Ivan Karlović (c. 1485 – 9 August 1531), also known as by his Latin name Johannes Torquatus, was the Count of Krbava. His life during critical periods of Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War was marked by constant efforts to stop Ottoman conquests of Croatia, during which he held position of Ban of Croatia twice: from 1521 to 1524 and again from 1527 to 1531. He was also one of the Croatian magnates who participated in 1527 Election in Cetin.
He was the last male descendant of the Kurjaković family from the noble tribe of Gusić, and after his death the estates were passed on to Nikola III Zrinski who married his sister Jelena Kurjaković. Karlović is positively remembered in the folk poetry of Molise Croats.
Early life
Ivan was born c. 1485 in Udbina, as the son of Karlo Kurjaković, and Dorothea Frankopan. After his father's death in 1493, he inherited vast estates of the family, including županijas Krbava, Odorje, Hotuča, Lapac, part of Lika and several fortified cities in near županijas, as well the title of the Count of Krbava. During his lifetime, in a similar fashion to other Croatian and European noblemen, he had an anachronistic tendency to trace his family ancestry to Roman patricians. In his case, to Titus Manlius Imperiosus Torquatus, a thesis which was also wrongly argued by Miklós Istvánffy and Pavao Ritter Vitezović,. He and his sister Klara therefore named themselves as "Torkvat".
History
At the time, his estates were on the first front of the Ottoman Empire expansion. In struggle against the Ottomans, he tried to rely on the help of: Hungarian-Croatian King, the House of Habsburg, Republic of Venice (by serving as their Condottiero) or even agreements of paying tribute with the Ottomans in 1506 and 1511. In 1500, he defeated Ottoman army near Gradac (today Gračac). In the Hungarian succession crisis, he supported Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor against Hungarian-Croatian King Vladislaus II of Hungary in 1506. Between 1505 and 1509 he owned town Mutnik and market town Belaj (today village Bilaj near Gospić). In 1508, he temporary fought against Maximilian I's army in the hinterland of Venice, when on return he successfully defended Mutnik from Croatian noblemen, and was possibly helped by the Ottoman forces. Between 1509 and 1524, he made several Condottieri contracts with Venice to defend the Republic's estates in Dalmatia. In 1510, refused to be one the military commanders in a campaign to free Dalmatia from Venetian authority, but due to lack of finances the war did not happen.
In 1513, as Vice-Ban and Captain of Croatia and Dalmatia (1512–1513), along with Petar Berislavić, then Ban of Croatia, and other noblemen he participated in Battle of Dubica. However, in 1514 the Ottomans raided his estates in Krbava and Lika, as well fought against in Bosnia. In 1517 and mid-1520s, as the situation for him was becoming ever more desperate, he tried to replace his estates with forts with those in Lombardia under Venetian authority. However, he was rejected with only a promise of financial help. In 1519, Stjepan Posedarski, a humanist, chaplain and envoy of Karlović from the Posedarski branch of the Gusić tribe, in the name of Karlović delivered anti-Ottoman speech Oratio Stephani Possedarski habita apud Leonem decimum pontificem maximum pro domino Ioanne Torquato comite Corbauie defensore Crouacie to Pope Leo X. In it, Karlović was represented as a true defender of his and other lands, in the name of faith, freedom, and survival, who is losing faith in defending the Holy Church and is asking for help. The speech was noted in the West but had little success. In 1520, as Petar Berislavić got killed in fight against the Ottomans in Plješivica mountain, Karlović got informed by survived Berislavić's soldiers about Berislavić's death. Upon learning this in Udbina, Karlović assembled his men and went to Plješivica, where they managed to find late ban's decapitated head and body. His remains were then taken to nearby Bihać and subsequently to Veszprem.