Ivan Mažuranić

Mažuranić is best remembered for his contributions in the development of the Croatian law system, economics, linguistics, and poetry.

Ivan Mažuranić studied at University of Zagreb. The recorded working language is Croatian and Hungarian. The field of work recorded is poetry, Croatian and translation. Positions recorded include Ban of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia. Works named in the authority record are The Death of Smail-aga Čengić, Deutsch-ilirisches Wörterbuch/Njemačko-ilirski slovar and Hervati Madjarom.

• Name — Ivan Mažuranić • Order1 — Ban of Croatia-Slavonia • Term Start1 — 20 September 1873 • Term End1 — 21 February 1880 • Monarch1 — Franz Joseph I • Predecessor1 — Antun Vakanović • Successor1 — Ladislav Pejačević • Born — 11 August 1814 • Birthplace — Novi Vinodolski, Kingdom of Croatia, Austrian Empire (now Croatia) • Died — 4 August 1890 • Place of death — Zagreb, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (now Croatia) • Spouse — Aleksandra Demeter • Alma Mater — University of Zagreb University of West Hungary • Relatives — Ivana Brlić-Mažuranić (granddaughter) • Known for — The Death of Smail-aga Čengić (poem) • Occupation — Poet, lawyer, politician • Party — People's Party Independent People's Party

Ivan Mažuranić was born on 11 August 1814 as the third of four sons into a well-to-do yeoman family of Ivan Mažuranić Petrov in Novi Vinodolski in northern coastal Croatia. His brother Josip was in charge of taking care of the family estate, Anton was a famous jurist and philologist, while Matija (a blacksmith by profession) was a travel writer who wrote "A Look at Bosnia" (1842) in which he described the private and public life of Ottoman Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mažuranić became a man of many abilities; he spoke 9 languages (Croatian, Latin, Italian, German, Hungarian, French, English, Czech, and Polish) and was well versed in astronomy and mathematics. He attended elementary school in Novi Vinodolski and high school in Rijeka, after which he studied law at the University of Zagreb (1835–1837) and philosophy at the University of West Hungary. After graduation he worked as a gymnasium teacher in Zagreb, and afterwards as a lawyer in Karlovac. He married Aleksandra Demeter, the sister of the renowned Croatian poet Dimitrija Demeter.

Mažuranić was the first Croatian ban not to hail from old nobility, as he was born a commoner. He held the office from 20 September 1873 until 21 February 1880. He was a member of the People's Party. He accomplished the Croatian transition from a semi-feudal legal and economic system to a modern civil society similar to those emerging in other countries in central Europe. Mažuranić has modernized Croatia's educational system by forming a public school network and reducing the importance of denominational schools. The latter was one of the issues that led to his later resignation as ban in 1880 and a process criticized by the Catholic Church at the time, as well as by ethnic Serb politicians in the Parliament of Croatia-Slavonia. Others consider this to have been a necessary step in modernization and secularization of Croatian society. Almost immediately after his election as Ban, Mažuranić started with the implementation of comprehensive reforms. During the period of his rule, the Sabor passed 60 laws covering the whole area of Croatian autonomous jurisdiction. The ideological foundation of his reforms were liberal, emphasizing the importance of the Constitution, individual rights, education, science and laissez faire. The main goal of his reforms was to form foundations of the organization of autonomous Croatian government and establishment of a modern and efficient political-administrative system.

• Illustration — Monument to Mažuranić in Zagreb In his native land, Mažuranić is most well-known as the poet of Smrt Smail-age Čengića (The Death of Smail-aga Čengić). This epic poem contains many verses that have become embedded in the national memory of his people, who regarded it as a "Homeric", focusing on such virtues as fortitude, fidelity, and justice. The tale is based on an assault in Montenegro, when a petty local Muslim tyrant was killed, as an act of vendetta, in an ambush set by Montenegrins. Mažuranić's poetry transformed a rather prosaic act of tribal revenge into a hymn celebrating the struggle for freedom—acted out under the hostile forces of fatality. Following in the steps of Croatian poets like Kačić and Ivan Gundulić (his chief national influence, whose main epic Osman Mažuranić completed), Mažuranić closed the era of Romanticism and of classic epic poetry in Croatian literature. Mažuranić's linguistic work is remarkable for its influence. He co-authored the "German-Illyrian/Croatian Dictionary" with Josip Užarević in 1842. Mažuranić had coined words that have become commonplace in standard Croatian such as words for bank accountancy, rhinoceros, sculptor, ice-cream, market economy, high treason or metropolis.