Katarina Zrinska

Who was Katarina Zrinska?

Countess Ana Katarina Zrinska was a Croatian noblewoman, born into the House of Frankopan noble family. She married Count Petar Zrinski of the House of Zrinski in 1641 and later became known as Katarina Zrinska. She is remembered in Croatia as a patron of the arts, a writer and patriot. She died in obscurity in a monastery in Graz following the downfall of the Zrinski-Frankopan conspiracy in 1671 and the execution of her husband Petar Zrinski.

Katarina Zrinski and the conspiracy were largely forgotten until the 1860s, when Croatian politician Ante Starčević began a campaign to rehabilitate the Zrinski and Frankopan nobility, and the story of her patriotic life and tragic death was widely popularised following the publishing of Eugen Kumičić's historical novel Urota Zrinsko-Frankopanska in 1893. In the early 20th century, and especially after World War I, numerous Croatian women's associations were founded bearing her name, and she is today considered one of the greatest women in Croatian history.