Ivo Senjanin

Ivo Senjanin (died 1612) was a Croatian uskok and hajduk who led numerous military exploits against the Ottoman Turks. Due to few historical sources, much of what is known about him today is mainly attributed to legend and folklore detailing his life and accomplishments with a medieval romanticism.

Ivo Senjanin was born Ivan Vlatković sometime in the 16th century. As a hajduk captain, he fought against the Ottomans all over the Balkans, including Albania, Bosnia, Herzegovina and Croatia. He fought battles in Lepanto in 1571, in Cyprus, Egypt, Morea, the Battle of Sisak in 1593, the Long War (1593–1606) around Klis and Petrinja, in modern Croatia. He later became an uskok, a type of pirate while in Senj, where he was arrested for stealing and ultimately found guilty and executed in Karlovac.

Today there are many folk-songs and gusle poems (ballads) written in honour of Ivo due to his heroic legacy as a hajduk and uskok.

Another ballad recalls how on one occasion he was said to have vanquished fifty thousand Turks with only eight hundred men. His mother envisioned his death in a dream which she relayed to the local priest: while at church, Ivo rode up on his bloodied horse to the door, his severed right hand in his left, and severely wounded in seventeen places. She assisted him off the horse and tended to his injuries, where Ivo recounted how he and his men had been journeying home from Italy with a hoard of treasure when they were assailed by the Turks multiple times. Although they escaped unharmed the first two times, the third proved fatal for all his men. While finishing his tale he was blessed by the priest and soon died in his mother's arms.

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