as well as the names and titles of Ferdinand's envoys, then the arguments for the legally valid election of a Habsburg as hereditary ruler of Croatia, furthermore the declarative recognition and proclamation of Ferdinand as king and his wife Anna as queen, and then the "swearing in of loyalty, bowing and obedience ". At the end of the text, the place and date of issue of the certificate are given.

Below the text there are seven seals , namely the Croatian state seal (with square fields) in the middle, as well as three seals each on the left and right, from the most respected nobles, in this order:

Left side

right side

  • Prince Juraj III. Frankopan Slunjski (Georg III. Frankopan von Slunj ) († 1553), from the Slunj branch of the noble family, at that time owner of the Cetin Castle and the lordship that belonged to it
  • Prince Vuk I. Frankopan Tržački / Brinjski (Wolf I. Frankopan von Tržac (and Brinje )), († 1546)
  • Prince Stjepan Babonić Blagajski (Stefan Babonić von Blagaj (today Blagaj Japra )), lord of the huge estates in what was then Slavonia

The emissaries of Archduke Ferdinand (Paul von Oberstein, Provost of Vienna and Privy Councilor Ferdinand, his generals Nikola Jurišić and Hans Katzianer , and Johann Püchler (in some sources Puchler or Pichler), Prefect of Maichau Castle ( Mehovo in Slovenian )) took over the Cetingrader Charter and took them with them on their way back to Vienna. A little earlier, in return, they confirmed in another document (the so-called coronation oath ) the promises made to the Croatians' previous applications and they accepted all associated obligations in the name of the newly elected king.

Before returning to Vienna, Ferdinand's envoys wrote a letter to the Archduke, dated Thursday, January 3, 1527, in which they informed their ruler of the sequence of events during the Cetingrad general assembly and the reasons for the delay or their longer stay in Croatia declared (among other things, it was, for example, that some high nobility did not carry their seals with them and had to certify the charter afterwards).

The Cetingrader Charter is now kept in the Austrian State Archives in Vienna. It is one of the most important documents in the history of Croatia because it gave rise to a special political status for the then Croatian state.

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