Pejacsevich

The Pejacsevich family (IPA: ; _hu. Pejácsevich; _hr. Pejačevići; _bg. Пеячевичи, "Peyachevichi") is a noble family of Bulgarian descent, [cite web |url=http://www.mdc.hr/nasice/en/povijest.html |title=The Pejacevic Family |publisher=Našice Native Museum |accessdate=2008-09-07 ] [cite news|url=http://zupa-nasice1.hr/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1374&Itemid=58|title=Obilježena obljetnica smrti fra Euzebija Fermendžina |last=Lučevnjak|first=Silvija|publisher=Župa sv. Antuna Padovanskog Našice|language=Croatian|accessdate=2008-09-07] originally from the northwestern Bulgarian town of Chiprovtsi. One of the oldest and most distinguished noble families of Slavonia, the Pejacsevichs have produced a number of influential administrators and cultural figures. Today, descendants of the family live in Austria, the United Kingdom, Croatia and South America.

The family first came to prominence in the 17th century as an influential family in the Bulgarian ore-mining town of Chiprovtsi, which at the time was the centre of Roman Catholicism in the Bulgarian lands under Ottoman rule. Together with other related families such as Soymirovich, Parchevich, Knezhevich and Markanich, they had the status of "knyaz" in the town, and formed its cultural and social elite. One of the family's members, Georgi Peyachevich (1655-18 March 1725), was a military leader of the Chiprovtsi Uprising of 1688 and commanded a regiment of insurrectionists who aided the Habsburg Monarchy in fighting the Ottomans. The uprising was quickly suppressed by the Ottomans and their Magyar allies under Imre Thököly, the town was seized by 18 October, much of the population was killed, with the survivors fleeing to the Banat, Transylvania and modern Hungary "(see Banat Bulgarians, Bulgarians in Romania, Bulgarians in Hungary)". Georgi and his brothers Marko, Ivan and Nikola, managed to flee, but their father Matey died in the defence. The family moved to modern Croatia, where they are known to have settled in Osijek. Georgi was honoured with the title of Baron, while a descendant of his brother Marko was made a Graf (Count) in 1722. For a long time, Georgi was the vice-governor of Bács-Bodrog and died in Bač. In Magyar service, they adopted the Hungarian spelling of their name, "Pejácsevich".

Marko is known to have acquired wealth in the Austro-Turkish Wars and bought mansions in Virovitica, Ruma, Našice, Podgorač, etc., which were inherited by his son Joseph. Another prominent Pejacsevich was Nikola's offspring Jacob Peyachevich, born in Chiprovtsi in 1676, who became a high-ranking Catholic cleric, professor of theology and writer. Jacob joined the Jesuits in 1706, living in Hungary and Croatia until 1721 and teaching philosophy at the University of Zagreb. In 1725 he served in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and in 1728 he headed the Jesuit college in Osijek, as well as that of Pécs (1729-1731). Until 1738, he was rector of various Catholic schools in Požega, Zagreb and Pécs, where he died on 14 July 1738. Jacob was the author of the book "Geographic presentation of Europe, Asia, Africa and America" (Zagreb, 1714). A descendant of the same family was Francis-Xavier Pejacsevich ("Franjo Ksaver Pejačević"), professor of philosophy, Jesuit and historian who authored several theological and historical works in Latin.

The Pejacsevichs split into two lines, of Ruma and of Našice or Virovitica ("von Verőce"), the latter giving two viceroys of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia (bans of Croatia), Ladislav Pejačević (1824ndash1901, in office February 21, 1880ndashSeptember 4, 1883) and Teodor Pejačević (1855ndash1928, in office July 1, 1903ndashJune 26, 1907). Another offspring of the family, Gabriel Pejacsevich, was a candidate to become Prince of Bulgaria after 1878, but Alexander of Battenberg was preferred. Dora Pejačević (10 September 1885ndash5 March 1923) of that family was the first Croatian female composer.

In 2008, some of the living descendants of the noble family: Markus, Count Pejacsevich from London, Ladislav ("László"), Count Pejacsevich from Vienna and Baron Nikola Adamovich de Csepin, ambassador of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta to Croatia, [cite web |url=http://www.smom.org/files/malta-review-15x04.pdf |title=Order of Malta Review |accessdate=2008-09-07 |date=December 2006 |publisher=Federal Association, USA ] visited their ancestral Chiprovtsi as the special guests of the Chiprovtsi Uprising's 320th anniversary.

References

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External links

* [http://parragh.n1.hu/eucsafa/genealogy.euweb.cz/hung/pejacs2.html Genealogy of the Pejacsevich family] (names given as in Hungarian)
* [http://picasaweb.google.com/svetlanabanat/320# Photo gallery of the Pejacsevichs' visit to Chiprovtsi in 2008] by [http://karadzhova.blogspot.com/ Svetlana Karadzhova]