János Statileo

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János Statileo (Croatian: Ivan Statilić; c. 1472 – 8 April 1542) was a writer, bishop of Transylvania, and a diplomat at the court of King Louis II of Hungary and John Zápolya. He was an uncle of Antun Vrančić.^[1]

The Statilić (Statileo) family was a Croatian noble family from Trogir.^[1][2] The earliest known family member was Stannius Stanossevich.^[3] Over time, the family name evolved from Stanossevich to Stanošević and finally to Statilić in Croatian, which is Statileo in Venetian and Statilius in Latin. Stannius had two known children: a daughter, Magdalena, and a son, Mihovil.  Magdalena married Ivan Berislavić, and they produced a son, Petar Berislavić, who became ban of Croatia (1513–1520). Mihovil had five known children: sons Nikola (c. 1470—after 1500), Ivan (ca. 1472–1543), and Matej (c. 1475—after c. 1510), and daughters Klara (c. 1485—c. 1516), and Margareta (c. 1485 — ?).^[4]  Margareta married Frane (Franjo, Francisco) Vrančić and gave birth to Antun Vrančić (1504–73).^[5]

Ivan Statilić (Statileo) was born in Trogir, c. 1472–5, to a Croatian noble family. Historians often write of him using a Hungarian first name, János, and either the Latin Statilius or the Venetian Statileo variants of the family name. Ivan Statilić studied in Italy and entered the ecclesiastical field. By 1513, Petar Berislavić^[6] appointed Statilić the archpriest of Segesd, and tasked him, as provost of the guard, to administer the bishopric of Veszprém while Berislavić went to fight the Ottomans. After Berislavić was killed in 1520, during a battle near Plješevica, Statilić transported the body from Bihać to Veszprém and buried him there.^[2] Afterwards, he took his nephew, Antun Vrančić, the future archbishop of Esztergom, as his ward, and provided for his education.

Statilić entered the royal court of King Ulászló II (Vladislaus) c. 1515, was appointed royal secretary, and kept the position when Ulászló died and King Lajos (Louis) II became king.  In 1516, King Lajos sent Statilić to Rome, where he spoke in front of Pope Leo X and the cardinals, and asked for money to support the bishop of Veszprém in his fight against the Ottomans. In 1516, he wrote a book about Saint John of Trogir (Ivan Trogirski), titled "Vita beati Ioannis episcopi et confessoris Traguriensis, et eius miracula" (The life of the blessed John, bishop and confessor of Traguria, and his miracles).

Due to his eloquence and fluency in Latin, Italian, Croatian, and Hungarian, as well as an understanding of French, German, and Polish, he was an ideal candidate for diplomacy and became one of Hungary's best diplomats.^[7] In 1521, King Lajos II sent Statilić, with an entourage of 18 staff, to Venice to ask the Signoria for money for defense against the Turks.^[8] On 29 August, the day that Belgrade fell to Sultân Süleymân, Statilić, dressed in black mail armor, entered the Council of Venice, presented a letter from King Lajos, and gave a speech in Latin, asking for help in the fight against the Ottomans, who continue to attack Hungary. The eloquent anti-Turkic speech is named "Iohannis Statilii Hungariae Legati oratio".^[9] On 21 September Antonio Grimani, the Doge of Venice, replied that, after signing a treaty with the Sultan in 1517, Venice desires to maintain a good relationship with the High Porte and therefore cannot give Hungary the help the king requests. Three days later, Statilić is given 800 sequins for the defence of Senj, but on the condition that the donation be kept strictly secret. On 26 September Statilić, greatly disappointed, bid farewell to the Council of Venice.

In 1526, Statilić marched with King Lájos II towards Mohács and defended János Zápolya against criticism that he had not yet joined the king's army.  Before the Battle of Mohács, Lájos sent Statilić to Erdély (Transylvania), with the king's orders for Zápolya. What Statilić does next is not certain, while one account says Statilić remained with Zápolya and missed the battle. Still, another report says that he returned and relayed Zápolya's message that the king postpone the battle until he arrived with his large army. King Lajos did not wait. Statilić did not participate in the battle.

After the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Mohács, and, most importantly, the death of King Lajos, Hungary was plunged into a civil war between two rival kings: János Zápolya and Ferdinand of Habsburg. Statilić, who believed that Erdély had a right to exist independent of foreign rule, remained with Zápolya and became one of his most loyal supporters.^[10]  For the rest of his life, Statilić went on numerous diplomatic missions on behalf of Zápolya, including the negotiations for the Franco-Hungarian Alliance of 1528. In 1534, when Medgyes fell and Alvise Gritti was killed, on 29 September, Gritti's compatriot Fran Trankvil Andreis^[11] (Andronicus Tranquillus Parthenius), a native of Trogir, was taken captive. his life was saved by Ivan Statilić, who paid a ransom of 500 florins to the Moldavians.^[12]

From 1534 to 1542, Statilić was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Transylvania in the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom. He made a great effort to prevent the spread of the Protestant Reformation in Erdély. Along with George Martinuzzi, Bishop of Várad (now Oradea in Romania), and Franjo Frankopan, Archbishop of Kalocsa, Statileo was the main organizer of a religious debate between Catholic and Evangelical clerics in Segesvár (Sighișoara, Romania) in 1538.^[13][14] With Fráter György Martinuzzi (Juraj Utješenović), he also played a large part in the negotiation of the Peace of Várad, which was concluded on 4 February 1538. By this treaty, initially kept secret, the two kings mutually recognized each other's territories based on the status quo, and agreed that after King János's death, his part of Hungary would be inherited by Ferdinand and his successors.

A variety of cruel rumours and cruel slanders were spread about Statilić by Ferdinand's supporters. On 11 February 1539 Papal nuncio Girolamo Aleandro, referencing comments by Pál Várdai,^[15] writes about Statilic: "... Statilium odio esse hominibus, quia sit avarus, rapax, inhonestus, satis doctus tamen et facundus et audax et in primis omnium mortalium maledicentissimus, qui etiam pontificibus et regibus non parcat."^[16] (Statilius is hated by men because he is avaricious, rapacious, dishonest, but quite well learned, eloquent and audacious, and above all mortals, the most slanderous, who spares not even popes and kings ...)

After King János Zápolya heard that the Sultan desired to attack him with a large army the following year, he tasked Statilić to carry out a major diplomatic mission to meet King Ferdinand I, Pope Paul III, King François I, and King Henry VIII,  to gain their support. On 15 December 1538, after a difficult journey, he arrived in Vienna and met with King Ferdinand for a long discussion. He explained that the purpose of his embassy is to seek help from the Christian princes for an offensive war on land and water against the Turks,^[17] and to make clear how much danger Hungary and all of Christendom are in, and therefore the defense of Erdély and eastern Hungary is also the defense of all Christian Europe.^[18] After his brief stay, he departed and, on 3 January 1539, arrived in Venice and tried to persuade the Republic to join forces with the Turks. He arrives in Rome near the end of the month but suffers from a bad fever. In February, when he recovers, he meets with the Pope, speaks of the common interests of Christendom, and asks the Pope to mediate a peace agreement between the French King and the Habsburg Emperor. He explained that because Ferdinand, for political reasons, constantly opposed the acceptance of pro-Zápolya bishops by the Holy See there is a lack of religious leadership in the kingdom and begs the Pope to confirm the bishops appointed by King János Zápolya. He also asked the Pope to send an envoy to King János. The Pope later notes how impressed he was with the skillful emissary, with whom he could speak openly. While in Rome, he also meets to discuss peace with the envoy of Emperor Charles V who was in Rome.^[19] Statilić departed for the French court on 22 March, arriving in Paris in early June. From the French king he received 40,000 écu (gold coins) for Zápolya and a gift of 2,500 écu for himself. On 25 June Statilić took leave of the French king. On 27 June he wrote a letter to English Chancellor Thomas Cromwell, informing him that he could not travel to London and will send Zápolya's Chamberlain Péter Bábay, a Knight of the Golden Spur, to Henry VIII.  Near the end of June, Statilić began his journey home. During his return home, in the first week of August, when he entered Italy, he was informed that the Pope, after many years of waiting, had appointed him a bishop.

Following the death of János Zápolya (1540), he continued to protect the interests of Queen Izabella.^[20] In 1540, he traveled to Antwerp, where he arrived in July, to meet the English ambassador staying in Bruges and to ask for a treaty and money to fight against the Ottomans,^[21] and then to Antwerp to meet with Emperor Charles V, but Charles had already left. On 18 August Statilić met the Emperor in Utrecht, and then he traveled to Brussels. At the start of September he began his return home. During his absence, on 7 July, a son was born to King János and Queen Izabella, and named János Zsigmond. On 22 July King János died. On his deathbed, János Zápolya told his nobles not to abide by the Peace of Várad but to place his son János Zsigmond on the throne. In Italy, Statilić encounters difficulties resulting from Ferdinand's arrest of his secretary, who carried a letter from the King of France, asking the Hungarians to continue the fight against the Habsburgs. Ferdinand did not want to give Statilić a passport to travel through his domains in Italy because Statilić continued to work against him, even though he had promised to join Ferdinand after Zápolya's death. As Statilić had to be in Buda before envoys sent to the High Porte returned, he sent a man to Constantinople (Istanbul) to request a passport for travel across Ottoman lands of Bosnia and Serbia. Statilić overcame all obstacles and arrived in Ragusa (Dubrovnik) on 30 March 1541, in Belgrade on 10 April, and arrived in Erdély where debate continued about whether the Peace of Várad should be implemented.

On 4 May King Ferdinand's army besieged Buda, to take it from Zápolya, but the defenders repelled attack after attack and the badly managed siege weakened. Sultan Suleiman arrived on 21 August and defeated the Habsburg army, forcing it to flee. Having lost faith in Zápolya's supporters, Suleiman not only rescues Buda but, on 29 August his soldiers took the city by deception. On 2 September Suleiman entered the city and took control of it. The fall of Buda caused great fear, not only in Austria and Bohemia but also among the supporters of Zápolya.  Martinuzzi and Statilić began questioning Suleiman's benevolence, and discussions were held about reuniting Hungary under Ferdinand. On 29 December 1541 Gáspár Serédy, Captain of Upper Hungary, representing Ferdinand, and Ivan Statilić, Bishop of Erdély, representing Zápolya, signed the Treaty of Gyalu (Gilău), by which Hungary would be reunited under Ferdinand if he retook Buda.^[2]  Ferdinand starts planning for a military campaign to liberate Buda the following summer.

By the end of December 1541, Statilić was ill and had doctors and medicine brought to him. Though his illness made him weak, he travelled to Torda (Turda) for a Diet of Erdély, held on 2 March 1542, during which he supported Fráter György Martinuzzi's bid for leadership of Erdély. Martinuzzi was elected royal governor and called for another Diet, to be held on 19 March, to revise the constitution of Erdély. Because Statilić was vital for the discussions, the Diet was to be held at Gyula-Fehér Castle. Due to Statilić's failing health, the Diet was moved up to 8 March and held in Torda. Upon Statilić's return home, his health deteriorated rapidly, and by 16 March he was so ill that he could not even move in his bed. Sensing the seriousness of his illness, he took his final measures early and prepared his will and donated and pledged his possessions.^[2]

On 8 April 1542^[22] Ivan Statilić died of "un colpo di apoplessia" (a stroke of apoplexy),^[8] and does not witness Ferdinand's failure during the Siege of Pest. He was the last Bishop of Erdély, and after his death, the Diet of Hungary appropriated the Transylvanian bishopric's revenues in favor of the royal family and the episcopal see was left vacant for a decade.^[23][24] After Statilić's death, Fráter George Martinuzzi, the powerful cardinal, continued to control the politics of Erdély.^[25]

Statileo, János (1516) "Vita beati Ioannis episcopi et confessoris Traguriensis, et eius miracula", Viennae Pannoniae. (source^[26])