Nikola Stepanić Selnički (, ) was a Catholic bishop of the

Roman Catholic Diocese of Pécs The Diocese of Pécs ( Hungarian: ''Pécsi Egyházmegye'', ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic church in Hungary. The Cathedral of Pécs is dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. Secular offices connected to the bishopric The Bishops ...

(1596-1598) and

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Zagreb The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Zagreb (; ) is the central Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Croatia, centered in the capital city Zagreb. It is the metropolitan see of Croatia, and the present archbishop is Dražen Kutleša. It ...

(1598-1602). With his 1598 and 1599 activities aimed to impose his feudal authority over Serbs who populated a year earlier vast territories in Slavonia, abandoned for more than 40 years, he initiated the "Vlach question".

Early life

According to Sakcinski, Selnički was born in Selnica near Konjšćina in 1553 in a family which is a branch of

Turopolje Turopolje () is a region in Croatia between the capital city Zagreb and Sisak. The administrative center of the Turopolje region is the town of Velika Gorica. Geography Turopolje forms part of Posavina, a region south of Zagreb bordering th ...

nobility. According to some other sources Selnički was a son of Stephan from Bosnia, who descended from a noble family. He studied in at

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

and in

Bologne Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. He wrote a chronicle with detailed description of the 1593

Battle of Sisak The Battle of Sisak was fought on 22 June 1593 between Ottoman Bosnian forces and a combined Christian army from the Habsburg lands, mainly the Kingdom of Croatia and Inner Austria. The battle took place at Sisak, central Croatia, at the confl ...

which is not preserved.

Vlach question

When Serb settlers came to Habsburg military frontier (in modern-day Croatia) they were settled on the land which remained vacant for more than 40 years. Soon after Serbs were settled in Slavonia, Selnički began with his activities against them. In 1598 Selnički received information that emperor Rudolf was going to grant Serbs privileges which would guarantee their status of people free from their feudal obligations. Selnički was the first of Croatian nobility who tried to impose his rule over Serb settlers. Furthermore, Selnički actually was the initiator of the "Vlach question" in Croatia with his intention to impose his feudal authority over Serbs, populated a year earlier on his estates by Varaždin general Sigismund. In July 1599 Selnički requested that Serbs (Vlachs) populated a year before on the territory of his estates should not be given any privileges.

References

Sources

* * * * * * *

External links

Website of the Archdiocese of Zagreb, a page about Nikola Selnički
{{DEFAULTSORT:Selnicki, Nikola Stepanic 1553 births 1602 deaths 16th-century Hungarian Jesuits 17th-century Hungarian Jesuits Anti-Serbian sentiment