Hans Katzianer

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Palais Katzianer on Stempfergasse in Graz

Hans Katzianer zu Katzenstein (also Hans Kazianer , Johann Katzianer or Janez Kacianer , Slov. / Croat . Ivan Kacijanar or Karč , Hungarian. Kaczy János ; * 1491 at Katzenstein Castle near Vigaun , Upper Carniola ; † October 27, 1539 in Kostajnica Castle at the Una , Croatia ) was a Slovenian nobleman from the Katzian family and general of the Habsburgs .

Life

After the death of his older brother Andreas in 1512, Hans Katzianer followed him as Freiherr zu Katzenstein and Flödnig , where he soon had to fend off incursions by the Ottomans . In 1522 he entered the service of Archduke Ferdinand, who later became Emperor Ferdinand I , who in 1523 appointed him colonel captain in the inner Austrian regions ( Styria , Carinthia , Carniola ). With a mercenary army he led defensive battles against the Turks in Carniola until 1526. In 1525 he and his troops supported the provincial estates in Carinthia and Styria in suppressing the peasant revolts there .

After the Hungarian defeat in the Battle of Mohács in 1526, he was responsible for border security in Croatia during the first Austrian Turkish War until February 1527. His appointment as governor of Pressburg in April 1527 only lasted until July, when he was recalled after complaints from the Hungarian nobles because of his ruthless tax collection methods. From the summer of 1527 he fought for Ferdinand I against the Transylvanian anti-king Johann Zápolya he (south of at Szina on March 8, 1528 Kosice in Slovakia ) defeated; however, Zápolya was able to escape to Poland. From 1528 to 1537 he was governor of Carniola and from 1530 also Obristfeld captain in Hungary, Croatia and the Windische Mark . In 1529 he distinguished himself in the relief of Vienna and in the pursuit of the withdrawing Ottoman army, and on September 19, 1532 he destroyed a several thousand-strong remaining army of the Ottoman general Kasim Bey , which was from the previous battle of Leobersdorf - near Weikersdorf am Steinfelde . Enzesfeld had escaped. In October 1532 he was ordered with 5000 men to relieve Gran and then with the negotiation of an armistice in December 1532.

But then a campaign to expel the Turks from Slavonia ended with the inglorious catastrophe of Essegg in September 1537, when Katzianer could not prevail against the war councils he was given, his 20,000-strong but mixed-up (Hungarians, Bohemians, Austrians, Italians, Styrians , Carinthians, Tyroleans, Croats and Carniolan) and the army demoralized by hunger and epidemics largely disbanded on the retreat from Essegg to Valpó and the remainder was killed. Since he himself had not stayed on the battlefield until the end, his envious people blamed him for the defeat. When a high treason trial was brought against him by King Ferdinand I in Vienna, he fled on the night of January 30th to 31st, 1538. The count brothers Johann and Nikola Zrinyi granted him their Kostajnica castle as a place to stay. Outlawed by the king as a traitor and robbed of his property, injured and slandered by his opponents in his knightly honor, he began there to conspire with other enemies of Ferdinand. After the peace treaty of Großwardein on February 14, 1539 between Ferdinand I and Johann Zápolya, he even took up contacts with the Turks. When he informed Count Zrinyi that he intended to hand over their Kostajnica Castle to the Turks, there was a serious dispute with them. On October 27, 1539, Nikola Zrinyi met with Katzianer for further negotiations at the castle, and Zrinyi stabbed him to death while eating. His head was sent to the king in Vienna.

literature

personal data
SURNAME Katzianer, Hans
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Katzianer, Janez; Katzianer, Johann; Katzianer, Hans; Katzianer, Ivan; Karč; Kaczy János
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovenian nobleman and general of the Habsburgs
DATE OF BIRTH 1491
PLACE OF BIRTH Vigaun
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1539
Place of death Hrvatska Kostajnica