Digital maps

Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontiers

The maps depicting the Croatian and Slavonian Military Frontiers consist of two interactive maps.

The first map presents the period between 1550 and 1570. The earliest recorded payroll pertaining to the Slavonian Frontier dates to 1554. It is, however, incomplete. For this reason we have paid special attention to the earliest complete payroll, drawn up in 1556. The map also shows data found in the 1559, 1564 and 1565 payrolls. In the Frontier’s early days, postmen were listed along with military troops. The 1556 Slavonian Frontier and 1559 Military Frontier payrolls therefore present us with a wealth of data on the postal system. These payrolls are also the only ones explicitly listing noblemen who served as Frontier commanders.

The second map presents the period between 1570 and 1578. The 1577 and 1578 payrolls are highly significant as they depict the state of the Frontier shortly before the Diet in Bruck an der Mur, where plans for its reorganisation were drawn up. The only detailed source on the postal system dates to 1578, but it is not as nearly detailed as earlier documents pertaining to the subject. The map shows the changes in the border, which occurred in 1577 and 1578, following the great Ottoman incursion (the fall of Zrin, Gvozdansko, etc.).