The Frankopans
The Frankopans were among the great noble families of medieval Croatia. They first appear in the records as counts of Krk, an island in the northern Adriatic, where a Count Dujam is documented from 1118.
Sources: Hrvatska enciklopedija, “Frankapan” · Wikipedia, “Frankopan family”From Krk they extended their holdings onto the mainland opposite, taking in Vinodol and the port of Senj, and later moved inland to Modruš, Ozalj and beyond. The Vinodol Code of 1288, an early legal code written in the Glagolitic script, was drawn up with the counts’ representatives taking part.
Sources: Hrvatska enciklopedija, “Frankapan” · Hrvatska enciklopedija, “Vinodolski zakon”For three centuries they were simply the counts of Krk. In the fifteenth century Count Nikola IV began to sign himself Frankapan, claiming kinship with the Frangipani of Rome. Pope Martin V confirmed the claim in 1430. Croatian historians do not accept the Roman descent. The name, however, stuck.
Sources: Hrvatska enciklopedija, “Frankapan” · Hrvatski biografski leksikon, “Frankapan”The family’s power ended in the seventeenth century. Fran Krsto Frankopan took part in a conspiracy against the Habsburgs’ centralising rule. On 30 April 1671 he and Petar Zrinski were executed at Wiener Neustadt, and their estates were confiscated. His execution ended the Frankopans as a Croatian power.
Sources: Hrvatska enciklopedija, “Zrinsko-frankapanska urota” · Hrvatska enciklopedija, “Frankapan, Fran Krsto”A note on descent
The name has outlived the family’s power. Modern claims to descend from the medieval Frankopans are disputed, and none is presented here as established.
This page is a short account of a family name. It does not claim that the club, its members or its polo are connected with, or endorsed by, any family or person of that name.
Source: Wikipedia, “Frankopan family”