Search

The Austrian emperor and the Croat-Hungarian king Franz Joseph I (1830/1848-1916) was the longest-serving ruler of the Habsburg dynasty. Among his properties was Osijek, which since 1809 enjoyed the status of a free royal city. In the period under review, it was the seat of the Virovitica County and the capital of the Kingdom of Slavonia until its incorporation into the Triune Kingdom of Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia after the Croat-Hungarian settlement of 1868. Because of this, Osijek was not only a political, economic and cultural centre but also a health care centre. At the beginning of the reign of Franz Joseph I, two hospitals were operating in it: a military one in the baroque military garrison Tvrđa and a civilian one in New Town. The most significant role in the further development of the Osijek and Slavonian health care was played by the trust established in 1806 from the legacies of innkeeper Johann Kolhoffer, tanner Josef Huttler and Jesuit Cristian Monsperger. Although originally intended for the establishment of an orphanage, due to a number of unfavourable political circumstances, the trust, until then with multiple interests attributed to the principal, came under the administration of the city of Osijek only in 1867. Along with the new orphanage opened in 1874, a new hospital was completed as well in 1868, also with the money from the trust. Huttler-Kohlhoffer-Monsperger Foundation Hospital was the largest and most modern hospital in the Triune Kingdom, and despite later constructions of various hospital wards, its building has remained the most representative building within the Clinical-Hospital Centre Osijek. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the differences between English and Croatian views of early modem medicine through the respective Renaissance plays. As Renaissance made no particular distinction between arts and sciences, plays of that time provide a very common source of medical narrative. During Renaissance both languages produced high literary achievements, which makes them exemplars among their Germanic and Slavic counterparts, and justifies this comparison, regardless of their significant differences. One should bear in mind that while England was a unified kingdom, with London as the major cultural centre, Croatia's division among the neighbouring powers produced several prominent cultural centres such as Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Hvar, Korčula, and the most important one, Dubrovnik. One should also bear in mind that the golden age of Croatian Renaissance plays had finished as early as 1567 with the death of Marin Držić, before it even started in England with the foundation of the first permanent theatrical companies in 1576. Along these lines, this paper compares their early modern attitudes toward medicine in general and men and women practitioners in particular. In this respect, it evaluates the influences of the origin, patronage, and religion of their authors. Special attention is given to William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Marin Držić (1508-1567) as the exemplars of English and Croatian Renaissance literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]