OSTROŽAC - The last stronghold of the European nobility in the Cazin region

When a very respected friend and tireless, far more valuable than me, fellow researcher Almir Ami Kurtović, took my life partner Biba and me around Bihać and the surrounding area, he asked me to look for a connection between the last legal and legitimate owners of the fortress and the Ostrožac castle, a noble family Berks and the princely families of Frankopan. He did so in the deep conviction that such a connection must exist.

I promised to do it, although with great doubts about the success, because the family of pl. Berks and the princes of the Frankopans of Krk.

The guide that Almir gave me was the Adamović family pl. Čepinski where Isabella pl. was born. Berks, wife of Lothar pl. Berks, the last master of Ostrošac before the communist takeover. And so I set out on a quest in which I discovered what follows.

Almir in the appendix of his book "Pl. Berks and Ostrožac - Traces of a Family" included genealogies of some prominent families that he researched. Thus, in the part where he mentions his kinship with the Bosnian queen Katarina Kosača, Kotromanić completely correctly stated the blood connection with the Serbian Branković dynasty, i.e. Marija Branković, the daughter of the Serbian despot Jovan, who was married to the son of Grand Duke Bernardin Frankopan, Prince Ferdinand, with whom had a son Stjepan IV. and daughter Katarina. Princess Marija Branković Frankopan, her husband Ferdinand, their son Stjepan IV. and daughter-in-law Katarina von Eckgh und Hungersbach, as well as their little granddaughter also Katarina, are most likely all buried in the crypts of the Pauline monastery Svetice near Ozalj.

We are interested in Katarina, daughter of Princess Marija Branković Frankopan and Prince Fernardin, sister of Stephen IV. who married Nikola Šubić Zrinski, the famous defender of Siget. The author of the book mentions that Katarina in the genealogy - as Katarina I. Zrinski - which is also completely correct because she married into the princely Zrinski family.

And here, there is the connection between pl. Adamović Čepinski, i.e. the von Berks family and the Frankopan princes of Krk.

I won't write anything about Ostrošac itself, except that it is a place you should try to visit in your earthly life, because you will truly have something to see. In order for you to better experience what you will see, even in the photos that I have attached, I wholeheartedly recommend Almir's book - a real masterpiece and the best possible textbook example of how one family and one important historical location should be treated. Enjoy….