Kingdom of Croatia (925–1102)

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Kingdom of Croatia
  • Kraljevina Hrvatska (
    Latin)
c. 925a–1102
King
 
• 925–928 (first)
Tomislava
• 1093–1097 (last)
Petar Snačić
Ban (Viceroy) 
• c. 949–969 (first)
Pribina
• c. 1075–1091 (last)
Petar Snačić
Historical eraMiddle Ages
• Elevation to kingdom
c. 925
1102
Preceded by		 Succeeded by
Duchy of Croatia
Duchy of Lower Pannonia
Kingdom of Croatia in union with Hungary
  1. ^ Tomislav is regarded as the first king due to being addressed as Rex (King) in a letter sent by Pope John X and the Council conclusions of Split in 925 AD. Circumstances and the date of his coronation are unknown. The authenticity of the Papal letter has been questioned, but later inscriptions and charters confirm that his successors called themselves "kings".[1]

The Kingdom of Croatia (

Latin: Regnum Croatiæ), or Croatian Kingdom (Croatian: Hrvatsko Kraljevstvo), was a medieval kingdom in Southern Europe comprising most of what is today Croatia (without western Istria and some Dalmatian coastal cities), as well as most of the modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Croatian Kingdom was ruled for part of its existence by ethnic dynasties, and the Kingdom existed as a sovereign state for nearly two centuries. Its existence was characterized by various conflicts and periods of peace or alliance with the Bulgarians, Byzantines, Hungarians, and competition with Venice for control over the eastern Adriatic coast. The goal of promoting the Croatian language in the religious service was initially introduced by the 10th century bishop Gregory of Nin, which resulted in a conflict with the Pope, later to be put down by him.[2] In the second half of the 11th century Croatia managed to secure most coastal cities of Dalmatia with the collapse of Byzantine control over them. During this time the kingdom reached its peak under the rule of kings Peter Krešimir IV (1058–1074) and Demetrius Zvonimir
(1075–1089).

The state was ruled mostly by the

Biograd in 1102, uniting the two kingdoms under one crown.[3][4][5][6]

The precise terms of the relationship between the two realms became a matter of dispute in the 19th century.[7][8][9] The nature of the relationship varied through time, with Croatia retaining a large degree of internal autonomy overall, while the real power rested in the hands of the local nobility.[7][10][11] Modern Croatian and Hungarian historiographies mostly view the relations between the Kingdom of Croatia and the Kingdom of Hungary from 1102 as a form of unequal personal union of two internally autonomous kingdoms united by a common Hungarian king.[12]

Name

The first official name of the country was "Kingdom of the Croats" (

Theme of Dalmatia, formerly under the Byzantine Empire, the official and diplomatic name of the kingdom was "Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia" (Regnum Croatiae et Dalmatiae; Kraljevina Hrvatska i Dalmacija). This form of the name lasted until the death of King Stephen II in 1091.[15][16]

Background

Main articles:
Pannonian Slavs § Principality

The

Duke Branimir
as an independent ruler.

Kingdom

Establishment

Coronation of King Tomislav (modern painting by Oton Iveković)

Croatia was elevated to the status of kingdom somewhere around 925. Tomislav was the first Croatian ruler whom the papal chancellery honoured with the title "king".[17] It is generally said that Tomislav was crowned in 925, but it is not known when or by whom he was crowned, or, indeed, if he was crowned at all.[1] Tomislav is mentioned as a king in two preserved documents published in the Historia Salonitana. First in a note preceding the text of the conclusions of the Council of Split in 925, where it is written that Tomislav is the "king" ruling "in the province of the Croats and in the Dalmatian regions" (in prouintia Croatorum et Dalmatiarum finibus Tamisclao rege),[18][19][20] while in the 12th canon of the Council conclusions the ruler of the Croats is called "king" (rex et proceres Chroatorum).[20] In a letter sent by Pope John X, Tomislav is named "King of the Croats" (Tamisclao, regi Crouatorum).[18][21] The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja titled Tomislav as a king and specified his rule at 13 years.[18] Although there are no inscriptions of Tomislav to confirm the title, later inscriptions and charters confirm that his 10th century successors called themselves "kings".[19] Under his rule, Croatia became one of the most powerful kingdoms in the Balkans.[22][23]

Map of Southeastern Europe in the 10th century
Stephen Držislav
, 10th century
Croatian ruler
, originates from the 11th century.
Baška tablet, 1100 AD

Tomislav, a descendant of

Banovina
). Each of these regions had a fortified royal town.

Croatia soon came into conflict with the Bulgarian Empire under

Battle of the Bosnian Highlands. After Simeon's death in 927 peace was restored between Croatia and Bulgaria with the mediation of the legates of Pope John X.[27] According to the contemporary De Administrando Imperio, the Croatian army and navy at the time could have consisted of approximately 100,000 infantry units, 60,000 cavaliers, and 80 larger (sagina) and 100 smaller warships (condura),[28] but these numbers are generally taken as a considerable exaggeration.[24] According to the palaeographic analysis of the original manuscript of De Administrando Imperio, the population of medieval Croatia was estimated at between 440,000 and 880,000 people, while the military force was most probably composed of 20,000–100,000 infantrymen and 3,000–24,000 horsemen organized into 60 allagions.[29][30]

10th century

Croatian society underwent major changes in the 10th century. Local leaders, the župani, were replaced by the retainers of the king, who took land from the previous landowners, essentially creating a

serfs
and ceased being soldiers, causing the military power of Croatia to fade.

Tomislav was succeeded by

Solin. Michael Krešimir's wife Helen built the Church of Saint Mary in Solin that served as the tomb of Croatian rulers. Helen died on 8 October 976 and was buried in that church, where a royal inscription on her sarcophagus was found that called her "Mother of the Kingdom".[33][34]

Michael Krešimir II was succeeded by his son

Stephen Držislav (969–997), who established better relations with the Byzantine Empire and their Theme of Dalmatia. According to Historia Salonitana, Držislav received royal insignia from the Byzantines, together with the title of eparch and patricius. Also, according to this work, from the time of Držislav's reign his successors called themselves "kings of Croatia and Dalmatia". Stone panels from the altar of a 10th-century church in Knin with the inscription of Držislav, possibly when he was the heir to the throne, show that there was a precisely defined hierarchy regulating the matters of succession to the throne.[34]

11th century

As soon as Stjepan Držislav had died in 997, his three sons,

Stjepan I
(1030–1058), only went so far as to get the Narentine duke to become his vassal in 1050.

Peter Cresimir
's reign (1058-1074)

During the reign of

Zahumlje, Travunia, and Duklja. The župans (heads of counties) had their own private armies. The names of court titles in their vernacular form appear for the first time during his reign, such as vratar ("door-keeper") Jurina, postelnik ("chamberlain") and so on.[38] The Roman Catholic Church reforms, which imposed a ban on the use of Slavonic liturgy and introduced Latin as obligatory, were confirmed by Pope Alexander II in 1063. This led to a rebellion in the kingdom by the counter-reform camp, primarily in the Kvarner region. While King Krešimir IV sided with the Pope, expecting a victory of the pro-Latin clergy, support for the counter-reform clergy was provided by Antipope Honorius II. The rebellion was led by a priest named Vulfo on the island of Krk. Although the rebels were quickly suppressed, Slavonic liturgy held out in the Kvarner region, as well as the use of Glagolitic script.[39]

However, in 1072, Krešimir assisted the Bulgarian and Serb uprising against their Byzantine masters. The Byzantines retaliated in 1074 by sending the

Biograd, and Nin
to the Normans. In 1075, Venice expelled the Normans and secured the cities for itself. The end of Krešimir IV in 1074 also marked the de facto end of the Trpimirović dynasty, which had ruled the Croatian lands for over two centuries.

Krešimir was succeeded by

Dyrrhachion
. His troops assisted the Normans in many battles along the Albanian and Greek coast. Due to this, in 1085, the Byzantines transferred their rights in Dalmatia to Venice.

Demetrius Zvonimir
's reign (1075-1089)

Zvonimir's kinghood is carved in stone on the

Baška Tablet, preserved to this day as one of the oldest written Croatian texts, kept in the archæological museum in Zagreb
. Zvonimir's reign is remembered as a peaceful and prosperous time, during which the connection of Croats with the Holy See was further affirmed, so much so that Catholicism would remain among Croats until the present day. In this time the noble titles in Croatia were made analogous to those used in other parts of Europe at the time, with comes and baron used for the župani and the royal court nobles, and vlastelin for the noblemen. The Croatian state was edging closer to western Europe and further from the east. Demetrius Zvonimir married
Béla I of the Hungarian Árpád dynasty, and was the sister of the future Hungarian King Ladislaus I
. Zvonimir and Helen had a son, Radovan, who died in his late teens or early twenties. King Demetrius Zvonimir died in 1089. The exact circumstances of his death are unknown. According to a later, likely unsubstantiated legend, King Zvonimir was killed during a revolt in 1089.

There was no permanent

Solin (Krešimir II).[40]

Succession crisis

Split. He died at the beginning of 1091, without leaving an heir. Since there was no living male member of the House of Trpimirović, civil war broke out shortly afterward.[41]

The widow of the late King Zvonimir, Helen, tried to keep power in Croatia during the succession crisis.

Diocese of Zagreb as a symbol of his new authority and went back to Hungary. In the midst of the war, Petar Snačić was elected king by Croatian feudal lords in 1093. Petar's seat of power was based in Knin. His rule was marked by a struggle for control of the country with Álmos, who wasn't able to establish his rule and was forced to withdraw to Hungary in 1095.[48]

Ladislaus died in 1095, leaving his nephew

Biograd in 1102 and the title now claimed by Coloman was "King of Hungary, Dalmatia, and Croatia". Some of the terms of his coronation are summarized in Pacta Conventa by which the Croatian nobles agreed to recognise Coloman as king. In return, the 12 Croatian nobles that signed the agreement retained their lands and properties and were granted exemption from tax or tributes. The nobles were to send at least ten armed horsemen each beyond the Drava River at the king's expense if his borders were attacked.[50][51] Despite the fact that the Pacta Conventa is not an authentic document from 1102, there was almost certainly some kind of contract or agreement between the Croatian nobles and Coloman which regulated the relations in the same way.[45][52][53]

Unification

See also: Pacta conventa (Croatia)
A 14th-century transcript of the Pacta conventa, preserved in the Hungarian National Museum. Most historians consider it a forgery, but that the contents of it corresponds to the reality of rule in Croatia.[45][54]

In 1102, after the succession crisis, the crown passed into the hands of the

Biograd. The precise terms of the union between the two realms became a matter of dispute in the 19th century.[9] The two kingdoms were united under the Árpád dynasty either by the choice of the Croatian nobility or by Hungarian force.[55] Croatian historians hold that the union was a personal one in the form of a shared king, a view also accepted by a number of Hungarian historians,[6][12][45][49][56][57] while Serbian and Hungarian nationalist historians preferred to see it as a form of annexation.[8][9][58] The claim of a Hungarian occupation was made in the 19th century during the Hungarian national reawakening.[58] Thus in older Hungarian historiography Coloman's coronation in Biograd was a subject of dispute and their stance was that Croatia was conquered. Although these kinds of claims can also be found today, since the Croatian-Hungarian tensions are gone, it has generally been accepted that Coloman was crowned in Biograd as king.[59] Today, Hungarian legal historians hold that the relationship of Hungary with the area of Croatia and Dalmatia in the period till 1526 and the death of Louis II was most similar to a personal union,[12][60] resembling the relationship of Scotland to England.[61][62]

According to the Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations and the

Sabor.[64] According to some historians, Croatia became part of Hungary in the late 11th and early 12th century,[65] yet the actual nature of the relationship is difficult to define.[58] Sometimes Croatia acted as an independent agent and at other times as a vassal of Hungary.[58] However, Croatia retained a large degree of internal independence.[58] The degree of Croatian autonomy fluctuated throughout the centuries as did its borders.[10]

The alleged agreement called Pacta conventa (English: Agreed accords) or Qualiter (first word of the text) is today viewed as a 14th-century forgery by most modern Croatian historians. According to the document King Coloman and the twelve heads of the Croatian nobles made an agreement, in which Coloman recognised their autonomy and specific privileges. Although it is not an authentic document from 1102, nonetheless there was at least a non-written agreement that regulated the relations between Hungary and Croatia in approximately the same way,[45][52] while the content of the alleged agreement is concordant with the reality of rule in Croatia in more than one respect.[54]

The official entering of Croatia into a personal union with Hungary, later becoming part of the

ban of Croatia and Dalmatia
. The positions were intermittently held by the same person after 1345, and officially merged back into one by 1476.

Union with Hungary

Main article:
Croatia in the union with Hungary

In the union with Hungary, the crown was held by the

Austro-Hungarian Empire
in 1918.

Timeline (925–1102)

Petar SnačićLadislaus I of HungaryStephen II of CroatiaDemetrius ZvonimirPeter Krešimir IVStephen I of CroatiaKrešimir IIIGojslav of CroatiaSvetoslav SuronjaStephen DržislavHelen of ZadarMichael Krešimir IIMiroslav of CroatiaKrešimir ITrpimir IITomislav of Croatia

See also

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Further reading
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