Letters of Antonije Ore？kovi？ in the Brli？ Family Archive as a Historical Source

Sa？etak The Brli？ family archive preserves letters written by Antonije Ore？kovi？ to Andrija Torkvat Brli？ from 1857 to 1868. Their acquaintance and correspondence were fundamental to the revival of the relations between the People’s Party and the Principality of Serbia in a crucial period of the final state transformation of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1867, which also determined Croatia’s position in the long run. During that decisive period, the People’s Party and Bishop Strossmayer subordinated their policies to a contractual program with Serbia aimed at creating an independent South Slavic state