Klijentela knezova Krčkih u kneštvu Vinodol od kraja 13. do kraja 15. stoljeća
Clientele of the Counts of Krk in the Vinodol County from the Late 13th to the Late 15th Century

Summary/Abstract: The Counts of Krk (Frankapan) probably originated from the island of Krk, from where their territorial expansion started. They acquired their earliest possessions, Vinodol and Modruš, in the first half of the 13th century. By the 15th century, they had accumulated considerable possessions in Croatia and Slavonia. Thus, they had to appoint officials through whom they could govern and effectively obtain revenues. This paper deals with their clientele in Vinodol. At the top of the hierarchy among the Counts’ clientele was the retinue (familia / familiares), followed by officials (officiales) and servants (servitores). Being a member of one of these groups did not exclude belonging to another, i.e. it was possible for a viscount (vicecomes) to be part of the Counts’ retinue. However, there was no reason for every official (even a viscount) to be part of the retinue. At the time of the Vinodol Law (1288), the highest official in all of Vinodol was the dvornik (magister curiae). Later on, he was replaced by a number of viscounts, who became the highest-ranking officials in the Counts’ apparatus. The number of viscounts varied in the sources through the centuries and it seems that it corresponded to the number of Counts who had the Vinodol County in their possession. The family division of all possessions (among them Vinodol) in 1449 resulted in a new organizational structure and the number of viscounts probably corresponded to the number of Counts who had divided the county among themselves. In the 15th century, as the sources show, there were also a captain (capitaneus) and a vice-captain, the former apparently having the same status as a viscount. The Counts had their own courts, organized on the similar model as the courts of the Hungarian kings. The first in the hierarchy among their courtiers was the dvornik (magister curiae), followed by the castellan (castellanus), the cupbearers (dapifer), and the cellarers (Cr. konobar, Lat. cellerarius). This was probably done in effort to make an impression on others and to compete with the magnates of the kingdom. All Counts of Krk had a similar structure of officials on their estates in the Kvarner littoral.

• Details
• Contents