The House of Šilobod (Alternatively: ''Sillobod, Silobad, Shilobod, Šilobad, Šilobodec, Shelobod''; Cyrillic: ''Шилобод'') are a

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the rea ...

from

Podgrađe Podokićko Podgrađe Podokićko is a settlement (''naselje'') in the Samobor administrative territory of Zagreb County, Croatia. As of 2011 it had a population of 162 people. Notable people *Mihalj Šilobod Bolšić - Roman Catholic The Catholic ...

in the

Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) The Kingdom of Croatia (; ; , ) was part of the Lands of the Hungarian Crown, but was subject to direct Imperial Austrian rule for significant periods of time, including its final years. Its capital was Zagreb. It was also a part of the lands of t ...

Etymology

Šilo
' is a

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

word meaning awl and
Bȏd
' refers to stitching or sewing. The name likely refers to a

stitching awl A stitching awl is a tool with which holes can be punctured in a variety of materials, or existing holes can be enlarged. It is also used for sewing heavy materials, such as leather or canvas. It is a thin, tapered metal shaft, coming to a shar ...

or craft profession which worked with leather, such as a shoe or saddle maker, though its origins are unknown.

History

The history of the Croatian people and their many migrations provides context for the

genealogy Genealogy () is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kin ...

of the Šilobod family. In particular, it is generally accepted that the Croats as a people had their roots in the region of unbaptized Croatia, located in northeastern Europe along the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

coast and included parts of modern-day eastern

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

, and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. It is assumed that the Šilobod family is related to the Šilubod family, which dominates as an autochthonous surname in the province of

Šilutė Šilutė (; previously ''Šilokarčiama''; ) is a city in the south of the Klaipėda County in western Lithuania. The city was part of the Klaipėda Region and ethnographic Lithuania Minor. Šilutė was the interwar period, interwar capital of Š ...

, located along the coast of Lithuania. This is because both families share a common

etymological Etymology ( ) is the study of the origin and evolution of words—including their constituent units of sound and meaning—across time. In the 21st century a subfield within linguistics, etymology has become a more rigorously scientific study. ...

origin in the region, which suggests that they both originated in the same family that migrated southward towards the

Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

in the sixth century. Croatians probably only stayed in what is now northern Europe for two centuries, at most, given that their ancestors emigrated to the peninsula in the third and fourth century. There is evidence of periodic attacks by

Tatars Tatars ( )Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary are a group of Turkic peoples across Eas ...

and

Slavs The Slavs or Slavic people are groups of people who speak Slavic languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout the northern parts of Eurasia; they predominantly inhabit Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, and ...

from the Transcarpathian region, and by the third century, it is probable that all

Slavic tribes This is a list of early Slavic peoples reported in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages, that is, before the year AD 1500. Ancestors *Proto-Indo-Europeans (Proto-Indo-European speakers) ** Proto-Balto-Slavs (common ancestors of Balts and Slav ...

, including the Croats, were residing in the region north of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

, behind the

Carpathian Mountains The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians () are a range of mountains forming an arc across Central Europe and Southeast Europe. Roughly long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Ural Mountains, Urals at and the Scandinav ...

. Since the origins of the Croatian name may be traced back to regions in modern-day

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, it's probable that the initial stages of this migration occurred in Iran long before the

birth of Christ The Nativity or birth of Jesus Christ is found in the biblical gospels of Matthew and Luke. The two accounts agree that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Palestine, in Roman-controlled Judea, that his mother, Mary, was engaged to a man named J ...

. The definitive

Balkan The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

base of the Šilobod family is now Croatian, thanks to the

South Slavs South Slavs are Slavic people who speak South Slavic languages and inhabit a contiguous region of Southeast Europe comprising the eastern Alps and the Balkan Peninsula. Geographically separated from the West Slavs and East Slavs by Austria, ...

' military formations' entrance in the region. In

mediaeval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and t ...

times, the town of

(about 20 kilometres from modern-day Zagreb) was known as ''Podgradje na Jezeri''. There, members of the Šiloboda clan banded together to create two

co-ops A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democr ...

that serve as autonomous social and economic units. Some members of these groups moved to the Military Border system, with headquarters in

Karlovac Karlovac () is a city in central Croatia. In the 2021 census, its population was 49,377. Karlovac is the administrative centre of Karlovac County. The city is located southwest of Zagreb and northeast of Rijeka, and is connected to them via the ...

and

Slunj Slunj is a town in the mountainous part of Central Croatia, located along the important North-South route to the Adriatic Sea between Karlovac and Plitvice Lakes National Park, on the meeting of the rivers Korana and Slunjčica. Slunj has a popu ...

, while others emigrated to the area that is now

Slavonia Slavonia (; ) is, with Dalmatia, Croatia proper, and Istria County, Istria, one of the four Regions of Croatia, historical regions of Croatia. Located in the Pannonian Plain and taking up the east of the country, it roughly corresponds with f ...

and farther afield to the United States, Australia, and New Zealand in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, respectively. Eastern Slavonia, Belgrade with Slavic ancestry,

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

, and southern

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

are all current locations for variants of the surname Šilobod (Sillobod, Silobad, Shilobod, Šilobad, Šilobodec). The neighbourhoods of Podoki (

and Sveti Martin pod Okićem),

Samobor Samobor () is a town in Zagreb County, Croatia. It is part of the Zagreb metropolitan area. Administratively it is a part of Zagreb County. Geography Samobor is located west of Zagreb, between the eastern slopes of the Samobor hills (), the eas ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

, and the vicinity of

Sisak Sisak (; also known by other alternative names) is a city in central Croatia, spanning the confluence of the Kupa, Sava and Odra rivers, southeast of the Croatian capital Zagreb, and is usually considered to be where the Posavina (Sava basin ...

contain the greatest concentrations of Šiloboda families in the Zagreb area. The United States (specifically

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

) and Germany, which for economic reasons (fishing) were the most desirable as the end destinations of economic migration in the previous two centuries, have the highest concentrations of Šilobod descendants outside of Croatia. Smaller populations also currently reside in the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

and

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

Nobility

Queen

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...

of Austria awarded

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

to Andrija and Ivan (Johan) Šilobod in 1758 for their military services in the

Croatian Military Frontier The Croatian Military Frontier ( or ') was a district of the Military Frontier, a territory in the Habsburg monarchy, first during the period of the Austrian Empire and then during Austria-Hungary. History Founded in the late 16th century out of ...

during 1741. Andrija Šilobod was then a prominent senior member of the

Military Generalate of the

regiment. He is the father of

Mihalj Šilobod Bolšić Mihalj Šilobod Bolšić (1 November 1724 – 4 April 1787) was a Croatian Roman Catholic priest, mathematician, writer, and musical theorist primarily known for writing the first Croatian arithmetics textbook ''Arithmetika Horvatzka'' (published ...

, a Croatian Roman Catholic priest, mathematician, writer, and musical theorist primarily known for writing the first Croatian arithmetics textbook ''Arithmetika Horvatzka''. From 1735 to 1739, Andrija participated in military operations against the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Turkey * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic lang ...

, as was required by the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

Kingdom of Croatia.

Notable descendants

(1724–1787) –

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

priest, mathematician, writer, and music theorist primarily known for writing the first Croatian arithmetic textbook ''Arithmatika Horvatzka'' (published in Zagreb, 1758) * Mikhail Isidorovich Shilobod (

Russian Cyrillic The Russian alphabet (, or , more traditionally) is the script used to write the Russian language. The modern Russian alphabet consists of 33 letters: twenty consonants (, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ), ten vowels (, , , , , , , , , ), ...

: Михаил Исидорович Шилобод; 1931–?) – Russian former Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, Dean of the Faculty of History, Head of the Department of History of the CPSU at Orlov State Pedagogical Institute *

Mlađan Šilobad Mlađan Šilobad (Serbian Cyrillic: Млађан Шилобад; born 6 July 1971) is a Serbian basketball executive and former player. He is currently serving as the general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall respons ...

(1971–current) – (

Serbian Cyrillic The Serbian Cyrillic alphabet (, ), also known as the Serbian script, (, ), is a standardized variation of the Cyrillic script used to write the Serbian language. It originated in medieval Serbia and was significantly reformed in the 19th cen ...

: Млађан Шилобад) Serbian basketball executive and former player. He is currently serving as the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of the KK Partizan NIS

References

External links