Curkovic.ca

Town of Klis – Old Ćurković Nesting Grounds?

Many historians generally believe that the many Ćurković families in the outlying areas of Sinj today as the descendants of those families that arrived from the southwestern regions of Bosnia-Hercegovina during the Viennese War of 1683-99.

I agreed with this statement for the longest of time, however, I always found it peculiar that the originating place or homestead of the Ćurković family was never listed among the old church registers in Sinj (1699-1727). In these same books, which are written in both Latin and Bosančica (Croatian Cyrillic) scripts, Bosnian place names are often listed next to the names of those Catholic families that once lived in Bosnia and Hercegovina. For members of Ćurković family, who are first mentioned in the year 17008, there are no traces of evidence to suggest that they may have come from this region during the Viennese War.

A recent personal discovery, however, reveals that Ćurković name in today’s present-day Dalmatian hinterland region actually predates the above mention by at least one war and roughly fifty years.

Between 1645 and 1669, Venice was embroiled in a long battle with the Turkish Ottoman Empire known as the Candian War. Although Venice lost many of its Mediterranean possessions during this war, it did manage to enlarge its territory in Dalmatia. Among its new possessions was the fortified town overlooking Split and one-time famous Uskok nesting ground known as Klis. Back in 1648, Venetian forces, with the help of Morlach troops headed by Vuk Mandušić and Stipan Sorić, were able to free the town from Ottoman occupation within 10 days. From this point on, Klis remained under Christian protection and never again fell back into Ottoman hands.

Klis

When the dust somewhat settled, many families from the surrounding Petrovo Polje and Zagora regions moved into those liberated areas recently freed from Ottoman occupation. According to a census from 1660, a 7-member family headed by Petar Ćurković is found among the roughly 1000 mostly Catholic newcomers to settle in the Vranjic, Klis and Kamen areas, just outside of Split (Vranjic and Kamen are today part of Split). This Ćurković family was located in the vicinity of Klis. From here, it is believed that the family eventually moved or moved back to Krušvar near Dicmo and then proceeded north towards the villages of Suhač and Bitelić during the Venetian liberation of Sinj in 1686.

There you have it. The many Ćurković families in the world today can (for now anyway) claim that their origins lie in present-day Dalmatia and not in Bosnia-Hercegovina, as some might have you believe.