Antemurale Christianitatis

As Antemurale Christianitatis ( bulwark of Christianity, Latin literally means " antemurale " for " facing " ), Pope Leo X, the Croats in 1519 approvingly because they resisted the spread of the Ottoman Empire tions Europe.

When the Ottomans conquered in the year 1453 Konstantin Opel, called Pope Calixtus III. Christendom for a crusade.

In the Christian army that defeated the Ottoman army at the Battle of Belgrade in 1456, there was also a large number of Croats, who led the Franciscan John of Capistrano. Kapistran died in 1456 in Ilok and was later canonized.

In the 16th and 17th century, the Croats led the fiercest fighting against the advancing Ottomans. This era was known for a poem published in 1703 Paul Knight Vitezovićs as Plorantis Croatiae saecula duo ( " two sad centuries of Croatia ").

At that time, many Croats died in the defensive fighting. In particular, in 1493, when approximately 10,000 Croats and much of the former aristocracy perished in the lost battle on the Krbavsko Polje.

Similarly, later were circumscribed with this concept should also include defense situations, for example, the struggle of the Russian Christians against the Mongol invasion, or Polish Catholics against Russian Orthodoxy and Islam, in the case of Poland, Croat was the idea of ​​a "bulwark of Christianity " to be part of the national identity.

Source

• Article Croatia in The Catholic Encyclopedia