Juraj II Drašković (, , ; 5 February 1525 – 31 January 1587) was a Croatian nobleman, statesman and Catholic bishop and

cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...

, very powerful and influential in the Croatian Kingdom. He was a member of the House of Drašković and elected by the Sabor – the Parliament of Croatia – as Ban (viceroy) of

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

to oversee the country between 1567 and 1578.

Early life

Juraj Drašković was born at Bilina near

Knin Knin () is a city in the Šibenik-Knin County of Croatia, located in the Dalmatian hinterland near the source of the river Krka (Croatia), Krka, an important traffic junction on the rail and road routes between Zagreb and Split, Croatia, Split. ...

(southern

), the eldest son of Bartol /''Bartholomew''/ Drašković (*c.1500; †1538) and his wife Ana née Utješinović, a sister of

Juraj Utješinović /''George Utissenich alias George Martinuzzi''/ (*1482; †1551), bishop of Oradea and archbishop of Esztergom. Having lived in turbulent and dangerous times of Ottoman invasion, Bartol's family moved from southern

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 ...

region in the west part of the country. During Juraj's childhood, his father died and he was raised by his mother and his influential uncle Utješinović. He was schooled for priesthood in

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

(Poland) and

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

(Austria). In 1550 he went to study law in Padova (Italy). Drašković started his career as provost in Arad (Romania) and after that in Jasov (today in Slovakia). In 155.3 he was appointed secretary of the Holy Roman Emperor and Croato-Hungarian king Ferdinand I of Habsburg and in 1555. he took over the prepositure of Pozsony (present day Bratislava, Slovakia). On 22 April 1557, Drašković became bishop of

Pécs Pécs ( , ; ; Slovak language, Slovak: ''Päťkostolie''; also known by #Name, alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the c ...

in southern Hungary and in 1563. he took over the bishop's chair in

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 ...

, the capital of the Kingdom of Croatia within the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy, also known as Habsburg Empire, or Habsburg Realm (), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities (composite monarchy) that were ruled by the House of Habsburg. From the 18th century it is ...

, where he stayed until 1578.

Ban of Croatia

In the meantime, he was chosen to be Ban of Croatia in 1567, together with knez (duke) Franjo Frankopan Slunjski, a member of Frankopan noble family. After Frankopan's death on 2 December 1572, Drašković reigned alone until 1574 and together with co-Ban Gašpar Alapić, former deputy viceroy, after that. During his reign, political and social situation in Croatia was extremely complicated, marked by Ottoman invasion, noblemen conflicts, Protestantism breakthrough and peasant revolts.

Peasant revolt

Drašković believed in maintaining the harsh feudal system and was against the end of

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

, a practice similar to slavery, the Bishop himself held great estates and owned thousands of serfs, to prevent the Krajina example where Orthodox peasants had been freed by the Habsburgs in exchange by lifelong military service defending the borders, Drašković took a leading role in crushing the peasant revolt of 1573 led by Ambroz "Matija" Gubec. Drašković led the army of the nobility against the poorly armed peasant army, it is estimated that four to six thousand serfs were killed with the bodies of hundreds of them left hanging from trees across villages as a deterrent, Gubec was taken prisoner and brought to Zagreb where he was found guilty of treason. The Bishop deliberately spread rumours that Matija Gubec had been elected king by his co-conspirators, to set an example to any possible future rebels, the bishop had Gubec tortured in front of St. Mark's Church in Zagreb and then forced to wear a red-hot iron crown as “king of the peasants” before being quartered by four horses. In a letter to King Maximilian Drašković demanded permission to crown Gubec publicly with an iron crown. However, he was known as wise theologian and politician, who was always in the right place at the right time, settling most of troubles.

Later life

In 1574, Drašković was appointed archbishop of Kalocsa (Hungary), retaining the rule of Diocese of Zagreb. In 1578, he moved to Diocese of Győr and became at the same time the royal

chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

. Emperor and king Rudolf II of Habsburg promoted him and made him the royal governor of Hungary (1584), which is a title equal to Hungarian

palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

. Drašković became

at the first consistory of Pope Sixtus V on 18 December 1585. On his way to Rome he suddenly died in

on 31 January 1587, at the age of 61. He was buried in the Cathedral of Blessed Virgin Mary in

Győr Győr ( , ; ; names of European cities in different languages: E-H#G, names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia, Western Transdanubia region, and – halfwa ...

References

* Ivan Hojsak: "Rodoslovlje obitelji Drašković" (''"Genealogy of the Drašković family"''), Varaždin 2004,

External links