The Defranceschi Archive
Lives against history

Timeline

Sovereignty, pressure and family event on one scale. The point is not when people were born — it is what was happening to them when they were.

The family, and the world it was in

Scroll sideways. Above the line, this family. Below it, what was happening around them. The point of putting them on one scale is that 1949 is the year one brother sailed for Australia and the other bought a second car.

1350
1450
1550
1600
1650
1700
1750
1800
1850
1900
1950
2000
1364 · A bell is cast«Magister Nicholaus me fecit» — still hanging at Gologorica in Carlo's day
1615 · LabinAloÿsius Defranceschi — the name's earliest indexed appearance in Istria
1674 · SvetvinčenatA settled De Franceschi household, Mattio and Zuana among them
1679 · MioneZuane De Franceschi, weaving in the County of Pazin with his son
1711 · The house at GologoricaBuilt by Giambattista, son of the late Leonardo — the year cut into it
1740 · FiumeGiovanni Battista arrives from the County of Pazin; his brother becomes castellan of Bribir
1787 · House 5, GallignanaJoannes Baptista, agricola — the earliest ancestor with a register date
1825 · House 19Antonius q. Joannis, lapicida — the stonecutter
1863 · Josephus baptised22 March, entry 23 — the certificate the family kept
1890 · Klenovica«Gallignana u Istriji» — the word that welds the coast to the hill
1896 · Ivan, aged twoBuried 28 March; Zorica conceived that month
1906 · «Vešti klesar sada tvorničar»Josip's trade, and the century's, in five words
1939 · Petar leaves for GermanyApril — five months before the war
1943 · Zdravko takenBy the Partisans; three or four months, then Germany
1949 · The brothers part8 March: Australia. 22 July: «a une maison, 2 autos» — Petar stays
1979 · Zdravko dies at Horsham22 December — twenty years before the date the family carried
1995 · Ivan dies at Senj30 October, under a slab cut IVAN DEFRANČESKI
2001 · Hedviga dies at Johannesburg30 October — six years to the day
1374 · Istria to the HabsburgsThe County of Pazin passes to Austria; it stays there 544 years
1420 · Venice takes coastal IstriaThe border that splits the peninsula for four centuries
1615 · Uskok WarVenetians besiege Gallignana; Maradas relieves it on 14 May 1617
1631 · PlaguePola falls to three hundred souls
1669 · Crete fallsThe Candia refugees reach Istria; the Seget branch among them
1788 · The diocese of Pedena suppressedAnd with it the lease the family had held at Gologorica
1797 · Venice endsNapoleon; then Austria; then France; then Austria again
1817 · The famine year
1866 · Austria loses VenetiaIstria becomes the empire's Italian frontier
1918 · Italy takes IstriaAnd influenza takes the rest
1943 · German occupationForced labour into Württemberg
1945 · Yugoslavia25 Defranceschi families counted in Istria on 1 October
1947 · The exodus beginsMost of the Italian-speaking population leaves
1991 · CroatiaAbout ten of the name left in the country

Drag or scroll the band horizontally. 1340 to 2030.

Family events 1185 — Mione first recorded, 15 June 1199 — Gračišće first recorded 1288 — Vinodol Law codified at Novi 1412 — Frankopan grants the Crikvenica monastery to the Paulines 1486 — Bishop Paskazije of Pićan consecrates the Gračišće chapel in his birthplace 1511 — A Gorto man buys a share in a weaving shop at Motovun 1540 — Carlevariis of Luincis dictates his will at Pićan 1582 — Pazin baptisms begin — the oldest register in the county 1590 — Gaspar de Franceschi, warship owner at Omiš 1617 — Uskoks expelled from Senj 1644 — Gologorica baptism register begins 1667 — Gračišće baptism register begins 1679 — Zuane De Franceschi of Mione, weaver in the County of Pazin 1711 — De Franceschi house built on the Gologorica square 1715 — Zuane Ivan Franceschi shelters 600 Imotski refugees 1717 — Imotski taken; the Perinuša estate granted 1739 — Valentino Defranceschi, from Carnia, made a citizen of Fiume 1740 — Giovanni Battista Defranceschi arrives from the County of Pazin 1775 — First Gračišće status animarum 1786 — Joseph II dissolves the Pauline order at Crikvenica 1806 — Napoleonic decree strips the nobiliary ‘de’ in Dalmatia 1809 — Carlo De Franceschi born at Moncalvo, 16 October 1848 — Carlo elected deputy for Pisino to the Imperial Constituent Parliament 1854 — Carlo expelled from the imperial magistrature as 'a known apostle of Mazzini' 1868 — Camillo De Franceschi born at Parenzo, 3 August 1890 — Camillo sentenced to two years for irredentist activity 1920 — Treaty of Rapallo — Istria to Italy 1945 — 25 Defranceschi families counted in Istria, 1 October 1956 — The exodus is largely complete Central Istria Gologorica, Gračišće Aquileia · Gorizia Habsburg — County of Pazin Austria–Hungary Italy Yugoslavia Croatia Southern Istria Vodnjan, Pula, Rovinj, Svetvinčenat Patriarchate of Aquileia · communes Republic of Venice Austria — Küstenland, diocese of Pola Italy Yugoslavia Croatia Senj & Vinodol Senj, Crikvenica Frankopan lords Croatian crown → Habsburg Military Frontier Yugoslavia Croatia Carnia, Friuli Mione, Ovaro Patriarchate of Aquileia Republic of Venice Austria Kingdom of Italy → Italian Republic Dalmatia Omiš, Imotski Croatian–Hungarian crown Republic of Venice Austria–Hungary Yugoslavia Croatia scale expands → 12001400160018001850190019502000 What they were up against 1348 — The Black Death reaches Istria and Dalmatia. Whole villages of the interior are abandoned; the depopulation is what later pulls in settlers from the mountains and the Balkans. 1382 — Trieste puts itself under the Habsburgs. The line between Venetian and Austrian Istria begins to harden into the border this family will spend four centuries either side of. 1420 — Venice takes Friuli and coastal Istria from the Patriarch of Aquileia. Carnia becomes Venetian; the County of Pazin stays Habsburg. 1463 — The Ottomans take Bosnia. Raiding parties begin to reach Istria within a generation. 1493 — Krbava Field. In the same year Imotski falls to the Ottomans, and stays theirs for 224 years. 1508 — The War of the League of Cambrai. Venice and the Habsburgs fight it out across Istria itself, village by village. 1511 — Plague, earthquake and war together. Venetian Istria is so emptied that the Republic begins organised resettlement. 1615 — The War of Gradisca — the Uskok War. Venice against Austria, fought on precisely the frontier that runs between Gologorica and Svetvinčenat. 1630 — The great plague of northern Italy. Manzoni's plague; it reaches the head of the Adriatic. 1669 — Candia falls. Crete is lost after twenty-one years of siege, and refugees come west — the migration the Umag family's own tradition claims. 1714 — The Ottomans declare war on Venice. The Republic loses the whole Peloponnese in a hundred days. 1717 — The Venetian offensive in Dalmatia. Imotski and Vrgorac are taken. 1718 — Passarowitz. The Dalmatian frontier drawn now is, with adjustments, the Croatian–Bosnian border today. 1788 — Joseph II suppresses the bishopric of Pedena. The lease the Gologorica family had held from every bishop since about 1700 simply ceases to exist. 1797 — Campoformio. Venice is extinguished after a thousand years, and Istria and Dalmatia pass to Austria. 1806 — The French. The Illyrian Provinces; the nobiliary «de» struck off by decree; conscription, land taxes and roads. 1815 — The Congress of Vienna restores Austria. It will hold this coast for a hundred and three years. 1848 — Revolution across the Empire. An Istrian Diet is convened; Carlo is elected to Vienna and comes home a marked man. 1866 — Austria loses Venetia. Italian irredentism sharpens, and the Adriatic lands become the object of it. 1882 — The Oberdan affair at Trieste. Irredentist politics turns to conspiracy, and the police files thicken. 1914 — The First World War. The Isonzo front is fifty miles from Gologorica; Istrian conscripts go to Galicia and to Salonika. 1918 — Austria–Hungary dissolves. Italian troops occupy Istria and the Kvarner within weeks. 1920 — The Treaty of Rapallo. Istria, Zadar and the islands become Italian; Sušak and the coast do not. 1922 — Fascism. From 1927 Croatian schools in Istria are closed and Slavic surnames are Italianised by decree. 1943 — Italy capitulates in September. The Germans occupy the Adriatic Littoral; the partisan war and the first reprisals follow. 1945 — Yugoslavia takes Istria. Summary killings, the foibe, and the beginning of the exodus. 1947 — The Paris peace treaty gives Istria to Yugoslavia. The Free Territory of Trieste is created and does not work. 1954 — The London Memorandum settles Trieste. By 1956 the exodus of the Italian-speaking population is largely complete. 1991 — Croatian independence, and war. The last political frame this family's places have lived under.

Hover or tab through a marker — red above for this family, ochre below for the world around it.

Aquileia · Gorizia · FrankopanRepublic of VeniceHabsburg / Austria–HungaryNapoleonic 1805–15ItalyGerman occupation 1943–45YugoslaviaCroatia
1185Mione first recorded, 15 June1199Gračišće first recorded1288Vinodol Law codified at Novi1412Frankopan grants the Crikvenica monastery to the Paulines1486Bishop Paskazije of Pićan consecrates the Gračišće chapel in his birthplace1511A Gorto man buys a share in a weaving shop at Motovun1540Carlevariis of Luincis dictates his will at Pićan1582Pazin baptisms begin — the oldest register in the county1590Gaspar de Franceschi, warship owner at Omiš1617Uskoks expelled from Senj1644Gologorica baptism register begins1667Gračišće baptism register begins1679Zuane De Franceschi of Mione, weaver in the County of Pazin1711De Franceschi house built on the Gologorica square1715Zuane Ivan Franceschi shelters 600 Imotski refugees1717Imotski taken; the Perinuša estate granted1739Valentino Defranceschi, from Carnia, made a citizen of Fiume1740Giovanni Battista Defranceschi arrives from the County of Pazin1775First Gračišće status animarum1786Joseph II dissolves the Pauline order at Crikvenica1806Napoleonic decree strips the nobiliary ‘de’ in Dalmatia1809Carlo De Franceschi born at Moncalvo, 16 October1848Carlo elected deputy for Pisino to the Imperial Constituent Parliament1854Carlo expelled from the imperial magistrature as 'a known apostle of Mazzini'1868Camillo De Franceschi born at Parenzo, 3 August1890Camillo sentenced to two years for irredentist activity1920Treaty of Rapallo — Istria to Italy194525 Defranceschi families counted in Istria, 1 October1956The exodus is largely complete

What they were up against

War, plague, famine and policy, on the same scale. A life bar crossing one of these is the beginning of a question worth asking.

YearsPressureFalls on
1615–1618Uskok War Senj & Vinodol
1630–1632Plague in the Adriatic All three regions
1683–1699Great Turkish War All three regions
1789–1815Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars All three regions
1817–1818Famine year All three regions
1848–1849Revolutions All three regions
1880–1900Phylloxera destroys the Istrian vineyards Istria
1914–1918First World War All three regions
1920–1943Italianisation of Slavic surnames Istria
1939–1945Second World War All three regions
1945–1956The exodus Istria
Once the GEDCOM is imported, each life becomes a bar drawn over these bands, so that a man born at Gračišće in 1935 is shown becoming Italian, then Yugoslav, before he was ten. That view needs people; the frame is ready for them.
What this page rests on
Carlo De Franceschi, «L'Istria: note storiche» Publication · Parenzo, 1879
«Lettere di Carlo De Franceschi a Giovanni Kobler» Publication · Atti e Memorie della Società Istriana, 1928
FamilySearch Database

The full bibliography, with what each source gave and where it is weak →