The paper briefly introduces the relevant aspects of the political and ecclesiastical scene in Civil Croatia (Banska Hrvatska) in the mid-1880s. Emphasis is accorded to the socio-political status of Izidor Kršnjavi and his Copernican political turn, reflected in his decision to join the People’s Party in 1884 at a time of rising Hungarian influence. Hungarian dominance was encouraged by Károly KhuenHéderváry, the new ban (royal governor). This in turn led to the strengthening of the Statehood Right Party on the nationalist end of the political spectrum. The roles of Kršnjavi’s former political patron and Đakovo Bishop Josip Juraj Strossmayer from the Independent People’s Party and Zagreb Archbishop Josip Mihalović are also presented. Using archival materials from Kršnjavi’s Bequest, themes such as the violation of the Croatian territorial parliament’s dignity, the insulted honour of People’s Party member Vaso Pauković and other personal grounds are examined. These may have been the underlying motives which led to the pistol duel between Kršnjavi, a member of the People’s Party, and Statehood Right Party member Milan Pavlović in 1885, after insults were hurled on the floor of Parliament. The course of the parliamentary debate culminating in a verbal altercation between Vaso Pauković and Milan Pavlović is also described in detail. The paper underscores the intersection between politics (People’s Party, Statehood Right Party, Independent People’s Party), the Croatian media (Sloboda, which featured contributions from Statehood Right Party leader Ante Starčević; Pozor and Narodne novine, which backed the People’s Party and Independent People’s Party respectively; and the Church-backed Katolički list) and the Church (Mihalović vs. Strossmayer, and the lower ecclesiastical structures personified by Mijo Smetiško, the director of the Archdiocesan Theological Seminary). To a large extent, and sometimes exclusively, they reflected the previous, politically conditioned a priori premises acted out by the participants in these events. How these premises manifested themselves is demonstrated on the basis of archival materials (from Kršnjavi’s post as lecturer at the Theology Faculty and his later reminiscences on the duel and the associated circumstances) and the official aspect of the penalties stipulated for duels and the time and manner of their enforcement. In the case of Mihalović’s letters to the Apostolic See, they were cast aside and therefore generated no internal canonical disputes at that time. In the case of Croatia’s territory as a whole, they largely reflected the previous political, i.e., partisan, classification of their protagonists and commentators. This clearly stems from what they said (or did not) about the individuals involved in the case and their actions and the necessary official repercussions.