Burgenland Research Paper # 47

Released by the Provincial Archive of Burgenland

People on the Border - Destiny and Mission
On the History of the Burgenland Croats

by Johann Dobrovich

Translated by Frank Teklits (with assistance of Albert and Inge Schuch)

Original printing as email by permission of the publishers
 

"One saw Hungarian and Bohemian envoys in the Emperor's court in a constant and fruitless endeavor to secure extensive assistance against the attacking enemy from the East. Who could deny King Ludwig the right of aid to the Kingdom? It was not only in the interest of the Kingdom, but as a holy obligation to Christianity, in which the Kingdom held the recognized position of preeminence. The Hungarian King, who could not rely on a cohesive internal power, relied on the effectiveness of treaties and kindred spirit. In vain! The Empire missed the important moment to extend its influence to the East. Because of its own fragmentation, it was no longer capable of grasping a European function and putting aside the interests of its factions. The damage inflicted on the Empire by the Reformation had already been too heavy."

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"The Croatian farmers left their old homeland in such large quantities that some Croat areas were void of inhabitants. This fact caused the Croatian Aristocrats to take a stance against the migration of the Croatian farmers into Austria and Hungary. In 1532, the Croatian Aristocracy complained to King Ferdinand about the Hungarian, Styrian, and Austrian domain owners, that they were enticing Croatian farmers to emigrate, leaving White Croatia without protection. In 1535, the Croatian Parliament assembled in Topusko and selected two emissaries from their midst, Johann Tumpic and Michael Budisic, to present the complaints and demands of the Parliament to the King. The most serious complaint consisted of the allegation that the Aristocrats of Krain, Austria and Hungary sent messengers to Croatia, tempting the Croatian farmers to leave their homeland and to emigrate to the domains of Krain, Lower Austria or Hungary. The Croatian Parliament requested the King to prohibit further relocations and arrange for the already resettled farmers to return to statute labor farming. The protests of the Croatian Aristocrats and State Parliament were not successful for the time being. When the emigration did not stop and the Turks oppressed Croatia even more strongly, the King and the Hungarian Parliament decided in 1550 that the migration of the Croat serfs would be permitted if they (the subjects) desired. The Domain owners, under the threat of punishment prescribed by law, could not detain the emigration of any serfs. Contrary to the continuous petitions of the Croatian Aristocracy until the end of the 16th Century, the Croat emigrants did not return to their old homeland."

Croat sources testify that the first inhabitants left the Croatian coastal country of their homeland, namely from the areas of Senj (Zengg) up to Obrovac, particularly however from the plains of the rivers Lika, Gacka, and Krbava. The move began in 1522 and continued until 1527, after which the situation quieted down. The Turks left these areas in peace for a while because the magnates of the region, Frangepani and Zrinyi paid them tribute. We find traces of these emigrants in Trausdorf an der Wulka, Purbach, Schutzen am Gebirge, Oslip, Apetlon, and Illmitz.

The causes of these first migrations to the north were the repeated attacks of the Turks on the Croatian coastal country. The painful wounds from the defeat at Krbava had not yet healed when the Turks began to invade this region again. They conquered the fortified locales of Knin and Skradin in 1522, and Ostrovica in 1528. Because the Hungarian King Ludwig II could not send any "soldiers or money (Ducaten)" due to (being in) difficult circumstances, the inhabitants of the Croatian coastlands were on their own, and flight was their only way to avoid being killed or taken into slavery by the Turks. The defeat at Mohacs on August 29, 1526 was momentous not only for Hungary, but also for Croatia. On hearing the bad news concerning Mohacs, the inhabitants of Croatia, and particularly those from Slavonia were overcome with a great anxiety.

Everyone thought of fleeing as they anticipated that the Turkish Emperor Soliman would destroy everything upon his return. We must understand that many Croatian refugees arrived in Ödenburg already by the ninth day after the disaster of Mohacs. It is safe to assume that a part of these Croats settled in Siegendorf and Baumgarten.

Total confusion reigned in Croatia, when the Croatian magnates selected the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand to be the King of Croatia on January 1, 1527, but the Slavonian aristocracy and the Hungarian magnates chose Johann Zapolya to be King. This duplicate election plunged the country into a three-year civil war, which the Turks promptly took advantage of and initiated new attacks. They conquered the fortified cities of Obrovac and Udbina in 1527. The important fortresses of Jajce and Banja Luka in northwest Bosnia fell into Turkish hands at the start of 1528. The Turks advanced up to the strongly reinforced City of Senj (Zengg) after these conquests, and occupied the entire surroundings of Lika and Krbava in 1529. These events sustained the torrent of fleeing refugees. When Sultan Soliman stood in front of Wien (Vienna) in 1529 with a powerful army, and then moved again towards Vienna in 1532, entire areas in West Hungary and Lower Austria were plundered and devastated. As a result, a massive emigration of Croats began from the endangered neighborhoods into the regions that were devastated by the Turks in 1529 and 1532. We find these emigrants in the Lower Austrian villages of Scharndorf and Petronell in 1531 and in the small towns of Schönau, Gänseldorf, Teesdorf, and Trumau, near Baden in 1533. From a complaint sent by this municipality to Emperor Karl IV in July 1716, it follows that Croats also lived in Drassburg at that time (in the part that was under Paul Vardai, the Archbishop of Gran). The community of Kittsee had a narrative with the title "Kittsee und Nachbarschaft" (Kittsee and Neighborhood) from an unnamed University Professor. From there we read: "The Croats came in the first half of the 16th century, however sometime after 1526. Jacob Von der Dürr, the Pfandherr (one who loaned money and received a Domain as a mortgage) of the county of Forchtenstein since 1533, settled Croats amicably in the depopulated localities of this county. Sigless, Drassburg, Stinkenbrunn, Zillingtal etc. were resettled at that time again. There were already 600 settlers in 1537, predominantly Croats from southern Bosnia."

Composite: See the Urbaria (Land Registration records) of the Eisenstadt Domain from the years 1515 and 1527. 12 Croatian families and a Croatian priest live in Oslip; we find 3 Croatian families in Trausdorf, 1 in Apetlon, 3 in Illmitz, and 2 in Purbach. The Croat, Ivan Post, bought half of the mill situated in Gschiess (now Schutzen am Gebirge), the other half by George Krabat. Since half of Wulkaprodersdorf, Trausdorf and Antau also belonged to this Earldom, we can safely assume that Croats also settled in these villages at the same time.

Unfortunately we only possess the Urbare (Land Registration Records) of the Hornstein Domain from 1561. We can infer from this that Hornstein and Stinkenbrunn (Steinbrunn) were already entirely Croatian villages, and Wulkaprodersdorf was partially Croatian. Rohrbach belonged to the Domain of Landsee along with Baumgarten and Siegendorf. Since we found Croats in the last two small towns in 1528, and because Jacob Von der Duerr settled Croats in several villages of the Earldom of Forchtenstein shortly after 1532, the first Croats also probably came to Rohrbach at the same time. Oslip, Trausdorf, Siegendorf, Baumgarten, Zagersdorf, Drassburg, and Zillingtal were Croatian; Wulkaprodersdorf had a small German majority, while Schutzen am Gebirge had a substantial Croatian minority. Mullendorf, Grosshöflein, Krensdorf, and Stöttera had small Croatian minorities.

In 1542 a Croatian minister named George Soccovich served in the village of Klingenbach which belonged to the Ödenburg City Domain. Rohrbach still had 49 Croatian and 46 German families in 1649. It should be noted in this connection, that Adolf Mohl's contention that Kleinhoflein, Leithaprodersdorf, and Oggau were former Germanized Croatian settlements does not agree with the facts. Both Kleinhoflein and Oggau were purely German communities in 1569. Only one Croatian, named Windisch lived in Leithaprodersdorf among 72 German families in 1561. The same was true for St. Margarethen and Schattendorf. No Croatian families lived in Schattendorf in 1589; of the 87 families said to be in St. Margarethen in 1569, 85 had German surnames and only 2 had Croatian names.

We also find early traces of the Croats who immigrated from the south in the district of Pullendorf. In 1522, a Croatian Franciscan was already busy copying the so-called Keszthely Codex in Lockenhaus, which was the seat of the Hungarian magnate Kanizsai's family. This magnate's family settled Croats into their west Hungarian estates who were from the areas surrounding the castles of Velika and Stenicnjak in Croatia and Slavonia. The Kanizsai family owned the Domain of Lockenhaus to which Nikitsch and Unterpullendorf belonged along with 12 other communities, and this family had still other properties south of Ödenburg. Since the Kanizsai male lineage had become extinct in 1532, the Croats must have been settled before the second Turkish assault began. It is not well known today which communities within the Domain of Lockenhaus were settled by the Croatians. Frau Weisspriach, the Baroness of Landsee, had a Croatian servant in 1523.

A Christopher Krabat stayed in Ödenburg as an envoy of Ferdinand in 1527, and in the same year a Croat named Veit, along with many other Croatians were also lodged in Ödenburg. To better understand the settlement history of the Croats in the district of Pullendorf, we need to present the reader with two distinct personalities. The first is Field Captain Nicholas Jurischitz, who received the Domain of Güns (Köszeg) from Ferdinand I for his bravery during the siege of Wien (Vienna) in 1529. Three years later he managed to stop the Turks for 25 days in an attack near Güns with 10 horsemen, 28 Hussars and 700 farmers, and in the process foiled the Turkish advance on Vienna [Jeno Hazi, historian of the royal free city of Ödenburg, Book I. Volume 7, Page 205]. Queen Marie, the widow of Ludwig II, ordered the citizens of Ödenburg to stop the Croatian refugees from passing through Ödenburg, and provide them shelter in the city or suburbs, so that the country might increase its population and property value. Pressburg (Bratislava) on September 7, 1526. Page 340. A Christoph from Aspang stole two oxen from a Croat in Baumgarten and pawned them to another Croat in Siegendorf for around 5 Pounds dinarii.

He received the title of Baron, and the badly-battered Domain of the Klostermarienberg Abbey for this heroic deed. Apart from the fortress, 14 villages belonged to the Domain of Güns, and 10 villages belonged to the Domain of Klostermarienberg. After Hans Kotzianer was killed near Gorjan in 1537, Nicholas Juraschitz who was the Commander in Chief of the military boundaries set up against the Turks succeeded him. Thomas Nadasdy (1494–1562) was the second, but no lesser important personality of that time. Nadasdy became the wealthiest of the Hungarian magnates as a result of his marriage with Ursula Kanizsai in 1532. Most of the municipalities between Lockenhaus and Ödenburg and south of the Lake of Neusiedl were under his rule. Beside other high offices, Nadasdy held the second highest position in Croatia as Ban from 1537 until 1540. He, along his wife Ursula Kanizsai were the owners of the Castle of Velika that was located in Slovenia, and the Domain of Stenicnjak, which was in Croatia. Since the available armed forces were not adequate even with the best of intentions to resist the hostile superiority of the Turks, the castles of Velika, Dubica, Virovtica, and Moslavina were conquered in 1537.

The Croats in the vicinity of these castles fled, and eventually settled on Nadasdy's Estates that were located in West Hungary. Jurischitz did similarly, because he too required industrious hands in order to safeguard the proceeds of his property for himself. As the Turks pressed forward farther westward towards Kostajnica, the castles on the river Una came into danger, and new refugees streamed into the area between Güns and Ödenburg (Sopron) and into the surroundings south of Lake Neusiedl.

The Turks conquered Slavonia shortly after engulfing the coastal country of Croatia. Eastern Slavonia was so badly devastated in 1526, that one hardly found any indications of the former inhabitants after that campaign. The Turks, without a great amount of bloodshed soon occupied the central portion of Slavonia after that. Supporters of the Zapolya Party were in this part of the country. The population in this area survived virtually intact because they did not offer serious opposition to the Turks. On the other hand, the inhabitants in the western sections of the country suffered to such a degree that the land was populated later largely via the influx of other settlers. The Turks fought a guerilla war against this part of Slavonia from 1537 until 1543, which to a large extent was carried out by the so-called Martalozen. Most of the original inhabitants were either killed or abducted into captivity in these battles. Many migrated to Western Croatia or towards West Hungary. These emigrants fled onto the properties of those tycoons who had possessions both in West Slavonia and in West Hungary, as e.g. the Nadasdy, Batthyány, Erdody families and others. Particularly many settled on the properties of the Nadasdy family who had large estates in the surroundings of Lockenhaus and Ödenburg. (Klein-Andre, Amhagen, Kohlnhof, Gross-Andre, etc.) Batthyány led many of his Fronbauern (farmers) from the neighborhoods of Kopreinitz (Koprivnica) into southern Burgenland and into the vicinity of Rechnitz and Güssing (e.g. St. Nicholas in Burgenland). Nadasdy settled his serfs around 1537 and 1538, Batthyány from 1538 until 1545.

Monk Gregor, from Velika (Kanizsay property in Slavonia, north of Pozega) copied the so-called Keszthely Codex in Lockenhaus from July 24 until November 1, 1522. ("Magyarorszag varmegyei es varosai Vas varmegye" [The Counties and Municipalities of Hungary], the County of Eisenburg, Page 328). Settlers came out of Velika into today's Hungarian village of Endred located to the south of Lake Neusiedl bringing gold-plated chalices and patens with them from 1515. The Ödenburg (Sopron) historian, Imre Nagy, writes, that the magnate family Kanizsay had settled Croats from Bosnia and from the surroundings of the Croatian castles of Velike and Stenicnjak (today's Sjenicak) onto their properties in West Hungary. Even the Keglevic family who had no properties in western Hungary resettled their Fronbauern (farmers) from their Domain of Bijela Stijena to western Hungary. The Erdody family brought their subjects from the surroundings of Moslavina into the areas of Rotenturm and the Pinka River, and some years later, settlers from the areas of Rovisce, Raca, and Kopreinitz. The Croats could not hold the areas around the Una River for long after the fall of the important castle of Kostainica. Nicholas Subic, also called Zrinjski after castle of Zrin, personally assumed the responsibility for organizing the settlement, and he obtained "salvum conductum" (free passage) and good settlements for 10,000 farmers from this area. The relocation into the safe territories of West Hungary and Slovakia was executed according to plan, and the farmers were allowed to take all their movable belongings into their new homeland. Along the way the farmers of the Zrinji Estates went initially from the regions of Kostajnica to Hrastovica, which occurred after the fall of Kostajnica from 1556 until 1561. These farmers eventually settled on the Zrinji Estates on the Pinka River, and in mid Burgenland. During the second phase of this resettlement, the Croatian farmers from the locale of Kladus migrated up until the Castle of Stenicnjak and from the historical place of Slunj as far as Krstinja (near Karlstadt). These last resettlements continued for 14 years, from 1565 until 1579.These emigrants settled in the present-day District of Pullendorf, into the adjacent Western Hungary, east of Vienna, in Northern Burgenland, into southern Moravia, and southern Slovakia.

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"We, Adam de Batthyány, Eternal Count of Güssing, Knight of the Holy Roman Empire, Lord High Steward of Hungary and Oberster (Commander in Chief) of that section of Hungary situated on this side of the Danube and the border area of Canisa, Kammerrat (imperial and royal councilor of the Treasury) of his Holy Majesty, King Matthias. We make it known herewith to all those to whom it may concern, that we have abandoned the Meierhof (agricultural estate) called Polyanizi situated in the territory belonging to our Castle of Schlaining. All those who desire to do so are allowed to settle and build houses, for there shall be villages in this place in the future, as there have been in the past. So far, the following have settled and begun to build there: Michael Zlatarics, Lucas Czvek, Ivan Balaskovics, Ivan and Verhas Jrue. In addition to the aforementioned, the following persons have promised to take up residence there: Glav,. Ive, Stefan Horvat, Juri Konczer, Matthias Horvat, Vida Verhas, Nicholas Horvat, Silbernagl Moritz, Kru_, Martin Bencsicz, Johan Balok, and Bark...icz. We grant them liberty for three years and will grant the same exemptions to all those who settle there at a later date until they have built their houses. But we will not allow these liberties to those that already own a house on our domain and abandon their homestead. With the condition that they endeavor to build their houses within three years, and that they start to do their services or Robot (obligatory work) and pay taxes (within three years), they are after this time obliged to serve and pay taxes in the way the other Walachs had to serve and pay taxes. For greater endorsement, we strengthen this Letter with our Seal and our handwriting. Written in our Castle of Rechnitz on Saturday before the celebration of Saint George the Martyr, in the year of the Incarnation of the Lord, one thousand six hundred and fifty."

Adam Batthyány

L. S. This document issued in 1650 speaks of 4 Walachs who began building, and 11 candidates who promised to settle in the future village of Podler. Of the four men, who had started building, three are Croats and one is a Hungarian. Of the eleven candidates, three surnames are not readable in the fold of the document, five have Croatian surnames, two have Hungarian names and one has a German surname. The Charter of foundation said that of these eight, five were Croats, two were Hungarians, one was German, and that they were Walachs.

These circumstances caused the author to ask Joseph Mikisic, the priest of Weiden, to search the church records of the Neumarkt im Tauchental parish for Slavic and Italian surnames for the years 1691 to 1711, because these Walachs belonged to this parish at the time of their settlement. Approximately 10 surnames were received from the priest. To the author's surprise, not a single name such as Vlah, Vlahic, Vlasic, Vlahovic, Walach, Olah or Tulic was seen in the 10 so-called Walach communities. On the basis of the large dictionary of the Zagreb Academy of Sciences (as far as this comprehensive work is finished), the source of Croatian History from University Professor Dr. Ferdo Sisic, among other works, it can be ascertained that the Schlaining, Rechnitz, and Rotenturm "Walachs" are in fact Croats. These however have added Serbian and Italian elements in the course of time.

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"Croats fleeing before the Turks probably appeared in isolated areas of west Hungary around 1529 that were devastated as a result of the Turkish campaigns, and they migrated in larger groups in the 1530's. It was in the best interests of the domain owner to settle new workers particularly after the Turks devastated the County of Eisenburg and also the heavy losses sustained by the villages in the Domain of Güssing in 1532. Franz von Batthyány, who was at this time the Ban of Slavonia and also had estates in the Turkish endangered areas of Slavonia, henceforth began planning on resettling the fleeing farmers from the Croatian-Slavonian regions partially from his own estates. Partially he gives land in the vicinity of Güssing to his Servitores; partially he has the servants transferred to the County of Eisenburg principally however at his own expense. The Servitores were lower ranking Croatian aristocrats to whom he entrusted the settlement process, and in this way e.g. Hasendorf [Vasnyulfalva-Zaicfalva] came into being through the settlement organized by Simon Zaychich who received this property from Batthyány in 1530. In a similar way Nicolaus Sanko received Sulz in 1539. In 1538 he instructs his managers of Tornischtscha and Gereben and writes to Christopher Batthyány, who is staying there at that time, that they will start to do something in order to resettle the poor people, that they will send carriages for the refugees and bring them to Güssing. He exhorts Christoph in a second letter to not let them depart as miserably as those who recently came to Güssing. He writes to the custom officers on their way, provides the refugees with documents so that they can bring their belongings along duty-free.

In 1539, he personally sends a group of about 30 families from Gereben to Güssing. Still in the same year he starts the move of his partially Slovenian, partially Croatian subjects on their way out of Samlatscha (Zamlaca in the District of Sissek, author's note) into the direction of the County of Eisenburg. The movement continued for 40 to 50 years, even into the second half of the century. In 1547 he writes in another letter that he is at present not able to send carriages for the refugees, but that they should come nevertheless, as he would give a sessio (a certain fixed portion of village land) to everyone."

Croats settled in the Domain of Güssing and were distributed among the following villages: Eisenhüttl, Grossmürbisch, Hasendorf, Kroatisch Stegersbach, Kroatisch Reinersdorf, Krottendorf, Neuberg, Punitz, Rehgraben, Schallendorf, Steinfurt, Steingraben, Stinatz, St. Michael, St. Nicholas, and Heugraben.

These villages constituted the "Croatian District," and the "Croatian Area" had its own administration. Vera Zimanyi's says to the question of the so-called Walachs who lived in the former Domains of Schlaining and Rechnitz: The designation 'vlach' or 'Olah' does not define a nationality, as Kranzmayer assumed in his "Burgenlandisches Siedlungsnamenbuch" (Burgenland Settlement Name Book, page 245). Gyula Szekfu already referred to it ("Magyarorszag Tortenelme," on page 472 and the following pages), that the old name for "vlach" or "valach" was "Olah" in Hungarian, as it is clearly expressed by Nicholas Esterhazy's diplomat Tassi Gaspar. Therefore we understand that "Vlachen" means that the Vlachen came from Slavonia, the others we call Razan. These "Vlachen" from Slavonia and/or Croatia are in reality not Romanians, but they are southern Slavs themselves, who lived somewhere in Bosnia, in Herzegovina, in the upper Dubrovnik (Ragusa) country in the Middle Ages, and were certainly an ethnically mixed nation. It was of decisive importance for their development that their Domain owners converted to the Islamic Faith, and ran their estates as Bosnian Begs (Turkish nobleman) in Turkish ways with slave labor. The majority however continued their traditional way of life with goats and as shepherds.

There were also subjects with Slavic names in the Domains of Rechnitz-Schlaining, who had the "vlachi exemptions" and paid little taxes (in the villages of Sirokanyhaza, Baratok majorja, and Rauch-Rigli or Szeleni-Jeszik. Urbar I, number 3, 1636).

Count Thomas Erdody, owner of the Domains of Eberau, Rotenturm, Csatar, and Kormend, was devoted to the Lutheran faith. Count George Zrinyi moved the Lutheran printing press from Warasdin to Eberau by Count Thomas Erdody's request in 1587, where the Slovenian printer Manlius also was brought. Manlius worked until 1592 in Eberau, then in Deutsch-Schützen, Güssing, Deutschkreutz, and Sarvar, before all traces of him disappeared after 1604. He printed only Hungarian works, a Latin-Hungarian dictionary and the "Neue Zeitung aus Ungarn" (New Newspaper of Hungary), and his Croatian endeavors never were printed.

Croatian villages that belonged to the Domain of Eberau are Eberau, Kulm im Burgenland, Harmisch, St. Kathrein im Burgenland, and Kroatisch Ehrensdorf, all of which were owned by independent aristocrats. According to the census of March 7, 1923 the following formerly predominantly Croatian villages were now completely German: Eberau, Edlitz im Burgenland, Kleinmürbisch, Krottendorf, Kulm im Burgenland, Punitz, Schallendorf im Burgenland, St. Michael im Burgenland, Steinfurt, Steingraben, and Tudersdorf, a total of 12 villages all together. Croatian nationals in Harmisch had fallen by 40%, in Stegersbach it fell by 20%, and in Sulz by 10%.

The Croats from Stinatz, Hackerberg, Stegersbach, Heugraben, Eisenhüttl, Grossmürbisch, and Reinersdorf spoke the Ca dialect pronouncing the "i," while in the other Croatian villages the Sto dialect was spoken.

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"As diligently as Nicholas Olah (Archbishop of Gran) campaigned for the counterreformation, he met little success at first which is readily explained. After all, he was against the powerful force of the Aristocratic Church patrons, who for the most part championed the renewal of the church. That was the case with Helene Olah, the blood relative of the Archbishop, who as the Mistress of the Estate of Baumgarten held her protective hand over the Lutherans there.

This explains why many of the Croats living in Baumgarten were Protestants, where incidentally, Croats are known to have settled as early as 1528. Andreas Froehlich, the brother of the aforementioned Viennese bookseller Ambrosias Froehlich, was another Protestant preacher in Baumgarten who was also a friend of Stefan Consuls. Andreas, who was provided with a number of Protestant books printed in the Croat language at Consul’s behest, served as a Protestant missionary for a while in Schönau, Lower Austria which also had a Croatian population at that time.

That there were clerics by the name of Lofronitsch and Krichonitsch working for several years within the communities of Siegendorf and Baumgarten, and yet these villages remained Lutheran as was reported by the ecclesiastical inspectors in 1597, is indeed a testimony to the effectiveness of this man."

Note that the above quotation is not fully identical with the wording of the relevant document in Budapest. In the Budapest document, it means that Archbishop Olah left his sister Helene the right to have a lifelong benefit, therefore she was neither an owner nor a patroness of Baumgarten.

Consider the sentence "one more Protestant preacher in Baumgarten was … Andreas Froehlich." We can accept Andreas Froehlich only as long as it is not proven that other predicates had worked in Baumgarten. The author of this treatise obtained Volume III of Wiedemanns for himself, where there isn’t a word on page 652 that says that Andreas Froehlich proclaimed the Lutheran Doctrine to the Croats in Schönau, Gunnelsdorf, or Trumau. To the contrary! Froehlich must have been a splendid Catholic priest, because the Croats voluntarily increased his pay, which his Lutheran Domain owner reduced. The Croats gave him 42 heavy and 42 light units of grain (Metzen) annually as a substitute for the part of his pay which his Lutheran Patron, Salomon Vogt, had reduced. When Froehlich later gave up his priesthood, he surely did not do so because of the Croats there, but due to his Lutheran patron who wanted to appropriate the remaining portion of his parish earnings. The quotation says additionally that the Viennese bookseller, Ambrose Froehlich, functioning in the job that Stefan Consuls provided his brother Andreas Froehlich, "on the orders of Consul gave a number of Calvinist printings to his brother."

In "Acta University Thubengensis, Slavic printing, Vol. III" we read that Ambrose Froehlich, the Viennese printer and town councilor, had noted the following lines in his invoice: "Meinen Bruder, Andre Froehlich, Pfarrer in der Croatian Sprach zu Paumgartten near Ödenburg auf Befehl des Herrn Consul geschenkt, Eremplar." (Donated to my brother Andre Froehlich, a Croatian priest in Paumgartten (Baumgarten) near Ödenburg, on the orders of Mr. Consul, one piece each.)

The quotation is a reference to the two Lutheran Catechisms written in the Croat language, one with Cyrillic, and the other with Glagolithic lettering (that were forwarded to his brother Andreas. Ed. note). "A number of Protestant books" meant only two copies, which Andreas Froehlich received without ordering them.

Some consideration will now be given as to what year Ambrosias Froehlich sent the two mentioned Catechisms to his brother Andreas in Baumgarten. Both the Cyrillic as well as the Glagolithic Catechism was printed in Tubingen in 1561. Ambrosias Froehlich, the printer, died in August 1563. It therefore can be presumed that since Stefan Consul had sent these books after the first or second year after the distribution of his catechisms, and since Ambrosias Froehlich died in 1563, it can be assumed that Andrew Froehlich had already received the two catechisms in Baumgarten in 1561 or 1562. Since Nicholas Olah, the Archbishop of Gran, left the Domain of Baumgarten to his sister Helene in 1563, he must have already transferred Andreas Froehlich from the village of Schönau in Lower Austrian to Baumgarten. Therefore, the beneficiary of Baumgarten, Helene Olah, allowed Andreas Froehlich to remain here as the Catholic priest.

Archbishop Olah dealt severely with the Protestants. In an agreement with Gregoriancz, Bishop of Gyor, Archbishop Olah decreed on 25 May 1565 that Pastor Adam Szalathy be banished from the city of Ödenburg. On 18 April 1566, he denied permission for Ödenburg to seat the Lutheran minister Simeon Gerengel. If Archbishop Olah tolerated no Protestant clergymen in the free city of Ödenburg, it cannot be imaged that he would allow a Protestant clergyman on his estate in Baumgarten where his sister Helene only had the right to live. Archbishop Olah died in 1568. Another detail should be mentioned. The Lutheran doctrine began to spread initially in the small German towns in the City Domain of Ödenburg around 1580, when Helene Olah had already died. Neither Alexander Payr nor Johann Ban mention anywhere that Helene Olah attempted to convert the Baumgarten Croats to Protestantism while living in Ödenburg. The statement that Lutheranism was widespread at the time of Helene Olah in Baumgarten has therefore no historical basis.

Consideration is now given as to how the second assertion of the stated quotation must be viewed, in that the allegation says that the Visitation of 1597 found a Catholic priest in Siegendorf and Baumgarten but a Lutheran population. This argument contains a contradiction since Franz Dersffy, the Lord of Landsee, Baumgarten and Siegendorf, was a diligent Lutheran. Can it be imagined that he would have installed a Catholic priest for the Lutheran inhabitants of Baumgarten and Siegendorf? If he installed a Catholic priest for them, he did so only because the Catholic inhabitants of Baumgarten and Siegendorf asked for one like the Croats of Unterfrauenhaid, Lackendorf, and Lackenbach did in 1595 who threatened a revolt if Dersffy sent them another Lutheran Preacher. See the report of the clerical Visitation: "Our wives in the parishes of (Unterfrauenhaid), Lackendorf, Lackenbach, and Raiding threaten a revolt if a Lutheran preacher would come again."

J. Rittsteuer, minister of the city of Eisenstadt, and Vicar Mersich had the original of the Visitation (report) of 1597 to which Wiedemann refers. The Visitation contained nothing from which one could conclude that the communities of Siegendorf and Baumgarten had been Lutheran.

Rittsteuer says it is not very plausible to say that the communities were Lutheran only because the Catholic priest in Siegendorf bemoaned the fact that the Judge of Landsee refused to pay him the Kollektur (money owed to parishes) for 6 years. Nor was it credible to say that the municipality of Drassburg withdrew a wine garden from the church "ohne fuge" (without a title, without a right) unlawfully.

Archvicar Conrad Glockel whose supervision included Siegendorf and Baumgarten, reports in 1592 that the Croats remained fervent Catholics, and he did not say that the inhabitants of Baumgarten or Siegendorf were former Lutherans. The fact that the people of Siegendorf were not Lutherans can be verified with still other arguments. Both Alexander Payr, as well as J. Rittsteuer mention that Johann Kolonic, the priest in Siegendorf, attended the Church Synod at Szombathely (Steinamanger) in 1579.

According to Alexander Payr, Ursula Csaszar, who was born as an Olah and was the Mistress of the Landsee Castle, sent him there. Johann Kolonic had positively worked in Siegendorf after 1579, and since Siegendorf had a Catholic priest again in 1593 named Johann Lovranic, thus Siegendorf continuously had Catholic clergymen. Who could have made Siegendorf Lutheran at a time when they had no Protestant clergymen?

Professor Payr from Ödenburg, who thoroughly knew the denominational situation of this region and was a Protestant himself, never mentioned that the inhabitants of Siegendorf, Baumgarten, Drassburg or other Croats of this region had been Lutheran. After working in Siegendorf for 6 years, Johann Lovranic (Lofronitsch, Laurakovititsch) was appointed in 1598 to be the priest in Hornstein. Franz Dersffy, the Lord of the Domain of Landsee, employed a Protestant minister in Siegendorf on this occasion. The list of the Protestant ministers who paid the 1 to 3 Gulden tax in 1599 doesn’t mention their nationality. That was at the time when the Turkish Wars and the Counter-Reformation almost split the inner structure of Austria, the domestic power of the Emperor, and the house of Austria almost brought itself to a catastrophic situation.

It is not known how long this clergyman, forced on the Catholic Croats, was retained in Siegendorf. Obviously he spent only a short time in Siegendorf, since the Empire-wide meeting of 1638 does not mention Siegendorf among those communities taken by Nicholas Esterhazy from the Protestants after 1612.

The District of Oberpullendorf

The Nadasdy family played a principal role in this District during the time of the Reformation along with the participation of the Domains of Landsee, Kobersdorf, Nebersdorf, Grossmutschen and Kleinmutschen.

Franz Nadasdy was the first among the Hungarian magnates to endorse the Reformation, and since the Nadasdys played the most prominent role among the followers of Martin Luther in our area, and were the last to turn against the Protestant faith, this family will be dwelt on in more detail. Last but not least, the reason for dwelling on the Nadasdy family is also due to the fact that numerous Croatian villages were in their possessions.

Thomas Nadasdy (1494–1562) who was the son of the Cavalry Captain, Franz Nadasdy was the founder of the powerful Nadasdy family. After his marriage to Ursula Kanizsay in 1532, the Nadasdy family ranked among the wealthiest and most distinguished Hungarian families. Nadasdy was in continuous royal service beginning in 1532 until his death. He was in the town of Speyer in 1526, when the political representatives of the kingdom, in the face of the Turkish threat and the hostile attitude of the French until a church synod was held to decide the issue, decided to accept the doctrine of Luther. That Nadasdy was favorably disposed to the new Doctrine is evident from the fact that he sent the youthful Johann Sylvester to the Lutheran University at Wittenberg at his own expense. Sylvester returned to Sarvar after finishing his theological studies in 1534, where he was a teacher initially, before became the Preacher of the Court. Correspondence with Melanchthon shows the inner feeling of Nadasdy to the new doctrine.

Since Nadasdy was in the service of the Catholic King Ferdinand, it was best for him to present himself as being a Catholic. He therefore employed Catholic clergymen in his court. The King must have admonished Nadasdy because Sylvester complained that his position with him had become uncertain. After two years Johann Sylvester left Sarvar, and went to Vienna.

A Catholic influence extended over Nadasdy these days. In 1554, Thomas Nadasdy was selected as the Palatin (King’s Deputy) in Bratislava (Pressburg). In his final years Nadasdy turned against Catholicism and returned to the Protestant faith. This is evidenced by his appointment of the Protestant minister Matthias Szegedi to Sarvar in 1560 as his court preacher, and entrusting him with the upbringing of Franz, his only son. Thomas Nadasdy died in 1562. Franz Nadasdy was 13 years old at the time of his father’s death, and under the guidance of his teacher Demetrius Sibloti and Minister Szegedi, became a steadfast Protestant. The death of the fervent Catholic King Ferdinand, and the preference of his successor Maximilian toward the Protestant Doctrine during the latter’s 12-year reign, was a positive factor in the dissemination of the Protestant teachings. An ecclesiastical organization of the Protestants was established at this time, which resulted in their secession from the Catholic hierarchy. The Protestant leaders of the counties of Ödenburg, Eisenburg, and Zala convened under the protection of Franz Nadasdy and Balthasar Batthyány in 1576 and accepted the creed as paraphrased by Melanchthon as their foundation. They chose Pastor Matthias Szegedi as their Superintendent and professed the Augsburg Confession (Lutheranism) as their faith which "differed from the Roman Catholic Faith in many matters."

Three years later when the new Bishop of Gyor (Raab) and the royal Chancellor (1578–1587) called the clerics of western Hungary to the Church synod at Szombathely (Steinamanger), it was an unpleasant embarrassment for the Lutherans. The Protestant oriented Domains, and the cities of Ödenburg, Eisenstadt, Rust, and Güns did not permit their Catholic clergymen to heed the Bishop’s call to take part in the Church synod convened in Szombathely (Steinamanger). Seyfried Kollonitsch and Erasmus Praun, the previously mentioned castle administrators of Eisenstadt and Ungarisch-Altenburg acted in a similar manner.

These sanctions resulted in a comparatively small number of clerics participating in the Synod at Szombathely (Steinamanger) that convened on August 2, 1579 in the spirit of the Council of Trent. Unfortunately, the list of the clerics present was lost, and a second list shows only 28 names of clergymen present at the Synod. Among these were 13 Croats:

1. Peter Marasics from Neudorf near Parndorf,
2. Michael Strinczicz from Larlburg,
3. Pankraz Risicz from Podersdorf (German parish of the Cistercians of Heiligenkreuz)
4. Lukas Modrowonicz from Winden (German parish of the Cistercians of Heiligenkreuz),
5. Jacob Iglicz, minister from Weiden (parish from a Chapter of Gyor (Raab),
6. Lukas Masnik, minister from Parndorf,
7. Matthias Kaplicz, minister from Hornstein,
8. Ivan Kolonicz, minister from Siegendorf,
9. George Radoczi, minister from Kaiserdorf,
10. Andreas Turczicz, clergyman of the Domain of Kobersdorf,
11. The minister of Nikitsch,
12. George Paswadicz, minister of Kroatisch Geresdorf,
13. Vitus Tegularius, minister of Prössing.

The large percentage of the Croat clergymen in the Synod vividly reflects the attitude of the Croats against the Reformation. It should still be noted that several of these came from the listed parishes in spite of the prohibition by their Domain owners against the Church Synod held in Steinamanger, and as a result they risked losing their parish and income.

The manner in which Franz Nadasdy spread the Reformation within his estates is evident from a letter of the Hungarian cleric, Stefan Tetany, addressed to the former, wherein he asserts that he deeply regrets not having complied with Nadasdy’s request so far, but wished for later. Because Nadasdy might require of Tetany to renounced his Catholic faith, he now voluntarily promised, uncoerced and with good conscience to abide by the Bible, the decisions of the four General Councils and the statutes of the Lutheran denomination. Should Nadasdy ask anything else from Teteny, then would he please make it known to him (Teteny), so that he would be able to recognize the good and holy will of Nadasdy and comply with it. We can assume from the contents of this letter written in 1599, that Franz Nadasdy also placed a similar demand on other Catholic clergyman, and that Stefan Tetany may have become an apostate under coercion. Nadasdy acted in accordance with the principle: "Cuis regio, euis religio" (he who rules the land, determines the religion).

Two letters still show the manner of the thinking and acting of the contemporary Nadasdy, and it is necessary to take a look into that period of time to properly understand these letters.

Six theologians wrote the book "Liber Concordiae" (The Book of Unity) in 1580 to yield a common basis from the various schools of thought of the Reformation, Lutherans, Calvinists, and Flacuis Illyricus. Domain owners submitted the statutes of the new theory to the pastors, teachers, sextons, and other employees for signature, and whoever refused to sign was relieved of their office. The desired goal was not attained with this approach however, as the schools of thought of the Reformation theologians was already so diverse, that they could not reach an agreement.

Eleven years later something similar occurred in the area of the former West Hungary. When Franz Nasdady saw a portion of the ministers (among them also Superintendent Beythe) drifting towards the Calvinist faith, he invited every predicate of his, Batthyány's, and other Estates to a theological discussion in Csepreg in 1591. The ministers, under the chairmanship of Nadasdy, negotiated for two days without achieving a agreement, and the two parties finally parted in a disgruntled manner. Superintendent Beythe argued for the view of the Calvinists, while the majority of the ministers upheld the Lutheran view, as the abyss between the two schools of thought became ever wider. In order to bridge this chasm, all of the ministers met again on September 12, 1595 in the village of Meszlen (near Güns) and wrote a German book "Liber Concordiae" similar to the so called "Formula Concordiae." Every minister and teacher was to sign this book and judge himself accordingly; those who didn’t sign were removed from office. The Calvinist Pastor of Güns (Koszeg), Paul Thesaurarius, had to endure the same. Even though he signed the book, he still had to leave his office which is deduced in the following two documents taken from Jandrisevits’ Volume 4, page 78:

Güns, March 11, 1596

Paul Thesaurarius (Kinceses) the preacher of Güns wrote to his senior Johann Reczes in Csepreg, that while he did not consider himself beyond the challenge regarding the genuineness of his faith, nobody, not even Franz Nadasdy, had the right to force him at any time to sign the book "Formula Concordiae." It was not possible to have done that up to this point in time and hence the deepening rift between the Protestants and Calvinists may not have occurred.

Güns, April 10, 1596

Paul Thesararius, the pastor of the town of Güns, apologized to his senior, Johann Reczes in Csepreg for his comment on the necessity to sign the book "Formula Concordiae" and asked him for his forgiveness as well as from Franz Nadasdy. Furthermore, he asked his senior to intercede with Franz Nadasdy for him that if the great Synod were convened, he was ready to ask for pardon publicly.

Franz Nadasdy was a successful military leader against the Turks and at the age of 6 was the Obergespan (County Head) of the County of Eisenburg. He died in 1604.

Franz Nadasdy’s son Paul (1598–1633), who lost his father at the age of six, succeeded him. A second misfortune beset him when his mother became emotionally disturbed, and as a thirteen-year boy he had to request that she not be executed as an evil malefactor.

The Catholic Church went on the offense against the Reformation at this time. Authoritative Protestant circles chose experienced and trustworthy tutors and teachers for the young Paul, who would see to it that he became a Protestant and supported the new Doctrine. They also attained the latter goal, as he remained Protestant until his death.

At the beginning of the 17th Century the Catholic Church obtained a distinguished lawyer in the Jesuit Peter Pazmany, the subsequent Archbishop of Gran, who on the basis of his persuasive reasoning and theological education quickly regained a major portion of the Protestant tycoons to the Catholic faith. Then as these tycoons, using the very same principle "cuis regio, eius religio" that their fathers had utilized to build the Catholic Church, now took churches away from the Protestants, the latter sought aid from among the Bohemian Protestants, and the Calvinist Princes of Transylvania. Nicholas Esterhazy counted Paul Nadasdy among those whom Gabor Bethlen, the Prince of Siebenburg (Transylvania) recruited against Ferdinand II. When Grand Duke Bethlen came to Ödenburg with his army on November 30, 1619, Paul Nadasdy joined him in the encampment near the village of Deutschkreutz. Nadasdy eventually added his name to the agreement formally concluded here with Gabor Bethlen, and signed on July 14, 1620, upon which Bethlen was to be made King of Hungary in Besztercebanya. On Nov. 8th, 1620, Ferdinand II conquered the united Protestant armed forces of the winter King Friedrich at White Mountain. According to a message of the unfortunate outcome, Bethlen withdrew his troops from West Hungary after the battle, and led them to the border with Moravia. After Bethlen and his army had retreated, the Imperial military leaders Count Collalto and Nicholas Esterhazy devastated the villages of Csepreg, Deutschkreutz, Lovo, Cenk, and Pereszteg in retaliation for the defection of Nadasdy. After reconciling himself with Ferdinand, Paul Nadasdy became a General and was elevated to the status of a Count. He died in the year 1633.

Franz Nadasdy Jr. (1621–1671)

The death of the 35-year-old Paul Nadasdy was a severe blow for his Protestant subjects and their anxiety soon proved to be well founded. His widow, born Judith Revay, was married in 1638 to Count Adam Forgach who was a Catholic. From a letter of Nicholas Esterhazy dated May 6th, 1638 from the Castle of Deutschkreutz, one can see that the Protestant servants sought to prevent the marriage of their Mistress. To intimidate the widow, the servants burned down a portion of the city in Sarvar, and burned large heaps of straw in the Estate of Deutschkreutz. 300 Hungarian Protestant preachers were dismissed when the widow married Count Forgach in Eisenstadt, according to a writing of George Dobronoki, the Director of the Jesuit house in Ödenburg.

Palatin (King’s deputy in Hungary) Nicholas Esterhazy visited his relative and neighbor Franz Nadasdy more frequently as he made an effort to win his young relative over to the Catholic faith. After some years, he persuaded Nadasdy to visit Italy. Catholic Italy and Nicholas Donellan, the Augustinian from Wien (Vienna) completed the efforts of Palatin Esterhazy. It was a big surprise on Nov. 25, 1643, when the 22-year-old Franz Nadasdy publicly declared that he was a sincere and true son of Catholicism in the Church in Csepreg. Franz Nadasdy married Countess Julia Esterhazy, the daughter of the Palatin Esterhazy three months later on Feb. 6, 1644. A Catholic restoration set in after the conversion of Franz Nadasdy in his Estates that extended over a long period of time, because the Reformation was deeply rooted in his Hungarian villages.

The Nadasdy family had two extensive possessions in central Burgenland, namely the Domain of Lockenhaus, and the former religious Estate of the Cistercians in Klostermarienberg.

The villages of Langeck, Salmannsdorf, Deutsch-Gerisdorf, Mitterpullendorf, Pilgersdorf, Piringsdorf, Oberrabnitz, Steinbach, Hochstrass, Steinberg, Drassmarkt, Dörfel, Deutschkreutz, Rattersdorf, Liebing, Nikitsch, and Unterpullendorf belonged to the Domain of Lockenhaus. The villages of Dörfel, Nikitsch, and Unterpullendorf were Croatian, Croatian-German; and Hungarian-Croatian respectively.

The villages of Markt Mannersdorf, Oberloisdorf, Unterloisdorf, Karl, Kleinwarasdorf, Kroatisch Minihof, Strebersdorf, Siegersdorf (Horvatzsidany), Bleigraben (Olmod), and Prössing (Peresznye) belonged to the religious Domain of Klostermarienberg. The villages of Karl, Strebersdorf, and Oberloisdorf were German, all of the other localities were either partially or totally Croatian.

Both Domains had only Catholic clergymen up until 1586. That fact suggests that the inhabitants of both Domains initially sought Protestant clergy for the villages of Lockenhaus, Mannersdorf, and Nikitsch on Dec. 6, 1586. Since none were found in Burgenland, he (Nadasdy) wrote to his friend Gregory Horvath Stanschlitz, the Vice-Governor of the County of Zips in Slovakia, to send him three Protestant ministers that were needed in Lockenhaus, Mannersdorf, and Nikitsch. Four communities belonged to the Mannersdorf parish, while three belonged to Nikitsch. Because the residents of the parish were bilingual, the minister of Mannersdorf and Nikitsch should speak both Croatian and German.

Since the list mentions only Protestant ministers present at Csepreg in 1591, it is assumed that not a single Croat participated in the meeting convened by the Protestant Franz Nadasdy. Hence it follows that since no Protestant ministers were forced upon the Croatian subjects of Franz Nadasdy by 1591, the Croats were free to practice their Catholic faith. The Jandrisevits archives say that Nadasdy only installed a Lutheran minister in Siegendorf in 1595, and since this minister no longer appeared on the list of 1599 it proves that he did not remain in Siegendorf for a long time. We first found a Protestant minister in Nikitsch in 1599. Since to this time the Protestant sources spoke neither of Nikitsch nor of any other Croatian village, we must assume that someone attempted to convert only the parishes of Siegendorf and Nikitsch to Protestantism, but for some unknown reasons it only remained an experiment. Franz Nadasdy, the energetic and enthusiastic patron of the Protestants soon died (1604). We are of the opinion that the ministers serving in the Croatian parishes of Nikitsch and Siegendorf were not Croatian, otherwise Jandrisevits would have had to locate their names among the 663 signatures of the book "Formula Concordiae." His six-year old son, who because of his youth could not intervene in religious quarrels, succeeded Franz Nadasdy.

Protestant sources mention the former religious Domain of Klostermarienberg again in 1603. Protestant Church inspectors in the village of Ivan were given instructions to audit the small towns of the former religious Domain of Klostermarienberg, and the Visitation inspectors were Hungarians, namely Blasius Koszegi and George Murakosi. The writings of A. Payr do not mention whether they fulfilled their assignment, and which denominations they found among the Croats. Therefore if Protestant sources did not speak of the Croats in the Domains of Lockenhaus and Klostermarienberg as being Protestant, we can assume that they remained Catholic during the Reformation even though their Domain owners were Protestant for 75 years.

The attitude of the Croats from Dörfel at that time is noteworthy. After his conversion Franz Nadasdy Jr. took back the churches of Steinberg and Oberloisdorf (from the Protestants) and replaced the Protestant minister with a Catholic priest. However, the royal Commission returned the two churches to the Protestants on Nov 18, 1646. Since the inhabitants of Dörfel explained that they were Catholic in former times, and that they no longer desired to be subordinated to the Protestant minister of Steinberg, the Commission therefore left them to their Catholic belief. They remained Catholics during this time although the small village had Protestant ministers for 56 years.

Unterpullendorf

The claim that Nicholas Esterhazy prosecuted Protestants in this community from 1637 until 1661 is based on a misunderstanding. Unterpullendorf belonged to the Domain of Lockenhaus and was the property of the Nadasdy family, therefore, Nicholas Esterhazy could not have had any authority regarding the inhabitants of Unterpullendorf.

The list of the Protestant clergymen from the Visitation for the years 1595 and 1599 shows that while the minister of Mitterpullendorf paid the prescribed taxes, the minister of Unterpullendorf did not. There must have been numerous Hungarians still living in Unterpullendorf in 1646 since the Visitation from this year says "The inhabitants of Unterpullendorf asked for a Hungarian clergyman who speaks two languages." Thomas Gubanoczi, the former clergyman of Asszonyfalva, was borne of Hungarian parents in Unterpullendorf. Jeno Hazi writes in his preface to the Visitation (ecclesiastical inspection) by the Archdeacon Peter Tormasy in 1674, "It wasn’t here a long time ago, that Thomas Gubanoczi from Unterpullendorf became a convert to the Catholic faith."

Villages belonging To the Domain of Landsee:

German villages: Landsee, Drassmarkt, Neutal, Ritzing, Raiding, and Neckenmarkt.
Croatian villages: Unterfrauenhaid, Lackendorf, Kaiserdorf, Weingraben, St. Martin, and Geresdorf.

Horitschon was a German–Croatian village

Nicholas Olah, the Archbishop of Gran, purchased the Domains of Landsee and Lackenbach in 1553. He transferred both possessions in 1561 to Nicholas Csaszar, the son of his sister Ursula, who married Anna Frangepan of Slunj in the year 1560 in Sopron. In 1579, the wife of Nicholas Csaszar (a widow since 1575) sent seven Catholic clerics from her two Domains to George Draskovich, the Bishop of Gyor (Raab) for the Synod in Szombathely (Steinamanger). They were Anton Stesser from Drassmarkt, George Radoczi from Kaiserdorf, George Paswadicz from Kroatisch Geresdorf, Johan Kolonicz from Siegendorf, George Grotthi and Michael Lingvan who were the priests in Nikitsch.

Ursula, the daughter of Nicholas Csaszar, married the Protestant Franz Dersffy in 1560, and inherited the Domains of Landsee and Lackenbach after the death of her father. On Oct 25 1586, the married couple gave a house in Mitterpullendorf to their preacher George Murakoszi. Franz Dersffy was a persuasive and fervent Protestant, who won his wife over to the Reformation, and was anxious to lead his Catholic subjects to the new doctrine after the conversion of his spouse. J. Rittsteuer writes about Dersffy’s behavior against the Croats in his Burgenlanischen Heimatblattern (1955, Notebook 1, page 27):  "According to the report of the Visitation 1597, the inhabitants of Markt St. Martin are faithful Catholics, and they are also Croats. By command of the Domain owner Franz Dersffy, this parish was administered by the preacher of the village of Drassmarkt where even the inhabitants were dissatisfied with their minister."

The community had complained that they had often asked their ruler Dersffy for a Catholic priest, but that they had not been able to get one. Against their conscience they had to endure this preacher and his services.

The Croatians of Saint Martin took a more radical action against the above-mentioned preacher by simply forcing him to resign, "because many, especially the Croats refused to pay him anything, even in the face of the threat that they would not be allowed to bury their dead in the cemetery." St. Martin had no minister at all in 1597. The Catholic Croats refused to accept a Protestant, and the Lutheran landlord didn’t allow them to have a Catholic priest.

Wiedemann writes about the parish of Unterfrauenhaid in his Volume 4, Page 420 saying that Dersffy employed the Catholic priest Thomas Klopfer in 1595, because the Catholics of the villages of Unterfrauenhaid, Lackendorf, Lackenbach, and Raiding threatened a rebellion, if a minister came again. Wiedemann says further, that the minister of Kaiserdorf, Peter Visanich, admitted to being a Catholic on May 15, 1597. For a while, the inhabitants of Kaiserdorf and Weingraben had to accept a Lutheran clergyman on short notice.

Franz Dersffy participated in the Bocskay rebellion in 1605. Together with Thomas Nadasdy Jr. on June 17 1605, he wrote a letter from Lackenbach to the city of Ödenburg and the imperial military leader Trautmannsdorf, of whom he demanded that the troops be withdrawn peacefully. After the death of Dersffy, his daughter Ursula inherited the Domains of Landsee and Lackenbach. She married the Hungarian tycoon Nicholas Esterhazy on November 22, 1612, after being the wife of Franz Magochy for a short time.

Esterhazy was a Catholic, whose wife was also a convert to the Catholic faith, who entrusted the Jesuit Matthias Hajnal with the mission to lead the subjects back to the Catholic Church that had fallen away during the reign of Dersffy.

The Domain of Kobersdorf

It is known that Hans von Weisspriach was a fervent Lutheran, who had already been an advocate of the new doctrine in 1541, and that he had ample opportunities to render good service to the Reformation until 1561. His Catholic son-in-law Johann Csoron succeeded him and sent a Catholic priest, Ambrose Turchich, to the Synod of Szombathely (Steinamanger) in 1579. The new Domain owner was the Governor of Ödenburg County, who supported the Ödenburg Catholics against the local Lutherans, and whom he called to account for an indignation in a letter dated July 17, 1585. Csorons successor was also a Catholic. Thomas Nadasdy Jr. was a Protestant who functioned with a Lutheran thought process. Baron Johann Kery who drove the Protestant minister George Takstoris out of Kobersdorf after 1638 was also a Catholic. The fact that the ecclesiastical inspector for the Bishop of Gyor (Raab) placed the communities belonging to the Castle of Kobersdorf under the authority of the Croatian priest of the predominantly Croatian community of St. Martin, verifies that the inhabitants and their priest were dependable Catholics.

The Domain of Nebersdorf

According to Professor Payr, the Niczky family was Protestant at the time of the Reformation. It is understandable that a clergyman of Nebersdorf paid a tax of three gulden in 1599. Since Jandrisevits did not find the signature of a Croat clergyman from Nebersdorf in the "Formula Concordiae," the above-mentioned clergyman must have been a Hungarian, and only a temporarily preacher of the Niczky family. Nowhere does a Protestant source say that Nebersdorf had been a Protestant village at any time, therefore, a Protestant influence on Nebersdorf was impossible because it already was a subsidiary of the community of Kroatische-Geresdorf at the time of the Reformation.

The first Domain owners of Grossmutschen were the Sennyey, who were Hungarian Aristocrats, and also Protestants. The Sennyey family must have had Protestant subjects in Grossmutschen, since the ecclesiastical Visitation of 1646 says that the Protestants in Grossmutschen would convert, if they had a good clergyman. It is possible that these Protestants were the Hungarian subjects of their Hungarian landlords. In 1697, Grossmutschen and Unterpullendorf were entirely Catholic communities.

Between the years 1665 and 1690, the surname Vlahich appears 5 times and the name Vlasich 46 times in the Grosswarasdorf register. The Vlahich and Vlasich families must have immigrated sometime after 1675 because these names do not appear in the Grosswarasdorf Urbar (Land Registration records) of 1675. Both surnames are of Roman origin. In Chapter VII, "The National Structure of the Croatian Countries to the Year 1500" we refer to both eastern and western (Vlahen in Croatian) Walachs. The Eastern Walachs embraced the Greek Orthodox Religion, while those from the west who settled from Cattaro up to Istria, found themselves drawn into the Croatian sphere of interest in the northern parts of their settlements, where they intermingled with Croats and became Catholic. Because every bearer of the name Vlahich and Vlasich without exception between 1675 and 1690 was registered in the Grosswarasdorf register as Catholic, it can be assumed that they were descendants of the Croatian Walachs who fled before the Turks from the Croatian Coastal region.

Frankenau

The Burgenländischen Landesarchiv (Provincial Archives of Burgenland) has a document in which George Bogmitsch, a minister from Frankenau, confirms on March 23, 1615 that he had obtained 16 Gulden and 15 Kreuzer from the municipal council of Schlaining for the house of his wife Elisabeth that she had inherited from her parents, Christoph and Veronika Slager. Benedict Kleuber and George Freyesband signed this document. From this document it has been concluded that the inhabitants of Frankenau had been faithful to the Reformation. On the other hand the following is to be said.

The document does not provide an indication anywhere that the inhabitants of Frankenau changed their original religion, and furthermore, the following is to be considered. From 1605 to 1616 the Domain of Güns along with Frankenau was bestowed to Thomas Nadasdy Jr. who was a Protestant. In 1605, Nadasdy sided with Stefan Bocskay, the Calvinist Prince from Transylvania, against Emperor Rudolph II. Nadasdy alone, as Lord of the Domain and patron of the Church was allowed to install George Bogmitsch as the minister of Frankenau. The above-referenced document doesn’t say a word about the work of Bogmitsch (who possibly came from Carinthia), neither does it mention how long Bogmitsch remained in Frankenau. In the historical work "Magyarorszag varmegyei es varosai" (The Cities and Counties of Hungary) Budapest, 1898, page 144, the following sentence is to be read: "In 1616, the King (Matthias II, editor’s note) awarded the city and the Domain of Güns to the Hungarian tycoon Thomas Szechy, while retaining the patronage of the city and the churches."

One can presume that the Emperor was dissatisfied with the Lutheran Nadasdy for some reason since Matthias II withheld this imperial domain from him. The fact that Matthias II retained the patronage over the churches in the Domain of Güns for himself is indicative of the reason why Matthias II took this Domain from the Protestant Nadasdy. In this manner the Emperor tried to prevent future Domain owners from imposing non-Catholic priests on a congregation that was Catholic. If one supposes that George Bogmitsch came from Frankenau after 1615, he remained there only for a year.

The Districts of Oberwart & Güssing

Where does the name of the ‘Walachs’ who lived in the District of Oberwart come from? On page 48 of this treatise it is said that Croats immigrated into the Domains of Schlaining, Rechnitz, and Rotenturm in the 17th century, and that they were also called "Walachs." We will briefly indicate where this name had its origin. Loibersbeck writes in his historical treatise under the title "Spitzzicken," that this village did not appear in the Eisenburg County records as "Ujszek" since 1614, but separately as Olah-Ciklin (Walachischzicken). Since there were 24 established families in this village in 1686, 10 named Tallian, and all of the rest of them bearing either Croatian or Hungarian surnames, there is a contradiction between the place name Walachischzicken and the names of its Talliani inhabitants. The Hungarian word Olah is called Walach in German, however, none of the Talliani (Italians) are Walachs. The author of this treatise then asked Jeno Hazi directly, Chief Archivist (Oberarchivar) of Ödenburg for his explanation why the Hungarians call today’s Spitzzicken, by the name of Olahcikleny, or Walachischzicken (a name that can be traced back to 1614) although Walachs never lived there. Especially when this is a Croat village among whom the surname Talliani (Italian) prevails even today. In May 1961, the following response was obtained from J. Hazi, who is thoroughly knowledgeable with the history of the former West Hungary:

"It is certain that the name of the village, Walachischzicken, (Spitzzicken) located in the County of Eisenburg, is not associated in any way with the Transylvanian Walachs or Romans. I myself cannot explain the origin of the composite name of this place other than attributing its coinage to the carelessness, or superficiality, so as not to say apathy of county officials. I cannot think of any other reason.

In the middle of the 16th Century the name Walch meant Italian in Germans, while the Germans used to call an Italian a Walch. County clerks who had a poor grasp of German made the mistake of translating the German term Walch (meaning Italian) with the word 'Walach' that meant Romanian. This mistake was constantly repeated up to this very day, and that is how the village name of Walachischzicken originated for what correctly should have been called Italienischzicken."

Marton also wrote in the magazine "Sorakozo" under the title "The Nationalities of Western Hungary" in 1939, that the word Olahcikleny should more accurately read Italienischzicken.

When viewing the history of the evolution of the language it is found that "Walch" and "Walach" probably have a common root but still have different meanings. Walch however means Italian, whereas Walache or Walach means Romanian. Spitzzicken is only one example of this "Walachischen" error, which we also found in the founding document of the village of Podler. If we find ancient Croatian, German, Italian and Hungarian surnames in the second half of the 17th century, and only two or three of Serbian origin in the so-called "walachisch" villages, we must assume that the county clerks, just as in the case of Spitzzicken and Podler, simply did not distinguish properly between Walach and Walch. They erroneously referred to the Croats and Italians who came into this area after 1650 as Walachs.

Concerning the author’s question whether the ancestors of the so-called Walachs were Orthodox Serbs, as some state, and who would have embraced the Catholic faith here only later, J. Hazi answers: "I have studied the Croats of western Hungary and the space in which they lived very thoroughly. However that Orthodox Serbs would have settled here between 1650 and 1700, and would have only later converted to the Catholic faith, as you write in your letter, is something I have never heard of before. It is my firm belief that this theory is totally unfounded."

A remark remains to be added to Chapter XXI, "The last Immigration of the Croatians"

As Archduke Ferdinand was moving the garrison of Zengg into the region of the Uskoken Mountains, in the area of Sichelburg-Zumberak, they met the descendents of those Croatian refugees whose ancestors had settled here after the conquest of Bosnia and the Herzegovina by the Turks. Franz Vanicek mentioned them in his "Spezialgeschichte der Militaergrenze" (Special History of the military Border) Volume I, Vienna, 1875. Vanicek thinks that the Uskoken who fled to this region in 1515 were in reality Walachs who were soon drafted for military service.

According to Mladen Lorkovic, a part of the Walachs became Christians only at the time of the great Christian-Islamic War (1593–1606) when the Christian Front proved to be the stronger one.

Additional data for the problems of our so-called Walachs

"Beginning with the 13th Century the word Vlah (Walach) did not infer a nationality, but rather an activity such as herdsman or cattle breeder. By that time the formerly Roman population had long since been slavicized, and many Croatian cattle breeders were referred to as Vlahi (Walachs), or herdsmen, as well as cattle breeders." Ferdo Sisic, "Povijest Hrvata u vijeme narodnih, vladara" (History of the Croats at the time of the National Kingdom), Zagreb (Agram), 1725, page 276.

After the conquest of Bosnia, along with the fortified places of Knin, Skradin (1522), Ostrovica (1528), and after the fall of Jayce and Banja Luca, the Turks were situated in the counties of Lika and Krbava (1529). Hordes of Catholic Croats left their homeland at that time, and these refugees were called Uskoks in Dalmatia. A band of these Uskoks were discovered around 1530 near Split (Spalato) by the fortress of Klis, who after the Turks had captured Klis in 1536, moved to Senj (Zengg) in 1537. A second group of these refugees (600 Bosnian families) fled to Krain, where the provincial authorities granted them residence in the Domain of Sichelburg (Zumberak) including all the mountain areas (Uskoken mountains) that had been devastated by the Turks.

In contrast to Croatian history, Fr. Vanicek, in his Special History of the Military Boundary, Volume 1, Wien (Vienna), 1875, classifies the Uskoks settling down in this area as Serbs (Walachs) who manned the local border. However he adds that in the Austrian military records and monographs "up to the end of the Austrian-Bavarian-War of Succession those border units were only described as being Heiduken (a military unit formed by Stephan Bocskay), Slovaks, Savestromers, (inhabitants of the Sava river area) or Croats." Vanicek, in his preface to Volume VIII, goes on to say that the "border guards are often commonly mentioned with the name of Croats." Lastly Vanicek mentions: "Thus there was no other way than to continue using the term Border Units." Serbs here, Croats there, they all simply ended up being referred to as border units.

Vanicek reports on page 2 of his book that the Uskoks of Sichelburg were initially placed in an ecumenical relationship under the Patriarch of Aquileja, and later under the Archbishop of Görz. He doesn’t say anywhere that the Uskoks of Sichelburg revolted against them. Thus, based on the evidence provided by the Greek Catholic priest, Jovan Hranilovics, and the poet from Neusatz (Novi Sad), these "walachischen Serbs" must have been Catholic Croats, as already pointed out in Chapter XXVI on the Croats in the Oberwart District.

A new influx of colonists came from Bosnia and Croatia because of the brilliant victory over the Turks by the river Kulpa. In 1597, Count Herberstein, Border Captain of Warasdin, succeeded in recruiting several thousand families from Turkish-Croatia and the so-called Small Walachia under the leadership of ("Knez") Vukovics and Plasinovic for a settlement. A large contingent of colonists settled down in the border area of Warasdin (Vanicek, page 76–77). The Kapitanate (counties) of Kopreinitz (Koprivnica), Kreuz (Krizevci) and Ivanic belonged to the Generalat (Province) of Warasdin.

It has been debated that the Walachs in the District of Oberwart are descendents of the Serbian Border guards who once were settled in the Generalat (Province) of Warasdin.

The following facts however argue against this opinion:

The border guards there had already had dwellings and good plots of ground, and they were content with their officers. They had a high regard for their officers, and therefore didn’t have a reason to leave their new homeland where they were allowed to practice their religion because of imperial privileges. As the Bishop of Zagreb (Agram) once again placed the question of incorporation into the foreground when the commission met in 1628 in Wien (Vienna), the Warasdin border guards protested against their provincialization to Captain-General Count Von Trautmannsdorf. They explained that they would rather be beaten to pieces than to renounce their German commanders and be subject to clergymen since they were content with their new homeland, and had no reason to leave their dwelling place between the Sava and Sava rivers.

The rulers of the Domains of Schlaining, Rechnitz, and Rotenturm became Catholic again during this time, and were intolerant of non-Catholics. On January 9, 1634, Adam Batthyány drove off all Protestant preachers from his four Domains, as he wanted only Catholics in his estates. Thomas Erdody became a Catholic in 1607, and he demanded a strict Catholic creed everywhere. Therefore the Domains of Schlaining, Rechnitz, and Rotenturm were not suitable residential areas for Orthodox Serbs, who did not want to be subject to Catholic clergymen. The following facts still argue for the origins of the "Wlachs" from the regions of Zengg and Sichelburg:

1. The Uskoks of Zengg rarely or never received pay, and as a result could not live without raiding since they possessed neither houses nor properties. The Uskoks of Zengg were prohibited to foray into the Turkish area after the peace treaty of Zsitvatorok (1607). The stony properties of the soil just barely nourished the families of the Uskoks there, thus both the residents of Zengg, as well as the Uskoks of Sichelburg had sufficient reason to search for a new homeland.
2. A portion of the surnames of our Walachs originates from Bosnia, and partially from the Croatian coastal areas or from Croatia.
3. Their religion was Roman and Greek Catholic. The members of the United Church used the old Slavic language for church services (as did the Orthodox) and also wrote in Cyrillic.
4. Only Catholic Croats fled out of Bosnia in 1535 because around this period of time Bosnians were Catholic and Bogumilentum, and as a result the Orthodox faith could only gain a foothold in Bosnia later.

One last comment has to be made. Zengg was the seat of a Greek Catholic Bishop, and several communities in the Croatian coastal areas also allowed the old Slavic Liturgy with Cyrillic script. A missal found in Klingenbach into which the priest at the time, George Soccovich, wrote the Croatian "Our Father" in Cyrillic and Glagolithic characters is proof of this. The Croats of northern Burgenland used the old Slavic language in their church services until 1560 just as the Orthodox Serbs. These facts were the reason that some regarded these Catholic Croats who did not use Latin in their church service as Orthodox Serbs. A case in point is a document that originates from Pinkafeld in 1675 which speaks of Roman and Romanian-Roman inhabitants. Since the Orthodox never called themselves Romans, the designation Romanian-Roman can only refer to a group of Catholics affiliated with the United Church. George Cermec, a native Croatian, was the responsible Catholic priest in Neumarkt when Archdeacon Tormasy visited there in 1674. The Archdeacon found all sorts of pieces of clothing and objects used at the Mass, a sign that the "Wlachs" belonging to the parish were Catholic Croats. That no one of Serbian Orthodox origin lived in our so-called Walach villages is evident from S. Kazo’s ecclesiastical Visitation of 1697, which found only Catholic Croats in the villages visited.

1. Croat Villages in the former Domains of Batthyány:
a. The Croat villages of Dürnbach, Zuberbach, Schachendorf, and Schandorf were in the District of Oberwart.
b. The Croat villages of Grossmürbisch, Kleinmürbisch, Reinersdorf, St. Nicholas, Krottendorf, Steingraben, Rehgraben, Eisenhüttl, Heugraben, Sulz, Schallendorf, Stinatz, Stegersbach, St. Michael, Punitz, Neuberg, Steinfurt, and Güttenbach were in the District of Güssing.
2. The villages of Tudersdorf, Kroatisch Tschantschendorf, and Hasendorf were the possessions of the Gentry.
3. Croatian villages in the former Erdody Domains included: In the District of Güssing these consisted of Eberau, Kulm in Burgenland; Edlitz im Burgenland, Harmisch, St. Kathrein in Burgenland, and Kroatisch Ehrensdorf.

Villages in the Batthyány Estates at the time of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation

Franz Batthyány, the former Ban of Croatia and founder of the Batthyány dynasty, was a faithful Catholic until his death on November 28, 1566. The son of his brother Christoph was also a Catholic, however Christoph’s wife, Elisabeth Svetkovitsch, was a Lutheran. Christoph Batthyány died in 1567.

Christoph’s son, Balthasar (who was borne in 1543) spent his youth in the ruling families of Vienna, Paris and Holland, and like his ancestors, was initially a Catholic. On January 30, 1566 he married Dorothy Zrinyi who was a Lutheran and the daughter of Nicholas Zrinyi, the hero of Szigetvar. Now the mother and daughter-in-law together saw to it that Protestant doctors and teachers came into the house. After the death of her husband, Elisabeth Svetkovitsch persuaded her son to use a Protestant clergyman as a tutor, and to convert to the Protestant faith. Balthasar was already a fervent Lutheran in 1570. On April 18, 1576 Balthasar brought the clergyman Stefan Beythe into Güssing who succeeded to convert his Lords and patron over to the cause of the Calvinist Reformation. The influence of clergyman Bethye lasted for 32 years in Güssing. Balthasar Batthyány died on February 21, 1590.

Balthasar Batthyány and Dorothy Zrinyi had two daughters and a son, Franz, who was born on July 26, 1576. He, like his father, also fought successfully against the Turks. He did not follow the example of the many others that sided with Prince Bocskay in 1605 however, and King Rudolf II rewarded his loyalty with the bestowal of the Domain of Kormend. Franz Batthyány also had a Lutheran wife, named Eva Poppel. He was forced by circumstances to side with Gabor Bethlen, the Prince of Transylvania, in the Thirty Year war, and voted in Bratislava (Pressburg) on February 20, 1620 that Bethlen should become the Hungarian king. Bethlen visited him in October 1620 in Rechnitz. The direction of the Calvinist Reformation achieved its pinnacle of development under the reign of Franz Batthyány, and the ministers used by him must have had stood in awe of him as Peter Jandrisevits writes on page 164 in Volume 4 of his records and documents: "Through the demise of Franz Batthyány the German and partially also the Croatian priests of the Gussing area were freed from a nightmare." Franz Batthyány died on September 15, 1625 in Schlaining at the age of 52.

His son Adam (born in 1609) was next in line after the death of Franz Batthyány. At his mother’s urging, George Zvonarich, the son of the Lutheran Superintendent Michael Zvonarich was his tutor. Adam came to the Court of Ferdinand II in Vienna after the death of his father, where influenced by Peter Pazmanys and his theological writings, he converted to the faith of his ancestors in 1630. The Jesuits began their missionary efforts in 70 Batthyány-owned villages two years after his conversion. The Provost of Szombathely (Steinamanger) took possession of the churches from the Calvinists in Güssing at the bequest of Adam Batthyány on April 13, 1633, and on January 9, 1634 he ordered every Lutheran and Calvinist minister on his four Domains to leave his property within 15 days. Balthasar, Franz, and for a short time also Adam Batthyány, Elizabeth Svetkovich (Christof’s wife), Dorothy Zrinyi (Balthasar’s wife), and Eva Poppel (Franz’s wife) were all fervent Lutherans. The Lords of the Domain kept Calvinist predicates and doctors in their castles and villages, while their wives had Lutheran predicates and doctors. Religious quarrels were a constant and relentless visitor in Güssing, said Jandrisevits. Total uncertainty prevailed in the villages, and even the clergymen did not know with whom they should side. The people knew only that those in power were against the Catholics.

The religious instability of Balthasar Batthyány and Stefan Bethye made a unfavorable impression on the people. Balthasar was a Catholic until his 27th year, after which he was a Lutheran, and lastly he became a Calvinist. Stefan Bethye, the minister of Güssing was made a Lutheran Superintendent in 1585, but quit on June 3, 1591 bidding the assembled Lutheran predicates an irritated farewell, before becoming a Calvinist in 1595. Peter Pazmany, the Archbishop of Esztergom (Gran), writes the following words about him: "You spent your youth with us, your manhood years among the Lutherans, and your last years in the camp of the Calvinists." The confusion became complete, when the ministers of Bernstein, Pinkafeld, Schlaining, and Kitzladen announced a third trend of the Reformation around the year 1580, to the so-called Flacianism. Some Lutherans saw a risk in this doctrine, such as Simon Hubner, the clergyman of Güns and a follower of Flacian, who quit his post as in 1586.

After this introduction, it is necessary to examine how the Croats living on the Batthyány properties fared in the 64 years during which their masters were Calvinists. Above all it should be noted that no Croatian minister is known to have left his faith. When the Protestants, under the protection and leadership of Franz Nadasdy and Balthasar Batthyány, expressed their intent to sever themselves from the Catholic Church, neither the Croats under Batthyány nor Nadasdy were present. We searched in vain for Croats or for Croatian clergymen in the discussions in Csepreg in 1591, where Franz Nadasdy wanted to bring clergymen with different ideas under one roof. There were no Protestant clerics in the Croat villages of the Batthyány Domains until the end of the 16th Century. A directory in 1599 shows the name of the clergymen who paid the prescribed tax in Schandorf, Dürnbach, Podler, and Schildung (Csatar). This list does not state whether these predicates installed by Batthyány were Croatian and who they were. A second list of 1601 already mentions eight Croat villages where Protestant clerics worked, namely in Podler, Eberau, Schachendorf, Schandorf, St. Michael, Stegersbach, St. Nicholas, and Hodis. This list reveals neither the nationality nor the names of the ministers at that time. The minutes of the Calvinist Church Synod in Olbendorf from November 1 to 3, 1618 provides the names of the clergymen serving in the Croatian municipalities for the first time.

They were Matthias Visnjac (St. Michael), Peter Stansics (Stegersbach), Michael Tüske (St. Nikolaus), Nikolaus Kotel (Schachendorf), Michael Pomperics (Schandorf), George Tisinai (Dürnbach), Ivan Vinica (Rechnitz), Gregory Runics (Nahring), and Andreas Artner (Hannersdorf).

Stefan Macheropaeos was the first known clergyman of Schandorf in 1612. A record written in the village of Papa on June 27, 1628 shows Matthias Sutak as the clergyman in Rechnitz, Michael Kelcz in Nahring (Narda), and Martin Szekszo in St. Michael. The last two clergymen appointed for Schandorf in 1651 and 1658 respectively were Thomas Gubanoczi and Michael Szmodics. They could not begin to perform their services however because of the hostile attitude of the Catholics in Schandorf who chased them away from the village. Of the 20 ministers sent to the Croats, 5 were Hungarians, namely Michael Tuske, Nikolaus Kotel, Stefan Szilagy, and Thomas Gubanoczi, in addition to Michael Kelcz who was of Hungarian Gentry. The Germans sent were Andreas Artner, Wilhelm Fromm, Macheropaeos-alias Stefan Schwertfeger, Andreas Pinder and George Werner. Ivan Vinica from the village of Vinica, George Tisinai from the village of Tisina, Matthias Sutak from Belica and Matthias Vismac (Visnjac) were sent from Slovenia or the Island of Mur. Ivan Subdilics was from Krain. Martin Szekszo was of unknown nationality, and Michael Szmodics was a Magyar (Hungarian) Croatian. The nationalities of Peter Stanics, Michael Pomperics, and Gregory Runics are unknown to us.

Alexander Payr says on pages 193 to 196 of his book, that Superintendent Beythe won the Hungarians on the Batthyány properties over to the Calvinist Doctrine, but the German clergymen remained loyal to the Augsburg Doctrine by rejecting every approach made by Beythe. A. Payr mentions several such conversations, but nowhere does he say that the clergymen of the Croatian communities were invited to the meetings. Payr also states that a part of the ministers in the Croat communities sided with the Lutheran Germans, while the others sided with the Calvinist Hungarians. To the extent that the ministers in the Croat communities were consecrated clergymen, in the opinion of Jandrisevits they were secret Catholics.

On the basis of the information from the documents of A. Payr and Jandrisevits we can determine that Stefan Macheropaeos, the clergyman of Rechnitz, visited from time to time the meetings of the clergymen in the Nadasdy District. He came to the Synod at Schützen (Sopronlovo) in 1615 where the clergymen received him with hostility. They drove him away with the words, "Go away from us, because you are an enemy, we do not want you to stay in our midst and deliberate with us." Our source does not say whether Macheropaeos was driven out because he sympathized with the Calvinists or with the Catholics. Ivan Vinica, the minister of Schandorf, participated in the main synod for Protestant clergymen at Csepreg in August 1613. The Calvinists counted both ministers among the Calvinists, because the municipalities in which they served were counted among the Calvinists.

Three Croatian ministers attended the Calvinist Synods of 1618, 1619, 1620, 1624, and 1629. More than half did not appear at the statutory meetings of the Synod even though the attendance of each clergyman was required. After Franz Batthyány, the stern Patron of the Calvinist Districts, died in 1625, George Tisinai from Dürnbach participated in the large Calvinist Synod in Körmend on May 28, 1629, as the only Croat minister. It was the last time that a clergyman from a Croat community was present at a Calvinist Synod. The mentality of the ministers installed in the Croat communities by Batthyány is shown by the 191 records in Volume 4 of the Jandrisevits documents of 1629. By this is meant, "the new Calvinist Superintendent should be selected from the Batthyány areas so that the Croatian clergy are then forced to recognize him."

The Croats had 18 communities in Estates located within the District of Güssing. They were the majority in 3 communities that were situated on the properties of the gentry. Of these, only 3 parishes, St. Nikolaus, St. Michael, and Stegersbach, had Protestant clergymen. According to Zimmerman, the villages of Grossmürbisch, Hasendorf, Krottendorf, Punitz, and Kroatisch Tschantschendorf belonged to the parish of St. Nikolaus. According to Schwarz, the villages of Güttenbach, Neuberg, Rauchwart, Gamischdorf, and Schallendorf belonged to the parish of St. Michael. It is not known how the German parishes were split among the remaining Croatian communities. Most ministers were Wenden, Slovenian, Krain, German, or Hungarian. Even if the ministers spoke the Croatian language and had not met any resistance from the people, their sermons could not have been too effective since they were in the parishes for only a short period of time. Although Balthasar Batthyány was converted to Protestantism in 1570, the first Croatian Calvinist clergymen were not installed in the Batthyány Domains until 29 years later. However, this point in time was unfavorable for the dissemination of the new Doctrine, because the plague raged at the end of the 16th Century, and the population was substantially depleted. The following remark is read in the tax lists of the community of Punitz in 1588: "because of the plague, 26 houses stand vacant." The epidemic emptied residences in other small towns as well.

The fact that the Croats had no sympathy for the Reformation can also be traced back to the following events. In June 1605, swarms of Bocskay, Hungarians, Turks, and Tatars under the command of Gregor Nemethy attacked southern Burgenland and devastated Güssing, where they almost completely burned down the Batthyány villages. The Haiducken (military unit formed by Stefan Bocskay) led by Gregor Nemethys annihilated everything that fell into their hands in Pinka and Lafnitztal. They burned everything except one house in Güttenbach and Punitz. All houses were destroyed by fire in Neuberg. A comparative view of the destruction can be made in the following communities:

In 1608 there were only:
8 houses in Grossmürbisch, compared to 12 houses in 1599,
6 houses in Olbendorf, compared to 28 houses in 1599,
6 houses in Stegersbach, compared to 34 houses in 1599,
6 houses in Rauchwart, compared to 40 houses in 1599,
2 houses in Gamischdorf, compared to 10 houses in 1599,
2 houses in St. Michael, compared to 20 houses in 1599,
2 houses in Runersdorf, compared to 8 houses in 1599.

On the average, only a fifth of the houses were rebuilt in the Batthyány villages three years after the assault of the Bocskay troops. Güssing still had quite a few ruins in 1625, and it was years before the destruction of the Bocskay Rebellion was fully repaired.

Southern Burgenland suffered relatively little when it was allied with Gabor Bethlen, the Transylvanian Prince, during his campaigns in 1619 and 1620. Nevertheless, many houses stood empty in the Pinka area because people abandoned their farms due to fear. According to Schwartz, they returned only after the situation had subsided again,.

Some of the important locales where Calvinist ministers were used are now mentioned.

Güssing had three churches at the time of the Reformation, a Hungarian Calvinist, and the above mentioned churches of St. Jakob, (German) and St. Nikolaus (Croatian). George Zwetschich, an Istrian, was Batthyány's courtyard minister for a short time in 1618. We know that Michael Pomperich (1618) and Michael Tuskiszentgyorgy (1618 up to 1627) were ministers in Güssing for the Croats, and Zimmerman also mentioned an Ivan Subdilich from Krain.

Stegersbach. At the time of the Reformation, a major portion of the village was Croatian, while a smaller part was German. Peter Stansich was the Croatian pastor from 1618 to 1619. The church synod held in Olbendorf ended on November 2, 1619, and he was reinstalled two years later because the clergymen Michael Pomperich (Schandorf), George Tisinai (Dürnbach) and Ivan Vinica (Rechnitz) vouched for him. George Werner, a German, was determined to be the pastor of the community in 1624.

St. Michael im Burgenland. In 1635, only 1 out of 26 families had German surnames in St. Michael im Burgenland. A Protestant minister paid a tax of 1 Gulden (60 Kreuzer) in 1601. Ivan Vinica was the minister from 1618 until 1619. The Vinica family came to Eberau from the Island of Mur. Martin Szekszo, the pastor of St. Michael in 1628 and 1629, did not attend the Synod of the Calvinist clergymen in Körmend in 1629. Adam Batthyány converted to Catholicism in 1630, and after a 17-year-old dispute, succeeded to win back 90 churches from the Protestants, among them being the Church of St. Michael. In place of a Calvinist cleric, St. Michael received a Protestant clergyman in the person of Thomas Gubanoczi, who left this community after 6 months, and went to the village of Asszonyfalva. The position of the minister was still vacant in 1652. The fact that Gubanoczi left his position after a half year, which was still vacant 5 years later allows us to assume that the Catholic Croats of St. Michael and its subsidiaries desired to avoid the imposition of a Protestant minister, and wanted the Catholics to be like the remaining Croatians in the Batthyány Estates.

Casper Dragonus was the minister in Rechnitz in 1591, and was one of the attending clergy that signed the minutes of the discussions in Csepreg, however he did not sign the book "Formula Concordiae." Before his work in Rechnitz he was a secular civil servant of George Draskovich, the Bishop of Gyor (Raab). In 1614, a preacher named Dalmata was in Rechnitz. He could be not identical to the Anton Dalmata, who was an employee of Stefan Consuls as asserted by Alexander Payr on page 570 of his book, since Anton Dalmata never worked in Eisenburg County. He returned from Regensburg to Laibach, where he died in 1570. In 1617, Stefan Macheropaeus was the minister of the Croats in Rechnitz. Ivan Vinica was the minister here in 1618, and Matthias Sutak in 1628. Both the Lutheran as well as the Calvinist preachers were forced to leave their posts after 1630.

Schachendorf. The only name known here is that of Nikolaus Kotel, who was a Hungarian that worked here as a minister from 1601 to 1620, and who left for Körmend in 1620.

Dürnbach. A minister of Dürnbach paid a tax of 2 Gulden in 1599. George Tisinai, who was a Slovenian from the village of Tisina worked here from 1618 up to 1627. In 1620, he complained in Gussing that Michael Richardi, the minister of Heiligenkreuz in Lafnitztal had torn out some hairs from his beard and harassed him. Tisinai was the only Croat minister who attended the main Calvinist Synod in Körmend. Adam Batthyány also expelled the Protestant minister out of Dürnbach in 1634.

Schandorf. A Protestant minister of this community paid a tax of 1 Gulden (60 Kreuzer) in 1601. Stefan Szilagi, a Hungarian, who was probably here in 1612 and also 1613, was the name of the first minister known here. In 1613, a complaint was voiced against Gregor Runich, the minister from Nahring (Narda), that he fed the communion wafer to the faithful in Schandorf, that occurred during the time that Stefan Szilagi was the minister in Schandorf, for which the Calvinist superiors punished Runich. Michael Pomperich was the minister here in 1618 and 1619. On August 24, 1619, the inhabitants of Schandorf asked the main Calvinist Synod in Körmend, for permission to take Communion in the form of a Host. A Calvinist Synod was held in Schandorf in 1628. After the death of her husband, Eva Poppel did not want the ministers to be subordinated to the Calvinist Superintendents, but rather to the Lutherans who had their seat in Sarvar.

We have already mentioned that Adam Batthyány had renounced Calvinism, and became a Catholic. In 1634 he, as the Domain owner and Patron of the Church, instructed that all ministers would have to leave his Domains. However the Protestants resisted the insertion of Catholic clergymen, and recovered 90 churches later with the armed intervention of Bocskay and Bethlen.

Law Article VI of 1647 ordered that the churches of Schandorf, St. Michael, and Hannersdorf be reverted back to the Calvinists. The Protestant Superintendent Musay transferred clergyman Thomas Gubanoczi back to Schandorf in 1651 "because he had deserted his post in time of danger (1634)," and had gone to Asszonyfalva. However, Gubanoczi, could not stay in Schandorf as the Croats of Schandorf drove him out as they tried once again to force a Protestant minister into Schandorf. The clergyman Michael Szmodicz was sent to Schandorf in 1658 who the inhabitants wouldn’t even permit into the village.

The Croats had a narrow majority in Hannersdorf at the time of the Reformation. The community already had a Protestant clergyman in 1601. Andreas Artner, a former Catholic priest, was sent here in 1616 who remained in Hannersdorf until 1619. His successor was Wilhelm Fromm (1624), and Matthias Molitor, a teacher in Schlaining, was installed as the minister in 1626. Hannersdorf was a German Calvinist parish in 1629 that Adam Batthyány also returned to Catholicism in 1634, and it remained Catholic for 13 additional years. The State law of 1647 awarded the Church in Hannersdorf to the Protestants. Andreas Pinder was the minister of Hannersdorf in 1659, and he was German like his predecessor. The Croats of Hannersdorf demanded at the Protestant Church Synod in Wichs (Buk) in 1661, that once a month someone preach to them in the Croatian language. The Synod decided: "this has not been customary up to now, therefore it shall not be done in the future either." In 1663, Minister Johann Schenker who was from Transylvania (Siebenburg), came to Hannersdorf.

The Erdody – Zrinyi Domains in Eisenburg County

Nicholas Zrinyi acquired the Domains of Eberau, Rotenturm, and Csatar in 1557. In exchange for these Domains, Zrinyi transferred the Croatian castles of Medvedgrad located near Zagreb (Agram), and Rakovec that was in the County of Bijelovar-Kriz to Peter Erdody. This exchange of estates caused a lasting 56-year debate between the Erdody and Zrinyi families. During this period of time, sometimes the Zrinyi family and sometimes the Erdody family are mentioned as the proprietors of Eberau and Rotenturm.

At the time of immigration of the Croats, a large portion of the Hungarian tycoons became advocates of the Reformation, who appropriated church properties, destroyed several monasteries, drove monks and cloistered nuns away, and imposed Protestant clergymen on the Catholic farmers. The Erdody and Zrinyi families who left Catholicism acted in a similar manner.

The aristocrat Berchtold Ellerbach founded a monastery in 1460 or 1473 in Kulm. His widow Barbara and sons Johann and Stefan completed the building in 1482 which made the monastery a valuable property. The monastery also found other benefactors. On February 5, 1558 Nicholas Zrinyi and Peter Erdody destroyed the cloister and acquired its possessions. On August 14, 1559, the General of the Order of St. Paul complained that Nicholas Zrinyi and Peter Erdody had torn down the Monastery of Kulm and confiscated its property. The general also complained that he had been forced to sell Hagensdorf, because Zrinyi threatened to kill him if he did not give up the property.

After the death of Nicholas Zrinyi in 1566, his 17-year-old son George became the proprietor of the Domains of Eberau, Rotenturm, and the Island of Mur. He was a Catholic in his youth, introduced to the teachings of Martin Luther later in life, and became a supporter of Calvinism a few years before he died. According to the Croatian historiographer Bucar, George Zrinyi at the age of 20, on the advice of Baron Nicholas Malakoczi, expelled the Catholic clergyman from the Island of Mur, transferred the Churches to the Protestants, and removed the holy pictures from the churches. The Prior of the Order of St. Paul from St. Helena rebelled, whereupon Zrinyi had him imprisoned and tortured in 1580, and it is said that the Prior did not survive the results of being tortured. Count George Zrinyi died on May 4, 1603 in Weppendorf (Vep).

After the death of George Zrinyi, his son George Jr., who was five years old when his father died, inherited the estates in Eberau, Rotenturm, Weppendorf, and the Island of Mur. His guardian, George Thurzo, educated him in the Protestant religion. Zrinyi, as the Lord of the Estate of the Island of Mur, prohibited his Catholic farmers from attending the Church of the Order of St. Paul in St. Helena with a penalty of 12 Gulden.

The fact that in 1619 the Catholic farmers on the Island of Mur complained about their Domain owners because of the prohibition of the Catholic Church services is noteworthy. We said previously that the father of George Zrinyi Jr. had driven the Catholic clergymen off the Island of Mur in 1569. The fact that his son 50 years later had to forbid the farmers from attending Catholic Church services lets us conclude that the farmers on the Island of Mur retained their Catholic faith.

In 1620 Stephen Szilagy, the former minister of Schandorf, was still a preacher at the court of George Zrinyi Jr. in Tschakaturn, when Zrinyi converted to Catholicism two years later while under the influence of Peter Pazmany.

He placed 100 Gold ducats on the altar of the Church in Tschakaturn on the day of his conversion, and he expelled the Protestant clergymen from the Island of Mur. Hence, the former 14 villages with Catholic rectories received Catholic clergymen again. The Zrinyi families were Protestant or Calvinist for approximately 65 years.

We cannot provide information at the present time concerning the behavior of the Zrinyi family towards their Croatian subjects because of a lack of information. We only know that in 1598 Gregory Tschebenich (a boy’s teacher) stayed in Eberau and a preacher from there paid a tax in 1599 and 1601. According to Schwarz, Doctrine of Luther was not able to gain a foothold in the area of Eberau.

The Erdody family was Protestant for approximately 70 years, and Thomas Erdody, the Ban of Croatia, became a major opponent of the Protestants after he was converted. While they were holding proceedings at the State Parliament in Bratislava whether to permit Protestantism into Croatia, the Ban angrily removed his sword and spoke thusly to the ranking clergy and nobility: "With this sword I will exorcise this plague from my country. We have three rivers, the Drava, Sava, and Kulpa, and from one of these we will let our guests drink."

In 1612, the Erdody family received the Domains of Eberau and Rotenturm with the castles and all accessories back again. Thomas Erdody sternly demanded the Catholic creed from his citizens and subjects, and reminded the residents of Eberau of their promise in 1552 to employ only Catholic clergyman. They have kept this promise since 1615.

The Croats and the Reformation

In order to understand the position of the Croats in relation to the Reformation, it is necessary to consider the situation of the Croatian refugees. As was said previously, the Croats immigrated into the Balkan Peninsula and won their national independence from Byzantium with the help of the Popes at that time. Furthermore, they could rely on this assistance if their national existence was endangered. Toward the end of the 15th century, the Pope rendered support in the form of grain, powder, and cannons, as the then isolated Croats desperately defended the last vestiges of their homeland against the superior strength of the Turks, The Croats were consequently obligated to Rome.

The continuous danger that the Balkans nations were in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries did not give them a possibility to think about the ideas of a John Wycliffe, or Jan Hus or to consider the deplorable state of religious affairs. The western religious quarrels were foreign to the Croat immigrants in Burgenland who only felt the detrimental effects of the first and second religious schisms.

All religious tenets of the Catholic Church were not defined before Martin Luther and the Council of Trient (Trent). In 1549 for example, the following conditions prevailed in Ödenburg: "The teaching concepts of the old and new doctrines surged in such disarray that the inhabitants of Ödenburg either believed that they were good Catholics when in fact they were good sectarians, or meant to be good sectarians and were nevertheless Catholics."

Zimmermann also aptly describes the religious uncertainty at this time: "We can see e.g. from the following how long it took Protestantism to become a sharply defined special form of Western Christianity differing strictly from the Roman ecclesiastical system." In 1563, the supporters of the Reformation of the town of Erlau even presented their confession to Emperor Ferdinand I under the title of "Confessio Catholica" (Catholic Confession). "This is proof for how much the people longed for a reunification of a church that would be renewed at all levels, until these hopes were shattered by the unsuccessful end of the Reformed Council of Trent."

It can be seen from a regulation of King Ludwig II that the Lutheran teaching was already proclaimed in the city Ödenburg in 1524. Thomas Wiedemann writes on page 421 in Volume 4 of his work: "Simeon Gerengel came to Ödenburg in 1565 where this enthusiastic man was quickly able to convince the inhabitants of his views."

The Lutheran doctrine only became generally accepted in Ödenburg after a period of 41 years, and this process lasted even longer in the Lutheran German communities around Ödenburg. It was also similar during the Catholic restoration because the subjects remained Protestant much longer after the conversion of Franz Nadasdy.

The following information is found on page 102 of T.A. Vanyo’s book: In the Archdeanery of Gyor (Raab), the Catholic ecclesiastical inspector was hardly able to visit 5 or 6 communities in 1659, while in 1697 he called on more than 30. Two-thirds of these 30 communities had a Catholic majority, while the population in the other third was about half Catholic. Since the Nadasdy’s were Protestant for over 100 years, the root for a Trans-Danube Protestant Church District was formed by their subjects. 16 years after the conversion of Franz Nadasdy, the ecclesiastical inspector could visit only 5 or 6 communities because the remaining were Protestant. After 54 years, more than a third of the subjects were still Protestant.

The conditions were similar in Burgenland. Even with the dismissal of 21 Protestant clergy in northern Burgenland in 1582 and 1583 and with the installation of Catholic clergymen, not all of the population became Catholics immediately. The same situation also applies to some communities in central Burgenland. A decade passed before the Catholic renewal was accepted, and one seventh of the Burgenland population is still Protestant or Calvinist even today.

The above data reflects the inaccuracy of the viewpoint that the Croatian population became Protestant or Calvinist because of the use of Protestant or Calvinist clergymen in some Croat towns. The use of non-Catholic clergyman in several Croatian villages for long periods of time does not necessarily mean that the Croats lost their Catholic faith. There is no proof for this latter thesis anywhere, and to the contrary, some indications speak for the fact that Croatian subjects were secretly Catholic while living in the Lutheran Batthyány Estates. Gregor Runich, the minister of Nahring (Narda), fed the Croatian inhabitants of Schandorf the communion wafer during the time of the reformation, and the inhabitants of Schandorf still wanted the Host for Holy Communion in 1619. The Croatian residents of Eberau promised to remain Catholic just before 1557. Thomas Gubanoczi, the Protestant clergyman of St. Michael, had already left his parish after a half year because he could not stay there. The Croats of Schandorf drove away two clergymen that had been sent to them.

We thus come to the question whether the Croats of that time were Protestant or Calvinist, or whether they remained Catholics during the time of religious coercion (1595–1630–1643). Relevant Hungarian, German and Croatian literature does not mention a single case where the Burgenland Croats of that time would have voluntarily requested or selected a Protestant, Calvinist, or a Flacian minister.

The fact that the Protestant or Calvinist Domain Owners had in most cases used non-Croatian speaking preachers for the Croats does not necessarily mean that the population left their old faith. For example, Stefan Consuls fully enjoyed the support of Hans Von Weisspriach, Christopher Zinzendorf, and Seyfried Kollonitsch for eleven years in Eisenstadt, nevertheless he could not achieve his goal among the Croats in the surroundings of Eisenstadt.

The Croats of Grosshöflein, Dörfel, and Kittsee had Protestant ministers for 34, 56, and 57 long years respectively while still remaining Catholic. The Croatian inhabitants of Klingenbach and Kohlnhof remained true to the faith of their fathers despite the pressure that was exerted for 80 years in the Protestant borough of Ödenburg.

Many Germans and Hungarians resisted becoming Catholic after the domain owners returned to the Catholic Church, and if the Croats had been Protestant, they would have resisted also. This is not known however of the Croats as they were not only faithful in their own communities, but even defended Catholic priests in other municipalities.

Only one Burgenländer was among the ministers assigned to the Croatian communities.
He was born of Hungarian parents in Unterpullendorf, and was named Thomas Gubanoczi. The Burgenland Croats avoided being preachers during the time of the Reformation. When they were allowed to profess their religion freely however, the Croats of the Gyor (Raab) Diocese gave relatively far more Catholic clergyman than other ethnic groups. The ecclesiastical Visitation of 1659 found 48 Croatian and just 17 German and Hungarian clergymen in their inspections of 65 communities. The ecclesiastical Visitations of the Gyor (Raab) Diocese unanimously emphasize the steadfastness of the Croatians in their faith. On September 12, 1592, Conrad Glockel, Office of the Archdeanery and ecclesiastical inspector of Ödenburg, reported to the Klosterrat (Imperial Monastery Council): "The Germans are thoroughly devoted to the new Doctrine, only the Croats remained strict Catholic." The historian Adolf Mohl writes on page 20 of his often-mentioned book: "The Croats formed a solid rock, that resisted the stormy tide of the Counter-Reformation." T.E. Vanyo writes in page 63 of his work: "The Croatian population remained closed to the concepts of the Counter-Reformation."

O. Gruszecki says in his treatise "Die Burgenländischen Kroaten" (The Burgenland Croats): "The Croats always remained Catholic." Other German and Hungarian circles similarly mentioned the steadfastness of the Croats in their faith during the time of the religious schisms.

Let us finally mention that there is no trace in the literature of the Burgenland Croats that indicates that the ancestors of the local Croatians were Protestant or Calvinist. On the contrary, a 280-year-old today "Songs of the Eisenstadt Field" (Jacka od zelezanskoga polja) was discovered in 1848 in Unterpullendorf, which says the local Croats “were always Catholic" and were "always ready to shed their blood for their faith."

Some lay and religious Croatian songs from the 30-Year War convey a similar conviction.

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