Križevačka tvrđava i utvrde Križevačke kapetanije
The fortress of Križevci and fortifications of the military district of Križevci

Summary/Abstract: Considering the significance of fortifications around the old Croatian settlement Križ by examining its historical development, we are, in fact, outlining a comparatively long period of historical development and span of today’s town of Križevci. Therefore, this paper mostly deals with the construction of fortifications in Križevci in the 16th and 17th centuries, during the defensive wars against the Ottoman empire, when they played a key role in the survival of the whole area. The first part of this paper deals with the period before the 16th century, and it tries to shed some light on the beginnings of construction of fortifications in Kriæevci. These fortifications were not only one of the most important factors of the development of the old Križ, but also they predetermined its destiny in the following centuries. Fortifications of the old Križ served as a foundation for the construction of a new Renaissance fortress of Križ and this was the reason why this town became one of the most powerful centres of defence against the Turks on the Slavonian Military Border. The existence of the old Križ was first mentioned in connection with an old royal manor or “curia regalis”. The manor was first some kind of fortified building, constructed on the site of an older medieval royal road. Its original purpose was to control road traffic. Following the more prominent presence of royal power in Slavonia, at the beginning of the 13th century a new political system was introduced by dividing the area into counties and it became the centre of the institution of local royal authorities, the centre of Križevačka County. Thus the “curia regalis” marks the beginning of the history of Križevci. There is no evidence of the existence of some other royal fortified city or “castrum regale”. Moreover, the presence of curia regalis both as a building and as an institution in a certain way excludes that possibility. The existence of the old settlement Kriæ and the royal manor was first mentioned in a document dating around the year 1193. This document deals with a dispute over a land property called Kamnik, whereby a bishop of Pecs, Kolan, in the name of the king, adjudicated the property to Dominic, a bishop of Zagreb. The bishop Kolan officially issued this document “through the hands” of Bonce and Isan, the representatives of royal manor in Križ. Which one is older, the old royal manor or the old Croatian settlement Križ? In terms of time, we give precedence to the settlement. The oldest historical location in today’s town area could be at the site of the Church of the Holy Cross. The church is situated between the medieval road on the ridge of a mild elevation of a hill and a creek named Vrtlina in the valley underneath.

• Details
• Contents