House of Drašković

House of Drašković
Drašković Coat of Arms above the entrance to Trakošćan Castle
Country	Kingdom of Croatia within Habsburg Monarchy
Titles	Baron (since 1567), Count (since 1631), Ban (viceroy) of Croatia
Founder	Bartol Drašković
Final ruler	Dr. Karl Drašković
Ethnicity	Croatian

The House of Drašković, also spelled "Draskovich" in English, is one of the oldest Croatian noble families, originally descended from lower-rank nobility of the Lika region.

There are no reliable data on them before the 15th century. The first reliable information is provided by three documents written in Glagolitic alphabet in 1490 (mentioning "35 noblemen of the Drašković family"), kept at the Budapest National Archives.

In the 15th century, they owned an estate in Donje Zazično (today's Donje Pazarište) in the Buška parish and around Knin, which is why Bartol, who started the family's noble line, was in a document from 1520. referred to as "Kninjanin" (from Knin).

In the first half of the 16th century, due to the Turkish threat, Bartol left Zazično and moved to the Kupa river valley. He fathered cardinal Juraj I Gašpar who was made baron in 1567, and given Trakošćan Castle in 1569. After that, the family members were referred to as "Trakošćanski" (from or of Trakošćan). The Draskovich Family also occupied the Klenovnik Castle, the largest in Croatia before renovating Trakoscan in the mid-19th century. Klenovnik still stands as a hospital.

From the 16th to the 19th century, several family members became renowned in Croatia as politicians, army leaders, and religious dignitaries.

Juraj Drašković (1525–1585) was trained for priesthood in Kraków, Vienna, Bologna, and Rome. He made a good career as a religious dignitary, and considerably added to the family fortune. In 1557, he was made bishop of Pécs and, in 1563, of Zagreb. As of 1576, he was the Croatian ban (Vice-Roy). By the end of his life, he was made a cardinal. He left behind several tractates, as well as a collection of sermons and speeches in manuscript.

Ivan I Drašković, a younger brother of Juraj, was a commander of Croatian and Hungarian forces under the supreme command of Nikola Šubić Zrinski defending Szigetvár from the Turks in 1566.