Kingdom’s Rights, Kingdom’s Elite: The Case of Prothonotary George Plemić (1690-1713)

Abstract

Autori u radu analiziraju društveno-političke prilike unutar Hrvatskoga Kraljevstva kroz prizmu političke moći i utjecaja protonotara Jurja Plemića u razdoblju od 1690. do 1713. godine, odnosno u razdoblju kada je Juraj Plemić obavljao funkciju kraljevinskoga protonotara. Ističući ovlasti protonotarske funkcije kao i utjecaj osobe koja je obnašala ovu funkciju, autori postavljaju tezu da je protonotar Juraj Plemić bio ključna politička osoba unutar hrvatskoga staleškog svijeta na prijelazu sa 17. na 18. stoljeće i uvelike utjecao na neke od najznačajnijih staleških odluka nastalih unutar institucije Hrvatskoga sabora u navedenom razdoblju.This article analyses the socio-political circumstances within the Kingdom of Croatia between 1690 and 1713, focusing on Prothonotary Juraj Plemić and his political influence as a case study, to illustrate the main thesis that the kingdom’s rights enabled notaries, nobility judges, vicecomites, treasurers, prothonotaries and vice-bans to create a strong political system and to have a monopoly over decision-making in the Croatian Diet, the Sabor, in the aforementioned period. The prothonotary’s political potential and power are explained by the authorities and privileges of prothonotary function as well as the “networking” of parliamentary officials, all of whom belonged to the middle and lower nobility. Consequently, this estate became the privileged negotiation partners within the Kingdom of Croatia for the royal court circles, whereas the magnates’ political activity was severely curtailed. The story of the Samobor copper mine, “the 1708 incident” and the cooperation between the prothonotary and the bishop of Zagreb in legitimising the succession of Habsburg female line all best illustrate the aforementioned influences and “networking” of parliamentary officials, and prove that Prothonotary Plemić was the key political figure of the Croatian estates at the turn of the seventeenth and the eighteenth century. The article emphasises the need for further research into the parliamentary functions and the persons who performed these offices, in order to create new interpretations of early modern Croatian history