Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 8 Jul 2015.<\/p>\n
Every little girl wants to be a princess and I was no different. \u00a0My grandmother, Mary Violet Koss, loved to tell the story of how the family was awarded a title of PL by royalty back in the day. The details were sketchy of when the event occurred but the story and the privileges that were a result were a well remembered family legend.<\/p>\n
Marauding bands of Turks had been seen throughout the land for some time. As peasant farmers, my family and others like them, were often the first to warn the community of the approaching men on horseback. \u00a0With a shout in the fields, tools were flung aside and a fast run to the castle for safety ensued. One day, however, not just a few men on horseback appeared but an entire army. Fighting from the castle became intense and many men had perished on both sides. It appeared that the castle would soon be overtaken and in despair, the women, among them my many times great grandmother, decided to take action. \u00a0Using the communal cooking pots, when a rolling boil was reached the vats\u2019 contents of oil or water was poured down upon the enemy. \u00a0The fight was soon over as the invaders fled in retreat.<\/p>\n
For valor, my grandmother’s husband was awarded the title of PL, an abbreviation of the word plemeniti which is Croatian for “noble.”\u00a0\u00a0This permitted the family to have special privileges, such as hunting in the king’s forest, a lessening of the annual taxed amount and\u00a0a voice in community affairs.<\/p>\n
When did this occur? \u00a0Who was the King that granted the title? \u00a0Where was the castle located? How can I verify that my family really was awarded this honor? Non did not know but she knew that her father, Joseph Kos, was the last of the line to be able to reap the benefits of the title. \u00a0Joseph had been a leader in the Austria-Hungary Calvary when Non was a child and his position afforded the family a comfortable life.\u00a0 Unfortunately, while holding his horse that was being re-shoed, the horse kicked Joseph in the chest which caused him to become an asthmatic.\u00a0 He was released from his duties and with no prospects for another career, emigrated in 1910 to America.<\/p>\n
As an adult, I wanted to dig further into the family lore and discover what event led to the title.\u00a0 The only additional information I could recall was that as a practicing Roman Catholic, Non had said the Turks not only wanted more land but wanted to put an end to Catholicism. \u00a0Using religion as my first clue I began to investigate when the region became Catholic.<\/p>\n
Although there is not agreement on when Croatia became Christianized, it most likely was over several centuries beginning in the 7th with the faith becoming firmly established by 925 when the ruler Tomislav aligned himself with Pope John X.1<\/sup> Most of the titles Tomislav extended were to noncitizens so it is not probable that the PL title was conferred to my relatives by Tomislav.<\/p>\n Next I decided to research when the Ottoman invasion occurred. \u00a0After Coloman united Austria and Croatia in 1102 2<\/sup>, the Ottoman’s began to invade the area. History records that the Great Turkish War occurred between 1667-1698. \u00a0I suspect, if the PL designation occurred, it would have been between 1102 and 1698.<\/p>\n My family resided close to the present city of Zagreb; both of my grandparents being born in the tiny village of Dubranec. \u00a0In 1900, they were 2 of the 454 residents.3<\/sup> Today, Dubranec is part of the city of Velika Gorica so I investigated battles that occurred nearby. \u00a0“In 1278 noblemen from Turopolje joined into a union called\u00a0Plemenita op\u010dina turopoljska<\/em>\u00a0(“Noble municipality of Turopolje”). Plemenita op\u010dina turopoljska<\/em>\u00a0was granted a rule over Turopolje by Croatian monarchs\u00a0and exists still today with mainly (a) ceremonial and not political role. \u00a0Regarding the Turopolje name, among the most common opinions is that the name, meaning “Tur field”, comes from an old Slavic word “tur” which means Aurochs, an ancient type of cattle with long horns,\u00a0which was a symbol of fertility and the sun god. These cattle died out in the 16th century. The cattle were closely related to agriculture. Plowing had a symbolic meaning, the fertilization of Mother Earth, so these cattle were often assumed to have “sacred” characteristics. Because of its importance in the life of the plowmen, “tur” became the basis for numerous toponyms. However, as recently as the 16th century, Turopolje was called\u00a0Campus Zagrebiensis<\/em>, i.e. “Zagreb field”, or just\u00a0Campus<\/em>\u00a0(field). At that time the name was replaced by “Tur field”, i.e. Turopolje”.4<\/sup>\u00a0 Knowing my family were farmers this most likely was the event my Non described.<\/p>\n Investigating further, I found it was King Ladislas IV of Hungary and Croatia who confirmed “the ‘nobles of Turopolje’. \u00a0(They) originally were (but with\u00a0no doubt at the time when their charter was issued in 1278, castle-warriors of Zagreb (iobagiones castri Zagra-biensis), i.e. they occupied – because of their military duties – the most honourable rank within the population of the castle, but they were definitely subjugated to the jurisdiction held by the\u00a0comes<\/em>\u00a0of Zagreb.”5 \u00a0I cannot find reference to an Ottoman invasion of Zagreb during this time, however, Osman I, who was the individual the Ottoman\/Turkish empire was named for, did begin to expand settlements into the eastern Mediterranean and Balkans during this time.6<\/p>\n Interestingly, King Ladislas IV was more of a Pagan than a Roman Catholic so he may have more in common with the tur plowmen\u2019s sun god and Mother Earth worship than just military exploits.<\/p>\n The only part of the story left to verify is whether my Kos line was one of the Turopoljes.\u00a0\u00a0I was able to find that in the Armorial Book, Duis Dragon Hung, Kos was a name that was granted nobility status.7<\/sup>\u00a0That doesn’t necessarily mean that it was my line, however. Alas, even if I can confirm<\/p>\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Vladimir Posavec (March 1998).”Historical Maps and Borders in the Age of Tomislav.\u00a0Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest<\/em>\u00a0(in Croatian)\u00a030<\/strong>\u00a0(1): 281\u2013290.\u00a0ISSN<\/a>\u00a00353-295X.\u00a0Retrieved\u00a028 Jun 2015.<\/p>\n 2<\/sup>\u00a0Ladislav Heka (October 2008).\u00a0Croatian-Hungarian relations from the Middle Ages to the Compromise of 1868, with a special survey of the Slavonian issue.\u00a0Scrinia Slavonica<\/em>\u00a0(in Croatian) (Hrvatski institut za povijest \u2013 Podru\u017enica za povijest Slavonije, Srijema i Baranje)\u00a08<\/strong>\u00a0(1): 152\u2013173.ISSN<\/a>\u00a01332-4853\u00a0\u00a0Retrieved 28 Jun 2015.<\/p>\n 3<\/sup>“Google Translate.”\u00a0Google Translate<\/em>. N.p.,Web. 29 June 2015.<\/p>\n 4<\/sup>“Velika Gorica.”\u00a0Velika Gorica<\/em>. N.p., Web. 29 June 2015.<\/p>\n 5<\/sup>“Noble Communities in Spi\u0161 and Turopolje in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries.”\u00a0Noble Communities in Spi\u0161 and Turopolje in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries<\/em>. p.224., n.d. Web. 29 June 2015<\/p>\n 6<\/sup>\u00a0The Sultans: Osman Gazi. The Ottomans.org. Retrieved\u00a013 December\u00a02010.<\/p>\n 7<\/sup>“Google Translate.”\u00a0Google Translate<\/em>. N.p., Web. 29 June 2015.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 8 Jul 2015. Every little girl wants to be a princess and I was no different. \u00a0My grandmother, Mary Violet Koss, loved to tell the story of how the family was awarded a title of PL by royalty back in the day. The details were sketchy of when the event … Continue reading “A Title Conferred – The Legend of the PL”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[106,84,107,108,109,110],"class_list":["post-135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family-stories","tag-croatian-nobility","tag-koss","tag-osman-i","tag-ottoman","tag-turkish-empire","tag-turopolje"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":136,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135\/revisions\/136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogyatheart.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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