Janko Drašković

Janko Drašković ( Hungarian: ''Draskovich János''; 20 October 1770 – 14 January 1856) was a Croatian politician associated with the beginnings of the 19th-century national revival, the Illyrian movement. He studied law and philosophy before joining the military until he was discharged on medical grounds. In the 1790s, Drašković pursued a political career, winning a seat in the Croatian Parliament and the Diet of Hungary. Advocating protection of Croatian interests against the threats of Germanisation and Magyarisation in the Habsburg monarchy and subsequently, in the Austrian Empire, Drašković preferred gradual political reforms. He became a leading figure in the Croatian national revival following the 1832 publication of the ''Dissertation'', a manifesto outlining the main problems Croatia faced in terms of political, cultural, economic, and social development and cohesion. The ''Dissertation'' became largely regarded as the programme of the Croatian national revival. Consequently, Drašković supported and significantly contributed to the group gathered around Ljudevit Gaj in pursuit of the objective outlined in the ''Dissertation''. The group and others supporting the objectives of the Croatian national revival became known as the Illyrians after the term Drašković used for the proposed unified Croatian lands in the ''Dissertation''.

Drašković's lasting contribution to the culture of Croatia is ''Matica hrvatska'' which he helped establish in 1842. The institution, initially named the ''Matica ilirska'', was established to promote literacy and knowledge in Croatia – in the national language – to improve the economic circumstances of the land and the population. Drašković served as the first president of the newly established institution. He was among the founders of the People's Party, one of the first two political parties in Croatia. He was the first leader of the party and chaired the Croatian Parliament in 1848.

Biography

Family, education and military career

Janko Drašković was born in Zagreb, Habsburg kingdom of Croatia on 20 October 1770. His parents were Count Ivan VIII and Eleonora Felicita, members of the Drašković family. His early education consisted of tutoring at the estates where the family lived – in Brezovica near Zagreb, Rečica near Karlovac, and Csíkszereda in Siebenbürgen (Transylvania). Drašković moved to Vienna to study law and philosophy before enlisting in the Habsburg military in 1787 as a ''Fahnenträger'' in pursuit of a career that resembled his father's at that point. Drašković joined the 37th Hungarian Infantry Regiment, serving in Nagyvárad and Galicia, and fought in the 1789 Siege of Belgrade. In late 1792, he was discharged on medical grounds with the rank of an ''Oberleutnant''. He rejoined the military, fighting in anti-Napoleonic volunteer units in 1802, 1805, and 1809–1811, in the Dalmatian theatre of the War of the Third Coalition, ultimately becoming a Colonel and thus matching the rank of his father. Drašković married Cecilija Pogledić in 1794 and, after her death in 1808, Drašković married his second wife, Franjica Kulmer, by the end of that year. By that time, he had already sold the estates in Transylvania and Brezovica, and moved to Rečica. Drašković had only one son, Josip, from his marriage with Franjica. Josip died in his youth, leaving no issue.

Political career until 1830

Drašković became involved in politics in 1792, participating in the work of the Croatian Sabor for the first time. This was only two years after the Sabor decided, in May 1790, that Croatia's interests would be better protected against the potential return of absolutist monarchs like the recently deceased Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, and the threat of Germanisation by having a joint government with the Kingdom of Hungary, likewise a part of the Habsburg realms. The decision itself said it was a temporary measure until Croatia regains its territories then occupied by the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice. Shortly after entering the Sabor, Drašković was a part of the parliamentary delegation sent to the Diet of Hungary convened in Pozsony.

While supporting political reforms and economic modernisation, Drašković advocated a gradual approach similar to the position held by Count István Széchenyi, the leader of the moderate faction of the Hungarian national movement. He aimed for the gradual political evolution achieved in the United Kingdom. In particular, he advocated the development of industry and export trade via the Port of Rijeka. At the same time, Drašković advocated education reforms necessary to support economic development as well as to counter efforts of Hungarian nobility aimed at Magyarisation of society. When the Hungarian Diet was reconvened in 1825, in addition to his seat in the Croatian Sabor, Drašković was elected a delegate to the Hungarian Diet as well. Croatian delegates spoke of a Hungarian attack against Croatian rights, particularly pointing out the 1827 decision of the Hungarian Diet to introduce the Hungarian language as a mandatory part of the school programme in Croatia in 1833 as the first step towards the introduction of Hungarian as the official language in Croatia.

''Dissertation''

In response to the efforts aimed at Magyarisation, a group of younger authors known as the ''Idejna grupa iz Kapucinske ulice'' (Kapucinska Street Conceptual Group) gained prominence after they were introduced to Drašković through a mutual acquaintance, Ljudevit Vukotinović. Drašković became a patron of the group that soon became the core of the Illyrian movement, primarily the Croatian national revival movement. The group was led by Ljudevit Gaj, who was influenced by Ján Kollár and Pavel Jozef Šafárik during Gaj's studies in Budapest. It included Josip Kušević, Pavao Štoos, and . In 1832, following his contact with the group, Drašković anonymously published his ''Dissertation, or Treatise, given to the honourable lawful deputies and future legislators of our Kingdoms, delegated to the future Hungarian Diet; by an old patriot of these Kingdoms'' ( hr, Disertacija iliti razgovor, darovan gospodi poklisarom zakonskim i budućim zakonotvorcem kraljevinah naših za buduću dietu ungarsku odaslanem, držan po jednom starom domorodcu kraljevinah ovih). It was the first political, cultural and economic programme of the Croatian national revival. Even though it was published anonymously, authorship of the ''Dissertation'' was immediately apparent to Drašković's contemporaries.

''Dissertation'', printed in Karlovac, by Joan Nepomuk Prettner, written in the Shtokavian dialect (as it was the most widely used dialect, promoted by Gaj), as an instruction to future Croatian delegates to the Hungarian Diet. It examined all current problems of Croatian lands and provided instructions prepared by Croatian Sabor for its delegation to the 1832 Hungarian Diet (Herman Bužan, Antun Kukuljević Sakcinski, and Drašković): to defend municipal rights of Croatia, the temporary nature of the decision to cede authority to the Hungarian Diet until Croatia has sufficient territory to become self-reliant and to protect the official status of Latin language. Finally, the delegates were to petition the king, if they were unsuccessful in the parliament, to grant Croatia the same autonomy in decision-making as enjoyed by Transylvania. In the ''Dissertation'', Drašković made the first specific ideas about the standardisation of the Croatian language. He called for a restoration of the authority of the Ban of Croatia, the establishment of an independent government short of breaking of constitutional bonds with Hungary, use of the national language as the official language in the lands which would, apart from the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, encompass the demilitarised Military Frontier and, over time, Bosnia and the Slovene Lands bordering Croatia proposing the territory be called the "Great Illyria" or "Illyric Kingdom". Finally, Drašković assumed the imperial authorities in Vienna would be supportive of the plan. He saw the potential for imperial support in the fact that Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor had established the Kingdom of Illyria in parts of the Slovene Lands, Istria and Croatia after the French had left the Illyrian Provinces. The term ''Illyrian'' was used in 1830 by Kušević in his work ''De municipalibus iuribus et statutis regnorum Dalmatiae, Croatiae et Slavoniae'' to refer to a common South Slavic language as "''idioma Croatico-Slavico-Illyricum''" (Croatian-Slavic-Illyrian language).

Even though the Sabor accepted Drašković's ideas, his ideas were not universally popular among the Croats, and were criticised as feudal, Austro-Slavism incapable of achieving trialism in the monarchy. Nonetheless, Croatian nobility and clergy supported the national movement as a means to frustrate Hungarian plans to abolish feudal institutions and grant Protestantism in Croatia status equal to that enjoyed by Roman Catholicism. The court in Vienna indeed supported Drašković, with some reservations, and refused royal assent to two laws passed by the Hungarian Diet in the 1830s establishing Hungarian as the official language in Croatia.

Final years

Drašković devoted his final years to strengthening Croatian national awareness through various institutions and by helping Gaj on several occasions. Drašković arranged for Gaj to meet Francis II in 1833, launch his ''Novine Horvatske'' newspaper in 1835, and introduced him to a range of politicians at the 1836 diet in Pozsony where Gaj could promote his ideas. Those efforts were recognised by Ferdinand I of Austria as he awarded Drašković the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary in 1836. In 1835 and 1836, Drašković published several poems in '' Danica ilirska''. Like other poetry of the Croatian national revival, they glorify homeland, freedom, and wine while condemning traitors. In 1838, Drašković published ''Ein Wort an Illyriens hochherzige Töchter'' as a manifesto aimed at curbing the spread of Germanisation among women of Croatian nobility and attracting them to the Illyrian movement. In the same year, three Illyrian reading rooms (''Ilirska čitaonica'') were founded – largely due to efforts by Drašković – in Varaždin, Karlovac, and Zagreb. The Illyrian reading room in Zagreb helped speed up cultural and overall development. In 1841, the first political parties were established in Croatia, including the Illyrian Party (later renamed People's Party (''Narodna stranka'')) which based its programme on the ''Dissertation''. Drašković led the People's Party until 1848 and chaired the sitting of Sabor which appointed Josip Jelačić Ban of Croatia.

In 1842, ''Matica ilirska'' (later renamed ''Matica hrvatska'') was established as a special branch of the Illyrian reading rooms tasked with development of Croatian language. In his speech on the occasion of the founding of Matica ilirska, Drašković made a speech stating that its foremost purpose was the spreading of science and literacy in the national language, providing youth opportunities for education. He explained that this meant mostly the publication of good books at affordable prices. Drašković added that Matica ilirska should translate useful books published abroad and publish such books itself. Finally, he added that the objective should be the improvement of trade and agriculture to ensure appropriate food supply and income for the nation. Drašković served as the first president of ''Matica hrvatska'' until 1851. In 1853, Drašković was appointed as an imperial and royal advisor. Drašković died in Bad Radkersburg on 14 January 1856, while he was traveling to Bad Gleichenberg. Since 1893, his remains rest at the Illyrian Arcade which is part of Zagreb's Mirogoj Cemetery.

Legacy

In the 21st century, Croatian literary historians predominantly view Drašković as the progenitor and the ideologue of the Croatian national revival. He is interpreted as playing a key role in representing the Illyrian movement before authorities, nobility, and the general public. The establishment of ''Matica ilirska'' is deemed by them to be Drašković's crowning achievement. This view echoes views held by late 19th-century Croatian literary historians such as Đuro Šurmin. Poems celebrating Drašković's achievements were written by and Ljudevit Jelačić during his lifetime, and by Dimitrija Demeter, Ivan Mažuranić, and Štoos posthumously.

In the 20th century, following the unification of South Slavs in a Yugoslav state, there were different views, and nuanced interpretations of ''Dissertation'' and Drašković in line with prevailing political views of the day. In 1918, literary historian wrote of the ''Dissertation'' as a monumental blow to Croatian separatism, equating its call for unification with the then-current processes of unification of the South Slavs in a single state, giving greater prominence to Gaj over Drašković in the framework of the Illyrian movement. In the mid-1920s, literary historian interprets Drašković's role as that of a political patron of the Illyrians and the ''Dissertation'' as the most progressive Croatian political programme to date. He claimed Yugoslavist ideas were the basis of the ''Dissertation'' with the leading role in the unification intended for Croatia as the South Slavic land with the greatest degree of political rights left intact. During World War II, following the occupation of Yugoslavia and the establishment of Nazi Germany-aligned puppet the Independent State of Croatia, literary historian interpreted the ''Dissertation'' as a call to unify the Croatian lands within Austria-Hungary and not in a pan-South Slavic state. At the same time, Ježić deemed the roles played by Drašković and Gaj equally significant for the Croatian revival. In Communist-ruled Yugoslavia, this view was once again reversed by literary historians such as who ascribed Drašković a ceremonial role in the Illyrian movement as a member of the feudal class and saw the ''Dissertation'' as a feudal manifesto. This was in line with the prevailing opinion of the state authorities that Drašković, as any nobility, could at best be portrayed as sympathetic to the French Revolution.

A bust of Drašković is displayed in the entrance lobby of the Croatian Parliament as one of its eight great parliamentarians, along with busts of Jelačić, Mažuranić, Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Eugen Kvaternik, Ante Starčević, Frano Supilo, and Vladimir Nazor. The Croatian State Archives is preserving in its collection works created through Drašković's public activities, as well as a portion of his private and official correspondence.

;Bibliography
* Manifestos
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* Poems
** ''Poskočnica'' (1835)
** ''Pdsma domorodska'' (1835)
** ''Napitnica ilirskoj mladeži'' (1835)
** ''Mladeži ilirskoj'' (1836)

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Draskovic, Janko
Janko
Croatian nobility
Croatian writers
People of the Illyrian movement
Politicians from Zagreb
Counts
Habsburg Croats
1770 births
1856 deaths
Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery
Counts of Croatia
18th-century Croatian people
19th-century Croatian people
18th-century Croatian nobility
19th-century Croatian nobility