Today, Vivodina
is an integral part of the County of Ozalj, Croatia. It occupies
its northern section with a total of 26 villages and hamlets. It
is a wine producing region in which grape vine cultivation, with
a seven-century tradition, is the principle economic branch of
endeavor.
The
first known source about Vivodina harks back to the 14th century
which tells us that it is a very old settlement, most likely
settled in the time of the migration of the Croatians to the
present homeland. These sources tell us that Vivodina was
organized as a free district - judiciary (iudicatus)- and is
proclaimed as a "brotherhood of noble men". Such
districts exist since the settlement of the Croatians in the
present homeland and evidently Vivodina draws a continuity from
that period. It held a position of an independent district,
judiciary, up to the 16th century when it lost its independence
in the development of feudalism.
Vivodina is first mentioned in 1330, the year when Henrik Koruski
chief of the Teutonic order from Crnomlje established a religious
parish. The second entry we have is from 1334 in the parish
census of the Gorski Archdeaconry taken by Ivan Archdeacon
Goricki. The census lists the Vivodina parish and the church of
St. Juraj (George) above Dojutrovica, which at that time was the
first parish church in the parish of Vivodina.
Except for the above two statements tradition lives in the people
which tells us that many manors were established in Vivodina
during the development of the feudal state. The most powerful
feudalist there was one Vivoda after whom the land which he
governed was named, in reality meaning the land of Vivoda, or in
short Vivodina. Folklore has it that this Vivoda had his castle
in a place named Ponori between two streams, upon a hill. Today
the neighboring peasants call this place Gradac which derives
from the word town, or castle, which Vivoda possessed in that
location. Remains of the structures are present today although
not archaeologically examined; the facts are confirmed by the
people's tales.
The surname Vivoda exists today in neighboring Bela Krajina, so
it can be concluded that here we have descendants of the
aforementioned Vivoda. The first village next to the former
Vivoda town is Muzari, which was known at one time as Radina Vas.
From this it can also be concluded the people were prone to
naming settlements after the name of the owner and so it can be
assumed that Vivodina received its name from Vivoda.
Vivodina, as an independent district -iudicatus- had from its
long past its judicial court, its councilmen and its seal with
the legend "Seal of the Vivodinian Fratemity" and in
the center of the seal a sickle, evidently a symbol of the
agriculture pursued by the Vivodinians. In the Archives of
Croatia, in Zagreb, there are on file about a hundred documents
from Vivodina, of them written in Vivodina. A great number of
them bear the above mentioned seal and are signed by the judges
and councilmen.
The oldest document from Vivodina known today is dated 1550, and
concerns the purchase and sale contract whereby Berne Jeresic
sold his vineyard, a parcel of land and forest to Miklous
Benkovic in Gornji Lovic. This purchase-sale agreement witnesses
to the fact that in the XV century the Vivodinians, and most
certainly earlier, were pursuing their most favorite agricultural
activity - cultivation of the vine.
Preserved documents tell us that even in the 15th century
Vivodina was an independent district, a iudicatus, with a court
of justice at its head which the populace themselves chose. The
judge, together with ten elders as council, comprised the
district court. The court settled private legal matters and
handled the policing duties in the area of the independent
Vivodina.
The court met according to need and mostly twice a month on
appointed days. The place of meeting was usually on a bench in
front of the church, first at St. Juraj while it was the parish
church and later in front of St. Lovra. Some of the names of the
Vivodinian judges which remain in the document are Tomas Vrbasic
1550, Martin Furlan 1599, Petar Strelac 1601, Mikula Snidaric
1608, Mikula Furjanic 1619, and others.
In the time of Frankopan and specially in the time of Zrinski in
the 16th and 17th centuries, Vivodina gradually lost its
independence and came under the supervision of Ozalj officials.
In the Vivodina District, besides the mentioned judiciary and
council, there remain only two clerks: "biric" and
"span" for an undetermined period of time.
"Biric's" duty was to announce three times
weekly (on Sunday) in front of the parish church, every sale or
change of property ownership. It was his duty to ascertain
whether the serfs fulfilled their mandatory services and
contributed correctly their obligations as serfs. The names
listed in the documents list Martin Vrbosjak 1601, Petar Furlan
1612-1613, Juri Sejavac 1615, Petar Gornik 1621, Juri Sirutka
1625, Marko Vrbos 1630-1633, Petar Furlan 1666, Mikula Furjanic
1683, and others as "birics".
The other clerk in the Vivodina judiciary was the "span".
It was his duty to see that the serfs maintained the roads in
proper order, that no damage was done to the fields, vineyards
and forests. These "spans" are mentioned in the
documents as being Juro Sejavac 1624 and Ivica Cvrcak.
On the occasion of every exchange of land a purchase-sale
agreement was prepared. Many of these agreements were written by
local scribes in Vivodina. We find the names of these in the
documents: Mihalj Marinic 1599, Blaz Kurpes 1608, Matijas Hrestak
1610-1633, Perica Supanic 1663, Janko Belavic 1722, and others.
With the development of the feudal system in the District of
Vivodina it gradually loses its independence and its up-to-then
free populace become serfs. It is seen from the source that
beginning in the 15th century, Vivodina enters into the
possession of Ozalj whose owners are powerful Frankopans and when
in 1562 Stjepan Frankopan by way of a gift gave Ozalj to Nikola
Zrinski of Siget, Vivodina found itself under the supreme
authority of the family of Zrinski. Now begins the most intensive
subjugation into serfdom of the free inhabitants of Vivodina.
From that time the Ozalj owners influenced the election of the
judiciary in Vivodina, confirmed its election and thus gradually
influenced its decisions in connection with the disposition of
property.
An important source for knowledge of social economic relations in
Vivodina during the time of Zrinski is the register of the Ozalj
ownership in the year 1686, a section of which relates to
Vivodina.
According to this register the following villages of serfs
existed in Vivodina in the 17th century: Gorniki, Obrez, Cerje,
Vrskovac, Zorkovac, Belosici, Krasinec, Srsici, Vuketici,
Varastovci, Hodinci, Stojavnice, Gornji Lovic, Dojutrovica,
Crniceva village, Doljni Lovic, Vratina Vas, Donja Hrastovica,
Gornja Hrastovica and Dvorisce.
As can be seen today there is no Crniceva village and not listed
are the names of today's Vivodinian villages of Furjanici, Galez
Draga, Hreni, Galin, Budin, Brezje and Pecarici. It can be
assumed that these villages did not exist in the 17 century and
so the register does not list them. There is also the possibility
that their residents were not serfs and so are not mentioned in
the register.
The register lists the surnames of many serfs who have their
continuity to this day such as Benkovic, Fric, Furjanic, Gustin,
Marincic, Stulac, Vrbanek, Verbos, Vergot, and others.
The register shows that the serfs had triple obligations toward
the feudal landlords: in kind, money and compelled services.
Further they had obligations toward the church for its 10% tithe,
and the so-called "for the King" - and a national tax.
Aside from these obligatory burdens they had numerous out-of-the
ordinary outlays.
It is interesting to look at the history of the Croatian language
on the territory of Vivodina which we can follow through their
documents written in the Vivodinian Croatian language. We have
already mentioned the oldest known document to date from 1550
which is written in the Croatian language and in the Latin
characters. The document shows great agility in the writing of
the Croatian language from which it is conclusive that the
Croatian language was written in Vivodina even earlier and that
without a doubt there were literate folks there. This document is
written in the "cakav" dialect which is quite different
from the "cakav" dialect in the Croatian Littoral Coast
and Istra.
Accordingly, the oldest dialect in Vivodina was the "cakav".
It can be seen from further documentation that the "cakav"
dialect soon disappeared in Vivodina and there developed the
"kajkavski" already in the first half of the 17 century.
The pronoun "kaj" (what) is mentioned for the first
time in a document dated 7 December 1643. The subject matter of
the document refers to the sale of a hill by Mikula Pticak to
Lovro Gusic. The "kajkavski" dialect has its continuity
to this day.
In the religious realm up to the 14th century Vivodina was within
the competence of the Bishopry of Zagreb and in the constituency
of the Goricki Archdiocese. From the middle of the 14th century
on the occasion of the expulsion of Vivodina's Pastor Pipold from
the church because he did not want to pay the church tithe,
Vivodina came into the constituency of the Gorski Bishopry but
under the patronage of the abbey in Kostanjevac up to 1797.
The Vivodinian priests came from the outside up to the 19th
century, from the Bishopry of Zagreb, Senj-Modruska and Krcka.
The first clergymen were of the old Croatian script which spread
throughout the broader Karlovac locale and in Vivodina. The
clergyman Mikula Bozanic (1612-1622) was not able to serve mass
except from the old Croatian language missals. The old Croatian
script was retained up to the middle of the 17th century.
From 1330 to 1757 the parish church of Vivodina was the church of
St. Juraj above Dojutrovica. From 1753 to 1757 the Baroness
Vojnovic-Jelacic, who had holdings in Krasine, had the St. Lovra
church built which is the parish church to this day. The St.
Lovra and St. Franja (Francis) in Lovic represent the loveliest
examples of baroque construction in Croatia.
Several little chapels in the Vivodina territory and affiliates
of the parish church were built, such as St. Nikola in Obrez,
built before 1705; St. Franja in Lovic Gornji, built 1747; and St.
Ivan in Stojavnica, built in the 18th century. In Galin stood the
chapel of St. Sabastian and Florian and at the crossroads for
Lovic and Dvorisce the church of St. Mihajlo which burned down
when struck by lightening in 1848.
After the fall of the Zrinski family (1671) supervisor of the
chamber Grgur Pavisic sold Vivodina to the abbey of Kostanjevac
for 4000 florins and he in 1687 to Baron Stephan Vojnovic and his
spouse Ana Katarina Rosini, nee Baroness Lichtenberg. Their
castle was located in Krasinec. This family held Vivodina up to
1747.
Another ownership mentioned after the fall of the Zrinski family
was by Ivan Abfater in Lovic and after him Mihalj Makaric and his
spouse Helen, nee Bedenikovic. These owners were the landlords
and masters of numerous Vivodinian serfs. Smaller owners in the
district are mentioned such as Haas in Vrskovac, Derkos in Lovic
and Hac in Cerovici.
Possession of Krasinec was held by the family Jelacic from 1747,
whose member, Baroness Jelacic was mentioned as having built the
St. Lovra church in Vivodina. This family held the Krasinec
property up to 1807 when it became the possession of the Tomic
family and then Spisic and Raskaj.
After this the Krasinec property was liquidated, the Slovenian
Martin Simunic buying the house and some land. By the marriage of
his daughter Tonika the property came into the possession of the
district treasurer Franjo Kocman whose decendents hold Krasinec
today.
In the time of Napoleon's French reign a military company of 200
soldiers and 200 horses [correct translation: 200 soldiers and
200 calvary] were stationed in Metlika. The chronologist of the
parish church in Vivodina states that before Christmas of 1805, a
large French patrol came through, across Kamnica, into Vrskovac
and billeted itself in the home of Belavic on Beli Vrh. So the
French also visited Vivodina.
The 1843 chronicle reports a conflict on the Krasinec property
between the nobleman Sabac and his group of armed men and the
nobleman Tomic and his group of armed men. Sabac men entrenched
themselves in the courtyard of the home while the Tmic men broke
into the wine cellar full of wine and got drunk. A shooting
ensued in which two members of the Tomic clan were injured and
left the "battle-ground". The entire clash occurred
over the matter of ownership of the Krasinec property. The
conflict received its epilogue in court which ruled in favor of
the nobleman Tomic.
The revolutionary year 1848/49 had its reverberation in Vivodina.
The chronicle reports the war resulted in a rise in the cost of
living necessities which hit Vivodina and its chief product -
wine, of which there was an abundance but did not do well on the
market where its price fell. This was a heavy blow for Vivodina
for as can be seen the cultivation of vineyards, as it is today,
was the chief occupation. The stronger and more fit young men
went into military service, states the chronicle. Discontinuance
of mandatory service and extending freedom to the serfs of
Vivodina (in 1848) was gratefully received. Revolutionary events,
complains the chronicle, diverted the Vivodians from church and
religion.
There were literate folks in Vivodina as is witnessed by
documents written in Vivodina even in the 16th century; but it
was only in the 19th century that an elementary school was
established there. This event was brought about in this manner: a
new parish house was built in 1859. The old parish house was
being sold and was purchased by the local priest Josip Mavretic.
As a supporter of knowledge and learning he invited Mato Ramuscak
into his home and together with chaplain Djuro Benkovic, they
agreed a school could be opened and temporarily housed in their
old parish home, which Pastor Mavretic was willing to donate to
the district until a new school house could be built.
This plan came to the attention of the nobleman Donald Tomic,
financial advisor in retirement from Krasinec and Vjekoslav
Raskaj, a lawyer in Vivodina. The efforts of this intelligencia
resulted in the establishment of a three-grade school and on the
18th of November in 1862 it was opened. Present on this occasion
was the county judge Ivan Sviglin, nobleman Donald Tomic,
attorney Vjekoslav Raskaj and 120 pupils. The school was housed
in the old parish house up to 1865 when the new school was built
on the property next to the parish garden donated to the district
by Donald Tomic. It was a one-story building upon which a second
story was added, just as it stands today.
In 1889 a phylloxera (infestation) ruined two-thirds of the
vineyards which was a great blow to the populace. In 1892 the
hard working Vivodinians began by tilling the ruined vineyards
with phyll-serum and planting new American cuttings of grape
vines. Their work was rewarded within a few years. The vineyards
again bore fruit and Vivodina rang with song.
In 1901 a great tragedy occurred. A ferry loaded with passengers
and cattle upon the swollen Kupa River broke loose and floated
down toward Ozalj, crashing against the cataract. Eleven persons
were drowned. Those remaining on the ferry managed to save
themselves.
Since 1901 a road was built from the Kupa River toward Vivodina
and soon after that the railroad line Metlika-Karlovac. Thus
transportation means between Vivodina and Karlovac were improved.
The
importance of the cultivation of the vineyards was mentioned
earlier and it is the chief branch of agriculture in Vivodina. It
is what induced the folks of this area to form wine cooperatives
and in 1938 to the building of wine cellars. It was easier to
place their wine surplus on the market through the wine
cooperatives and to obtain various supplies for wine making by
the coop members.
The First World War brought many-sided blows to the Vivodinians.
Wine had no market, life's necessities became expensive, taxes
were increased and a great number of the menfolk went into
military service from which some never returned. Hunger
encompassed the district. An office for the collection of food
and funds was organized. The government collected all the bells
from their churches to be melted down into cannons for use in the
war.
On the eve of the Second World War active communists in Vivodina
were Lovro Milan from Lovic Gornji and Ivan Pecaric from
Dojutrovica. In 1941 they joined the Peoples Liberation Movement
and so were the first propagators of the Peoples Liberation
Struggle, the socialist revolution in Vivodina. In time the
number of sympathizers and activists-participants in the Peoples
Liberation Revolution in Vivodina grew. With the arrival of
partisan units from Kordun in 1942, in Zumberak and Vivodina, the
local anti-fascists joined them in united action.
In 1943 a Vivodinian partisan troop was formed which later
developed into a battalion. There were many Vivodinians in the
make up of other partisan units. The majority of the populace in
Vivodina sided with the Peoples Liberation Movement, willingly
extending assistance to the movement and were concerned about the
partisan units battling on their territory. It was a sphere of
cooperation and uniting struggle of the Croatian and Slovenian
partisans.
In 1943, already the Vivodinian peasants participated in the
Peoples Liberation Committee and in the organizing of the Peoples
Liberation Front. Vivodina contributed many victims during the
Peoples Liberation Struggle, of which 37 were fighters and 29
victims of fascist terrorism.