Medieval Croatian state: Encyclopedia II - Medieval Croatian state - Rise of Croatia

Medieval Croatian state - Rise of Croatia

Croatian lands in the Dark Ages were located between three major entities: the Eastern Roman Empire which aimed to control the Dalmatian city-states and islands, the Franks which aimed to control the northern and northwestern lands, and the Avars, later Magyars, and other fledgling states in the northeast. The fourth relevant group, but not so powerful with regard to the Croatian state, were the nearby Slavs in the southeast, the Serbs and the Bulgarians.

The north became subject to the Carolingian Empire around 800, when in 796 a Croatian Pannonian duke Vojnomir switched sides between the Avars and the Franks. The Franks established control over the region between Sava, Drava and Danube which was under the Margrave of Furlania. The patriarchy of Aquileia was then allowed to Christianize the remaining Slavs in the region. Charlemagne invaded the Dalmatian portion of Croatia in 799, contesting its Byzantine suzerainty, and after a lengthy war, conquered it in 803. The duke who headed the Croats in the south at the time was called Višeslav.

Charlemagne's invasion of the Dalmatian cities provoked a war with the Eastern Roman Empire — after a peace deal was signed, the Byzantium restored the city-states and islands while Charlemagne kept Istria and inland Dalmatia. After the death of Charlemagne in 814, the Frankish influence decreased, and the Croatian duke Ljudevit Posavski (in Pannonia) raised a rebellion in 819. The Frankish Margraves sent armies in 820, 821 and 822, but each time they failed to crush the rebels until finally Ljudevit's forces withdrew (likely to Bosnia). Most of the Pannonian Croatia would remain in Frankish suzerainty until the end of the 9th century. What is today eastern Slavonia and Srijem fell to the Bulgarians in 827 and it took until 845 before the Franks conquered it again.

In the meantime, the Dalmatian Croats were recorded to have been subject to the Kingdom of Italy under Lothair I, since 828. The Croatian duke Mislav (835–845) built up a formidable navy, and in 839–840 signed a peace treaty with Pietro Tradonico, doge of Venice. The Venetians soon proceeded to battle with the independent Slavic pirates of the Pagania region, but failed to defeat them. The Bulgarian duke Boris I also waged a lengthy war against the Dalmatian Croats (840–860), trying to expand his state to the Adriatic. The Croatian duke Trpimir I (845–864) succeeded Mislav and managed to finally win the war against the Bulgarians and their Rascian subjects. Duke Trpimir expanded his realm to include the whole of Bosnia up to the Drina river.

Duke Trpimir consolidated power over Dalmatia and much of the inland regions towards Pannonia, while instituting counties as a way of controlling his subordinates (an idea he picked up from the Franks). The first known written mention of the Croats dates from an 852 statute by Trpimir. Trpimir is remembered as the initiator of the Trpimirovic ruling dynasty.

In the meantime, the Saracens, a group of Arab pirates, invaded Taranto and Bari in the 840s. The extent of their piracy forced the Byzantium to increase its military presence in the southern Adriatic. In 867 a Byzantine fleet lifted the Saracen siege over Dubrovnik (then known as Ragusa) and also defeated the pirates of Pagania. Facing a number of naval threats, the Croatian duke Domagoj (864–876) built up Croatian navy again and helped the Franks conquer Bari in 871. The Croatian vessels also forced the Venetians to start paying tribute for sail near the eastern Adriatic coast.

The duke Iljko, son of Domagoj, ruled Dalmatian Croatia between 876 and 878. His forces attacked the western Istrian towns in 876, but were subsequently defeated by the Venetian navy. His ground forces defeated the Pannonian duke Kocelj who was suzerain to the Franks in 876–877, and thereby shed the Frankish vassal status.

The next duke Zdeslav (878–879) reigned briefly, only to see the Eastern Empire conquer large portions of Dalmatia. He was then overthrown by duke Branimir in 879, who was supported by the Western Church, and the country was recognized by Pope John VIII as an independent dukedom under Branimir in 879 (Branimir was dubbed dux Chroatorum). Branimir proceeded to repel the Byzantine incursion and strengthen his state under the ægis of Rome. After Branimir's death in 892, duke Muncimir, Zdeslav's brother, took control of Dalmatia and ruled it independently of both Rome and Byzantium as divino munere Croatorum dux, "with God's help, duke of Croats".

The last duke of the Pannonian Croats under the Franks was Braslav, mentioned in 896, who died in a war with the Magyars, who then migrated to the Pannonian plain. In 910, the Dalmatian duke Tomislav succeeded Muncimir, and decided to defend Pannonian Croats from the Magyar invasion. He successfully repelled the Magyars up to the Drava river, and at the same time came in contact with the Bulgarians in the northeast. In fighting the Bulgarians he made a pact with the Byzantium, which allowed him to control the Dalmatian city-states as long as he curbed the Bulgarian expansion.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Rise of Croatia", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki