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van Kukuljević Sakcinski (Giovanni Cucuglievich Bassani de Sacci), was born in Varaždin on May 29, 1816 into a noble family where all Croatian lineages trace back their ancestry to German, Hungarian, French, Italian and other foreign settlers.

historian, writer and politician

born in Varaždin
1816

A Croatian historian, politician and writer, Ivan Kukuljević is most famous for the first speech in Croatian that he delivered before the Parliament. Considered a renowed patriot, Kukuljević was a proponent of the Illyrian Movement and an avid collector of historical documents, primarily those for his work in Croatian historiography and bibliography.

The particular ennoblement of Ivan's family originates in an association with a noble Venetian lineage, the Bassani de Sachi or Sacchi, the name and title of which they assumed in the 17th century. In the mid 19th century the name was Kukulyevich aliter Bassani de Sacci and Kukuljevich de Sacci, while in the later 19th century Sacchi or Sacci became Sakcinski as in Kukuljevich Sakcinski and Kukuljevic-Sakcinski.

Ivan completed his secondary education in the Gymnasiums of his hometown and in Zagreb, then went to the Military Academy of Krems. As a student, Kukuljević started writing in German. In 1833, he joined the army and became an officer in Vienna three years later. He met Ljudevit Gaj and joined the Illyrian Movement in 1837 when he was 21. He was ordered to move to Milan in 1840. A year later, he resigned from his military duties and returned to Croatia, joining the political fight against Magyarization and censorship. He became one of the leaders of the Illyrian Movement.

Kukuljević was a member of the People's Party. His political activity can be separated into two periods: up to 1850 and 1860-1867. The gap from 1851 to 1860 was caused by the absolutism that was instituted by Minister Bach and which repressed political life in Croatia. In the first period, he was a partisan of the liberation of Croatia from Austria and Hungary, an uncompromising ideologue promoting revolutionary actions to achieve the unity of the South Slavs. Believing that the South Slavs can be delivered and unified only by force of arms, he lobbied among the Croats and Serbs at the Military Frontier. Swayed by his personality, the frontiersmen asked for the freedom and unity of the South Slav peoples in their People's Requests of spring 1848, referring to him as their inspiration.

On May 2, 1843, Kukuljević became the first person to make a speech in the Croatian language before the Croatian Parliament. His speech daringly promoted the struggle for national liberation, asking that Croatian become the official language in schools and offices, with its gradual introduction in the public life. He also pointed out the danger of replacing Croatian with other languages. Up to that time, the language of discourse (spoken language?) in the parliament had been in Latin. The speech caused much agitation, but this was not an exception. All his speeches in parliament and at county assemblies staunchily advocated the freedom and independence of Croatia, so they could be published only in Branislav, an illegal Illyrian magazine printed in Belgrade. In 1847, on Kukuljević's urging, the parliament decided to make Croatian the official language.

In 1845, Kukuljević became the chief justice of Varaždin County. During the Revolutions of 1848, he was counted among the radical democrats. Under his influence Josip Jelačić, the Ban of Croatia, convened the Croatian Parliament on June 5, 1848, opposing explicit imperial orders. Kukuljević also initiated the Slavic Congress in Prague.

But the revolutions were crushed and imperial oppression set in. Kukuljević was removed from politics and kept under police surveillance. In the 1850s, his outlook radically changed. His political activity during his second period was the complete opposite of his early anti-Austrian and freedom-loving sentiments. He became the prefect of Zagreb in 1861, and was then loyal to Vienna, implementing policies targeted against Croatians and the South Slavs and hounding his former friends who remained faithful to their Illyrian ideals. After the Compromise of 1867, he was removed from political positions. He died in Tuhakovec Castle in Zagorje on August 1, 1889.

Despite the sharp turn in his later political career, the early patriotic and historical poems of Kukuljević had a major influence on the patriotic sentiments among the Croats. He founded the Society for Yugoslavian History, edited the magazine called Arhiv za Povjesnicu jugoslavensku (Archive for Yugoslavian History), and published valuable historical monographs. It was the foundation of modern Croatian historiography.

Kukuljević collected and published many source texts related to the history of Croatia. He wrote a lexicon with 800 artists' biographies. His work is based sometimes on speculations or false and non-existent references. He is considered a pioneer of Croatian scientific bibliography. He bequeathed his enormous library and many valuable manuscripts to the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences in Zagreb, as its honorary member. One of such manuscripts is a tragedy Skanderbeg written on the basis of Andrija Kačić Miošić's work.

Statue of Ivan Kukuljević Sakcinski in Zagreb

Works:

1839 - Juran i Sofia ili Turci kod Siska: junačka igra u trih činih (Juran and Sofia or the Turks under Sisak: Heroic Play in Three Acts) Tiskom K.P.I.N. Tiskarne Dra. Ljudevita Gaja (Zagreb 1839);

1848 - Slavjanke: sa historičkimi primetbami. Tiskom Franje Župana, 1848;

1852 - Leben des G. Julius Colvio: ein Beitrag zur slavischen Kunstgeschichte. [publisher and place of publication not identified], 11 editions published in German;

1857 - Varašdin kratki nacrt s gledišta historičkog. Brzotiskom dra. ljud. Gaja (Zagreb 1857), 3 editions published;

1858 to 1860 - Slovnik umjetnikah jugoslavenskih. Tiskom narode tiskarne Ljudevita Gaja (Zagreb 1858-1860);

1858 to 2007 - Putovanje po Bosni. Tisk.narodne tiskarnice [Dra.] Lj. Gaja (Zagreb 1858), 4 editions published;

1858 to 2019 - Slovnik: umjetinikah Jugoslavenskih, Tiskom narodne tiskame (Zagreb, 1858), 9 editions published;

1860 to 1974 - Bibliografia hrvatska. Tiskane knjige. Dodatak k prvomu dielu. Tisk. i nakl. A. Jakića (Zagreb 1863), 17 editions published in four languages;

1862 - Jura regni Croatiæ, Dalmatiæ & Slavoniæ. Ludovici Gaj (Zagreb 1862);

1863 - Acta croatica. Listine hrvatske. Brzotiskom narodne tiskarnice dra. Ljudevita Gaja (Zagreb 1863);

1863 - Borba Hrvatah: S Mongoli i Tatari povjestnokritična razprava sa dodatkom izvornih listinah. A. Jakić (Zagreb 1863);

1867 to 1987 - Pjesnici hrvatski XVI. vieka. Kršćanska sadašnjost, Zagreb (reprinted 11 times);

1869 - Pjesme Marka Marulića. Jugoslavenska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti (Zagreb 1869), 8 editions published in 1869, 7 editions published;

1869 - Književnici u Hrvatah iz prve polovine XVII. vieka s ove strane velebita. Štamparija Dragutina Albrechta (Zagreb 1869), 7 editions published;

1874-1875 - Codex diplomaticus regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae: Diplomatički zbornik Kraljevine hrvatsks Dalmacijom i Slovonijom, Tiskom D. Albrechta (Zagreb 1874-1875), 6 editions published;

1875 - Pavao Skalić (Zagreb 1875);

1878 - Julio Klovio. U spomen tristogodišnjice izdala. Matica Hrvatska (Zagreb 1878);

1878 - Jure Glović, prozvan Julijo Klovio, hrvatski sitnoslikar [Jure Glović aka Giulio Clovio, Croatian miniaturist], "Matice hrvatske", (Zagreb 1878), 3 editions published;

1885 - Beatrica Frankopan i njezin rod (Zagreb 1885);

1886 to 1991 - Glasoviti Hrvati prošlih vjekova: Niz životopisâ (Famous Croats of Ages Past), Matica Hrvatska, Zagreb (10 editions published);

1891 - Nadpisi sredovječni i novovjeki na crkvah, javnih i privatnih sgradah i t. d. u Hrvatskoj i Slavoniji. Knjižara Jugoslavenske Akademije (Zagreb 1891), 9 editions published;

1896 to 2014 - Regesta documentorum regni Croatiae, Dalmatiae et Slavoniae saeculi XIII. (in Latin) Typis officinae societatis typographicae (Zagreb 1896), 9 editions published;

References:

Slovnik umjetnikah slovenskih page 155: Klovio Juraj Julio, najslavniji sitnoslikar. Rodio se u Grizanah, neznatnom selu hrvatskoga Primorja, u kotaru vinodolskom. Sto mu biahu roditelji i kako se zvahu, to se zaliboze joste ne zna. Neima sumnje, da je njegovo prezime stoprv u Italiji, po obicaju onoga vremena, preinaceno i potalijanceno. U cielom hrvatskom Primorju neima ni jednoga pismenoga spomenika, u kom bi se spominjalo ime porodice Klovia.
Glasoviti Hrvati proslih vjekova, page 73: Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic - Croat, gave the post of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church patriarch to his uncle
Botica, Stipe (2003) (in Croatian), Andrija Kačić Miošić, Zagreb: Školska knjiga, p. 123, ISBN 9789530615779, OCLC 57736273, retrieved 26. November 2011, "O Skenderbegu... Zanimljivo je istaknuti da je Ivan Kukuljević-Kacinski na osnovi pevanja fra Andrije Kačića-Miošića napisao tragediju pod naslovom Skenderbeg koja se u rukopisu čuva u Arhivu HAZU [About Skanderbeg... It is interesting to emphasize that Ivan Kukuljević-Kacinski, on the basis of songs of friar Andrija Kačić-Miošić, wrote a tragedy titled Skanderbeg which manuscript is kept in Archive of HAZU.

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