Dalmatia (theme)

Coordinates: 43°49′00″N 16°13′00″E / 43.8167°N 16.2167°E / 43.8167; 16.2167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Byzantine Dalmatia
)
Theme of Dalmatia
Θέμα Δαλματίας
Theme of the Byzantine Empire
c. 870 – 1060s

Map of the Balkans in 925 AD
CapitalZadar
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Establishment as a theme.
c. 870
• Collapse of Byzantine control.
1060s

The Theme of Dalmatia (

Southeastern Europe, headquartered at Jadera (later called Zara, today's Zadar
).

Origins

Dalmatia first came under Byzantine control in the 530s, when the generals of Emperor

Avars and Slavs in the 7th century destroyed the main cities and overran much of the hinterland, with Byzantine control limited to the islands and certain new coastal cities -with local autonomy and called Dalmatian city-states- such as Spalatum (Split) and Ragusium (Dubrovnik), while Jadera (Zadar) became the local episcopal and administrative center, under an archon.[1] These coastal cities were the refuge of the autochthonous Dalmatian neolatins, who created the original eight Dalmatian city-states: (Vecla (now Krk), Crespa (now Cres), Arba (now Rab), Jadera, Tragurium (now Trogir), Spalatum, Ragusium and Cattaro (now Kotor
)).

At the turn of the 8th to 9th century, Dalmatia was seized by Charlemagne (r. 768–814), but he returned it to the Byzantines in 812, after the so-called "Pax Nicephori". It is unclear whether the region was under actual rather than nominal Byzantine authority after that; the local Latin cities appear to have been virtually independent. Nevertheless, an archon of Dalmatia is mentioned in the 842/843 Taktikon Uspensky, and a seal of a "strategos of Dalmatia" dated to the first half of the century may indicate the existence of a Dalmatian theme, at least for a short time.[2]

History

The traditional date of the establishment of Dalmatia as a regular theme is placed in the early years of the reign of Emperor

Niketas Oryphas.[1][2]

Byzantium, the Roman Pope and the Franks vied for the support of the Slavs in Dalmatia; in 878 AD, Zdeslav of Croatia was a noted Byzantine vassal, who deposed and was in turn deposed in a power struggle involving these powers. With the fall of the Carolingian Empire, the Franks ceased to be a major power in the Adriatic, while the Republic of Venice grew in power in Dalmatia, beginning with Doge Pietro Tradonico. Since the time of duke Branimir of Croatia, Venetians had to pay taxes to Croatia and to the Narentines for their ships traveling along the eastern Adriatic coast, while the Dalmatian city-states paid 710 ducats of tribute to the Croatian ruler.[3][4][5]

Around 923 AD,

Theme of Dalmatia (but some historians believe not over the Dalmatian city-states).[6] According to Thomas the Archdeacon, Stephen Držislav received royal insignia and the titles as an act of recognition from the Byzantine Emperor, becoming reges Dalmatie et Chroatie and his descendants having the same titles.[6] The Venetian maritime power was obstructed by the Narentines and the Croats until Pietro II Orseolo who successfully intervened in 998 and 1000, and arranged two important royal marriages with both the Croats and the Byzantines. Under Domenico I Contarini, Venice retook Jadera
.

Croatia again had a period of control over the theme and Dalmatian city-states under

Amico of Giovinazzo invaded Dalmatia from southern Italy, on behalf of the Dalmatian cities and Byzantines. Amico also besieged Rab for almost a month (late April to early May).[7] He failed to take the island, but he manage to take island Cres and capture the Croatian king himself who died in Norman prison by November 1074.[7][8] In February 1075 the Venetians banished the Normans and secured the Dalmatian cities for themselves.[8] The doge Domenico Selvo self-titled himself as the doge of "Venice, Dalmatia and Croatia" (later only of "Dalmatia"), but did not have nominal power over Dalmatia and Croatia. In October 1075 was crowned Demetrius Zvonimir as the king of "Croatia and Dalmatia" by the Holy See and his power was felt even on the island of Krk and Cres.[7][8] His death in 1089 caused succession crisis in Croatia and Dalmatia, but although doge Vitale I Michiel made with Coloman, King of Hungary agreement of 1098—the so-called Conventio Amicitiae—determined the spheres of interest of each party by allotting the coastal regions of Croatia to Hungary and Dalmatia to the Republic of Venice, Coloman in 1105 successfully conquered coastal cities of Dalmatia.[7]

Southern Dalmatia

In the south of the Dalmatia Theme, the city of Ragusa, one of the main Dalmatian city-states but still under Byzantine control, started to grow in importance, and its Church diocese was elevated to an archbishopric in 998 AD.

In the early 11th century, Byzantine control over the eight Dalmatian city-states started to be contested by the Serb principality of

Theme of Dyrrhachium. His feats were repeated and bested by Stefan Vojislav twenty years later, and in 1034 AD, the Bar diocese was elevated to an archdiocese, but a war with Theophilos Erotikos soon followed. Stefan Vojislav's son Mihailo obtained papal support following the East–West Schism
of 1054, further weakening Byzantine influence in Dalmatia.

Except for Ragusium and the southern third of Dalmatia, Byzantine control collapsed in the 1060s.[1] Constantine Bodin pledged his support for Pope Urban II, which confirmed Bar's status as an archdiocese in 1089 AD, and resulted in a temporary demotion of the Ragusan diocese. By the end of the 11th century, the Kingdom of Hungary took the Kingdom of Croatia's place in controlling the northern Dalmatian hinterland. Duklja remained largely under Byzantine control, with a series of internal conflicts weakening its leaders.

Later

Byzantine predominance was restored under Emperor

Stato da Mar until 1797 (see Venetian Dalmatia
).

Byzantine governors of Dalmatia were styled as dukes (pl. of Byzantine Greek "δούξ", doux), a title derived from Latin dux. In the 1170s, the duke was Constantine Doukas.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kazhdan 1991, pp. 578–579.
  2. ^ a b Nesbitt & Oikonomides 1991, p. 46.
  3. Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute
    , retrieved 25 January 2023
  4. Croatian Encyclopaedia
    (in Serbo-Croatian). 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2023.
  5. ^ Brković, Milko (October 2001). "The Papal Letters of the second half of the IXth Century to addressees in Croatia". Radovi (in Croatian) (43). Institute for Historical Sciences of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zadar: 31–32. Retrieved 2012-07-27.
  6. ^
    Miroslav Krleža Lexicographical Institute
    , retrieved 12 October 2023
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-953-340-061-7
    .
  8. ^ a b c Zekan, Mate (1990). Kralj Zvonimir - dokumenti i spomenici [King Zvonimir - Documents and Monuments] (in Croatian and English). Zagreb: Muzej hrvatskih arheoloških spomenika Split, arheološki muzej Zagreb. p. 9–24.

Sources

43°49′00″N 16°13′00″E / 43.8167°N 16.2167°E / 43.8167; 16.2167

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