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Josip Kušević

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Croatian politician (1775–1846)
Josip Kušević
Portrait of Josip Kušević by Ferdinand von Lütgendorff-Leinburg (1827)
Born(1775-05-23)23 May 1775
Samobor, Croatia, Kingdom of Hungary
Died5 July 1846(1846-07-05) (aged 71)
Meidling (Vienna), Austrian Empire
Other namesJoseph Kussevich
Occupation(s)Politician, lawyer
Known forDe municipalibus iuribus et statutis regnorum Dalmatiae, Croatiae et Slavoniae
RelativesAntun Mihanović (nephew)

Josip Kušević (also spelled Joseph Kussevich, 23 May 1775 – 5 July 1846) was a Croatian politician and lawyer. He was the prothonotary of the Croatian realm and a member of the Croatian Parliament and the Diet of Hungary. As a politician, he opposed introduction of Hungarian language in official use in Croatia. Kušević is known for De municipalibus iuribus et statutis regnorum Dalmatiae, Croatiae et Slavoniae – the work compiling and advocating the rights of Croatia to a special status within the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, i.e. the Croatian state right.

Kušević's work influenced the Illyrian movement and he was held in high regard by supporters of the movement. He held the view that the South Slavs were indigenous population inhabiting the Balkan Peninsula in ancient times. In turn, he linked the South Slavs with the Illyrians and hypothesised that there was a common South Slavic language which he referred to as the Croatian-Slavic-Illyrian language. Count Janko Drašković reused the term of Illyria referring to Croatia and adjacent territories as the "Great Illyria" or "Illyric Kingdom". Drašković's work practically became the political programme of the national revival movement, and the movement itself was branded as the Illyrian movement.

Early life and family

Kušević was born in Samobor on 23 May 1775. He attended high school in Zagreb before receiving a royal scholarship to study philosophy and law at the University of Zagreb and the Royal University of Pest. Since 1796, Kušević worked as a lawyer in Zagreb, and in administration of the Zagreb County. He successfully argued for preservation of the Law Faculty of the Zagreb University, contesting the royal decree to abolish it in 1803. Two years later, Kušević became a notary, and was appointed to sit at the Royal Court Table. Kušević's sister Justina was the mother of poet Antun Mihanović.

Political career

In 1808, the Croatian Parliament (Sabor) appointed him the prothonotary of the kingdoms of Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia. That position also made Kušević a member of the parliament, and the highest-ranking officeholder in the realm after the Ban of Croatia as the two were jointly the head of the judiciary. In 1809, during the War of the Fifth Coalition, Kušević was appointed commissioner tasked with supply of the Habsburg armed forces. After the Treaty of Schönbrunn awarded territory south of the Sava river to the French Empire (subsequently organised as the Illyrian Provinces), Kušević was appointed a member of the commission tasked with marking of the new border along the river.

Kušević led suppression of a peasant revolt in parts of the Požega County. The mission was taken upon order of the central authorities of the Austrian Empire and supported by armed troops. The revolt took place in February–July 1815, in the aftermath of poor harvests of 1813 and 1814. It involved 60 villages within the estate of Count Izidor Janković Daruvarski [hr] where peasants refused to pay taxes required under 1810 regulations. In 1822, Kušević and Alojzije Bužan were sent as envoys of the Zagreb County to the Congress of Verona to express gratitude to Francis I of Austria for restoring the territory south of the Sava to the kingdoms of Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia. In 1831, Kušević was appointed to the post of a royal advisor for Hungary in Vienna where he remained for the rest of his life.

Advocation of the Croatian state right

Further information: Croatian state right
Diet of Hungary of 1830

Kušević distinguished himself as an advocate of Croatia's statehood. As a Croatian Parliament's delegate to the 1825–1827 Diet of Hungary held in Pozsony (present-day Bratislava), Kušević opposed a bill introducing the Hungarian language in official use in Croatia in place of Latin in a speech held on 26 February 1826. Kušević said that the Diet had no right to decide on the language used in public affairs of other realms. He compared Hungary with Switzerland and the United States as multinational states, urging Hungarian lawmakers to follow the example set by those countries in relation to selection of the official language. Kušević argued that the right to determine the official language in Croatia belongs to the Croatian Parliament alone on the basis of articles of law previously confirmed by the king. The speech led to a debate where Hungarian Diet members claimed that Croatian position is similar to that of the northern Hungarian counties (largely corresponding to the present-day Slovakia), while Croatian delegates argued that Croatia enjoyed the status of a federal realm with its own rights, laws, customs, and liberties. Representatives of the king agreed with the Croatian position, denying the Diet the right to determine the official language in Croatia. Kušević's opposition to the bill was motivated by his belief that compromising a single right would endanger all other Croatian rights.

Even though the speech was included in the record of the Diet, Kušević was displeased with the way it was abridged and had it printed and published separately as the Sermo magistri Josephi Kussevich … protonotarii in comitiali Sessione 27. februarii 1826. pronunciatus. In 1827, the Diet of Hungary appointed him to a commission tasked with compiling municipal ordinances and statutes and preparing proposals for reforms of public affairs. Kušević used the information gathered to write and (anonymously) publish the first systematic work on the Croatian state right, De municipalibus iuribus et statutis regnorum Dalmatiae, Croatiae et Slavoniae in 1830. In the work consisting of 36 articles, Kušević stated the rights supporting Croatia's special position as a state within the framework of the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen. The first 19 articles covered the medieval Croatian state, and the rest dealt with municipal rights of the realm. In the work, Kušević argued that Croatia is ruled on the basis of its own laws and the customary law. A year later, Kušević informed the Croatian Parliament he wrote the work to inform patriotic youth of their rights and distributed 500 of the 1000 printed copies to people in attendance.

Influence on the Illyrian movement

Further information: Illyrian movement

Kušević's work served as an inspiration to the nascent Croatian national revival movement. His view that the South Slavs are indigenous population, tracing their origin to the Illyrians inhabiting the Balkan Peninsula in ancient times, led him to hypothesise that there was a common South Slavic language which he referred to as the idioma Croatico-Slavico-Illyricum (Croatian-Slavic-Illyrian language). Count Janko Drašković used the same term in 1832 in his Dissertation arguing for improvement of overall circumstances of Croatia including unification of the Croatian lands commonly referred to as the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia, as well as neighbouring territories as the "Great Illyria" or "Illyric Kingdom". The Dissertation practically became the political programme of the national revival movement, and the movement itself was branded as the Illyrian movement. Kušević himself was admired by the proponents of the Croatian national revival. In 1831, Pavao Štoos dedicated his poem Nut novo leto! Mati – sin – zorja (commonly referred to as the Kip domovine vu početku leta 1831) as a great patriot. Today, Kušević is considered an early participant in the Croatian revival movement.

Death and material legacy

Kušević died in Meidling (present-day part of Vienna) on 5 July 1846. His library (including material inherited from Nicolaus Skerlecz de Lomnicza [hr]) is preserved and kept as a special collection by the National and University Library in Zagreb. In 1813, Kušević made a donation to the Hungarian National Museum. A record of the donation indicates it was a war trophy won in the 1684 Siege of Virovitica, but specific information on the donated object was lost in the meantime.

References

  1. ^ Milković 2013.
  2. Pederin 2016, p. 280.
  3. ^ Heka 2023, p. 444.
  4. Gavrilović 1957, pp. 79–80.
  5. Heka 2013, p. 1260.
  6. Heka 2013, p. 1281.
  7. Jakić & Balta 2007, pp. 276–277.
  8. Švab 1993.
  9. Bratulić 2007.
  10. Laszowski 1897, p. 12.

Sources

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