hrvatski

Pravo hrvatskoga plemstva na vađenje rudače i kovanje novca. (Summary:) The mining and minting rights of Croatian aristocracy

SUMMARY THE MINING AND MINTING RIGHTS OF CROATIAN ARISTOCRACY In the 13th and 14th centuries various Croatian viceroys (ban) struck silver denars and obols in the name of the Arpadian and Angevin kings. Some issues are marked with the initials of their names or animals from their coats-of-arms. Between 1302 and 1312 Paul Šubić of Bribir (d.1312) issued Venetian imitation grossi in his own name and the name of his brother Mladen I and later his son (Mladen II ). Various Croatian nobles were granted the ius minerarum and the ius cudendae monetae in the course of the 15th and 16th c. Frederic II and Ulric II of Celje (Cilli), Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, by special permission of their kinsman Emperor Sigismund I, issued pfennigs between 1434-1456. Their former condottiere John Vitovec de Gereben (d. 1469), another Croatian Viceroy, too was granted the same privilege by Frederic III in 1459 and now we are in possession of his silverlings, struck at Krapina in Croatian Zagorje. Wladislaus II of Hungary, on the other hand, in 1441 permitted Paul I Banić (Bánffy) of Lower Lendava (Lendwa) to strike coins after Viennese pfennigs. Paul Banić and his son John are thought to have issued « ; Schinderlinge» ; after 1453. Count John of Krk was granted the mining right by king Sigismund on 11 November 1392. Count Stephen III Frankopan of Krk and Modruš received the minting privilege from Frederic III in 1443, though no coins of his have been found so far. Nicholas of Ilok issued denars between 1471 and 1477 as the last, but only titular king of Bosnia. Bosnian bishop Michael Kesereö and Chamberlain John Zerechen were permitted to mint coins in Osijek by Ludovic II in 1524. Already the Romans must have exploited the iron and silver ore (Limonite, Galenite) in the area of the Trgovska Gora and Gvozd, possibly already known in Prehistory - geologists have been interested in the area since the 18th c. The grey Gvozdansko Castle, now a sad, yet impressive ruin, must have been built in the second half of the 15th c., probably after 1463, when King Matthias I. Corvinus (1458-1490) granted Count Peter II of Zrin (*1435 +1493) the mining rights. The castle, constructed for the defence of the town below it and of the mines against the Turks, is first mentioned in 1488. Nicholas III of Zrin and his son Nicholas IV frequently came to Gvozdansko in order to inspect the mines and the mint. A document from 1525 tells us that two mining-masters from Zvolen were sent by King Ludovic II to the area in order to improve the technology. The castle came under attack many times and was finally taken in January 1578. When the Turks entered they found all the defendors dead of wounds, hunger and cold. The Bosnian Ferhat-Pasha was so moved by their bravery that they were conceded a Christian burial and the local population freed from taxes. Nicholas III Zrinski struck coins between 1521 and 1533. We ignore how and when this right was issued first, but his earliest denars bear the year 1521. The surviving accounts kept by the supreme Hungarian royal treasurer Alexius Thurzo witness that John Černeki, a servant of Lord Nicholas of Zrin approached his Majesty on the matter of the minting and silver mines of his master on the January 15, 1525. The very first denars from the Gvozdansko mint are similar to the Hungarian ones of the era. The obverse reads LVDOVICVS R(ex) VNG(arie) and the year of issue, around the Hungarian coat-of-arms, that of Dalmatia (three leopard's heads) included. The reverse depicts the crowned Madonna holding the Child on her left side, sitting, facing, the legend being: PATRONA VNGARI(e). The difference between the usual Hungarian denars and those of Zrinski lies in a tiny coat-of-arms (two vertical eagles' wings) below the Virgin's feet. The years of issue are 1521 and 1526. In 1527 Zrinski must have sent a considerable amount of silver to the Graz mint in order to help his king (the first Ottoman siege of Vienna took place in 1529), which is proved by two extremely rare preserved pfennigs bearing the letters N-C-Z (Nicolaus Comes Zriniensis) the year 1527 and two coats-of-arms (Lower Austria and Old Burgundy left ; Zrinski right). In 1527 grossi and broad grossi were issued at Gvozdansko, some bearing the year of issue, some without it. The obverse shows a good portrait of the count, with a moustache, fairly long hair and a broad flat hat, the Zrinski motto being put around the bust: DOMINVS PROTECTOR AND ADIVTOR MEVS. The reverse shows the Zrinski crest and the legend MONETA NICOLAI COMIT(i) ZR(iniensis). One section of Croatian nobility assembled in a diet at Križevci in 1528 and prohibited the circulation of the Zrinian money and decreed that any person bringing such money in quantity to the market, should be arrested and the money treated as counterfeit money. This forced Zrinski to a new move: he applied for minting privilege with the new monarch. Bearing in mind everything Zrinski had done for him, Ferdinand I signed a series of very precise and detailed documents regulating the striking of coins in Gvozdansko in 1529, 1530 and 1531. The money was supposed to look like Hungarian pfennigs. The name of the Wardein , a very skilled die-engraver, in Gvozdansko is preserved in documents and his initials on coins (talers): Sebastian Rieder. He struck Hungarian denars bearing the years 1530, 1531 and 1532, and the name of Ferdinand I., the difference being the Zrinski crest, or his initials (N-S), in 1532 and 1533 the initials of Leonard Gruber (L-G), who leased the mint. A year before Zrinski died, talers too were struck, although they are not mentioned in any documents. They are extremely beautiful, showing a crowned Zrinian helmet with a closed vizier and a dragon on top, the legend being NICOLAI D(ei) G(ratia) COMITIS ZRINIEN(sis) 1533. The reverse depicts King David playing the harp behind a balustrade, the beginning of Psalm 71 in the lower half of the coin. It is also signed S-R (Sebastian Rieder). There are also talers with a different obverse, a combination of the Zrinski coat-of-arms and mining tools and the proverb QUID QUID AGAS PRUDENTER AGAS ET RESPICE FINEM, the reverse being the same. Nicolas IV. of Zrin, the son, used the King David reverse for his talers, struck after 1554, when the Ernušt crest was added to the old Šubić one. In 1697 Livio Odescalchi, Duke of Syrmia, among other privileges, also was allowed to mint money. The last to be mentioned is the Viceroy Josip Baron Jelačić of Bužim, who in 1849 re-activated the Zagreb mint, thus confirming the autonomy of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia.

numizmatika; Hrvatska; plemstvo; pravo rudarenja; pravo kovanja novca

Znanstveni kolokvij. Uloga hrvatskog plemstva u očuvanju i održanju hrvatske nacionalnosti i državnosti

engleski

The mining and minting rights of Croatian aristocracy

SUMMARY THE MINING AND MINTING RIGHTS OF CROATIAN ARISTOCRACY In the 13th and 14th centuries various Croatian viceroys (ban) struck silver denars and obols in the name of the Arpadian and Angevin kings. Some issues are marked with the initials of their names or animals from their coats-of-arms. Between 1302 and 1312 Paul Šubić of Bribir (d.1312) issued Venetian imitation grossi in his own name and the name of his brother Mladen I and later his son (Mladen II ). Various Croatian nobles were granted the ius minerarum and the ius cudendae monetae in the course of the 15th and 16th c. Frederic II and Ulric II of Celje (Cilli), Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, by special permission of their kinsman Emperor Sigismund I, issued pfennigs between 1434-1456. Their former condottiere John Vitovec de Gereben (d. 1469), another Croatian Viceroy, too was granted the same privilege by Frederic III in 1459 and now we are in possession of his silverlings, struck at Krapina in Croatian Zagorje. Wladislaus II of Hungary, on the other hand, in 1441 permitted Paul I Banić (Bánffy) of Lower Lendava (Lendwa) to strike coins after Viennese pfennigs. Paul Banić and his son John are thought to have issued « ; Schinderlinge» ; after 1453. Count John of Krk was granted the mining right by king Sigismund on 11 November 1392. Count Stephen III Frankopan of Krk and Modruš received the minting privilege from Frederic III in 1443, though no coins of his have been found so far. Nicholas of Ilok issued denars between 1471 and 1477 as the last, but only titular king of Bosnia. Bosnian bishop Michael Kesereö and Chamberlain John Zerechen were permitted to mint coins in Osijek by Ludovic II in 1524. Already the Romans must have exploited the iron and silver ore (Limonite, Galenite) in the area of the Trgovska Gora and Gvozd, possibly already known in Prehistory - geologists have been interested in the area since the 18th c. The grey Gvozdansko Castle, now a sad, yet impressive ruin, must have been built in the second half of the 15th c., probably after 1463, when King Matthias I. Corvinus (1458-1490) granted Count Peter II of Zrin (*1435 +1493) the mining rights. The castle, constructed for the defence of the town below it and of the mines against the Turks, is first mentioned in 1488. Nicholas III of Zrin and his son Nicholas IV frequently came to Gvozdansko in order to inspect the mines and the mint. A document from 1525 tells us that two mining-masters from Zvolen were sent by King Ludovic II to the area in order to improve the technology. The castle came under attack many times and was finally taken in January 1578. When the Turks entered they found all the defendors dead of wounds, hunger and cold. The Bosnian Ferhat-Pasha was so moved by their bravery that they were conceded a Christian burial and the local population freed from taxes. Nicholas III Zrinski struck coins between 1521 and 1533. We ignore how and when this right was issued first, but his earliest denars bear the year 1521. The surviving accounts kept by the supreme Hungarian royal treasurer Alexius Thurzo witness that John Černeki, a servant of Lord Nicholas of Zrin approached his Majesty on the matter of the minting and silver mines of his master on the January 15, 1525. The very first denars from the Gvozdansko mint are similar to the Hungarian ones of the era. The obverse reads LVDOVICVS R(ex) VNG(arie) and the year of issue, around the Hungarian coat-of-arms, that of Dalmatia (three leopard's heads) included. The reverse depicts the crowned Madonna holding the Child on her left side, sitting, facing, the legend being: PATRONA VNGARI(e). The difference between the usual Hungarian denars and those of Zrinski lies in a tiny coat-of-arms (two vertical eagles' wings) below the Virgin's feet. The years of issue are 1521 and 1526. In 1527 Zrinski must have sent a considerable amount of silver to the Graz mint in order to help his king (the first Ottoman siege of Vienna took place in 1529), which is proved by two extremely rare preserved pfennigs bearing the letters N-C-Z (Nicolaus Comes Zriniensis) the year 1527 and two coats-of-arms (Lower Austria and Old Burgundy left ; Zrinski right). In 1527 grossi and broad grossi were issued at Gvozdansko, some bearing the year of issue, some without it. The obverse shows a good portrait of the count, with a moustache, fairly long hair and a broad flat hat, the Zrinski motto being put around the bust: DOMINVS PROTECTOR AND ADIVTOR MEVS. The reverse shows the Zrinski crest and the legend MONETA NICOLAI COMIT(i) ZR(iniensis). One section of Croatian nobility assembled in a diet at Križevci in 1528 and prohibited the circulation of the Zrinian money and decreed that any person bringing such money in quantity to the market, should be arrested and the money treated as counterfeit money. This forced Zrinski to a new move: he applied for minting privilege with the new monarch. Bearing in mind everything Zrinski had done for him, Ferdinand I signed a series of very precise and detailed documents regulating the striking of coins in Gvozdansko in 1529, 1530 and 1531. The money was supposed to look like Hungarian pfennigs. The name of the Wardein , a very skilled die-engraver, in Gvozdansko is preserved in documents and his initials on coins (talers): Sebastian Rieder. He struck Hungarian denars bearing the years 1530, 1531 and 1532, and the name of Ferdinand I., the difference being the Zrinski crest, or his initials (N-S), in 1532 and 1533 the initials of Leonard Gruber (L-G), who leased the mint. A year before Zrinski died, talers too were struck, although they are not mentioned in any documents. They are extremely beautiful, showing a crowned Zrinian helmet with a closed vizier and a dragon on top, the legend being NICOLAI D(ei) G(ratia) COMITIS ZRINIEN(sis) 1533. The reverse depicts King David playing the harp behind a balustrade, the beginning of Psalm 71 in the lower half of the coin. It is also signed S-R (Sebastian Rieder). There are also talers with a different obverse, a combination of the Zrinski coat-of-arms and mining tools and the proverb QUID QUID AGAS PRUDENTER AGAS ET RESPICE FINEM, the reverse being the same. Nicolas IV. of Zrin, the son, used the King David reverse for his talers, struck after 1554, when the Ernušt crest was added to the old Šubić one. In 1697 Livio Odescalchi, Duke of Syrmia, among other privileges, also was allowed to mint money. The last to be mentioned is the Viceroy Josip Baron Jelačić of Bužim, who in 1849 re-activated the Zagreb mint, thus confirming the autonomy of the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia.

numismatics; Croatia; aristocracy; mining right; minting right

Znanstveni kolokvij. Uloga hrvatskog plemstva u očuvanju i održanju hrvatske nacionalnosti i državnosti