''Corpus separatum'', a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

term meaning " separated body", refers to the status of the City of

Fiume Rijeka ( , , ; also known as Fiume hu, Fiume, it, Fiume ; local Chakavian: ''Reka''; german: Sankt Veit am Flaum; sl, Reka) is the principal seaport and the third-largest city in Croatia (after Zagreb and Split). It is located in Prim ...

(modern Rijeka,

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

) while given a special legal and political status different from its environment under the rule of the

Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...

. Formally known as City of Fiume and its District ( hu, Fiume város és kerülete), it was instituted by Empress

Maria Theresa Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...

in 1779, determining the semi-autonomous status of Fiume within the

Habsburg monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

until the fall of the

Austro-Hungarian Empire Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

in 1918.

Origins

Maria Theresa, with her sovereign decision of 2 October 1776, gave up possession of Fiume, which for a long time was administrated with the adjacent hereditary

Inner Austria Inner Austria (german: Innerösterreich; sl, Notranja Avstrija; it, Austria Interiore) was a term used from the late 14th to the early 17th century for the Habsburg hereditary lands south of the Semmering Pass, referring to the Imperial duchi ...

n fiefs of the

Habsburgs The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

within the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 unt ...

, and gave it to the

, of which she was also queen, with a view of fostering trade. Since Hungary proper was some away, the city was initially annexed to the Habsburg

Kingdom of Croatia Kingdom of Croatia may refer to: * Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102), an independent medieval kingdom * Croatia in personal union with Hungary (1102–1526), a kingdom in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary * Kingdom of Croatia (Habsburg) (152 ...

, whose territory began east of the city walls. Croatia was ruled in personal union with Hungary since 1102, and with it formed the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. Two and a half years later, Maria Theresa, in her capacity as Queen of Hungary, by a royal rescript dated 23 April 1779, made the City of Fiume directly subject to the Hungarian Crown as a ''corpus separatum'' (that is, not as a part of Croatia, which was in a

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interli ...

with Hungary). Since Fiume had to serve a similar function for Hungary as

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into pr ...

did for the Habsburg lands, the Hungarian estates (and probably the Queen) wanted to grant the City a similar degree of institutional autonomy to that already enjoyed by Trieste. According to Maria Theresa's rescript, Fiume was created a ''corpus separatum'' - that is, a political body with greater autonomy than a

Free imperial city In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...

or a Hungarian county, and a territory comparable to the other ''partes adnexae'' constituting the Crown of St Stephen. The city's position was thus comparable to those of the ''regna'': as Trieste was considered to be a crown land of the Austrian hereditary lands (''

Erblande The ''Erblande'' ("Hereditary Lands") of the House of Habsburg formed the Alpine heartland of the Habsburg monarchy.Kann, ''Habsburg Empire'', 1–4. They were the hereditary possessions of the Habsburgs within the Holy Roman Empire from before ...

''), so Fiume was considered to be a ''pars adnexa'' to the crown. After the royal rescript of 23 April 1779, the stage was set for all the political confrontations that were to happen in Fiume for more than a century and a half. In a sense, it can be said that all history that followed was a long footnote on how to interpret the two acts of 1776 and 1779. The act presented a precedent for the Hungarian constitutional praxis, since it was the first time that a part of the Holy Roman Empire (and a hereditary fief of the Habsburgs) was given to the Hungarian-Croatian kingdom. Therefore, since the Croatian and Hungarian estates had widely diverging interests with respect to Fiume, they produced very different interpretations of the rescript. The Croatians refused to accept the Hungarian reading of the document - they denied that the City could have been excluded from the surrounding territory, that was already framed into a ''comitatus''. During the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fre ...

, the city was briefly part of the

Illyrian Provinces The Illyrian Provinces sl, Ilirske province hr, Ilirske provincije sr, Илирске провинције it, Province illirichegerman: Illyrische Provinzen, group=note were an autonomous province of France during the First French Empire that e ...

, ending its status as corpus separatum. Fiume returned to the Hungarian Crown in 1822; after the

Revolution of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

and the enactment of the Austrian March Constitution, the city was included in the autonomous Croatian kingdom as a seat of a ''comitatus'' with no special autonomy.

Croatian–Hungarian Agreement

In 1868, following the

Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hunga ...

which created

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

, Croatia was allowed to negotiate its own settlement with Hungary. The final Croatian–Hungarian Settlement left the possession of

unsettled, pending future negotiations according to article 66, as it appeared in the Croatian version, while in the Hungarian version Fiume was declared a ''Corpus separatum'' directly connected to the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen and therefore not falling within the domain of Croatian autonomy within the kingdom, but within the domain of the joint Hungarian parliament and government. Understandably, each parliament signed its respective treaty, but when the two versions went to

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

Franz Joseph I Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until ...

for signing, a piece of paper (the ''Kriptic'') containing a Croatian translation of the Hungarian claim to Fiume had been pasted over the Croatian version. The settlement was defined as provisory. For a definitive settlement, an agreement from Hungary, Croatia and Fiume was necessary and was never achieved up to the dissolution of Austria-Hungary in October 1918.

Corpus separatum (1870–1918)

The administration of the Corpus separatum was settled with the Statute given on 17 April 1872 by the Hungarian Minister of the Interior. At the top of Fiume and its district ( hu, Fiume város és kerülete) there was the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

appointed directly from the King after a proposal from the Hungarian Prime Minister. The Governor of Fiume was entitled to membership in the

House of Magnates The House of Magnates ( hu, Főrendiház) was the upper chamber of the Diet of Hungary. This chamber was operational from 1867 to 1918 and subsequently from 1927 to 1945. The house was, like the current British House of Lords, composed of heredi ...

. The municipal self-rule was entrusted to a ''Rappresentanza'' of 56 members whose mandate lasted 6 years. The citizens had the right to elect their representative at the House of Representatives. From 1896 onwards the Hungarian Government reduced the scope of municipal autonomy that was practically ended by 1913. Fiume and the district administered as a Corpus separatum had a total area of 21 km² and comprised the City and three villages: *''Cosala'' (Italian) or ''Kozala'' (Croatian) *''Drenova'' (Italian and Croatian) *''Plasse'' (Italian) or ''Plase'' (Croatian)

After 1918

The territory of Fiume after the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

was involved in a series of events that, after various military occupations (the longest lasting was the one led by Gabriele D'Annunzio, also called the Italian Regency of Carnaro), saw the creation of an ephemeral successor entity in the

Free State of Fiume The Free State of Fiume () was an independent free state that existed between 1920 and 1924. Its territory of comprised the city of Fiume (today Rijeka, Croatia) and rural areas to its north, with a corridor to its west connecting it to the ...

. The Free State existed officially 4 years, before it was militarily occupied and eventually

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

to the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

as part of the

Province of Fiume The Province of Fiume (or Province of Carnaro) was a province of the Kingdom of Italy from 1924 to 1943, then under control of the Italian Social Republic and German Wehrmacht from 1943 to 1945. Its capital was the city of Fiume. It took the othe ...

in 1924, annexation that marked the end of the historic Fiuman autonomy.

Demographics

In 1900, the corpus separatum had a population of 38,955 people and by 1910, the population increased to 49,608. According to the census taken by the Italian National Council of Fiume ( it, Consiglio Nazionale Italiano di Fiume) in December 1918 after Italian army captured the city of Fiume, following the World War I the population dropped to 45,885. It had the following composition identified by association with linguistic communities: According to the census of 1900, the county was composed of the following religious communities: Total: *

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

: 36,104 (92.7%) *

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

: 1,172 (3.0%) *

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the entire body of Orthodox (Chalcedonian) Christianity, sometimes also cal ...

: 703 (1.8%) *

Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John C ...

: 423 (1.1%) *

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched ...

: 261 (0.7%) *

Greek Catholic The term Greek Catholic Church can refer to a number of Eastern Catholic Churches following the Byzantine (Greek) liturgy, considered collectively or individually. The terms Greek Catholic, Greek Catholic church or Byzantine Catholic, Byzantine C ...

: 73 (0.2%) * Unitarian: 11 (0.0%) * Other or unknown: 208 (0.5%) According to the census of 1910, the county was composed of the following religious communities: Total: *

: 45,130 (90.61%) *

: 1,696 (3.41%) *

: 1,123 (2.25%) *

: 995 (2.0%) *

: 467 (0.94%) *

: 311 (0.62%) * Unitarian: 16 (0.03%) * Other or unknown: 68 (0.14%)

Gallery

File:Tvornica papira Rijeka 1880.JPG, Smith & Meynier Paper Mill File:Hartera.jpg, The same mill File:Adria-Palast.jpg, Adria Palace, the headquarters of Adria Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Company File:Mesopust Rijeka 0208.jpg, Carnival in Fiume File:Fiume.png, Port of Fiume in 1909 File:Nautische Akademie Fiume.jpg, The building of the Royal Hungarian Marine Academy File:Whitehead Fiume.jpg, Whitehead torpedo in 1910 File:Rijeka Fiume.jpg, Postcard depicting Szapáry Wharf and the Adria Palace File:Austrohungarypostcardrijeka1910.jpg, Adamich Pier in 1910 File:Austrohungarypostcardrijeka1900-10-19.jpg, Port of Fiume in 1910

Notes and references

{{coord, 45, 20, N, 14, 26, E, type:county, display=title Lands of the Kingdom of Hungary (1867–1918) Croatia under Habsburg rule History of Rijeka

Former countries