Matija Gubec
Matija Gubec was the leader of a major uprising by Croatian peasants.
A peasant army took on the local landowners near Stubičke Toplice in 1573. With the defeat of the peasants Gubec was taken to Zagreb for trial. He was executed on St Mark’s Square on February 15 of the same year, reportedly by being crowned with a circle of red- hot iron (an ironic reference to his much vaunted status as “king of the peasants”), then quartered. It is believed that his face is depicted on the corner of a building in St Mark’s Square.