Christoph Frankopan

Christoph Frankopan of Ozalj (1482-1527)

Christoph Frankopans Brinjski, Croatian: Krsto Frankopan Brinjski, Hungarian: Frangepán Kristóf, Frankapan, Frangipani (1482 – 1527) was a Croatian count from the noble House of Frankopan and ban of the region of Croatia in the Hungarian Medieval Kingdom in 1527 under the reign of the King John I of Hungary.

Life

Christopher was born in 1482 as son of the Croatian nobleman Bernardin Frankopan (1452–1529) a loyal man to the King Matthias Corvinus of Hungary. Decades later, after the death of the King Matthias the Hungarian crown passed to the hands of the Polish-Lithuanian House of Jagiellon with Vladislas II of Hungary in 1490. Christoph grew loyal to the new King and decades later bravely fought against Venice and the Ottoman Empire under emperor Maximilian I and Louis II of Hungary (Vladislas II's son). In 1496, due to the Frankopan family's influence, Christoph's sister, Beatrice de Frangepan, was married by John Corvinus, the illegitimate son of the deceased King Matthias of Hungary. After the defeat of Hungary against Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Mohács (1526), the Hungarian throne again was empty with the death of Louis II. Immediately the Habsburgs reclaimed it for themselves, as a Hungarian Count, John Zápolya, also claimed his rights as husband of a Jagiellon princess.

In the middle of the chaos, part of Croatian nobility from Slavonia gathered at Parliament on January 6 in Dubrava and intended to elect count John Zápolya as the king of Croatia against Ferdinand I, as both rivalized for the crown of Hungary. Eventually, the two were crowned ad Kings of Hungary, and Zápolya stayed in the royal city of Buda, as the Habsburg went back to his austrian domains without giving up to the Hungarian throne.^[1] Zápolya confered to Christopher the charge of ban of Croatia and military commander of the Hungarian Kingdom, counting him as one of his closest allies. In the civil war in Croatia, between army of Zápolya and Ferdinand he fought in Slavonia against Count Francis Batthyány, who supported the Habsburg's claims. He was mortally wounded at the siege of the castle of Varaždin and soon died.

See also

• History of Croatia
• History of Hungary

Bibliography

1. ^ Kulcsár Péter. Jagelló kor. Budapest, Hungary: Gondolat K. (1981)

Persondata
Name	Frankopan, Christoph
Alternative names
Short description	Croatian count
Date of birth	1482
Place of birth
Date of death	1527
Place of death