Ferdinand II was Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Hungary, and Croatia from 1619 until his death in 1637. He was the son of Archduke Charles II of Inner Austria and Maria of Bavaria, who were devout Catholics. In 1590, when Ferdinand was 11 years old, they sent him to study at the Jesuits' college in Ingolstadt because they wanted to isolate him from the Lutheran nobles. A few months later, his father died, and he inherited Inner Austria–Styria, Carinthia, Carniola and smaller provinces. His cousin, Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, who was the head of the Habsburg family, appointed regents to administer these lands.
The Herzegovina uprising was an uprising led by the Christian Serb population against the Ottoman Empire, firstly and predominantly in Herzegovina, from where it spread into Bosnia and Raška. It broke out in the summer of 1875, and lasted in some regions up to the beginning of 1878. It was followed by the Bulgarian Uprising of 1876, and coincided with Serbian-Turkish wars (1876–1878), all of those events being part of the Great Eastern Crisis (1875–1878).
The Military Frontier was a borderland of the Habsburg monarchy and later the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empire. It acted as the cordon sanitaire against incursions from the Ottoman Empire.
The Bjelovar-Križevci County was a historic administrative subdivision of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (Transleithania), the Hungarian part of the dual Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its territory is now in northern Croatia. Belovár and Kőrös are the Hungarian names for the cities Bjelovar and Križevci, respectively. The capital of the county was Bjelovar.
Varaždin County was an administrative subdivision (županija) of the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia. Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen (Transleithania), the Hungarian part of the dual Austro-Hungarian Empire. Its territory is now in northern Croatia. The capital of the county was Varaždin.
The Uskoks were irregular soldiers in Habsburg Croatia that inhabited areas on the eastern Adriatic coast and surrounding territories during the Ottoman wars in Europe. Bands of Uskoks fought a guerrilla war against the Ottomans, and they formed small units and rowed swift boats. Since the uskoks were checked on land and were rarely paid their annual subsidy, they resorted to acts of piracy.
Rákóczi's War of Independence (1703–1711) was the first significant attempt to topple the rule of the Habsburgs over Hungary. The war was conducted by a group of noblemen, wealthy and high-ranking progressives and was led by Francis II Rákóczi and resigned soldiers and peasants fought alongside the noblemen. The insurrection was unsuccessful, ending with the Treaty of Szatmár; however, the Hungarian nobility managed to partially satisfy Hungarian interests.
Koča's frontier refers to the Serbian territory established in the Sanjak of Smederevo, Ottoman Empire, during the Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791) in the 1788. The Habsburg-organized Serbian Free Corps, among whom Koča Anđelković was a prominent captain, initially held the central part of the sanjak, between February and September 7, 1791; after the Austrians entered the conflict the territory was expanded and became a Habsburg protectorate under military administration, called Serbia. After the Austrian withdrawal and Treaty of Sistova (1791), the territory was regained by the Ottomans.
Statuta Valachorum was a decree issued by Emperor Ferdinand II of the Habsburg monarchy on 5 October 1630 that defined the rights of "Vlachs" in the Military Frontier, in a way that it placed them under direct rule by Vienna, removing the jurisdiction of the Croatian parliament. This was one of three major laws enacted in the early 17th century on the taxation and tenancy rights of the Vlachs, together with the earlier 1608 decree by Emperor Rudolf II and a 1627 decree by Ferdinand.
Stefan Osmokruhović was the great judge of the Križevci captainate, who in 1665 led a revolt of the Grenz infantry soldiers in the Varaždin generalate of the Military Frontier against the Austrian officers, after the rights of the frontiersmen had been compromised. A Serb, Osmokruhović held secret meetings in the Slavonian Military Frontier, in which many Serbs took part in. He was also supported by the judges of Koprivnica and Ivanica, Ilija Romanović and Nikola Vuković, and they all sent letters to the Austrian Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor about the issues in March 1666. Appointed the commander of the Varaždin frontiersmen themselves and named great judge, he claimed to answer to no one besides the Austrian Emperor, and sought that the frontiersmen's right to ownership of the land between the Sava and Drava be recognized, among other issues. Austrian lieutenant general Fra Johann Josef Herberstein (1639-1689) went to Križevci and demanded that his candidate be accepted as great judge, but the candidate was murdered by the frontiersmen. The revolt was finally suppressed in 1666 by Herberstein, and Osmokruhović was sentenced to death.
Petar Ljubojević was an Austrian captain of the Varaždin Generalate who led the Varaždin frontiersmen in revolt (1754–55). He was called "father and mother of the Varaždin frontier". The revolt was organized in the Orthodox church at Severin.
Knešpolje or Knežopolje (Кнежопоље) is a region in northwestern Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is the northwestern part of the Potkozarje geographical region, and includes a region stretching from Prijedor, Kozara mountains, Kozarska Dubica, the Una river and Kostajnica. Its name is derived from knez and polje (field).
The Serbian hajduks were brigands (bandits) and guerrilla freedom fighters (rebels) throughout Ottoman-held Balkans, mainly in Serbia, organized into bands headed by a harambaša, who descended from the mountains and forests and robbed and attacked the Ottomans. They were often aided by foreign powers, such as the Republic of Venice and Habsburg monarchy, during greater conflicts.
The Serb uprising of 1596–1597, also known as the Herzegovina uprising of 1596–1597, was a rebellion organized by Serbian Patriarch Jovan Kantul and led by Grdan, the vojvoda ("duke") of Nikšić against the Ottomans in the Sanjak of Herzegovina and Montenegro Vilayet, during the Long Turkish War (1593–1606). The uprising broke out in the aftermath of the failed Banat Uprising in 1594 and the burning of Saint Sava's relics on 27 April 1595; it included the tribes of Bjelopavlići, Drobnjaci, Nikšić, and Piva. The rebels, defeated at the field of Gacko in 1597, were forced to capitulate due to a lack of foreign support.
The Serbian Free Corps, known simply as frajkori, was a volunteer militia composed of ethnic Serbs, established by the Habsburg monarchy, to fight the Ottoman Empire during the Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791). The rebellion in the Sanjak of Smederevo and militia's operations resulted in the period of Habsburg-occupied Serbia, which took place from 1788 to 1791. Ultimately, the Serbian volunteer corps had the legacy of promoting the creation of future paramilitaries, such as during the First Serbian Uprising.
Serbian nobility refers to the historical privileged order or class (aristocracy) of Serbia, that is, the medieval Serbian states, and after the Ottoman conquests of Serbian lands in the 15th and 16th centuries, Serbian noble families of the Kingdom of Hungary, Republic of Venice, and the Habsburg monarchy. Some Serbian families were also ennobled in Russian Empire. With the independence of Serbia in the 19th century, a new aristocracy arose.
The Smiljanić family (Smogianich) were a Vlach/Morlach family originating from Lika and first mentioned in the 17th century, when the oldest member Petar Smiljanić was a harambaša and capo (head) of the Morlach troops in Venetian service during the Cretan War (1645–69), in Venetian Dalmatia. He was born in Udbina, in the Lika region, then moved with his family to Venetian Dalmatia in 1647. From the family originated nine serdars, who participated in the Cretan War (1645–69) and Morean War (1684–1699). The family and its members are also perceived as Croatian, and Serbian in national historiographies.
The Serb uprising of 1848–49, also known as the Serb revolution of 1848–49 and Serb People's Movement of 1848–49, took place in what is today Vojvodina, Serbia, and was part of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire. During the Hungarian Revolution, Hungarians achieved significant military successes, but were defeated after Russian intervention. Serbs led fierce battles against the Hungarians for autonomy or merge with the help of volunteers from the Principality of Serbia. The outcome of the uprising was the establishment of Serbian Vojvodina, a special autonomous region under the Austrian crown. However, the Voivodeship failed certain expectations that Serbian patriots had expressed at the May Assembly (1848). Serbs did not constitute an absolute majority of the population, while the administration was largely in the hands of German officials and officers. The Voivodeship was abolished in 1860, however, some rights were kept by the Serb community. The Serbian Patriarchate was renewed, while the uprising had increased national awareness of the Serb people north of the Sava and Danube in the struggle for freedom.
The Varaždin Generalate, also known as the Windische Grenze in German, was a province of the Military Frontier of the Habsburg monarchy, that existed between 1531 and the 19th century. While the Generalate was originally based in Warasdin (Varaždin), Varaždin County, including the city, was removed from the Military Frontier in the 18th century; the district the Generalate controlled was thereafter centered on Bellowar (Bjelovar), which also briefly acted as its administrative center until it was moved to Zagreb in 1787.
The Great Turkish War of 1684–1689 saw conflict between the Holy League and the Ottoman Empire in territories of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. The war was concluded by the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699, which significantly eased the Ottoman grip on Croatia.
