The fortress of Križevci and fortifications of the military district of Križevci

Zadaća je ovog rada odrediti i povijesno značenje i graditeljsku vrijednost križevačkih utvrda i utvrda Križevačke kapetanije. U tom traganju za povijesnom slikom i obrambenim značenjem križevačkih utvrda od najveće će nam koristi biti crteži i opisi krajiških vojnih inženjera i stratega, tim više što su sačuvani graditeljski ostaci i onih najvećih utvrda toliko neznatni, da bi samo na temelju takvih ostataka bilo nemoguće rekonstruirati pravu predodžbu njihova povijesnog izgleda, procijeniti njihovu obrambenu vrijednost i arhitektonske kvalitete.Considering the significance of fortifications around the old Croatian settlement Križ by examining its historical development, we are, in fact, outlining a comparatively long period of historical development and span of today’s town of Križevci. Therefore, this paper mostly deals with the construction of fortifications in Križevci in the 16th and 17th centuries, during the defensive wars against the Ottoman empire, when they played a key role in the survival of the whole area. The first part of this paper deals with the period before the 16th century, and it tries to shed some light on the beginnings of construction of fortifications in Križevci. These fortifications were not only one of the most important factors of the development of the old Križ, but also they predetermined its destiny in the following centuries. Fortifications of the old Križ served as a foundation for the construction of a new Renaissance fortress of Križ and this was the reason why this town became one of the most powerful centres of defence against the Turks on the Slavonian Military Border. The existence of the old Kriæ was first mentioned in connection with an old royal manor or “ curia regalis”. The manor was first some kind of fortified building, constructed on the site of an older medieval royal road. Its original purpose was to control road traffic. Following the more prominent presence of royal power in Slavonia, at the beginning of the 13th century a new political system was introduced by dividing the area into counties and it became the centre of the institution of local royal authorities, the centre of Križevačka County. Thus the “ curia regalis” marks the beginning of the history of Križevci. There is no evidence of the existence of some other royal fortified city or “ castrum regale”. Moreover, the presence of curia regalis both as a building and as an institution in a certain way excludes that possibility. The existence of the old settlement Kriæ and the royal manor was first mentioned in a document dating around the year 1193. This document deals with a dispute over a land property called Kamnik, whereby a bishop of Pecs, Kolan, in the name of the king, adjudicated the property to Dominic, a bishop of Zagreb. The bishop Kolan officially issued this document “through the hands” of Bonce and Isan, the representatives of royal manor in Križ. Which one is older, the old royal manor or the old Croatian settlement Križ? In terms of time, we give precedence to the settlement. The oldest historical location in today’s town area could be at the site of the Church of the Holy Cross. The church is situated between the medieval road on the ridge of a mild elevation of a hill and a creek named Vrtlina in the valley underneath. This site might have been considered a holy ground even in the pre-Croatian times, and when the Croatians came and established their settlement in the surroundings of the old road, they built a Christian sanctuary dedicated to one of the oldest Christian symbols, the holy wooden cross of Jesus Christ. The sequence of historical events could be as follows: the holy ground of the Church of the Holy Cross, the medieval royal road, old Croatian settlement in the surroundings of the road and near the Church of the Holy Cross. This is the reason why the Church of the Holy Cross was not built within the town, but remained outside of it. Therefore, the historical centre of today’s town of Križevci is a former Lower Town, older part of the settlement of Križ, that was built alongside the royal road, but mainly concentrated nearer to the church and a little bit remote from the royal manor. The so-called Upper Town, as the younger part of the settlement of Križ, was built along the royal road towards the royal manor. Its history is more closely connected to the historical significance of the royal manor. Furthermore, it is evident that the settlement was named after The Church of the Holy Cross (Croatian Križ means Cross), as well as the entire Croatian parish Križ and later the Križevačka County. The new political organization of medieval Slavonia from the 13th century onwards was dominated by the royal power of the new royal blood at the throne of the Croatian Kingdom, the Hungarian dynasty of Arpadovics. At that time the old royal manor became the administrative centre of Križevačka County where royal officials were authorised to deal with the matters of legal, judicial, administrative and economic nature. However, according to at least some sources, it seems that the military and defence administration was situated in another medieval fortress not far from Križ and the royal manor - a medieval fortified town Kalnik. Kalnik had a garrison of royal soldiers controlled by jobagiones, royal allegiants who lived on the property of the town of Kalnik. Medieval town of Križ spreads along the old royal road, between The Church of the Holy Cross and the royal manor. The new part of Križ was more oriented to the royal manor, and it might be the reason why in the year 1252 it gained some special royal privileges in the framework of medieval feudal system. Because of its outstanding position, the Vice-Roy (ban) Stjepan, in the name of the king, granted this new part of Križ some royal privileges. Together with some other towns of the time it became “the Royal Borough”. For this reason, in that document it is called a “new and free town” or “ nova ac libera villa”. However, in 1405 the king Sigismund granted the older part of town even more important privilege, and accordingly it had the right to build inner walls and moats for the protection against ever possible enemy attacks. The older part of Križ was soon surrounded by strong fortifications built mainly of wood and earth. This mostly contributed to a more peaceful and safer development, until the times of the defensive wars against the Ottoman empire during the 16th century. While the upper part of Križ, the legally privileged “ nova ac libera villa” was burned down and ravaged in a single Turkish attack in 1539, the lower, older part of Križ protected by fortifications, was saved from the Turkish ravage. This year marks the beginning of another important era in the history of the old Križ, the history of constant insecurity and danger, the period of construction of a unique military border-defence system against the Turkish attacks. When the new fortress of the old Križ was built in the style and spirit of Renaissance fortresses, at the end of the 16th and during the 17th century, the new Renaissance fortress and its garrison did not only serve to defend Križ and its inhabitants, but also the vast surrounding area. In 1553 the citizens of Križ began to reconstruct their old fortress by themselves. Soon the commander-in-chief of the border-defence of Slavonian Military Border, Ivan Ungnad, and Domenico del Alio, a famous architect who had earned a reputation as a builder of Renaissance war fortresses started to control the construction works. Military commanders and architects faced a highly demanding task. The existing fortress prevented them from employing some ideal solutions. Instead, they had to face the facts: the problem of old elongated form of the settlement along the old road and its old fortress. Therefore, the whole construction of the new fortress had a shape of unsymmetrical elongated rectangular, and from the military point of view, its walls were intolerably long. The construction of the new fortress was a time-consuming and expensive process. The characteristics of the materials used for this as well as the other fortresses in the surrounding area, mainly earth and wood, contributed to the fact that this huge enterprise was never completed. The problem was that after the construction of the new walls and bastions, moats and outer dikes with wooden palisades, there was a constant need for reconstruction and repairs. Moreover, numerous the military strategists repeatedly emphasized the main disadvantage of the fortress: the walls were too elongated and the bastions were too small to hold the sufficient number of cannons and artilleries as well as an appropriate number of soldiers. According to the decisions taken by the Croatian Parliament, the construction works of Križevci fortress were done by Croatian serfs. Constructional works were managed by border-land military engineers and their assistants, and the financing was partially covered by the county of Styria, and later it included some other Austrian counties as well as Carniola and Carinthia. In 1563, a special military commission, consisting of military strategists and architects, was sent to Križ to evaluate the condition of the fortresses, and they wrote the following: “Križ has not had proper fortification walls for many years, and it is in fact an unsettled long village. The poor quality of the construction of its fortresses and houses contribute to the fact that it should not be the capital of Slavonia. So far the construction was mainly financed by donation fund from Styria, and to a lesser extent from the donations of Slavonian gentry. The construction works began in the middle of the above-mentioned town, as it is illustrated in plan 14. A fortress was built on that site, but it does not even have water, it lies on one narrow ridge of a hill, or on an elevation. One part of the fortress is much lower than the elevation on the west side, so nobody can be safe to reside there. There is a valley in between, and above that swampy land, a little bit higher, there is a small spring-well, outside the town and the fortress, which serves as a water supply for the entire population of the town. To the south and to the west side this place is well fortified with a dike and a moat, constructed with great diligence, according to the aforementioned plan. This place was unsuitably chosen for a fortress in the first place, and it is evident that the architect himself ruined the building. It is evident, at first sight, that the bastions are not constructed in a straight architectural line, and they will be too small, especially one of them. This flaw was indicated several years ago by Franz v. Poppendorf, who warned against the irregularity of the route of the fortress in relation to the bastions and who properly informed the counsellors of His Majesty and the delegates who were sent to Croatian Parliament: Mr Sigmund Kogller, Andrija Gloch, H. Jakob v. Gewisenegkh and others, as well as the supervisor of constructional works. It was later noticed that the bastion was indeed too small and it had to be widened...” The commissioners continue to notice that there are no parapets on the fortress walls and bastions. The fortress walls have poor foundations, they are too narrow at the top, so the construction of parapets could cause the collapse of the entire construction. The architect who supervised the construction is held responsible for all these serious flaws, as he did not accept the recommendations and the criticism of the war counsellor. Maybe the walls and bastions could be reinforced from the outside by the brick wall! A lot of things could be done, but it will cost a lot of money. The commissioners conclude their report with the statement that it is necessary to continue with the construction and further fortification of Križevci fortress and that all the necessary works should be completed as soon as possible. In the end they conclude that regardless of its flaws, the fortress should become the centre of a wider defence area. Of course, the commission examined the issues concerning the Križevci garrison, the arms and logistics required for this type of garrison and for such a fortress. Having considered these issues, the commission concluded that the number of soldiers must be increased without delay, as well as the number of bigger and smaller cannons and artilleries (Haxenpuxe). In 1577 the fortress in Križ ( Creutz) indeed became the base for the defence of a vast area, and the seat of military authority of a new borderline defence system, namely the military district for the defence of the border. Captain of Slavonian Military Border Army was its military commander and he was also responsible for the other garrisons in ten neighbouring fortresses. These smaller fortresses were: Barbavac, Gradac, Sv. Petar (Čvrstec), Cirkvena, Sv. Juraj, Glogovnica, Apatovac, Topolovac, Sv. Ivan (Žabno) and Trem. In March 1578 there was a famous meeting of Austrian and German aristocrats, held in Bruck on Mura. They adopted a lot of important decisions, concerning the future defence against the Turks in Croatia. The fortress in Križ was not specially mentioned in the decisions. It could mean that the fortress was then in a good condition, from the constructional as well as from defensive point of view. Also, the reasons for this stand could be sought in the fact that there were several architectural plans for construction of some new, modern fortresses in the neighbouring site Cirkveni in bishop’s Dubrava, as the military strategists were aware of the poor quality of the fortress in Križ. However, none of these plans materialized, and they never started the construction of new fortresses (the same situation was with the military fortress in Karlovac!). Therefore, Vid Halleg, the commander of Slavonian Military Border and a former captain of Križevci, stood up for radical restoration of the fortress in Križevci. In 1584 the fortress was in a very bad condition. In his report, Vid Halleg mentions that the walls and bastions are severely damaged at many locations. One night a part of wall that leads to the gates towards Gradec and Ravanac fell in. A huge part of the fortress wall facing Kalnik totally fell in, only 15 days after the great Ottoman army inspected the surrounding area in search of the possibility of attacking and conquering the town. There is a severe shortage of garrison soldiers as well as artillery arms. There is a lack of money for some radical reconstruction, and the fortress is in a great danger of severe Turkish attack. The Turks could easily attack from their strong military garrisons situated in Pakrac, Požega and Dubica. Croatian Parliament is not interested to organize free labour force for such vast construction works, and the supervisory commission does not satisfy the real needs of this part of Slavonian Military Border. Vid Halleg concludes that it is the last moment to thoroughly reconstruct the fortress, or it will fall down completely. However, extensive constructional works started in the fall of the same year. Croatian Parliament also took care about some workers who were assigned to work on the fortress, but compulsory work order was mostly done by the inhabitants of Križevci. The real reconstruction of the whole fortress started in 1585 and lasted for several subsequent years, until the beginning of the war in which the Ottoman empire aimed to conquer the last remaining parts of Croatian Kingdom on Kupa and at Slavonian Military Border. Apart from the reconstruction of fortress walls and bastions, both gates were built of solid material - bricks. In March 1586 the Parliament of Styria adopted a very important decision - to help the reconstruction of the fortresses in Slavonia, and granted a sum of 10.260 florins for that purpose. Fortress Križ was granted 3000 florins. Croatian Parliament worked hard to find a sufficient number of workers for the reconstruction of all fortresses between the rivers Sava and Drava. In Križ, the construction of both town gates continued without delay. Vid Halleg demanded for continuous supervision of an architect Joseph Vintane, and the assistance of at least one constructional supervisor. The construction continued during the years 1587 and 1588. At the end of 1588, another commission was sent to inspect all the fortresses between the rivers Drava and Sava. In mid October this commission was in Križ. After a close inspection they were pleased to find out that the complete route of the fortress was successfully reconstructed. The fortress walls and bastions were reinforced and the construction of the town gates facing Kalnik was fully completed. Another gate had to be finished and covered. This scale of this huge enterprise could be seen from the fact that 48.000 bricks had already been fire-baked at the time, and 20.000 of unbaked bricks were ready for baking. The great reconstruction of fortress in Križ and surrounding fortresses was completed by the year 1590. Vid Halleg, the commander of Slavonian Military Border, died the same year. He was the one who deserved the greatest credit for the extensive reconstruction of the fortresses of Slavonian Military Border during the 16th century. Archduke Karlo also died and the main architectural supervisor (Baumeister) Joseph Vintana was retired and Francesco Marmoro (Franz Marbl) substituted for him. Only the fourth bastion was repaired during this period, and more attention was paid to the supply with the arms and logistics that were necessary to the garrison. These fortresses on Slavonian Military Border were later involved in the defensive war for fortresses on Kupa (1591-1595). After the war there was a need for further reconstruction, but the new commander of Slavonian Millitary Border, I Sigismund Herberstein was interested in the possibility of reconstruction of fortresses from Legrad and Đurđevec to Ivanić and Sisak which were situated on the old borderline. However, he did not have the necessary support of the Croatian aristocracy. The Croatian Parliament had an aim to build the line of defence as far as possible from the old border, and to move it from Čazma river basin to the river Ilova, and build a new fortification for the defence of that area in »azma accordingly. Since a new fortress was not in Čazma, the administration of the Military Border was responsible for maintenance of the old fortresses. The military administration of the Military Border maintained the fortresses during the 17th century, until the end of the war for independence (1683-1699), as well as after the wars to secure historical borders of Croatian Kingdom with the Ottoman empire which were set during the second half of the 16th century. There were some minor constructional works aimed to improve and “modernize” the condition of the main fortresses on the border, especially in Koprivnica and Križ. There is evidence that only some of the ideas of Martin Stier, a military engineer from Križ were accepted and realized in the middle of the 17th century. This can be seen from the plans of the fortress of Križevci at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century. This last military period of the fortress of Križevci shows the time of decay, reconstruction and growth of the town at the expense of the military interests. Križ, or today’s town of Križevci, has totally lost its former strategic significance, as in 1758 its garrison was moved to a newly built military town Bjelovar. This was the time when the new upper part of the town was formally and legally united in one political municipal community. Of course, in those changed political and social circumstances, the old fortress of Križevci became the sight of historical architectural remains, and was unfortunately pulled down during the construction of a modern town, today’s town of Križevci