Radoslav (I) Babonić (, or Radiszló; died after 1295) was a powerful Croatian lord in the second half of the 13th century. As a member of the illustrious Babonić family, he established an oligarchic domain in Lower Slavonia together with his elder brother Stephen (III). He played an active role in inviting the Capetian House of Anjou to the Hungarian–Croatian throne.
Early life Radoslav (I) was born into the Carniola (or Goricha) branch of the Babonić family, as the son of Stephen (II), who served as Ban of Maritime Provinces from 1243 to 1249. His elder brother was Stephen (III),Engel: Genealógia (Babonić [Blagaj] family) with whom they built the family's oligarchic power. In 1284 and 1285, Radoslav referred to Denis Péc as his "frater". It is possible they were half-brothers or were related on the maternal side.
He first appears in contemporary records in 1264, when he bought the estate Kolevrat, located south of the river Kupa and west of the stream Hutina, from local nobles Jakov and Stjepko, sons of Čvalko (from the relative Hutinjani family) in the name of his brother and his own. Subsequently, the Babonići built their fortress Steničnjak in the surrounding territory (called "terra Hutina"). Prior to that, Radoslav had already had some unidentified estates. When his brother Stephen bought the land Hrapavci from a group of noblemen who had previously owned the said estate in 1273, Radoslav already possessed neighboring lands around the river Korana, in the peripheral parts of Gorička County.
Career Rise to power During their expansion in the region, Radoslav and his family gradually came into conflict with the sphere of interests of the Kőszegis (mostly in Vrbas and Sana counties) and the Gutkeleds (Križevci and Zagreb counties), both were Hungarian families, who also acquired extensive landholdings in Slavonia. Stephen and Radoslav dominated the region between the rivers Kupa and Una. Their local interests were harmed by the fact that Joachim Gutkeled began to build an oligarchic province from the 1270s onwards, using his influence and position of Ban of Slavonia at the Hungarian royal court, where he served as a royal advisor to the minor Ladislaus IV of Hungary.
In late 1276 or early 1277, the Babonići under the leadership of Stephen and Radoslav rose up in rebellion in Slavonia. Utilizing their relations with the Duchy of Styria, the Babonići hired robber knights and mercenaries from there and began to plunder the possessions which had belonged to Joachim's territory in early 1277. Their attacks also affected the royal authority in the region. In order to suppress the revolt, Joachim gathered a royal army and marched into southern Slavonia, but the royal troops suffered a disastrous defeat and Joachim Gutkeled was killed in a battle in April 1277. The revolt was suppressed only by the arriving auxiliary troops of 200 knights and 120 archers, sent by Charles of Sicily in August 1277.
Under the mediation of the emissaries of Charles of Sicily and Girard, local master of the Knights Templar, the Kőszegis and the Babonići divided the Gutkeled's province between each other on the border of Transdanubia and Slavonia. In their agreement at Dubica on 20 April 1278, the Kőszegis and the Babonići divided the spheres of interest in Slavonia between each other. In accordance with the treaty, the area south of the Sava and west of the Una valley to the Kapela Mountains were declared as the private domain of the Babonići. The treaty was concluded with the will and consent of pretender Duke Andrew, who arrived to Hungary upon the invitation of the Kőszegis. In accordance with the treaty, the Kőszegis promised that they would not take up arms against the Babonići, even against a royal order, and would not support the Gutkeleds' blood revenge against them.
On the other hand, the Babonići continued to wage conflicts with the Gutkeleds during the summer and autumn of 1278. Ladislaus IV ceremonially reconciled with the Gutkeleds in June 1278, while around the same time, Ottokar II of Bohemia bribed the Babonići to plunder Styria, a realm of his rival Rudolf of Habsburg. Upon the mediation of Palatine Matthew Csák and Timothy, Bishop of Zagreb, along with local clergymen (on behalf of Ladislaus IV), Stephen and Radoslav, also representing their cousins, in addition to their wider kinship, reconciled with the brothers of the late Joachim Gutkeled in Zagreb on 6 November 1278, ending the hostilities (blood feud) between the two families. Despite their reconciliation at Dubica and Zagreb, respectively, the Kőszegis and Gutkeleds continued their struggles against the Babonići throughout 1279 and 1280. Therefore Ladislaus IV sent his representatives to the region and ordered to summon the opponents to Ozalj Castle in October 1280. In accordance with the treaty, the Babonići could keep all the estates that were donations from the king. They were granted the estates in the counties of Podgorje, Gorica, Drežnik, Gaj with Kladuš, Novigrad, and both Pset, and in Petrinja. Radoslav became the guarantor for peace. The chapter of Zagreb drafted the document on 17 November 1280.
Individual acquisitions He concluded a protection agreement with the nobles from Donja Jamnica before the Zagreb Chapter in July 1283, i.e. the latter accepted Radoslav and his descendants as their lords, showing his greatest reputation and power in Pset County by that time. In accordance with the agreement, Radoslav acquired some of their lands and income in exchange for his armed protection. In the same year, Radoslav – through his familiares Pousa and James – bought the castle of Lipovec (present-day ruins near Mali Lipovec, Samobor in Croatia) for 150 marks from its builder Ivan, prince of Okić, consolidating the rule of the Babonići in the area around the Samobor–Žumberak mountains. With this purchase, Radoslav also acquired the adjacent lands , Braslav, Bregana, Prilep, Rastok and Kulkedfeld. He bought some properties – Ružindol and Toplice – in Podgorje County from the Pribić family in February 1284.
Radoslav successfully managed to politically suppress the Kőszegi family from the area between the Sana and Vrbas rivers (i.e. the area south of the Sava) in the first half of the 1280s, taking advantage of the Kőszegis' conflict with the Diocese of Zagreb. Ladislaus IV appointed Radoslav as župan (comes) of Sana and Vrbas counties, as well as castellan of Glaž by 1285. In that year, Radoslav donated an island called Timpor on the river Una to the Cistercian abbey of Topusko. As the document states, at some unspecified time, and certainly before 1285, the island was seized from the abbey by Radoslav and his late "frater" Denis Péc, and they are now returning it to them after James, abbot of Topusko showed him the royal grant for the said property. He purchased the estate Radcsa from a local noble in 1286, connecting the ancient family estate Vodičevo to the Slavonian borderland until its western border with the Holy Roman Empire. In 1287, Stephen and Radoslav bought the estates of Pedalj and Stupnica (present-day boroughs of Dvor, Croatia) on the southeastern slopes of Zrinska Gora from Matthias and Rathold, sons of the late Roland Rátót. Radoslav is first styled as Ban of Slavonia in March 1288. According to Hungarian historian Jenő Szűcs, he was installed to the position by Ladislaus IV in order to counterbalance the Kőszegis' anti-royal aspirations.
By early 1290, Stephen and Radoslav were considered undisputed lords of Lower Slavonia, when they were among those barons of the realm to whom Pope Nicholas IV sent a letter, in which he informed them that he had appointed papal legate Benvenuto d'Orvieto and requested them to assist his work in order to persuade Ladislaus IV to return to Christianity. The papal letter also mentions their cousins, Nicholas (I) and Stephen (IV) in this respect. Pope Nicholas styled Stephen and Radoslav as bans of Slavonia, but this was only an honorary title, because members of the Kőszegis and Gutkeleds were given the same title simultaneously by the papal curia. At the beginning of the last decade of the 13th century, power in almost all royal counties south of the Sava was in the hands of Stephen and Radoslav. They ruled Gora, Gorica, Novigrad, Gaj, Podgorje, but also in both Pset counties, and in the counties of Vrbas, Sana and Zemljanik. The center of their power became the city of Steničnjak and the area between the rivers Sava, Kupa and Una.
Active diplomacy Following the assassination of Ladislaus IV in July 1290, Andrew the Venetian ascended the Hungarian–Croatian throne. Initially, the Babonići were considered supporters of the new monarch. However, Radoslav Babonić, together with Dujam Frankopan, contacted with the Capetian House of Anjou, rivals of Andrew III and contenders to the throne in the summer of 1291. A document from early June in that year preserved that which narrates his journey to the Neapolitan court. According to Croatian historian Hrvoje Kekez, it is possible that Radoslav went to Naples with the aim of connecting with the Angevins, recognizing the danger of the increasingly improving relations between the Kőszegis and the Neapolitan royal family. Consequently, Radoslav was considered a partisan of Mary of Hungary, Queen of Naples, claimant to the Hungarian throne, throughout in 1291. He did not participate in Andrew's campaign against Austria in the summer of 1291, and when the Hungarian king, in the midst of the campaign, sent his faithful noble, comes Grdun (or Gárdony) to Slavonia to defend the borderland, this move was perhaps directed against Radoslav and his Styrian allies. According to the treaty of Hainburg, which was signed on 26 August 1291 concluding the war, Radoslav joined the allegiance of Duke Albert of Austria during the conflict. In accordance with the peace, Andrew III accepted Radoslav and all disloyal nobles back into his good graces.
Thereafter, Radoslav balanced in the political space between the two rival courts. He remained a pillar of the Angevins' claim; when Charles Martel of Anjou bequeathed the Duchy of Slavonia to Stefan Vladislav II in April 1292, the pretender excluded the realms of John and Dujam Frankopan and Radoslav Babonić along with their kinship from that donation. Charles II of Naples confirmed this in August 1292. Since only the name of Radoslav is mentioned among the Babonići, it is plausible that the Neapolitan court recognized him as head of his family despite Stephen's first-born status. In addition, Charles Martel confirmed Radoslav in his all possessions previously granted by the late Ladislaus IV in December 1292. In that year, Radoslav concluded his long-lasting conflict with the Diocese of Zagreb over the estate Hrastovica (today a borough of Petrinja). The judicial court ruled in favor of Radoslav, and he acquired the estate from John, Bishop of Zagreb for 230 marks. He also bought the land Kremenčica for 70 marks in the same year, all the bordering lands of which he already owned.