Individual Details
Count Miklós III "Nikolaus" Zrinyi
(1490 - 1534)
Miklós was born in 1508, the son of Nikola III Zrinski and Countess Ilona Korbavia. He distinguished himself in the siege of Vienna in 1529, and in 1542 saved the imperial army from defeat before Pest by intervening with 400 Croats, for which service he was appointed ban (count) of Croatia. In 1542 he routed the Turks at Somlyo.
On 17 June 1543 he married Katalin Frangepan de Veglia, daughter of Ferdinand Frangepan de Veglia, Elect of Modrus, and Princess Marija Brankovic. They had eight children of whom a son Juray and four daughters would have progeny. She placed the whole of her vast estates at his disposal. Emperor Ferdinand also gave him large possessions in Hungary, and henceforth the Zrinskis-Zrinyis became as much Magyar as Croatian magnates.
In 1556 Nikola won a series of victories over the Turks, culminating in the battle of Babócsa. The Croats, however, overwhelmed their ban with reproaches for neglecting them to fight for the Magyars, and the emperor simultaneously deprived him of the captaincy of Upper Croatia and sent 10,000 men to aid the Croats, while the Magyars were left without any help, whereupon Nikola resigned the banship (in 1561).
In 1563, on the coronation of Emperor Maximilian as king of Hungary, Nikola attended the ceremony at the head of 3000 Croatian and Magyar mounted noblemen, in the vain hope of obtaining the dignity of palatine, vacant by the death of Thomas Nadasdy.
Shortly after marrying (in 1564) his second wife Eva z Rozmberka, a great Bohemian heiress, he hastened southwards to defend the frontier, and defeated the Turks at Segesd.
In 1566, from August 5 to September 7, his small force heroically defended the little fortress of Szigetvár against the whole Turkish host, led by Suleiman the Magnificent in person. Besieged in Szigetvár, he ordered the lowering of the drawbridge in the belief that he was attacking Suleiman himself, in a desperate attempt to stop the Turks. He did not know, nor did many of the Turks, that Suleiman was already dead, though still a presence in his tent, embalmed by the grand-vizier, as otherwise the morale of the Turks would have been destroyed. Nikola met his death in this attack on 7 September, and the new Sultan, Selim, sent the emperor in Vienna a present---Nikola's decapitated and pickled head with his fur cap still attached to his skull by a Turkish arrow.
Source: Leo van de Pas
On 17 June 1543 he married Katalin Frangepan de Veglia, daughter of Ferdinand Frangepan de Veglia, Elect of Modrus, and Princess Marija Brankovic. They had eight children of whom a son Juray and four daughters would have progeny. She placed the whole of her vast estates at his disposal. Emperor Ferdinand also gave him large possessions in Hungary, and henceforth the Zrinskis-Zrinyis became as much Magyar as Croatian magnates.
In 1556 Nikola won a series of victories over the Turks, culminating in the battle of Babócsa. The Croats, however, overwhelmed their ban with reproaches for neglecting them to fight for the Magyars, and the emperor simultaneously deprived him of the captaincy of Upper Croatia and sent 10,000 men to aid the Croats, while the Magyars were left without any help, whereupon Nikola resigned the banship (in 1561).
In 1563, on the coronation of Emperor Maximilian as king of Hungary, Nikola attended the ceremony at the head of 3000 Croatian and Magyar mounted noblemen, in the vain hope of obtaining the dignity of palatine, vacant by the death of Thomas Nadasdy.
Shortly after marrying (in 1564) his second wife Eva z Rozmberka, a great Bohemian heiress, he hastened southwards to defend the frontier, and defeated the Turks at Segesd.
In 1566, from August 5 to September 7, his small force heroically defended the little fortress of Szigetvár against the whole Turkish host, led by Suleiman the Magnificent in person. Besieged in Szigetvár, he ordered the lowering of the drawbridge in the belief that he was attacking Suleiman himself, in a desperate attempt to stop the Turks. He did not know, nor did many of the Turks, that Suleiman was already dead, though still a presence in his tent, embalmed by the grand-vizier, as otherwise the morale of the Turks would have been destroyed. Nikola met his death in this attack on 7 September, and the new Sultan, Selim, sent the emperor in Vienna a present---Nikola's decapitated and pickled head with his fur cap still attached to his skull by a Turkish arrow.
Source: Leo van de Pas
Events
| Birth | 1490 | ||||
| Death | 1534 | ||||
| Marriage | Ilona de Corbavia |
Families
| Spouse | Ilona de Corbavia ( - 1535) |
| Child | Count Miklós IV "Nikolaus" Zrinyi ban of Croatia, Slovenia and Dalmacia (1508 - 1566) |
| Father | Count Peter II Zrinyi ( - 1493) |
| Mother | Countess Ilona Blagay ( - ) |