For administrative purposes Croatia-Slavonia is divided into 8 rural counties, already enumerated; besides the 4 urban counties, or municipalities of Agram, Semlin, Warasdin and Esseg. These are subdivided into rural and urban communes,Local administration.each with its representative council. The affairs of each rural county are managed by an assembly chosen for 6 years, which comprises not only elected members, but delegates from all the cities except Agram and Esseg, with certain high ecclesiastics and officials.The highest judicial authority is the supreme court or Septemviral Table, which sits at Agram, and ranks above the royalJustice.courts of appeal, the county courts of first instance, and the district courts or magistracies.Fully four-fifths of the population belong to the Roman Catholic Church, which has an archbishop at Agram and bishops at Zengg and Djakovo. There are about 12,000 Greek Catholics, with a bishop at Kreuz (Križevac). The Serb congregations,Religion.who had previously been classed as Orthodox Greek, were officially recognized as members of the Orthodox Church of Servia after 1883. Their episcopal sees of Karlowitz and Pakrac depend upon the metropolitanate of Belgrade; but from 1830 to 1838 Karlowitz was itself the headquarters of the Servian Church.During the 19th century strenuous efforts to better the state of education were made by Bishop Strossmayer (1815-1905) and otherreformers; but, although some success was achieved, only one-thirdEducation.of the population could read and write in 1900. Foremost among the educational institutions is the South Slavonic Academy of Sciences and Arts (Jugoslavenska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti), founded by Strossmayer and others in 1867, as an improvement on a learned society which had existed since 1836. The academy is the headquarters of the nationalist propaganda. Its numerous publications, though sometimes biased by political passion, throw much light on Serbo-Croatian history, law, philology and kindred topics. Agram University, founded in 1874, possesses three faculties—theology, philosophy and law; but, unlike other Hungarian universities, it lacks a faculty of medicine. Its average number of students varies from 300 to 350. In 1900 there were also 19real-gymnasia, teaching science, art and modern languages, as well as classics and mathematics; 1400 elementary schools; and a few special institutions, such as the naval and military academies of Fiume, ecclesiastical seminaries and commercial colleges. In almost every case the language of instruction is Serbo-Croatian. The development of higher education, without a corresponding advance of technical education, has created an intellectual class, comprising many men of letters, and several painters, musicians and sculptors, though none of great eminence; it also tends to produce many aspirants to official or professional careers, who find employment difficult to obtain. The want of a strong native middle class may partly be traced to this tendency.
For administrative purposes Croatia-Slavonia is divided into 8 rural counties, already enumerated; besides the 4 urban counties, or municipalities of Agram, Semlin, Warasdin and Esseg. These are subdivided into rural and urban communes,Local administration.each with its representative council. The affairs of each rural county are managed by an assembly chosen for 6 years, which comprises not only elected members, but delegates from all the cities except Agram and Esseg, with certain high ecclesiastics and officials.
The highest judicial authority is the supreme court or Septemviral Table, which sits at Agram, and ranks above the royalJustice.courts of appeal, the county courts of first instance, and the district courts or magistracies.
Fully four-fifths of the population belong to the Roman Catholic Church, which has an archbishop at Agram and bishops at Zengg and Djakovo. There are about 12,000 Greek Catholics, with a bishop at Kreuz (Križevac). The Serb congregations,Religion.who had previously been classed as Orthodox Greek, were officially recognized as members of the Orthodox Church of Servia after 1883. Their episcopal sees of Karlowitz and Pakrac depend upon the metropolitanate of Belgrade; but from 1830 to 1838 Karlowitz was itself the headquarters of the Servian Church.
During the 19th century strenuous efforts to better the state of education were made by Bishop Strossmayer (1815-1905) and otherreformers; but, although some success was achieved, only one-thirdEducation.of the population could read and write in 1900. Foremost among the educational institutions is the South Slavonic Academy of Sciences and Arts (Jugoslavenska Akademija Znanosti i Umjetnosti), founded by Strossmayer and others in 1867, as an improvement on a learned society which had existed since 1836. The academy is the headquarters of the nationalist propaganda. Its numerous publications, though sometimes biased by political passion, throw much light on Serbo-Croatian history, law, philology and kindred topics. Agram University, founded in 1874, possesses three faculties—theology, philosophy and law; but, unlike other Hungarian universities, it lacks a faculty of medicine. Its average number of students varies from 300 to 350. In 1900 there were also 19real-gymnasia, teaching science, art and modern languages, as well as classics and mathematics; 1400 elementary schools; and a few special institutions, such as the naval and military academies of Fiume, ecclesiastical seminaries and commercial colleges. In almost every case the language of instruction is Serbo-Croatian. The development of higher education, without a corresponding advance of technical education, has created an intellectual class, comprising many men of letters, and several painters, musicians and sculptors, though none of great eminence; it also tends to produce many aspirants to official or professional careers, who find employment difficult to obtain. The want of a strong native middle class may partly be traced to this tendency.
History.
Medieval historians did not use the terms Croatia and Slavonia in their present sense. The Croatia of the middle ages comprised north-western Bosnia, Turkish Croatia, and the region now known as Upper Croatia. The whole country between the Drave and Save, thus including a large part of modern Croatia, was called in LatinSlavonia, in GermanWindisches Land, and in HungarianTótország, to distinguish it from the territories in which the Croats were racially supreme (Horvátország). At the time of their conquest by the Romans (35B.C.) both these divisions were occupied by the Pannonians, who in Slavonia had displaced an older population, the Scordisci; and both were included in the Roman province of Pannonia Inferior, although Slavonia had the distinctive name of Pannonia Savia (seePannonia). When the Roman dominions were broken up inA.D.395, Croatia-Slavonia remained part of the Western empire. The Ostrogoths overran it in 489; in 535 it was annexed by Justinian; in 568 it was conquered by the Avars. These were in turn expelled from Croatia by the Croats, a Slavonic people from the western Carpathians, who, according to some authorities, had occupied the territories of the Marcomanni in Bohemia, and been driven thence in the 6th century by the Czechs. The main body of the Croats, whose tribal and racial names respectively are perpetuated in the names of Croatia and Slavonia, entered Croatia between 634 and 638, and were encouraged by the emperor Heraclius to attack the Avars. Smaller bodies had led the way southwards since 548. The Croats formed the western division of the great migratory horde of Serbo-Croats which colonized the lands between Bulgaria and the Adriatic. Contemporary chroniclers called themChrobati,Belochrobati(“White Croats”),Chrovati,Horvati, or by some similar Latin or Byzantine variant of the SlavonicKhrvaty. The Croats occupied most of the region now known as Croatia-Slavonia, Dalmatia, and north-western Bosnia, displacing or absorbing the earlier inhabitants everywhere except along the Dalmatian littoral, where the Italian city-states usually maintained their independence, and in certain districts of Slavonia, where, out of a mixed population of Slavonic immigrants, Avars and Pannonians, the Slavs, and especially the Serbo-Croats, gradually became predominant. The Croats brought with them their primitive tribal institutions, organized on a basis partly military, partly patriarchal, and identical with the Zhupanates of the Serbs (seeServia); agriculture, war and hunting were their chief pursuits. Although they at first acknowledged no alien sovereign, they passed gradually under Italian influence in the extreme west, and under Byzantine influence in the south and south-east. In 806 the northern and north-eastern districts were added to the empire of the Franks, and thus won for the Western Church. Frankish predominance was long commemorated by the name Francochorion, given by the Byzantines to Syrmia; it is still commemorated by the name Fruška Gora, “Mountains of the Franks,” in that province.
The Croatian Kingdom: c. 910-1091.—In 877 the Croats were temporarily subdued by the Byzantine emperor, but after successive insurrections which tended to centralize their loosely knit tribal organization, and to place all power in the hands of a military chief, they regained their independence and founded a national kingdom about 910. It is probable that Tomislav or Timislav, who had led their armies to victory, assumed the title of king in that year. Some authorities, however, state that Tomislav only bore the title ofveliki županor “paramount chief,” and was only one in a long line of princes which can be traced without interruption back to 818. On this view, Držislav (c. 978-1000) was the first king properly so called. But Tomislav, whatever his official style, was certainly the first of a series of independent national rulers which lasted for nearly two centuries. The records of this period, regarded by many Croats as the golden age of their country, are often scanty, and its chronology is still unsettled. Little is known of Trpimir, who preceded Držislav, or of Stephen I. (1035-1058), but a few of the kings gained a more lasting fame by their success in war and diplomacy. Among these were Krešimir I. (c. 940—946), his successor Miroslav, and especially Krešimir II., surnamed the Great (c. 1000-1035), who harried the Bulgarians, at that time a powerful nation, and conquered a large part of Dalmatia, including some of the Italian cities. Already, under his predecessors, the Croats had built a fleet, which they used first for piracy and afterwards for trade. Their skill in maritime affairs, exemplified first in the 9th century by the pagan corsairs of the Narenta (seeDalmatia:History), and later by the numerous Dalmatian and Croatian sailors who served in the navies of Venice and Austria, is remarkable in a Slavonic people, and one which had so recently migrated from central Europe. At the end of the 10th century they even for a short period exacted tribute from Venice, but their power was temporarily destroyed in 1000, when the Venetians captured and sacked Biograd or Belgrade, the Italian Zaravecchia. This Dalmatian port was not only the Croatian arsenal, but the seat of the kings, who here sought to enhance their dignity by borrowing the grandiose titles and elaborate procedure of the Byzantine court. Krešimir II. and Krešimir Peter (c. 1058-1073), the hero of many national legends and lays, restored the naval power of the Croats. After the death of Krešimir Peter, Slavic or Slaviža reigned until 1076, when he was succeeded by Zvonimir (Svinimir or Zvoinimir) Demetrius. Zvonimir was crowned by the legate of Pope Gregory VII, and appears to have been regarded as a vassal of the papacy. Both he and Stephen II., a nephew of Krešimir II., died in 1089.
Hungarian Supremacy: 1091-c. 1526.—Amid the strife of rival claimants to the throne, Helena, the widow of Stephen, appealed for aid to her brother Ladislaus I., king of Hungary. Ladislaus took possession of the country in 1091. He founded the bishopric of Agram and introduced Hungarian law. His death in 1095 was the signal for a nationalist insurrection, but after two years the rebels were crushed by his successor Coloman. This monarch reorganized the administration on a system which has been maintained, with modifications in detail, by almost all subsequent rulers. He respected the existing institutions of the conquered territory so far as to leave its autonomy in domestic affairs intact; but delegated his own sovereignty, and especially the control of foreign affairs and war, to a governor known as the ban (q.v.). This office was sometimes held by princes of the royal house, often by Croatian nobles. Coloman also extended his authority over Dalmatia and the islands of the Quarnero, but the best modern authorities reject the tradition that in 1102 he was crowned king of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia. In 1127 Syrmia, which had been annexed to Bulgaria from about 700 to 1018, and to the Eastern empire from 1019, was united to Slavonia. The Hungarian government left much liberty to the Croatian nobles, a turbulent and fanatical class, ever ready for civil war, rebellion or a campaign against the Bosnian heretics. Their most powerful leaders were the counts of Zrin and Bribir (or Brebir), whose surname was Šubić. Thisfamily played an important part in local politics from the 13th century to 1670, when Peter Šubić was its last member to hold the office of ban. Paul Šubić (d. 1312) and Mladen Šubić (d. 1322) even for a short period united Croatia, Slavonia, Bosnia and part of Dalmatia under their own rule. From 1322 to 1326 the Croatian nobles successfully withstood the armies of Hungary and Bosnia; from 1337 to 1340, instigated by the Vatican, they carried on a crusade against the Bosnian Bogomils; and in the Krajina (Turkish Croatia) hostilities were resumed at intervals until the Turkish conquest.
The Turkish Occupation: c. 1526-1718.—Here, as elsewhere, the Ottoman invasion was facilitated by the feuds of the Christian sects. When King Matthias Corvinus undertook to defend Slavonia in 1490 it was too late; Matthias lost Syrmia and died in the same year. His successor Ladislaus of Poland (1490-1516) added Slavonia to the kingdoms named in the royal title, which now included the words “King of Dalmatia and Croatia and Slavonia” (Rex Dalmatiae et Croatiae et Slavoniae). But he failed to repel the Turks, who in 1526 destroyed the power of Hungary at the battle of Mohács. In 1527 the Croats were compelled to swear allegiance to Ferdinand I. of Austria, who had been elected king of Hungary. Ferdinand founded the generalcy of Karlstadt and thus laid the foundation of the military frontier. The provinces of Agram, Warasdin and Kreutz, previously included in Slavonia, were added to Croatia, to counterbalance the loss of territory in the Krajina. Throughout the century the Turks continued to extend their conquests until, in 1606, the emperor retained only western Croatia, with the cities of Agram, Karlstadt, Warasdin and Zengg. During the same period the doctrines of the Reformation had spread among the Croats; but they were forcibly suppressed in 1607-1610. The military occupation by the Turks left little permanent impression; colonization was never attempted; and the continuous wars by which the victors strove to secure or enlarge their dominions north of the Save left no time for the introduction of Moslem religion or civilization among the vanquished. Thus in the reconquest of Croatia-Slavonia there was none of the local opposition which afterwards hindered the Austrian occupation of Bosnia. The successes of Prince Eugene in 1697 led two years later to the peace of Carlowitz, by which the Turks ceded the greater part of Slavonia and Hungary to Austria; and the remainder was surrendered in 1718 by the treaty of Passarowitz. Only Turkish Croatia henceforth remained part of the Ottoman empire.
Austrian and French Supremacy: 1718-1814.—Austrian influence predominated throughout Croatia-Slavonia during most of the 18th century, although Slavonia was constitutionally regarded as belonging to Hungary. Despite Magyar protests the misleading name “Croatia” was popularly and even in official documents applied to the whole country, including the purely Slavonian provinces of Virovitica, Požega and Syrmia. From 1767 to 1777 Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia were collectively named Illyria, and governed from Vienna, but each of these divisions was subsequently declared a separate kingdom, with a separate administration, while the military frontier remained under military rule. In 1776 the Croatian seaboard, which had previously been under the same administration as the rest of the Austrian coast, was annexed to Croatia, but three years later Fiume was declared an integral part of Hungary. These administrative changes, and especially the brief existence of united “Illyria,” stimulated the dormant nationalism of the Croats and their jealousy of the Magyars. In 1809 Austria was forced to surrender to Napoleon a large part of Croatia, with Dalmatia, Istria, Carinthia, Carniola, Görz and Gradisca. These territories received the name of the Illyrian Provinces, and remained under French rule until 1813. All the Croats capable of service were enrolled under the French flag; their country was divided for administrative purposes intoCroatie civileandCroatie militaire. In 1814 Dalmatia was incorporated in Austria, while Istria, Carinthia, Carniola, Görz and Gradisca became the Illyrian kingdom of Austria, and retained their united government until 1849. Croatia and Slavonia were declared appanages of the Hungarian crown—partes adnexae, or subject provinces, according to the Magyars;regna socia, or allied kingdoms, according to their own view. Each phrase afterwards became the watchword of a political party: neither is accurate. The Croats preserved their local autonomy, the use of their language for official purposes, their elected diet and other ancient institutions, but Hungarian control was represented by the ban.
The National Revival.—The Croats acquiesced in their position of inferiority until 1840, when the Magyars endeavoured to introduce Hungarian as the official language. A nationalist or “Illyrist” party was formed under Count Drašković and Bishop J. Strossmayer (q.v.) to combat Hungarian influence and promote the union of the “Illyrian” Slavs,i.e.the Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Ljudevit Gaj, the leading Croatian publicist, strongly supported the movement. The elections of 1842 were marked by a series of sanguinary conflicts between Illyrists and Magyarists, but not until 1848 were the Illyrists returned to office. One of their leaders, Baron Josef Jellachich, was appointed ban in 1848. He strongly advocated the union of Croatia with Carinthia, Carniola and Styria, but found his policy thwarted as much by the apathy of the Slovenes as by the hostility of the Magyars. A Croatian deputation was received at Innsbruck by Ferdinand V., but before its arrival the Hungarians had obtained a royal manifesto hostile to Illyrism. But failure only increased the agitation among the southern Slavs; all attempts at mediation proved unsuccessful, and on the 31st of August the Croats claimed to have convinced the king that justice was on their side. On the 11th of September the advance-guard of their army crossed the Drave under the command of Jellachich. On the 29th they were driven back from Pákozd by the Hungarians, and retired towards Vienna; they subsequently aided the Austrian army against the Hungarian revolutionaries (seeJellachich, Josef, andHungary:History). The constitution of 1849 proclaimed Croatia and Slavonia separated from Hungary and united as a single Austrian crownland, to which was annexed the Croatian littoral, including Fiume. Austrian supremacy lasted until 1867; no ban was appointed, and owing to the suspension of local autonomy from 1850 to 1860 this period is known as “the ten years of reaction.” It was ended by the celebrated “October Diploma” of the 20th of October 1860, which promised the restoration of constitutional liberty. But the so-called “Constitution of February” (21st February 1861) placed all practical power in the hands of an executive controlled by the government at Vienna. The newly elected diet was soon dissolved for its advocacy of a great South Slavonic confederation under imperial rule, and no other was elected until 1865.
From 1865 to 1867 Strossmayer and the nationalists endeavoured to secure the formation of a subordinate Austrian kingdom comprising Dalmatia, Croatia-Slavonia and the islands of the Quarnero. The Magyars had, however, resolved to subject Croatia-Slavonia to the crown of St Stephen, and in 1867 had secured control of the finances and electoral machinery. The office of ban was revived, and its holder, Baron Levin Rauch, was an ardent Magyarist. At the elections of December 1867 a majority of Hungarian partisans was easily obtained, and on the 29th of January the diet passed a resolution in favour of reunion with Hungary. The whole Opposition refused to take any part in the proceedings, as a protest against the alleged illegality of the elections; but by the 25th of June the Croatian commissioners and the Hungarian government had framed a new constitution, which was ratified in September. Besides substituting Hungarian for Austrian sovereignty, it provided that the diet and the ban should control local affairs, subject to the Croatian minister in the Hungarian cabinet, and that Croatia-Slavonia should pay 55% of its revenue to Hungary for mutual and imperial expenses, but should be represented in the Hungarian parliament by thirty-six delegates, and should continue to use Serbo-Croatian as the official language. Hungary guaranteed that the 45% retained by the territorial government should be not less than two and a half million gulden (£250,000).In May 1870 Fiume was annexed to Hungary, but in 1873 the Croats received as compensation an increase of their guaranteed revenue to £350,000, an addition of seven to the number of their representatives at Budapest, and a promise that the military frontier should be incorporated in the existing civil provinces. In 1877 a convention with Hungary regulated the control of public estates in the military frontier, and on the 15th of July 1881 the frontier, including the district of Sichelburg claimed by Carniola, was handed over to the local administration.
Meanwhile the events of 1875-1878 in the Balkans, culminating in the Austrian occupation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, revived the agitation for a “Great Croatia.” A party separate from the regular Opposition, and known as the “Party of the Right,” was formed to oppose the Magyarists. Its activity resulted in the riots of 1883, which were with difficulty quelled; in 1885 its leader, N. Starčević, was condemned to imprisonment for the violence of his speeches against the ban, Count Khuen-Héderváry. In 1888 the moderate Opposition also lost its leader, Bishop Strossmayer, who was censured by the king on account of his famous Panslavist telegram to the Russian Church (seeStrossmayer). In 1889 the financial agreement with Hungary was revised and the contribution of Croatia-Slavonia to the expenses shared with Hungary or common to the whole of the Dual Monarchy was raised by 1%. This added burden combined with bad harvests, a fall in the revenue and a deficit in the budget to heighten popular discontent. Count Khuen-Héderváry was responsible for several administrative improvements, but the prosperity of the country declined from year to year. The government was accused of illegal interference with the elections, with the use of the Hungarian arms and language in official documents, and with undue harshness in the censorship of the press. In May 1903 there were outbreaks of rioting in Agram, Sissek and other towns, besides serious agrarian disturbances directed against the Magyarist landowners; in a debate in the Reichsrath (18th May) an Austrian deputy named Bianchini unsuccessfully attempted to induce the imperial government to intervene. At the end of June Count Khuen-Héderváry was made Hungarian prime minister; Count T. Pejačević succeeded him as ban, and restored quiet by promising freedom of assembly and greater liberty of the press. Since 1898 the financial agreement had only been renewed from year to year. But the estimates for 1904 revealed another heavy deficit; and this was only paid by Hungary on condition that the agreement should be renewed until the 31st of December 1913, and the contribution of 56% maintained.
The constitutional crisis of 1905 in Hungary stimulated the nationalist agitation. A congress of Croatian and Dalmatian deputies met at Spalato to advocate Serbo-Croatian unity, and in 1906 the municipality of Agram endeavoured to petition the king in favour of union with Bosnia and Herzegovina. This propaganda was severely discouraged. Baron Rauch, appointed ban in 1908, refused to summon the diet, in which he could not command a single vote, and much excitement was caused in 1909 by the trial of 57 nationalist leaders for high treason. The policy of the nationalists, who now aimed at the political union, under the king-emperor, of all Serbo-Croats in Austria-Hungary—upwards of 4,500,000—was less visionary than the older Illyrism, and less aggressively Panslavist. It no longer sought to include Carinthia, Carniola and Styria in the proposed “Great Croatia.” It was opposed by Austria as tending to create a new and formidable Slavonic nation within the Dual Monarchy, and by Hungary as a menace to Magyar predominance in Transleithania.
Language and Literature.
For the place of the Croatian dialects among Slavonic languages generally, seeSlavs. The Croatian dialects, like the Servian, have gradually developed from the Old Slavonic, which survives in medieval liturgies and biblical or apocryphal writings. The course of this development was similar in both cases, except that the Croats, owing to their dependence on Austria-Hungary, were not so deeply influenced as the Serbs by Byzantine culture in the middle ages, and by Russian linguistic forms and Russian ideas in modern times. The Orthodox Serbs, moreover, use a modified form of the Cyrillic alphabet, while the Roman Catholic Croats use Latin characters, except in a few liturgical books which are written in the ancient Glagolitic script. As the literary language of both nations is now practically the same, and is, indeed, commonly known as “Serbo-Croatian,” the reader may be referred to the articleServia:Language and Literature, for an account of its history, of its chief literary monuments up to the 19th century and inclusive of Dalmatian literature, and of the principal differences between the dialects spoken in Servia and Croatia-Slavonia.
The three most important Croatian dialects are known as theČakavci,Čakavštinaor, in Servian,Chakavski, spoken along the Adriatic littoral; theŠtokavci(Štokavština,Shtokavski), spoken in Servia and elsewhere in the north-west of the Balkan Peninsula; and theKajkavci(Kajkavština,Kaykavski), spoken by the partly Slovene population of the districts of Agram, Warasdin and Kreuz. This classification is based on the form, varying in different localities, of the pronounča,što, orkaj, meaning “what.”
The Cakavci literature includes most of the works of the Dalmatian writers of the 15th and 16th centuries—the golden age of Serbo-Croatian literature. Its history is indissolubly interwoven with that of the Štokavci, which ultimately superseded it, and became the literary language of all the Serbo-Croats, as it had long been the language of the best national ballads and legends.
Kajkavci had from about 1550 to 1830 a distinctive literature, consisting of chronicles and histories, poems of a religious or educational character, fables and moral tales. These writings possess more philological interest than literary merit, and are hardly known outside Croatia-Slavonia and the Slovene districts of Austria.
Apart from the Kajkavci dialect, the whole body of Serbo-Croatian literature up to the 19th century may justly be regarded as the common heritage of Serbs and Croats. The linguistic and literary reforms which Dossitey Obradovich and Vuk Stefanovich Karajich carried out in Servia about the close of this period helped to stimulate among the Croats a new interest in their national history, their traditions, folk-songs and folk-tales. One result of this nationalist revival was the unsuccessful attempt made between 1814 and 1830 to raise the Čakavci dialect to the rank of a distinctive literary language for Croatia-Slavonia; but the Illyrist movement of 1840 led to the adoption of the Štokavci, which was already the vernacular of the majority of Serbo-Croats. Ljudevit Gaj (1809-1872), though he failed to create an artificial literary language by the fusion of the principal dialects spoken by Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, was by his championship of Illyrism instrumental in securing the triumph of the Štokavci. Gaj was a poet of considerable talent, and one of the founders of Croatian journalism. Among other writers of the first half of the 19th century may be mentioned Ivan Mažuranić (1813-1890), whose first poems were published in theDanica ilirska(“Illyrian Dawnstar”), a journal founded and for a time edited by Gaj. In 1846 Mažuranić published hisSmrt Smail Aga Čengića(“Death of Ismail Aga Čengić”), called by Serbo-Croats the “Epos of Hate.” This remarkable poem, written in the metre of the old Servian ballads, gives a vivid description of life in Bosnia under Turkish rule, and of the hereditary border feuds between Christians and Moslems. In later life Mažuranić distinguished himself as a statesman, and became ban of Croatia from 1873 to 1880. Other writers representative of Croatian literature before 1867 were the lyric poet Stanko Vraz (1810-1851) and Dragutin Rakovac (1813-1854), the author of many patriotic songs.
With the foundation of the South Slavonic Academy at Agram, in 1867, the study of science and history received a new impetus. Under the presidency of Franko Rački (1825-1894) the academy, with its journal theRad jugoskovenske Akademije, became the headquarters of an active group of savants, among whom may be mentioned Vastroslav Jagić (b. 1838), sometime editor of theArchiv für slavische Philologie; the historians Šime Ljubić (1822-1896) and Vjekoslav Klaić, author of several standard works on Croatia and the Croats; the lexicographer Bogoslav Šulek (1816-1895); the ethnographer and philologist Franko Karelac (1811-1874). In Dalmatia, where the Ragusan journalSlovinachas served, like the AgramRad, as a focus of literary activity, there have been numerous poets and prose writers, associated, in many cases, with the Illyrist or the nationalist propaganda. Among these may be mentioned Count Medo Pučić (1821-1882), and the dramatist Matija Ban (1818-1903), whose tragedyMeyrimahis considered by many the finest dramatic poem in the Serbo-Croatian language.
Authorities.—For the topography, products, inhabitants and modern condition of Croatia-Slavonia, seeBau und Bild Österreichs, by C. Diener, F. E. Suess, R. Hoernes and V. Uhlig (Leipzig, 1903);Die österreich-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild, vol. xxiv., edited by J. von Weilen (Vienna, 1902);Führer durch Ungarn, Kroatien und Slawonien, by B. Alföldi (Vienna, 1900);Reiseführer durch Kroatien und Slawonien, by A. Lukšić (Agram, 1893);Vegetationsverhältnisse von Kroatien, by A. Neilreich (Vienna, 1868); “Die Slowenen,” by J. Šuman, and “Die Kroaten,” by F. Staré, in vol. x. ofDie Völker Österreich-Ungarns(Vienna, 1881-1882);Die Serbokroaten der adriatischen Küstenländer, by A. Weisbach (Berlin, 1884); and the mapZemljovid Hrvatske i Slavonije, by M. Katzenschläger (Vienna, 1895). The only detailed history is one in Serbo-Croatian, written by a succession of the highest native authorities, and published by the South Slavonic Academy (Agram, from 1861). It is largely based on the following works:Vetera monumenta historica Hungariam sacram illustrantia, containing documents from the Vatican library edited by A. Theiner (Rome, 1860);Vetera monumenta historiam Slavorum meridionalium illustrantia, published by the South Slavonic Academy (Agram, 1863, &c.);Jura regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae, et Slavoniae cum privilegiis, by J. Kukuljević (Agram, 1861-1862);Monumenta historica Slavorum meridionalium, by V. Makushev, in Latin and Italian, with notes in Slavonic (Belgrade, 1885);De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae, by G. Lucio (Amsterdam, 1666; seeDalmatia, under bibliography);Regno degli Slavi, by M. Orbini (Pesaro, 1601); and, for ecclesiastical history,Illyricum sacrum, by D. Farlatus and others (Venice, 1751-1819). See alsoHrvatska i Hrvati, by V. Klaić (Agram, 1890, &c.); andSlawonien vom 10. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert, translated from the Serbo-Croatian of Klaić by J. von Vojničić (Agram, 1882).
Authorities.—For the topography, products, inhabitants and modern condition of Croatia-Slavonia, seeBau und Bild Österreichs, by C. Diener, F. E. Suess, R. Hoernes and V. Uhlig (Leipzig, 1903);Die österreich-ungarische Monarchie in Wort und Bild, vol. xxiv., edited by J. von Weilen (Vienna, 1902);Führer durch Ungarn, Kroatien und Slawonien, by B. Alföldi (Vienna, 1900);Reiseführer durch Kroatien und Slawonien, by A. Lukšić (Agram, 1893);Vegetationsverhältnisse von Kroatien, by A. Neilreich (Vienna, 1868); “Die Slowenen,” by J. Šuman, and “Die Kroaten,” by F. Staré, in vol. x. ofDie Völker Österreich-Ungarns(Vienna, 1881-1882);Die Serbokroaten der adriatischen Küstenländer, by A. Weisbach (Berlin, 1884); and the mapZemljovid Hrvatske i Slavonije, by M. Katzenschläger (Vienna, 1895). The only detailed history is one in Serbo-Croatian, written by a succession of the highest native authorities, and published by the South Slavonic Academy (Agram, from 1861). It is largely based on the following works:Vetera monumenta historica Hungariam sacram illustrantia, containing documents from the Vatican library edited by A. Theiner (Rome, 1860);Vetera monumenta historiam Slavorum meridionalium illustrantia, published by the South Slavonic Academy (Agram, 1863, &c.);Jura regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae, et Slavoniae cum privilegiis, by J. Kukuljević (Agram, 1861-1862);Monumenta historica Slavorum meridionalium, by V. Makushev, in Latin and Italian, with notes in Slavonic (Belgrade, 1885);De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae, by G. Lucio (Amsterdam, 1666; seeDalmatia, under bibliography);Regno degli Slavi, by M. Orbini (Pesaro, 1601); and, for ecclesiastical history,Illyricum sacrum, by D. Farlatus and others (Venice, 1751-1819). See alsoHrvatska i Hrvati, by V. Klaić (Agram, 1890, &c.); andSlawonien vom 10. bis zum 13. Jahrhundert, translated from the Serbo-Croatian of Klaić by J. von Vojničić (Agram, 1882).
(K. G. J.)
1Also writtenSirmiaandSirmium; Serbo-CroatianSriem; HungarianSzerém.2It is impossible to exclude Fiume from any survey of Croatian trade, although Fiume belongs politically to Hungary proper, and is the main outlet for Hungarian emigration and maritime commerce.3It is important to notice the value of the following letters and signs, which recur frequently:—c=ts;č=ch(hard);ć=ch(soft);j= y, or j in German;š=sh;ž=zh, orjin French.
1Also writtenSirmiaandSirmium; Serbo-CroatianSriem; HungarianSzerém.
2It is impossible to exclude Fiume from any survey of Croatian trade, although Fiume belongs politically to Hungary proper, and is the main outlet for Hungarian emigration and maritime commerce.
3It is important to notice the value of the following letters and signs, which recur frequently:—c=ts;č=ch(hard);ć=ch(soft);j= y, or j in German;š=sh;ž=zh, orjin French.
CROCIDOLITE,a mineral described in 1815 by M. H. Klaproth under the nameBlaueisenstein(blue ironstone), and in 1831 by J. F. Hausmann, who gave it its present name on account of its nap-like appearance (Gr.κροκύς, nap of cloth). It is a blue fibrous mineral belonging to the amphibole group and closely related to riebeckite; chemically it is an iron sodium silicate. Its resemblance to asbestos has gained for it the name Cape Asbestos, the chief occurrence being in Cape Colony. The mineral suffers alteration by removal of alkali and peroxidation of the ferrous iron, and further by deposition of silica between the fibres, or by their replacement by silica; a hard siliceous mineral is thus formed which when polished shows, in consequence of its fibrous structure, a beautiful chatoyance or silky lustre. This is the ornamental stone which is known when blue as “hawk’s-eye,” and when of rich golden brown colour as “tiger-eye.” The latter, which represents the final alteration of the crocidolite, has become very fashionable as “South African cat’s eye,” and is often termed “crocidolite,” though practically only a mixture of quartz with brown oxide of iron. The following are analyses by A. Renard and C. Klement of the unaltered crocidolite and of the blue and brown products of alteration:—
Another alteration product of the crocidolite, consisting of silica and ferric hydrate, has been called griqualandite. Crocidolite and the minerals resulting from its alteration occur in seams, associated with magnetite and other iron-ores, in the jasper-slates of the Asbestos Mountains in Griqualand West, Cape Colony. It is known also from a few other localities, but only in subordinate quantity. (SeeCat’s-Eye.)
CROCKET(Ital.uncinetti, Fr.crochet,crosse, Ger.Häklein,Knollen), in architecture, an ornament running up the sides of gablets, hood-moulds, pinnacles, spires; generally a winding stem like a creeping plant, with flowers or leaves projecting at intervals, and terminating in a finial.
CROCKETT, DAVID(1786-1836), American frontiersman, was born in Greene county, Tennessee, on the 17th of August 1786. His education was obtained chiefly in the rough school of experience in the Tennessee backwoods, where he acquired a wide reputation as a hunter, trapper and marksman. In 1813-1814 he served in the Creek War under Andrew Jackson, and subsequently became a colonel in the Tennessee militia. In 1821-1824 he was a member of the state legislature, having won his election not by political speeches but by telling stories. In 1827 he was elected to the national House of Representatives as a Jackson Democrat, and was re-elected in 1829. At Washington his shrewdness, eccentric manners and peculiar wit made him a conspicuous figure, but he was too independent to be a supporter of all Jackson’s measures, and his opposition to the president’s Indian policy led to administration influences being turned against him with the result that he was defeated for re-election in 1831. He was again elected in 1833, but in 1835 lost his seat a second time, being then a vigorous opponent of many distinctively Jacksonian measures. Discouraged and disgusted, he left his native state, and emigrated to Texas, then engaged in its struggle for independence. There he lost his life as one of the defenders of the Alamo at San Antonio on the 6th of March 1836.
A so-called “autobiography,” which he very probably dictated or at least authorized, was published in Philadelphia in 1834; a work purporting to be a continuation of this autobiography and entitledColonel Crockett’s Exploits and Adventures in Texas(Philadelphia, 1836) is undoubtedly spurious. These two works were subsequently combined in a single volume, of which there have been several editions. Numerous popular biographies have been written, the best by E. S. Ellis (Philadelphia, 1884).
A so-called “autobiography,” which he very probably dictated or at least authorized, was published in Philadelphia in 1834; a work purporting to be a continuation of this autobiography and entitledColonel Crockett’s Exploits and Adventures in Texas(Philadelphia, 1836) is undoubtedly spurious. These two works were subsequently combined in a single volume, of which there have been several editions. Numerous popular biographies have been written, the best by E. S. Ellis (Philadelphia, 1884).
CROCKETT, SAMUEL RUTHERFORD(1860- ), Scottish novelist, was born at Duchrae, Galloway, on the 24th of September 1860, the son of a Galloway farmer. He was brought up on a Galloway farm, and graduated from Edinburgh University in 1879. After some years of travel he became in 1886 minister of Penicuik, but eventually abandoned the Free Church ministry for novel-writing. The success of Mr J. M. Barrie had created a demand for stories in the Scottish dialect when Mr Crockett published his successful story ofThe Stickit Ministerin 1893. It was followed by a rapidly produced series of popular novels dealing often with the past history of Scotland, or with his native Galloway. Such areThe Raiders,The Lilac Sun-bonnetandMad Sir Uchtredin 1894;The Men of the Moss Hagsin 1895;Cleg KellyandThe Grey Manin 1896;The Surprising Adventures of Sir Toady Lion(1897);The Red Axe(1898);Kit Kennedy(1899);Joan of the Sword HandandLittle Anna Markin 1900;Flower o’ the Corn(1902);Red Cap Tales(1904), &c.
CROCKFORD, WILLIAM(1775-1844), proprietor of Crockford’s Club, was born in London in 1775, the son of a fishmonger, and for some time himself carried on that business. After winning a large sum of money—according to one story £100,000—either at cards or by running a gambling establishment, he built, in 1827, a luxurious gambling house at 50 St James’s Street, which, to ensure exclusiveness, he organized as a club. Crockford’s quickly became the rage; every English social celebrity and every distinguished foreigner visiting London hastened to become a member. Even the duke of Wellington joined, though, it is averred, only in order to be able to blackball his son, Lord Douro, should he seek election. Hazard was the favourite game, and very large sums changed hands. Crockfordretired in 1840, when, in the expressive language of Captain R. H. Gronow, he had “won the whole of the ready money of the then existing generation.” He took, indeed, about £1,200,000 out of the club, but subsequently lost most of it in unlucky speculations. Crockford died on the 24th of May 1844.
See John Timbs,Club Life of London(London, 1866); Gronow,Celebrities of London and Paris, 3rd series (London, 1865).
See John Timbs,Club Life of London(London, 1866); Gronow,Celebrities of London and Paris, 3rd series (London, 1865).
CROCODILE,a name for certain reptiles, taken from ancient Gr.κορδύλος, signifying lizard and newt; with reduplicationκορκορδύλος, and by metathesis ultimatelyκροκόδειλος. Herodotus makes mention of them, and tells us that the Egyptian name waschampsa. The Arabic term isledschun. The same rootkarleads through something likekar-kar-ta,glakarta(glazardin Breton), tolacertaand to “lizard.” Lacerta in turn has become, in Spanish,lagarto, which, with the article,el lagarto, is the origin of the term “alligator.” This word is, however, artificial, although now widely used; Spanish and Portuguese-speaking people in America universally call the crocodile and the alligator simplylagarto, which is never intended for lizard.
The Crocodilia form a separate order of reptiles with many peculiarities. The premaxillae are short and always enclose the nostrils. The posterior nares or choanae open far behind in the roof of the mouth, in recent forms within the pterygoids. The under jaws are hinged on to the quadrate bones, which extend obliquely backwards, and are immovably wedged in between the squamosal and the lateral occipital wings. The teeth form a complete series in the under jaw, and in the upper jaw on the premaxillary and maxillary bones. They are conical and deeply implanted in separate sockets. They are often shed throughout life, the successors lying on the inner side, and with their caps partly fitting into the wide open roots of the older teeth. Especially in alligators the upper teeth overlap laterally those of the lower jaw, whilst in most crocodiles the overlapping is less marked and the teeth mostly interlock, a feature which increases with the slenderness of the snout. In old specimens some of the longer, lower teeth work their tips into deep pits, and ultimately even perforate the corresponding parts of the upper jaw. The first and second vertebrae each have a pair of long, movable ribs. There is a compound abdominal sternum. The so-called pubic bones are large and movable. There are five fingers and four toes, provided with claws, excepting the outer digits.
The tongue is flat and thick, attached by its whole under surface; its hinder margin is raised into a transverse fold, which, by meeting a similar fold from the palate, can shut off the mouth completely from the wide cavity of the throat. Dorsally the posterior nares open into this cavity. Consequently the beast can lie submerged in the water, with only the nostrils exposed, and with the mouth open, and breathe without water entering the windpipe. Within the glottis is a pair of membranous folds which serve as vocal cords; all the Crocodilia are possessed of a loud, bellowing voice.
The stomach is globular, rather muscular, with a pair of tendinous centres like those of birds; its size is comparatively small, but the digestion is so rapid and powerful that every bone of the creature’s prey is dissolved whilst still being stowed away in the wide and long gullet. The anal opening forms a longitudinal slit; within it, arising from its anterior corner, is the unpaired copulatory organ. The vascular system has attained the highest state of development of all reptiles. The heart is practically quadrilocular, the right and left halves being completely partitioned, except for a small communication, theforamen Panizzae, between the right and left aortae where these cross each other on leaving their respective ventricles. The outer ear lies in a recess which can be closed tightly by a dorsal flap of skin. The power of hearing is acute, and so is the sight, the eyes being protected by upper and lower lids and by a nictitating membrane. The skin of the whole body is scaly, with a hard, horny, waterproof covering of the epidermis, but between these mostly flat scales the skin is soft. The scutes or dermal portions of the scales are more or less ossified, especially on the back, and form the characteristic dermal armour. The skins or “hides” of commerce consist entirely of the tanned cutis minus, the epidermis and the horny coverings of the scutes. All the Crocodilia possess two pairs of musk-glands in the skin; one is situated on the inner side of the lower jaw. The opening of the glands is slit-like and leads into a pocket, which is filled with a smeary, strongly scented matter. The other pair lies just within the lips of the cloacal opening.
Propagation takes place by eggs, which are oval, quite white, with a very hard and strong shell. Their size varies from 2 to 4 in. in length, according to the size of the species and the age of the female. She lays several dozen eggs in a carefully prepared nest. The Nile crocodile makes a hole in white sand, which is then filled up and smoothed over; the mother sleeps upon the nest, and keeps watch over her eggs, and when these are near hatching—after about twelve weeks—she removes the 18 in. or 2 ft. of sand. Other species, especially the alligators, make a very large nest of leaves, twigs and humus, scraping together a mound about a yard high and two or more yards in diameter. The eggs, in several layers, are laid near the top. The adults frequently dig long subterranean passages into the banks of streams, and, during dry seasons, they have been found deep in the hardened mud, whence they emerge with the beginning of the rains. They spend most of their time in the water, but are also very fond of basking in the hot sun on the banks of rivers or in marshes, usually with the head turned towards the water, to which they take on the slightest alarm. They can walk perfectly well, and they do so deliberately with the whole body raised a little above the ground. When their pools dry up, or when in search of new hunting-grounds, they sometimes undertake long wanderings over land. But the water is their true element. They swim rapidly, propelled by the powerful tail and by the mostly webbed limbs, or they submerge themselves, with only the tip of the nose and the eyes showing, or sometimes also the back. They then look like floating logs; and thus they float or gently approach their prey, which consists of anything they can overpower. Many a large mammal coming to drink at its accustomed place is dragged into the water by the lurking monster. Certainly there are occasional man-eaters amongst them, and in some countries they are much feared. As a rule, however, they are so wary and suspicious that they are very difficult to approach, and their haunts are so well stocked with fish and other game that they make off and hide rather than attack a man swimming in their waters. But if a dog is sent in there will be a sudden yelp, the splash from a big tail, and a widening eddy.
Crocodile stories, not all fabulous, are plentiful, and begin with one of the oldest writings in the world, the book of Job. “Canst thou draw leviathan with a hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?... Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.” This is a very interesting passage, since it can apply only to a large-sized crocodile. Now nothing is known of the occurrence of such in Arabia, but a few specimens of rather small size seem still to exist in Syria, in the Wadi Zerka, an eastern tributary of the Jordan.
Crocodiles are caught in various ways,—for instance, with two pointed sticks, which are fastened crosswise within the bait, an animal’s entrails, to which is attached a rope. When the creature has swallowed the spiked bait it keeps its jaws so firmly closed that it can be dragged out of the water. A kind of plover,Pluvianus aegyptius, often sits upon basking crocodiles, and, since the latter often rest with gaping mouth, it is possible that these agile birds do pick the reptiles’ teeth in search of parasites. Being a very watchful bird, its cry of warning, when it flies off on the approach of danger, is probably appreciated by the crocodile. But the story of the ichneumon or mongoose is a fable. Although an inveterate destroyer of eggs, this little creature prefers those of birds and the soft-shelled eggs of lizards to the very hard and strong-shelled eggs which are deeply buried in the crocodile’s nest.