Nikola Frankopan

Nikola IV Frankopan
Gravestone of Nikola IV Frankopan (Nicolaus de Franghapanibus)
Ban of Croatia
In office 1426 – 26 June 1432
Preceded by	Albert de Ungh
Succeeded by	Ivan Frankopan
Personal details
Born	c. 1360
Died	26 June 1432
Spouse(s)	Doroteja Gorjanski Marta Iločka Blanka Sforza
Parents	Ivan V Frankopan Ana Frankopan

Nikola IV Frankopan (Hungarian: Frangepán Miklós; c.1360 – 26 June 1432) was a Croatian nobleman and the Ban of Croatia and Dalmatia from 1426 to 1432.

He began as a lord of most of northern Croatia as count of Senj and Modruš, and later acquired much of the country through loans to king Sigismund totalling around 46,000 ducats. Thus, Nikola Frankopan came into possession of most of Croatia, including Bihać and Knin, with the rest being in the hands of the Nelipić and Kurjaković noble families.

During his visit to the Papal States, he received recognition for being a descendant of the old Roman patrician family Frangipani, after whom he took their name and symbol.

Nikola Frankopan is also regarded as the founder of the town of Crikvenica in 1412.

He was born around 1360 as the only son of Ivan V Frankopan and his wife Ana Gorička. After the death of his father in 1393, he inherited all of his estates and administered them together with his mother. During this time he is mentioned as duke of Krk and Modruš, and was also later confirmed as the duke of Rab. His dominion was further extended with the purchase of Ribnik, near the town of Ozalj for 9000 ducats, from the nobleman Mikac Prodavić.

During the dynastic struggle for the kingship in the region, he was initially supportive of Ladislaus of Naples, but from 1403, he sided with Sigismund. Two years later, he married his first wife Dorothea of the Garai family, who was the daughter of the Palatine of Hungary Nicholas Garay. In 1411, he made a pact with nobleman Ivaniš Nelipić against Ladislaus of Naples. In this pact, he bethrothed his eldest son Ivan Frankopan to Ivaniš's daughter Catherine.