Ivan Talovac ( hu, Tallóci János) was a 15th-century Croatian nobleman, a member of the Talovac noble family. He served as

prior Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...

of Vrana from 1439 to 1445 (until his death), as the first governor of

Pakrac Pakrac is a town in western Slavonia, Croatia, population 4,842, total municipality population 8,460 (census 2011). Pakrac is located on the road and railroad connecting the regions of Posavina and Podravina. Name In Croatian the town is known a ...

Slavonia Slavonia (; hr, Slavonija) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria, one of the four historical regions of Croatia. Taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with five Croatian counties: Brod-Posavina, Osijek-Baranja ...

, and was a member of the

Order of the Knights of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

Family

Ivan Talovac was a member of the Talovac family who were Hungarian vassals and an influential family in the Croatian region of Cetina. He was of Croatian origin. His brother was Matija or

Matko Talovac Matko Talovac ( la, Mathkoni de Thallowcz, hu, Tallóci Matkó) or Matija Talovac, was a Croatian nobleman, a member of the Talovac noble family. He served as Ban (Viceroy) of Slavonia from 1435 and Ban of Croatia from 1436, until his death in ...

, who served at the Serbian court of

Stefan Lazarević Stefan Lazarević ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Лазаревић, 1377 – 19 July 1427), also known as Stefan the Tall ( sr, Стефан Високи / ''Stefan Visoki''), was the ruler of Serbia as prince (1389–1402) and despot (1402–1427), ...

who was a Hungarian vassal at that time.

Military officer

Talovac became

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

Nándorfehérvár Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 million ...

, then Hungarian-held modern-day Belgrade, in 1440 at the time his brother Matko served as

Ban of Slavonia Ban of Slavonia ( hr, Slavonski ban; hu, szlavón bán; la, Sclavoniæ banus) or the Ban of "Whole Slavonia" ( hr, ban cijele Slavonije; hu, egész Szlavónia bánja; la, totius Sclavoniæ banus) was the title of the governor of a territor ...

(from 1435). His brother Franko Talovac ( hu, Frank Thallóczi alias de Ragusio) succeeded him in the position of castellan of Nándorfehérvár. Another brother of him,

Petar Talovac Petar Talovac ( hu, Tallóci Péter; died in 1453) was a Croatian nobleman, a member of the Talovac noble family. He was a vassal of the Croato-Hungarian king Sigismund who served first as administrator of the Archbishopric of Zagreb and then as ...

, was also Ban of Croatia. It is possible that Talovac managed to achieve the position of the governor of Nándorfehérvár thanks to the connections of Talovac's family at the Hungarian court, besides his own merits. In 1440 Talovac was a successful military officer as the commander of Hungarian forces mostly consisting of local Serbs during the Ottoman siege of Belgrade. Besides Talovac's forces (around 500 men) from Croatia, the garrison was enforced with

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places * Czech, ...

and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

mercenaries who were archers. The local Serb population also assisted defenders Ivan was not immediately aware of the size of the Ottoman forces and initially had intention to defeat them on the open battlefield. When he went out of the castle and realized that his forces are heavily outnumbered by the Ottomans, he retreated to the city. During this battle

rifle A rifle is a long-barreled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves ( rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with ...

s were used against the Ottomans for the first time in history by Talovac's forces.

Later career

After 1441 Talovac was župan of the Dubica Župa. In December 1442 he was mentioned as count of

Cetina Cetina () is a river in southern Croatia. It has a length of and its basin covers an area of . From its source, Cetina descends from an elevation of above sea level to the Adriatic Sea. It is the most water-rich river in Dalmatia.Naklada Naprijed ...

in Croatia. Talovac was also the prior of Vrana, a very important position, in period between 1439 and 1445.

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Talovac, Ivan 15th-century Croatian nobility 15th-century Hungarian nobility 15th-century Croatian military personnel People from the Republic of Ragusa People from Korčula Knights Hospitaller