Kingdom Establishment as imagined by Croatian romanticist painter
Oton Iveković. |left 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". 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. while in the 12th canon of the Council conclusions the ruler of the Croats is called "king" (
rex et proceres Chroatorum). The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja titled Tomislav as a king and specified his rule at 13 years. Tomislav, a descendant of
Trpimir I, is considered one of the most prominent members of the Trpimirović dynasty. Sometime between 923 and 928, Tomislav succeeded in uniting the Croats of
Pannonia and
Dalmatia, each of which had been ruled separately by dukes. Although the exact
geographical extent of Tomislav's kingdom is not fully known, Croatia probably covered most of Dalmatia, Pannonia, and northern and western
Bosnia. Croatia at the time was administered as a group of eleven counties (
županije) and one
banate (
Banovina). Each of these regions had a fortified royal town. Croatia soon came into conflict with the Bulgarian Empire under
Simeon I (called Simeon the Great in Bulgaria), who was already in a war with the Byzantines. Tomislav made a pact with the
Byzantine Empire, for which he may have been rewarded by the Byzantine Emperor
Romanos I Lekapenos with some form of control over the coastal cities of the Byzantine
Theme of Dalmatia and with a share of the tribute collected from them. In 926, Simeon tried to break the Croatian-Byzantine pact and afterwards conquer the weakly defended Byzantine Theme of Dalmatia, sending Duke
Alogobotur with a formidable army against Tomislav, but Simeon's army was defeated in the
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. 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), but these numbers are generally taken as a considerable exaggeration.
10th century Epitaph. 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
feudal system. The previously free peasants became
serfs and ceased being soldiers, causing the military power of Croatia to fade. Tomislav was succeeded by
Trpimir II () and
Krešimir I (), who each managed to maintain their power and keep good relations with both the Byzantine Empire and the Pope. This period, on the whole, however, is obscure. The rule of Krešimir's son
Miroslav was marked by a gradual weakening of Croatia. Various peripheral territories took advantage of unsettled conditions to secede. Miroslav ruled for 4 years when he was killed by his ban,
Pribina, during an internal power struggle. Pribina secured the throne to
Michael Krešimir II (949–969), who restored order throughout most of the state. He kept particularly good relations with
Dalmatian city-states, he and his wife
Helen donating land and churches to
Zadar and
Solin. Michael Krešimir's wife Helen built the Churches of Saint Mary and Saint Stephen in Solin that served as the tomb of Croatian rulers (see
Church of Saint Stephen on Otok). 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". (
pleter) with the inscription of king
Stephen Držislav, 10th century. 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.
11th century As soon as Stjepan Držislav had died in 997, his three sons,
Svetoslav (997–1000),
Krešimir III (1000–1030), and
Gojslav (1000–1020), opened a violent contest for the throne, weakening the state and allowing the Venetians under
Pietro II Orseolo and the Bulgarians under
Samuil to encroach on the Croatian possessions along the
Adriatic. In 1000, Orseolo led the Venetian fleet into the eastern Adriatic and gradually took control of the whole of it, first the islands of the
Gulf of Kvarner and Zadar, then
Trogir and
Split, followed by a successful naval battle with the
Narentines upon which he took control of
Korčula and
Lastovo, and claimed the title
dux Dalmatiæ. Krešimir III tried to restore the Dalmatian cities and had some success until 1018, when he was defeated by Venice allied with the
Lombards. The same year his kingdom briefly became a vassal of the
Byzantine Empire until 1025 and the death of
Basil II. His son,
Stjepan I (1030–1058), only went so far as to get the Narentine duke to become his vassal in 1050. in
Solin. During the reign of
Krešimir IV (1058–1074), the medieval Croatian kingdom reached its territorial peak. Krešimir managed to get the Byzantine Empire to confirm him as the supreme ruler of the Dalmatian cities,
i.e., over the
Theme of Dalmatia, excluding the theme of
Ragusa and the Duchy of
Durazzo. He also allowed the
Roman curia to become more involved in the religious affairs of Croatia, which consolidated his power but disrupted his rule over the
Glagolitic clergy in parts of
Istria after 1060. Croatia under Krešimir IV was composed of twelve counties and was slightly larger than in Tomislav's time. It included the closest southern Dalmatian duchy of Pagania, and its influence extended over
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. 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. However, in 1072, Krešimir assisted the Bulgarian and Serb uprising against their Byzantine masters. The Byzantines retaliated in 1074 by sending the
Norman count
Amico of Giovinazzo to besiege
Rab. They failed to capture the island, but did manage to capture the king himself, and the Croatians were then forced to settle and give away Split, Trogir, Zadar,
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. , whose ruins can be seen in the picture, to the
Holy See as their permanent residence in Croatia. Krešimir was succeeded by
Demetrius Zvonimir (1075–1089) of the Svetoslavić branch of the
House of Trpimirović. He was previously a ban of Croatia in the service of
Peter Krešimir IV and later the
Duke of Croatia. He gained the title of king with the support of
Pope Gregory VII and was crowned at
Hollow Church in Solin as King of Croatia in
Solin on 8 October 1075. Zvonimir aided the Normans under
Robert Guiscard in their struggle against the Byzantine Empire and Venice between 1081 and 1085. Zvonimir helped to transport their troops through the
Strait of Otranto and to occupy the city of
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. 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
Helen of Hungary in 1063. Queen Helen was a Hungarian princess, the daughter of King
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 uncertain. According to a later, likely unsubstantiated legend, King Zvonimir was killed during a revolt in 1089. There was no permanent
state capital, as the royal residence varied from one ruler to another; five cities in total reportedly obtained the title of a royal seat: Nin (Krešimir IV), Biograd (Stephen Držislav, Krešimir IV),
Knin (Zvonimir, Petar Snačić),
Šibenik (Krešimir IV), and
Solin (Krešimir II). . According to the
Provinciale Vetus (published in late 12th century), in the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia around 1075 existed 20 bishopric
civitas, including civitas Salona (
Solin-
Split), Jadera (
Zadar), Scandona (
Skradin), Tragurium (
Trogir), Belgradum (
Biograd na Moru), Arbum (
Rab), Absara (
Osor), Vecla (
Krk), Sissia (
Sisak), Ragusium (
Dubrovnik), Catara (
Kotor), Stagnum (
Ston), Mucrona (Muccur,
Makar), Bosna (
Visoko), Dulcinium (
Ulcinj), Suacium (
Svač), Antibarum (
Bar), Delmenia (
Omiš) and Nona (
Nin). Roughly similar boundaries are reproduced in the 14th century Croatian redaction of the
Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (the Hungarian king "gained possession of all the parts of the [Croatian] kingdom:
Bosnia, Croatia, Dalmatia,
Narona. But the Croats, as rebels and parricide of their lord, he oppressed with labor and servitude. Moreover, when after this the kingdom was divided into parts, the Bosnians got their lord, the
Narentines theirs, only the Croats a foreigner"), and
Catalogus ducem et regum Dalmatie et Croatie ("after this, as the holy king had prophesied, the Croats were ruled by the Hungarians, and the Bosnians and also the Neretva people obeyed their own prince").
Succession crisis Stephen II (reigned 1089–1091) of the main Trpimirović line came to the throne at an old age. Stephen II was to be the last king of the
House of Trpimirović. His rule was relatively ineffectual and lasted less than two years. He spent most of this time in the tranquility of the Monastery of St. Stephen beneath the Pines near
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. The widow of the late King Zvonimir, Helen, probably tried to keep power in Croatia during the succession crisis. According to some sources, several Dalmatian cities also asked King Ladislaus for assistance, and Petar Gusić with Petar
de genere Cacautonem presented themselves as "White Croats" (
Creates Albi), on his court. Thus the campaign launched by Ladislaus was not purely a foreign aggression, nor did he appear on the Croatian throne as a conqueror, but rather as hereditary successor. In 1091 Ladislaus crossed the
Drava river and conquered the entire province of
Slavonia (
Messia, meaning middle province, while
Sclavonia denoted Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia) without encountering opposition, but his campaign was halted near the
Gvozd Mountain (
Mala Kapela). Since the Croatian nobles were divided, Ladislaus had some success in his campaign, yet he wasn't able to establish his control over the entirety of Croatia, although the exact extent of his conquest is not known. Ladislaus died in 1095, leaving his nephew
Coloman to continue the campaign. Coloman, as well as Ladislaus before him, wasn't seen as a conqueror but rather as a pretender to the Croatian throne. The written experiences of
Raymond of Aguilers, and later
William of Tyre, of the
First Crusaders, specifically the passage of the
army of
Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse from "Istria near
Aquileia and at length reached Dalmatia" a land which "extends longitudinally between Hungary and the Adriatic sea" with "four large cities: Zara, Salona, also called Spalato, Antivari, and Ragusa", was through forest and marshes of Lika and Dalmatia in late 1096, and show that in the country called
Sclavonia or
Dalmatia i.e. Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia, was no authority to agree the terms of passage and relations with the people. This indicates "state of anarchy". In the Crusader's accounts (of Raymond of Aguilers), described with biblical expression, the army travelled for 40 days through the mountains, forests and fog without trade and guide from "barbaric" and "fierce" native population who avoided them, leaving strongholds and villages desolate and attacked army's rearguard. In retaliation and to discourage further attacks, count Raymond of Toulouse ordered mutilation of six captured Slavs. After passing across
Sclavonia they arrived to
Shkodër the capital of the kingdom of
Duklja where Raymond came in contact with
Constantine Bodin. 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.
Unification tensions are gone, it has generally been accepted that Coloman was crowned in Biograd as king. 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, resembling the relationship of Scotland to England. According to the
Worldmark Encyclopedia of Nations and the
Grand Larousse encyclopédique, Croatia entered a
personal union with Hungary in 1102, which remained the basis of the Hungarian-Croatian relationship until 1918, while
Encyclopædia Britannica specified the union as a
dynastic one. Hungarian culture permeated northern Croatia, the Croatian-Hungarian border shifted often, and at times Hungary treated Croatia as a vassal state. Croatia had its own local governor, or Ban; a privileged landowning nobility; and an assembly of nobles, the
Sabor. yet the actual nature of the relationship is difficult to define. while the content of the alleged agreement is concordant with the reality of rule in Croatia in more than one respect. The official entering of Croatia into a personal union with Hungary, later becoming part of the
Lands of the Crown of St. Stephen, had several important consequences. Institutions of separate Croatian statehood were maintained with the Sabor (parliament) and the ban (viceroy) in the name of the king. A single ban governed all Croatian provinces until 1225, when the authority was split between one
ban of the whole of Slavonia and one
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 ==