RULERS OF CROATIA (HRVATSKA) AND SLAVONIA: HISTORICAL NOTE

The history of medieval Croatia is not very well known, and must be pieced from references in Western and Byzantine sources, as well as local genuine or forged charters. According to the Byzantine Emperor Kōnstantinos VII, the Croats settled in the Balkan peninsula in the early 7^th century. If they had not been Slavic in origin, they eventually became Slavicized. The very conjectural list of Croatian rulers presented here is for the period 900–948 an alternative to the more generally accepted list compiled by Croatian scholars. The problem is that Kōnstantinos VII is one of our main sources for the 10^th century and he lists the princes Trpimir, Krešimir, Miroslav, and Pribunja, without making any mention of the far more important Tomislav. Most Croatian historians place Tomislav before the sequence of rulers found in Kōnstantinos VII’s De Administrando imperio, but Sir Steven Runciman (The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and his Reign, 1929) has argued forcefully that the omitted Tomislav must have come after the sequence in question and that Kōnstantinos VII was not up to date on his information on Croatia. The traditional Croatian solution requires us to assume that Kōnstantinos VII was unaware of Tomislav but well acquainted with his obscure successors, and that there was a second king named Trpimir who reigned after Tomislav. Runciman solves the problem by making Krešimir the son of the well-known Trpimir of the mid-9^th century and by placing Krešimir, Miroslav, and Pribunja between Muntimir and Tomislav. This is entirely possible, and there is evidence, that Kōnstantinos VII was increasingly ignorant of events along the Dalmatian coast the further North one went after the 910s. An additional complication is posed by the recent suggestion of Martin Eggers (Das «Grossmärische Reich», 1995) that Tomislav was in fact an interloper as a son of the exiled Moravian ruler Svátopluk II. Eggers’ argument is largely based on the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, which seems to have fused together a number of Slavic princely lines that were in part contemporary if historical at all. Nevertheless, Eggers’ argument is not necessarily wrong, and there is some scant supporting evidence for the survival of a Moravian remnant somewhere in Slavonia or Bosnia until about 1000. That a member of this family line (which was probably in close marital relations with its neighbors) could have made himself a ruler of Croatia in this period is not at all impossible. If the usurper Pribunja indeed preceded Tomislav (who is nowhere attested as son and successor of Muntimir), the latter’s appearance would be just another seizure of power by an outsider. Whether or not Tomislav’s successors in Croatia were his descendants, Eggers identifies a line descended from him as rulers somewhere in neighboring Bosnia. The nature of the evidence allows for either interpretation and, although the traditional Croatian solution is neater, the alternative has a lot to recommend it. The very obscure Godimir may have been a successor of Pribunja in his original principality, as suggested by Nada Klaić (Povijest Hrvata u ranom srednjem vijeku, 1971). The parentage of Krešimir II remains obscure regardless of which solution is adopted. In spite of his name, he is not actually attested as a son of Krešimir I and the only source that may shed any light on his origins is the problematic Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea. Here we find as Croatian kings Krešimir (fl. late 960s) and his son Stjepan, who may well be Krešimir II and his son Stjepan Držislav of Croatia. Of these, Krešimir is named as the son of a certain Slavic prince Tješimir. The chronology and genealogy of the Croatian kings from Krešimir II to Krešimir IV is relatively unproblematic, but the end of the independent medieval Croatian kingship is another very murky period.

RULERS OF CROATIA (HRVATSKA): LIST

	Princes, c988 Kings of Croatia
821–835	VLADISLAV	Prince of Dalmatian Croatia
835–845	MISLAV	Son of Vladislav
845–864	TRPIMIR	Son of Mislav (?)
864–864	ZDESLAV	Son of Trpimir; deposed by Domagoj
864–876	DOMAGOJ	Usurper
876–877	(Domagojić)	Son of Domagoj; deposed by Zdeslav
877–879	ZDESLAV	Restored; deposed by Branimir
879–892	BRANIMIR	Son of Domagoj (?)
892–900	MUNTIMIR	Son of Trpimir
900–908	KREŠIMIR I	Son of Trpimir
908–912	MIROSLAV	Son of Krešimir I; murdered by Pribunja
912–915	PRIBUNJA	Son of Braslav of Slavonia (?)
915–931	TOMISLAV I	Son of Svátopluk II of Moravia (?); (King 925)
931–948	GODIMIR	Son of Tomislav I (?)
948–969	Mihajlo KREŠIMIR II	Son of Tješimir (?) or of Krešimir I (?) or of a Trpimir II son (?) of Krešimir I
969–997	Stjepan DRŽISLAV	Son of Krešimir II; King c988
997–1000	SVETOSLAV Suronja	Son of Držislav; deposed
997–1030	KREŠIMIR III	Son of Držislav
997–c1020	GOJISLAV	Son of Držislav
1030–1058	STJEPAN I	Son of Krešimir III
1058–1074	Petar KREŠIMIR IV	Son of Stjepan I; deposed
1075–1089	Dimitrije ZVONIMIR	Son of Stjepan, son of Svetoslav (?); murdered
1089–1091	STJEPAN II	Son of Gojislav, son of Stjepan I; deposed
1091–1095	ALMOŠ	Son of Géza I of Hungary; deposed, died 1129
1095–1102	PETAR	National king; killed against Hungary
1102–1918		To Hungary (personal union, including the Austrian Habsburg kings of Hungary)
1918–1940		To Yugoslavia
1940–1945	TOMISLAV II of Savoy	Aimone of Spoleto, son of Amadeo of Aosta son of Emanuele Filiberto son of Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy; abdicated 1943
NOTE: This highly conjectural list is adapted from the suggestions made by S. Runciman and M. Eggers. The traditional Croatian version of the list has: Mutimir (892–910)—son Tomislav (910–928)—brother Trpimir II (928–940)—son Krešimir I (940–945)—son Miroslav (945–949)—brother Krešimir II (949–969), installed by Pribunja.

SLAVONIA AND/OR EARLY BOSNIA: LIST

790–815	VOJNOMIR	Prince of “Slavonia”
815–835	VLADIMIR I	Son of Vojnomir
835–855	RATIMIR	Son of Vladimir I
855–862	SVETIMIR (Zvanimir)	Son of Mojmír I of Moravia son of Vojnomir
862–884	SVETOPOLK I (Svetopelek)	Son of Svetimir; deposed, later ruler of Moravia, died 894
884–899	BRASLAV	Son of Rastislav of Moravia son of Vladimir
899–910	SVETOPOLK II (Svetolik)	Son of Svetopolk I
910–914	VLADISLAV	Son of Svetopolk II
914–931	TOMISLAV	Son of Svetopolk II, later also ruler of Croatia
931–950	SEBESLAV	Son of Tomislav
950–970	VLADIMIR II	Son of Sebeslav
970–972	HRANIMIR	Son of Vladimir II; killed against White Croatia
972–c1000	TVRDOSLAV	Son of Hranimir
NOTE: This highly conjectural list is adapted from suggestions made by M. Eggers regarding the relationship between South Slavic and Moravian rulers (largely on the basis of the Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea), and the survival of a “Moravian” line in Slavonia and Bosnia until c1000 (according to two later chronicles).