Legrad () is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

in northern

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 ...

, located north of

Koprivnica Koprivnica () is a city in Northern Croatia, located 70 kilometers northeast of Zagreb. It is the capital and the largest city of the Koprivnica-Križevci county. In 2011, the city's administrative area of 90.94 km2 had a total po ...

and east of

Ludbreg Ludbreg is a town in Croatia, located halfway between Varaždin and Koprivnica near the river Drava. It has 3,603 inhabitants, and a total of 8,478 in the entire municipality (census 2011). History For centuries Ludbreg has been a popular plac ...

in the Koprivnica–Križevci County. There are 2,241 inhabitants in the municipality, absolute majority of which are

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic ...

at 97.4%, with the largest minority being

Romani Romani may refer to: Ethnicities * Romani people, an ethnic group of Northern Indian origin, living dispersed in Europe, the Americas and Asia ** Romani genocide, under Nazi rule * Romani language, any of several Indo-Aryan languages of the Roma ...

at 1% of the municipality. Beside the

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 ...

majority, there are Hungarian and Croatian

Lutherans 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 ...

that have a tradition beginning in the 16th century.

History

Due to its favorable geographical position, Legrad became a chartered

market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village or city. In Britain, small rural ...

as early as 1488. Since the mid-16th century, fortifications have been built to protect the town from Ottoman incursions. By the 17th century, Legrad was a major trading post for cattle which attracted merchants from Venice and Italy. The highly profitable cattle trade, run by the

Zrinski family Zrinski () was a Croatian- Hungarian noble family, a cadet branch of the Croatian noble tribe of Šubić, influential during the period in history marked by the Ottoman wars in Europe in the Kingdom of Croatia's union with the Kingdom of Hunga ...

, was used to finance their standing army and the defense against the Ottomans. The development of trade and handcrafting contributed to the demographic growth, and in 1771 Legrad and neighboring villages were recorded as having as many as 6,039 inhabitants. Cattle fairs in Legrad held their relevance into the 18th and 19th centuries. Legrad got a railway station on the other side of the river Drava in Hungary in the second half of the 19th century and that the name of this train station was Légrád until a few years ago (see: Serbian-Hungarian Baranya-Baja Republic). It is historically very important that

Novi Zrin Novi Zrin ( hu, Zrínyiújvár or Új-Zrínyivár) was a fortress of the Zrinski ( Zrínyi in Hungarian) noble family built near the Donja Dubrava village in the northernmost part of Croatia (at the border village of Őrtilos in Hungary) on ...

was near Legrad. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Legrad was part of the

Zala County Zala ( hu, Zala megye, ; ; ) is an administrative county ( comitatus or ''megye'') in south-western Hungary. It is named after the Zala River. It shares borders with Croatia ( Koprivnica–Križevci and Međimurje Counties) and Slovenia ( Lend ...

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 ...

References

Populated places in Koprivnica-Križevci County Municipalities of Croatia {{KoprivnicaKriževci-geo-stub