Croatian Aristocrats and their Lost Renaissance: The Cultural Politics of Stjepan Frankapan of Modruš
Lecture with Luka Špoljarić (Zagreb)
In the mid fifteenth century, without a strong king on the Hungarian throne, the Croatian aristocrats were left free to expand their influence and vie for local power. This talk will show how during this period the most prominent of these aristocrats, Count Stjepan Frankapan of Modruš, sought to strengthen his position by building a support network in Italy, and how as a result he became receptive to the ideas of the Renaissance movement. Stjepan employed artists, architects, and humanists to maintain an international presence and to turn his seat of power into a city reflective of his status. However, the renaissance of Modruš did not last long. During the late 1460s the Ottomans began to raid Croatia and in 1493 the city was burned to the ground. Nevertheless, Count Stjepan’s short-lived project invites us to reconsider the early diffusion of the Renaissance movement across the Adriatic which until now has been presented in the historiography largely as an urban phenomenon exclusive to Dalmatian cities.
Luka Špoljarić is assistant professor of medieval history at the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. He received his PhD in 2013 at the Central European University in Budapest and has held fellowships at Harvard University, the Warburg Institute and Villa I Tatti: The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. His work explores the sociopolitical aspects of the humanist movement and its diffusion across the Adriatic. He has recently edited a volume on the Neapolitan Horizons of the Croatian Late Middle Ages is currently finishing his first book, a biography of Nicholas of Modruš (ca. 1425–1480), one of the most prominent Croato-Dalmatian bishops of the fifteenth century.
Date:
Tuesday, 31 May 2022, 6pm
Venue:
Austrian Academy of Sciences
1. Floor, Hollandstraße, 11-13, 1020 Vienna
The event will be held in accordance with the Corona rules, in effect.
Zoom-Link:
https://www.oeaw.ac.at/ihb/detail/event/croatian-aristocrats-and-their-lost-renaissance