Tomislav
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Tomislav (died in 928), was one of the greatest rulers of Croatia in Middle Ages. He reigned from 910 until 928, first as Duke of Dalmatian Croatia in 910–925, and then became first King (rex Croatorum) of Croatian Kingdom in 925–928.
He was probably the son of Muncimir, Duke of Dalmatian Croatia. Tomislav was one of the most prominent members of the House of Trpimir. He united the Croats of Dalmatia and Pannonia into a single Kingdom in 925. Tomislav rounded off his state from the Adriatic Sea to the Drava River, and from the Rasa River in Istria to the Drina River. Under his rule, Croatia became one of the most powerful kingdoms in Medieval Europe.
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[edit] Duke
Tomislav defeated the Magyar mounted invasions of the Arpads in battle and forced them across the Drava River. Tomislav annexed a part of Pannonian Croatia to his Croatian Dalmatia. This included the area between the rivers Drava, Sava and Kupa, so his Duchy bordered with Bulgaria for a period of time. This was the first time that the two Croatian Realms were united, and all Croats in one state.
At the peak of his reign, according to Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos' De Administrando Imperio, written around 950, Tomislav controlled a vast military force composed out of 100,000 infantrymen and 60,000 horsemen and a sizable fleet of 80 large ships and 100 smaller vessels.
The Duke had to face renewed threats from the Bulgarians under Tsar Simeon I who had already conquered the Serbs. In 923, the Patriarch of Constantinople and the Byzantine Emperor offered to deal with Simeon's plights if Pope John X would accept a rejoined of the distanced Holy Sees of Rome and Constantinople. The Pope also demanded that the Patriarch gives him the suzeiranity over the Dalmatian Byzantine Cities. After this was done, the Byzantine Emperor gave Duke Tomislav the coastal Cities under his Goverency: the Byzantine Province of Dalmatia ((Zadar, Split, Trogir...). In 921-924, the Bulgarian leader Simeon smited through Rascia, enslaving and tricking the people, which made many Serbs under dethroned Prince Zaharije Pribislavljević of the House of Vlastimirović flee and seek shelter in Tomislav's Realm.
[edit] King
With the claiming of the coastal cities by Tomislav, the question of suzeiranity over the Croatian Archbishopric of Nin was raised. In 925 the Pope summoned a synod in Split to resolve the situation, and in a letter sent to Tomislav, recognised him as king (rex) of Croatia. According to the latter medieval sources, Tomislav was crowned at the field of Duvno (named Tomislav's City in his honour), although there are no contemporary records of this event. Although he was referred to as King, Tomislav's more frequent title would be Princeps instead.
On the Synod in Split, the Latin Bishops and Abbeys of the Seaside outvoted Nin's Bishop Grgur and his supporters, so the supremacy of the Archbishopric of Split was affirmed. Furthermore, the use of the Slavic language in the ecclesiastical service was banned, allowing only the usage of Latin. This, however, had very little effect in reality, as the number of clerics knowing Latin was sparse throughout the kingdom; indeed, the great era of Glagolitic Slavic scrypt was just beginning in Croatia. However, to gain support of the Pope, Tomislav probably sided with the Latinist side and the dioceses of Split. A second synod was summoned in 927 to enforce the conclusions of the first one in 925; the supremacy of the Archbishopric of Split was confirmed, and the diocese of Nin was abolished.
Tomislav had to repel the attacks of the invading Bulgarians in 926 due to Tomislav's protectorate of the Serbian dynasty's head, Zaharije Pribislavljević. The Croatians fought the army of Simeon I of Bulgaria led by duke Alobogotur on May 27, 927 and won the famous Battle of the Bosnian Highlands. The huge battle, considered to be one of the most important battles in the history of south-eastern Europe, took place in the north-eastern part of Bosnia. The Croatians under Tomislav won a great victory, decimating the entire Bulgarian force.
It is unknown how the first Croatian king ended, but he disappeared from the political scene after 928. He was succeeded by either his son or his younger brother, Trpimir II.
[edit] Miscellaneous
Tomislav is celebrated as the founder of the first united Croatian state. In the Croatian capital of Zagreb, there is a square dedicated to Tomislav. Near the place where he was crowned lies the town of Tomislavgrad (Tomislav's City).
[edit] Controversy
Croatian historians Nada Klaić and Ivo Goldstein disputed the extension of Tomislav's kingdom. However, in the later editions of her work, Klaić dropped the issue of territorial compass of Tomislav's kingdom and omitted the historical maps dealing with the murky issue of the eastern border of Tomislav's kingdom. Ivo Goldstein claimed that Tomislav never ruled Bosnia in his Hrvatski rani srednji vijek. Still, dominant modern university history textbooks like Tomislav Raukar's Hrvatsko srednjovjekovlje (Croatia in the Middle Ages), as well as other university textbooks on the medieval Croatian state, consider that during Tomislav's rule his kingdom covered between 60% to 80% of contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other historical sources tend to be fuzzy: for instance, a European history site gives a similar picture, while Serbian historian Relja Novaković considered that Tomislav's state encompassed even more territory: "In the first half of the 10th century until the 930s, the eastern Croatian political boundary was, probably, a mountain wreath composed of the array of mountains Zelengora, Lelija, Treskavica, Jahorina, Romanija, Ozren and Zvijezda." (Relja Novaković: On some questions regarding borders of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia in the X century, Proceedings of the Belgrade Philosophical Faculty, VII/1, 1963., pg. 178/ O nekim pitanjima granica Srbije, Hrvatske i Bosne u X veku, Zbornik Fil.fak. u Beogradu, VII/1, 1963, str. 178.) Even this can be, due to the lack of strong historical evidence, considered mere speculation. This issue is frequently debated due to modern Croatian and Serbian national ideologies. It actually bears little importance on medieval Bosnian history, since the pre-Ottoman ethno-cultural landscape of this country was formed mainly in the period from the 13th to the 15th century.
[edit] References
- Opća Enciklopedija Jugoslavenskog Leksikografskog Zavoda, Zagreb, 1982 ↑
- De Administrando Imperio, Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos, 950
- Šišić F., Povijest Hrvata u vrijeme narodnih vladara, Zagreb 1925.
- Smičiklas T., Poviest Hrvatska, Dio Prvi: od najstarijih vremena do godine 1526., Zagreb 1882.
- Klaić N., Izvori za hrvatsku povijest do 1526., Zagreb 1972.
- Klaić V., Povijest Hrvata, Knjiga Prva, Zagreb 1982.
- Horvat J., Kultura Hrvata kroz 1000 godina, Prvi svezak, Ljubljana 1980.
[edit] External links
- http://www.croatian-king-tomislav.com/
- http://www.hbzup.com/tomislavgrad/kultura/kralj/
- Croatia in the X and XI centuries: maps from the pre-eminent Croatian historian Šišić's book
| Preceded by Muncimir of Croatia |
Duke of the Dalmatian Croatia 910–925 |
Succeeded by Tomislav I |
| Preceded by Tomislav |
King/Princeps of Croatia 925–928 |
Succeeded by Trpimir II |
