The Ottoman threat and Croatian nobility - Count Bernardin Frankapan and his era

Hrvatska je kao štit i predziđe kršćanstva s kraja 15. i tijekom 16. st. privlačila pozornost ne samo domaće historiografije. Ipak, rezultati su moderne historiografije skromni u pogledu objašnjenja uzroka napuknuća i kolapsa graničnoga protuturskog obrambenog sustava organiziranog i ustanovljenog u vrijeme hrvatsko-ugarskog kralja Matijaša Korvina. Naime, povjesničari su često zanemarivali upravo elementarne preduvjete koji dovode do katastrofalnih rezultata tijekom dugotrajnih ratovanja na hrvatskim prostorima. To su prije svega zemljovidne osobitosti hrvatskog teritorija i raspored suprotstavljenih vojski koje nas s vojno-strateških osnova namah upozoravaju na izuzetno nepovoljan položaj upravo hrvatskog dijela graničnih obrambenih utvrda. Naredna vojno-taktička inferiornost hrvatskih obrambenih postrojbi jest njihova nedovoljna mobilnost u odnosu na visoko pokretljive poluvojne jedinice martolosa i akindžija. Uz te faktore odlučujući je svakako onaj kojega knez Bernardin Frankapan objašnjava u svojemu Govoru za Hrvatsku kada kaže “Po milosti božjoj Ludovik kralj Ugarske, naš najljubezniji gospodar, niti nas može braniti niti pomagati”. Dakle, nedostatak i posvemašnja nestašica financijskih sredstava i logističke podrške centralne vlasti nakon višedesetljetne borbe za opstanak jesu odlučujući razlozi propadanja i u konačnici kolapsa obrambenog sustava. Tom golom egzistencijalnom problemu hrvatski su se velikaši domišljali na različite načine – često onakove koji su naličili društvenom procesu nazivanom u stručnoj literaturi feudalna anarhija.As a shield and Antemurale Christianitatis in the late fifteenth century and during the sixteenth century, Croatia called for the attention not only of local historiography. However, modern historiography has offered only modest explanations to the causes of crack and ultimate collapse of the border anti-Ottoman defense system that had been organized and established during the reign of the Hungaro-Croatian king Matthias Corvinus. This is due to the fact that historians very often tended to neglect the fundamental preconditions that always led to disastrous outcomes of long-lasting warfares in Croatian lands. First of all, this refers to distinctive geographic pecularities of the Croatian territory and also the arrangement of opposing sides. From the military and strategic points of view, the very first look into these two features explains an extremely unfavourable position of the Croatian part of border defense fortifications. One more military-tactical inferiority of the Croatian defence forces was in their inadequate mobility when compared to highly mobile paramilitary units of the martolosi and the akinji. Another decisive factor was, by all means, the one elaborated by Count Bernardin Frankopan in his Speech for Croatia. He said: “By the Grace of God, Louis, the king of Hungary, our kindest master, neither can defend nor help us “. Consequently, the overbearing shortage of funds and logistic support from the central government over a period of many decades of struggle for survival were crucial reasons for the decay and final collapse of the defense system. Croatian noblemen were trying hard to find a solution to this bare existential problem and they often did so in the way that very much resembled to the social process termed feudal anarchy in professional literature