Babonić family


The Babonić family was an old and powerful Croatian noble family from the medieval Slavonia whose most notable members were Bans (viceroys) of Slavonia and Croatia.

History

The first known member of this family who appeared in written documents at the end of the 12th century is Stephen I, known as Babon. The original possessions of Babonić were located on the right bank of the Kupa river between today's Karlovac and Sisak. Their first important stronghold was the town of Steničnjak. They built a stronghold in Blagaj on the Sana in 1240, and the Blagaj Castle in Blagaj on the Korana around 1266.
The rise of the family began at the turn of the 12th and 13th centuries when they received enormous estates from the Kings of Hungary. At the time of their greatest power, they held huge area from Carniola to Vrbas and from Sava to Gvozd, which also included fortified towns of Medvedgrad, Susedgrad, Kostanjevica and Mehovo.
They were related by blood to the most powerful families of the region, Counts of Gorizia, Venetian Morosini family, Zrinski, Frankopan and the Bosnian Kotromanić royal family through intermarriages.
The family divided their properties in 1313 and 1314 between brothers John, Stephen IV and Radoslav II. Radoslav received the town and estate of Blagaj on the Sana, and his sons stopped using the family name, rather referring to themselves as Counts of Blagay.

Family tree

Below is the complete family tree based on Hungarian historian Pál Engel's Medieval Hungarian Genealogy and Attila Zsoldos' archontology :Nicolotus Orsini