Tituš Brezovački

Tituš Brezovački (January 4, 1757 – October 29, 1805) was a Croatian playwright, satirist and poet.

He wrote all of his dramatic works in Kajkavian dialect. His poems were chiefly written in Latin, but few of them have also been preserved in Ikavian Štokavian.

Biography He was born in Zagreb, schooled in Zagreb and Varaždin, and in 1774 he entered the Pauline Order. He initiated the study of theology in 1776 in Lepoglava, and afterwards graduated philosophy and theology in Pest. He was ordained in 1781, serving as a gymnasium professor in Varaždin henceforth. In 1785 the Pauline Order was abolished, causing Brezovački to become a common priest. His disputes with clergy and the bishop Maksimilijan Vrhovac had often forced him to relocate, changing parishes (Varaždin, Križevci, Rakovac, Zagreb, Krapina, Požega, Zagreb).

He wrote his first known work, the religious drama Sveti Aleksi for the gymnasium in Varaždin, where it was staged before being printed in Zagreb in 1786. In Križevci he wrote the Latin poem Dalmatiae, Croatiae et Slavoniae trium sororum recursus ad novum Proregem Ioannem Erdődy, ne suis priventur coronis et novo sponso Leopoldo ab Hungaria (The plea of three sisters, Dalmatia, Croatia and Slavonia to the new Ban, count János Erdődy, that they might not be robbed of their crowns and of their new bridegroom, Leopold, by Hungary), published in 1790, which represented a strong political shift in his work. This was followed by a similar poem Ode inclytae nobilitati regnorum Dalmatiae, Croatiae, Sclavoniae (Ode to the illustrious nobility of the kingdoms of Dalmatia, Croatia, and Slavonia), printed in 1800, to encourage resistance against Napoleon. During this period, he was a vocal critic of the higher clergy in Zagreb, which he criticized in the poem Jeremijaš nad horvatskoga orsaga zrušenjem narekujuči by the end of the 18th century, ending its censorship in 1801. He dedicated another poem to the newly constructed foundation hospital located on today's Ban Jelačić Square in 1804.

He died in Zagreb on October 29, 1805, exhausted by a lung disease.

Works Drama Sveti Aleksi, religious drama (1786) Matijaš Grabancijaš dijak, comedy (1804) Diogeneš ili sluga dveh zaljubljenih bratov, comedy (1805)

Poetry Dalmatiae, Croatiae et Slavoniae trium sororum recursus ad novum Proregem Ioannem Erdődy, ne suis priventur coronis et novo sponso Leopoldo ab Hungaria (1790) Ode inclytae nobilitati regnorum Dalmatiae, Croatiae, Sclavoniae (1800) Jeremijaš nad hrvatskoga orsaga zrušenjem nerekujuči (1801)