1573 or a Croatian attempt at alternate history

Last night I visited the exhibition of Nik Titanik (pseudonym of Nikola Plečko), Croatia's most notable newspaper caricature artist whose creations had been with me for as long as I can remember. Whilst I was there he happened to sell copies of his first graphic novel: 1573, a bloody, sexy and comedic alternate history about the aftermath of the Peasentry Revolt of 1573. And I must say it still has all of the hallmarks of his newspaper strips. Whilst I recieved many books and comics signed by author's before, this one is very special to me. Why? Now that's a question I can't really explain.

The story has been a product of true passion and fascination with the actual historical event and I'm really glad to see the attention to detail, especially in every characters' manner of speech. I was also glad to see Štefica Jambriščak, an overweight elderly woman with large brests who appears in most of his comic strips, as one of the leads.

The other leading roles

Apart from Štefica our story has several other leads:

Matija Ambroz Gubec: one of the two generals of the Peasentry revolt and one of the few real world individuals who have a role in the comic.

Ilija Gregorić: the second general of the Peasentry revolt and it's military tactician, another real historical figure who snuck his way into the pages of the comic and the story's main character.

Petrica Kerempuh: a bard nobody can stand and the story's narrator whose a public domain character in Croatian literature, appearing in a multitude of novels, plays and short stories, the best known being The Ballads of Petrica Kerempuh by Miroslav Krleža.

Tarik: an Ottoman alchemist who served time in prison with Gregorić, rejoining him after he saves his and Štefica's life from the prison in the plague infested village of Pičkovec (literally translated as Pussyville).

Together this colorful troupe go out on a mission to take revenge on the noblemen who beat them during the Revolt and get into a manner of various shennanigans and meeting colorful characrters along the way.

A Real Surprise

The comic surprised me for two reasons.

The first one was the level of mature content in it. Of course, Titanik's works are geared towards adult audiences, however it's mostly due to the topics usually being political, social, celebrity and sport satyre, rather than them being graphic, featuring obscene languge or sexual content. This one just flips that, however doesn't do it in a way that feels excessive and forced, a welcome change from the usual opposite which has been plaguing Balkan comedy in various forms of media for quite a while now.

The second reason was the attention to real historical and geographical details. The creator mentioned that he conducted interviews with a friend of his from the area to see just how the characters would sound like and in what accent would they be speaking (an archaic version of the Croatian kajkavian dialect is the most prominent one here). He also stated that as the topic was a fascination of his since early childhood he's going to stick to details as much as possible so a lot of the info provided by Kerempuh in his opening narration are geniune historical facts. Not to mention that the usage of Da Vinci's flying machine as one of the primary methods of transportation was funny, clever and original.

What was the Peasentry revolt of 1573?

I'm sure most of my international readers aren't familiar with the real world history that inspired the graphic novel, so I'll give you a very brief rundown (mostly using the information from the book Feudalizam u Hrvatskom zagorju (Feudalism in Hrvatsko zagorje) by Lada Prister, Goranka Horjan and Varina Jurica).

in 1573, tensions are rising between the nobleman Franjo Tahy and his serfs. Tahy insists on upping the tax rate and is forcing the serfs to partake in warfare, however the strongest blow comes when he proclaims a law which was quite common with other noblemen of the era, that being that all monetary goods gained from the sale of various agricultures go into his personal treasury. A revolt is organized by the locals of the village of Gornja Stubica and Matija Gubec along with Ilija Gregorić are chosen as the de fact leaders. However, despite the fierce nature of the battle they are swiftly defeated by the army of Tahy and his supporters resulting in the oncoming months being filled with fierce and bloody punishment. Gubec himself is taken to Zagreb where he is publicaly executed on St. Marcus Square on February 13th 1573 through the method of being crowned with a crown of heated iron (symbolising him as the king of the peasents). After this agonising demise was over, Hungarian nobleman Morencz Bahiczy cut his body in four parts and it was burried in an unmarked grave whose location is unkown to this day.

The story was an inspiration for many authors, filmmakers and artists throught history and remians a symbol of Croats fighting for their freedom.

Some notable works inspired by it include:

August Šenoa's novel Seljačka buna (originally published in 1877, and translated into English by Branko Brusar as Peasant Rebellion):

Oton Iveković's painting The Execution of Matija Gubec on the square in front of the Church of Saint Marcus in Zagreb (1921)

The 1975 film Seljačka Buna 1573., known in English as Anno Domini 1573

The memorial statue of Matija Gubec and the revolt itself in his birthplace of Gornja Stubica

Do I reccomend it?

Most certainly yes!! If you don't mind satyre which is a bit crude and fairly explict and are a fan of alternate history then this is certainly something you'll have a great time with. It's a very quick read as well (I read the whole thing in under an hour). It's not for everyone I'm sure, but it was definetley for me.