ZOUCH—ZRINYI
1045
Zouch, Richard (c. 1590–1661), English jurist, was born at Anstey, Wiltshire, and educated at Winchester and afterwards at Oxford, where he became a fellow of New College in 1609. He was admitted at Doctor's Commons in January 1618 and was appointed regius professor of law at Oxford in 1620. In 1625 he became principal of St Alban Hall and chancellor of the diocese of Oxford, in 1641 he was made judge of the High Court of Admiralty. Under the Commonwealth, having submitted to the parliamentary visitors, he retained his university appointments though not his judgeship; this last he resumed at the Restoration, dying soon afterwards at his apartments in Doctor's Commons, London, on the 1st of March 1661.
He published Elementa jurisprudentiae (1629), Descriptio juris et judicii feudalis, secundum consuetudines Mediolani et Normanniae, pro introductione ad jurisprudentiam Anglicanam (1634), Descriptio juris et judicii temporalis, secundum consuetudines feudales et Normannicas (1636), Descriptio juris et judicii ecclesiastici, secundum canones et consuetudines Anglicanas (1636), Descriptiones juris et judicii sacri, … militaris, … maritimi (1640), Juris et judicii fecialis sive juris inter gentes … explicatio (1650) and Solutio quaestionis de legati delinquentis judice competente (1657). In virtue of the last two he has the distinction of being one of the earliest systematic writers on international law. He was also the author of a poem, The Dove, or Passages of Cosmography (1613).
Zouche, or Zouch, the name of an English family descended from Alan la Zouche, a Breton, who is sometimes called Alan de Porrhoet. Having settled in England during the reign of Henry II., Alan obtained by marriage Ashby in Leicestershire (called after him Ashby de la Zouch) and other lands. His grandson, another Alan la Zouche, was justice of Chester and justice of Ireland under Henry III.; he was loyal to the king during the struggle with the barons, fought at Lewes and helped to arrange the peace of Kenilworth. As the result of a quarrel over some lands with John, Earl Warenne, he was seriously injured in Westminster Hall by the earl and his retainers, and died on the 10th of August 1270. Alan's elder son Roger (d. 1285) had a son Alan la Zouche, who was summoned to parliament as a baron about 1298. He died without sons, and this barony fell into abeyance between his daughters and has never been revived. The elder Alan's younger son, Eades or Ivo, had a son William (c. 1276–1352), who was summoned to parliament as a baron in 1308, and this barony, which is still in existence, is known as that of Zouche of Haryngworth.
John, 7th baron Zouche of Haryngworth (c. 1460–1526), was attainted in 1485 as a supporter of Richard III., but was restored to his honours in 1495. His descendant, Edward, the 11th baron (c. 1556–1625), was one of the peers who tried Mary, queen of Scots, and was sent by Elizabeth as ambassador to Scotland and to Denmark. He was president of Wales from 1602 to 1615 and lord warden of the Cinque Ports from 1615 to 1624. He was a member of the council of the Virginia Company and of the New England council. He had many literary friends, among them being Ben Jonson and Sir Henry Wotton. Zouche left no sons, and the barony remained in abeyance among the descendants of his two daughters until 1815, when the abeyance was terminated in favour of Sir Cecil Bisshopp, Bart. (1753–1828), who became the 12th baron. He died without sons, a second abeyance being terminated in 1829 in favour of his daughter Harriet Anne (1787–1870), wife of the Hon. Robert Curzon (1771–1863). In 1873 her grandson, Robert Nathaniel Curzon (b. 1851), became the 15th baron.
Two antiquaries, Henry Zouch (c. 1725–1795) and his brother Thomas Zouch (1737–1815), claimed descent from the family of Zouche. Both were voluminous writers, Thomas's works including a Life of Izaak Walton (1823) and Memoirs of Sir Philip Sidney (1808).
Zoutpansberg, the north-eastern division of the Transvaal. This was the district to which Louis Trichard and Jan van Rensburg, the forerunners of the Great Trek, journeyed in 1835. In 1845 Hendrik Potgieter, a prominent leader of the Trek Boers, removed thither. The Zoutpansberg Boers formed a semi-independent community, and in 1857 Stephanus Schoeman, their commandant-general, sided against Marthinus Pretorius and Paul Kruger when they invaded the Orange Free State. It was not until 1864 that Zoutpansberg was definitely incorporated in the South African Republic. Trichard and his companions had been shown gold workings by the natives, and it was in this district in 1867–70, and in the neighbouring region of Lydenburg, that gold mines were first worked by Europeans south of the Limpopo. The white settlers in Zoutpansberg had for many years a reputation for lawlessness, and were later regarded as typical “back velt Boers.” Zoutpansberg contains a larger native population than any other region of the Transvaal. It is highly mineralized, next to gold, copper, found near the Limpopo (where is the Messina mine) being the chief metal worked. The district long suffered from lack of railway communications, but in 1910 the completion of the Selati line giving it direct access to Delagoa Bay was begun. The chief towns are Pietersburg and Leydsdorp.
See S. Hofmeyr, Twintig jaren in Zoutpansberg (Cape Town, 1890); Report on a Reconnaissance of the N.–W. Zoutpansberg District (Pretoria, 1908).
Zrinyi, Miklós, Count (1508–1566), Hungarian hero, was a son of Miklós Zrinyi and Ilóna Karlovics. He distinguished himself at the siege of Vienna in 1529, and in 1542 saved the imperial army from defeat before Pest by intervening with 400 Croats, for which service he was appointed ban of Croatia. In 1542 he routed the Turks at Somlyo. In 1543 he married Catherine Frangipán, who placed the whole of her vast estates at his disposal. The Emperor Ferdinand also gave him large possessions in Hungary, and henceforth the Zrinyis became as much Magyar as Croatian magnates. In 1556 Zrinyi won a series of victories over the Turks, culminating in the battle of Babócsa. The Croatians, however, overwhelmed their ban with reproaches for neglecting them to fight for the Magyars, and the emperor simultaneously deprived him of the captaincy of Upper Croatia and sent 10,000 men to aid the Croats, while the Magyars were left without any help, whereupon Zrinyi resigned the banship (1561). In 1563, on the coronation of the Emperor Maximilian as king of Hungary, Zrinyi attended the ceremony at the head of 3000 Croatian and Magyar mounted noblemen, in the vain hope of obtaining the dignity of palatine, vacant by the death of Thomas Nadasdy. Shortly after marrying (in 1564) second wife, Eva Rosenberg, a great Bohemian heiress, he hastened southwards to defend the frontier, defeated the Turks at Segesd, and in 1566 from the 5th of August to the 7th of September heroically defended the little fortress of Szigetvár against the whole Turkish host, led by Suleiman the Magnificent in person, perishing with every member of the garrison in a last desperate sortie.
See F. Salamon, Ungarn im Zeitalter der Türkenherrschaft (Leipzig, 1887); J. Csuday, The Zrinyis in Hungarian History (Hung.), Szombathely, 1884, 8vo. (R. N. B.)
Zrinyi, Miklós, Count (1620–1664), Hungarian warrior, statesman and poet, the son of George Zrinyi and Magdalena Széchy, was born at Csákvár. At the court of Péter Pásmány the youth conceived a burning enthusiasm for his native language and literature, although he always placed arms before arts. From 1635 to 1637 he accompanied Szenkveczy, one of the canons of Esztergom, on a long educative tour through Italy. During the next few years he learnt the art of war in defending the Croatian frontier against the Turks, and approved himself one of the first captains of the age. In 1645 he acted against the Swedes in Moravia, equipping an army corps at his own expense. At Szkalec he scattered a Swedish division and took 2000 prisoners. At Eger he saved the emperor, who had been surprised at night in his camp by Wrangel. Subsequently he routed the army of Rákóczy on the Upper Theiss. For his services the emperor appointed him captain of Croatia. On his return from the war he married the wealthy Eusebia Draskovics. In 1646 he distinguished himself in the Turkish war. At the coronation of Ferdinand IV. he carried the sword of state, and was made ban and captain-general of Croatia. In this double capacity he presided over many Croatian diets, always strenuously defending the political rights of the Croats
