Čakovec

Čakovec grew around a castle in Međimurje, the fertile land between the Mura and Drava rivers. In 1546 King Ferdinand granted the estate to Nikola Zrinski, whose family made the castle its principal seat. The Zrinskis fortified their lands against Ottoman attack and developed trade in wine, livestock and other produce.

The later Nikola Zrinski, soldier and poet, lived at Čakovec from 1637 and wrote his epic on the siege of Szigetvár here, commemorating the defence led by his ancestor. His family maintained a network of frontier posts along the Mura. The Ottoman destruction of their fort at Novi Zrin in 1664 and the subsequent Peace of Vasvár intensified their conflict with the Habsburg court. Nikola died later that year after a hunting accident near Čakovec.