{from Journal of the Anthrolopological Institute of Great Britain and
Ireland, Vol. VII, Trubner & Co. (London, 1878), p. 324-41.]
By your favour I have recently commenced a series of papers on the
ethnography of Germany; I find it difficult to proceed in this work
without at the same time considering the migrations and changes which
the Slavic races have been subject to. Germans and Slaves being close
neighbours, with frontiers frequently shifting and overlapping, it is
almost impossible to understand the revolutions which have overtaken the
one race, nor to map out its details correctly, without at the same time
[325] surveying
its neighbours. I therefore propose to write a number of papers
concurrently with the series on the Germanic races, in which I shall
treat of the ethnography of the Slaves : and I find it convenient to
begin with the Croats.
The synonymy of the Croats has been collected with great
patience by Schafarik, and from his classic work I take the following
list of synonyms. By the Emperor Constantino Porphyrognitus, they were
called Chrobatoi; by Cedrenos Khorbatoi; by Zonaras, Krabatoi; by
Nicepborus Bryennios, Khorobatoi by Kboniates, Khrabatia; by
Khalkokondylas Krokatioi. The Arab Masudi calls them Khorwatm. A gau in
Karinthea is called Crawati in an early document. In deeds of 954 and
978 they are called Khrowat; by Dithmar Khru-uati; by the " Annalista
Saxo," Krowate; in the Saxon Chronicle Kruwati; a village Crubate is
mentioned in 1055; another Gravat in 1086; the land of Kurbatia by Lupus
Protospathes; Chrowali by Cosmas of Prague; Cruacia by Martin Gallus
Croatii by Kadlulek. Alfred the Great calls them Horithi; Croat« and
Croatia occur in native documents of 892, 925, 1076, and 1078; Chrobatae
in a deed of 1059, etc. In the Cyrillian legend of Saint Wenzel, dating
probably from the tenth century, the name is written Khrbate, Khorbate,
Khrabate; Khrobate by Nestor in the copy written in 1377; Khrbate in the
oldest Servian MSS.; Khrbaten in an old Bulgarian MS.; Harwati, in the
Dalmatian Chronicle of Diokleas, Kharwati in Dalimil, etc.
The Croats pronounce their own names Hr'wati, Horwati,
The Serbs and Illyrians call them Hr'wat, plural Hr'wati In both cases,
as in the words hrabren, hrast, hren, hvala, hud, etc., h stands for the
old ch. The Hungarians call them Horva-tok, the Germans, Kroats, and
Krobats.
The original form of all these names is Khr'watin in the
singular, and Kbr'wati in the plural, and according to all authorities
known to me, including Schafarik, is derived from the Carpathians, which
in old Slavic were named Krib, or Khrebet. This word means a mountain or
hill, and occurs in composition in many Slavic localities, as Slovenski
hribi in Steiermark; also several places in Bussia, as Khriby, a village
on the Kolpinka, and the Khribian woods and marshes in the same
district; Khrebine, a village west of Vladimir, etc. From Khrib we get
Khrebet, the term applied generally to large mountain ranges by the
Russians, as Yablonoi Khrebet, Uralskoi, Khrebet, Kamskatskoi Khrebet'
etc. (Id.,
i, 488.) Croat therefore means merely an inhabitant of the
Carpathians. According to Schafarik, the whole of the northern slopes of
these mountains, stretching from the Sutschawa to the sources
[326]
of the Vistula, was known from the fifth to the tenth century as
Khrby, and sometimes, by the permutation of consonants, Khrwy, or
Khrwaty
(id.),
and this is the region, according to the best authorities, whence the
Croats originally came.
The author to whom we are indebted for the first notice
of the migration of the Croats is the Emperor Constantine
Porphyrogenitus whose notice has been sifted with great critical acumen
and skill by Schafarik, the author of the " Slavonic Antiquities."
Constantine tells us how in the reign of the Emperor Heraclius, the
Avares having driven the Romans out of Dalmatia, and that province
having been converted into a desert, the Chrobati, by the Emperor'»
invitation, entered that country, drove the Avares out, and settled
there. Schafarik dates the invasion of the Avares about the year 630,
and their expulsion about 634. (Op. at.,
ii, 241.) "Previously the Chrobati lived," says the Emperor, " beyond
Bagibaria, where still live the Belo Khrobati" (U., the White
Khrobati), which doubtless means the Free Khrobati, as distinguished
from the Black or subject Khrobati. In another place he tells us that in
his day these White Khrobati still lived in their own land, near the
Franks, and subject to Otho the Great In a third place, where he
describes the old country of the Servians, he tells us it was situated
beyond the land of the Turks (i.e., the Magyars), and was called
Boiki, and was near Francia and Great or White Khrobatia. (Stritter, ii,
157 and 390.) As Schafarik says, there is much ambiguity in these
apparently distinct statements. Boiki has been often supposed to
represent Bohemia; but the land whence the Servians came was- called
Boiki by themselves; while as is well known, Bohemia has always among
the Slaves been called Cheky. Again, Constantine does not write the name
Boiké, as he would have done if he wished to connect it with the Boii,
but Boiki (indeclinable, as was the custom of the Greeks in writing
barbarous names). Schafarik concludes, as I think most justly, that by
Boiki there is no reference to Bohemia, but a reference to the Eussinian
tribe of the Boyki (Kussin. Boyki, singular Boyok), who still live io
Eastern Gallicia from the Dniester to the Pruth, in the district of
Sambor and Stryi, in the lower part of Stanislawof, and Kolomyi, and
also scattered in the district of Chorkof and very probably still
further north. Constantine's putting Borki in the neighbourhood of the
land of the Franks, was perhaps due to some confusion in his own mind
between Boiki and Bohemia.
[327]
Again, as to Bagibaria, some would make it equivalent with dwellers on the
Wag or the Bug; others a corruption of Babi-egorbo, an old name for the
Carpathians; (Stritter, ii, 389, note.) Others again connect it with
Bavaria; Bavaria then stretched as far as the Danube, and Gallicia might
well be described as being beyond Bavaria and the land of the Turks
(%.$., of the Magyars). (Id., ii, 243.)
On turning to other authorities, we find this conclusion amply
supported. Nestor, the first Russian chronicler, in speaking of the
times before the arrival of the Vaiagians, names the Khorwati in close
proximity with the Dulyebii, who lived on the Bug, and the Tiwertzi who
lived on the Dniester. And he distinctly calls them Khrobate biele, or
White Croats. In describing the campaign of Oleg against the Greeks, in
906, he mentions how he was assisted by contingents of men from the
Varagians, the Slovenians, the people of Novgorod, the Chudes, the
Kriwichi, the Mera, the Polani of Kief, the Derewani, the Eadimiches,
the Severani, the Wiatichee, the Khorwati, the Dulyibii, and the
Tiwertzi. " These Khorwati/ as Schafarik says, " no doubt were the White
Khorwati, who lived beyond the Carpathians. In 981 Vladimir declared war
against Mechislaf of Poland, apparently to reconquer certain places in
Gallicia which had been won by Oleg, but had been re-occupied by the
Poles. He took the towns of Cherwen (now called Czermo), on the river
Guczwa, Peremy8l, etc. Oppressed on all sides, the Croats tried to
regain their independence." (Schafarik, ii, 1.05.)
In 993 we find Vladimir unaertaking a fresh war against them, whose
issue is not stated.
Besides these proofs, we have as remains of the former occupation of
this district by Croats, the names of certain places, as the villages of
Horb, Horbok, Horbof, Horbowiza, Horibatche, Zahorb, Hrbitschi, Hribowa,
Hrichowze, and more doubtfully, Khrewt, in the circle of Sanock;
Kharwin, and four villages called Kharsevitze in Eastern and Western
Gallicia, etc. (Schafarik, op. cit, ii, 106.)
Zeuss argues very forcibly that the name patria Albis given by the
Geographer of Eavenna to the flat country north of the Carpathians, is
not to be explained as the country of the Elbe, but as the white land,
and as equivalent to the White Servia and White Croatia of the
Byzantines. (" Die Deutschen und die Nachbarstamme," 610.) He also
mentions that north of the mountains, although west of the ancient White
Croatia, we meet in mediaeval times with traces of the Croats; thus we
find Cosmas of Prague, under date 1086, in mentioning the border
districts of the diocese of Prague north-west of Bohemia, near the gau
of Troppau, speaking as follows, "Ad aquilonalem [328]
hii suut termini: Psouane, Ghrouat, et altera Chrouati, Zlasane,
Trebouane, Boborane, etc."
(Id., 610.) These Croats are probably referred to in the legend of
St. Wenceslaus, where we find that Drahomira fled to Croatia. This was
in 936. (Schafarik, op. cit., ii, 444.) They would also seem to
be the Horithi of Alfred. (Id.) It is possible that these Croats
were not a section of the White Croats, but received their name merely
from living in the chribty or mountains. There can be small hesitation
however in accepting the neighbourhood of Gallicia north of the
Carpathians as the cradle land of the Croats.
Invited by the Emperor Heraclius, as I have mentioned, the Croats set
out under the leadership of five brothers, named Klukas, Lobel (LobelosV
Kosenetz (Eosentsiz), Muchlo, and Khrwat (Khorvalos), and two of their
sisters, named Tuga and Buga. Some suspicion has been cast on these
names. Khrvat seems to be the eponymos of the race; two others of them
mean tarrying; while the two girls' names are equivalent to joy and
sorrow. (Evans, " Bosnia," etc., xx.) But the names do not seem to me to
be other than perfectly natural ones. They entered Dalmatia, and having
fought for some time against the Avars, who inhabited that district
(i.e.,
from about 634 to 638), they killed some and some they subdued, and from
this time the Croats occupied that country. The Avars were not entirely
dispersed, and the emperor tells us that when he wrote, three centuries
later, remains of them were still to be found there who retained their
name of Avars. (Constan. de adm. Imp., 30; Stritter ii, 389.) Schafarik
suggests that the Morlaks, who have been by several writers made out to
be of Tartar or Kirghiz origin, are really descended from these Avars.
He also suggests that it was from this fact that Avar, title of Ban, was
first adopted among the Croats, and afterwards by other Slavic races.
(Op. cit, ii, 278, and note 2.)
In regard to these Morlaks, Sir Gardner Wilkinson collected some
curious information. He says the first notice of them is about the
middle of the fourteenth century, when they would seem to have been the
occupants of the mountainous district of north-western Bosnia. After
that period they migrated with their families and flocks from Bosnia as
the Turks advanced there; and immediately before their settlement in
Đalmatia, their principal abodes were in the districts of Corbavia and
Lika, to the north and north-east of the River Zermagna.
u
Though of the same Slavonic family as the Croatians," he says " and
others of that race, some have supposed a difference in their
appearance, and a superior physical conformation." This he [329]
assigns to their hardy life and pure climate. Farlati supposes the name
to be compounded of Greek and Slavonic, and that it was originally Makro
vlahi, and that they received the latter name from their dark or black
colour. Some have indeed called them Black Latins. (" Historicus
Dalmata," vi, 5.) This etymology is much more reasonable than that
adopted by Wilkinson from mor the sea; and vlah, a tenu given in
Slavonic to all those who do not speak German, and even to the Latins,
and which is the root of Valachi Wallachians. (Wilkinson, "Dalmatia and
Montenegro," ii, 296.) An inland race of mountaineers would scarcely
receive a name derived from the sea; and the former derivation is very
consistent with the theory, quoted from Schafarik, which makes the
Morlaki descendants of the Avars. It would be curious to examine their
dialect from this point of view, and now that so good and enthusiastic a
student of Slavonian as Mr. Evans lives at Bagusa, we may perhaps hope
that an inquiry in this direction may be made. As to the title of Ban,
Schafarik says, that Bayan was a title in use among the Avars, and was
used of a subordinate dignity to that of Khakan or Khan, and it is
almost certain that the Slaves derived it from the Avars.
(Id., ii, 278, note.) He adds elsewhere that it is probably derived
eventually from the Persian Bayan. (Id., ii, 257, note 3.)
Wilkinson says the principal nobles of Hungary Bohemia in the middle
ages were called Pan; the same title was given in Poland to the first
dignities of the State, and it now means Lord, Mr. or Sir. (Op. cit.,
i, 25.) The Austrian Governor of Croatia is still known as the Ban.
So far as we know, the Croatians were the first Slaves who permanently
settled in Đalmatia, in Pannonia beyond the Save, and in Prawallis.
There had been several previous raids of Slavic invaders into these
districts in 548, 550, 551, and 552, but these were only temporary
invasions, and the Croats were the first to actually settle there.
(Schafarik, ii, 237.) Although Constantine does not tell us that they
settled down as dependants of the empire, it seems almost certain from
their subsequent history that they did so. (Id., 278, note.) A
portion of the Croats who entered Đalmatia detached itself from the main
body, and occupied Hlyria and Pannonia. (Const. Porphyr, op. cit;
Stritter, ii, 391.) This detached body seems to have settled, in fact,
in that part of Pannonia situated between the Danube and the Save, and
known as Pannonia Savia, with its chief town at Sisek, and partly also
in Hlyria, where there was subsequently a Croat gau. (Id., 279.)
There were thus constituted two Croat States, one in Dalmatia, with its
chief towns of Belgrade (Zara Vecchia), on the Adriatic, [330]
and Bihatsch on the Una; and a second whose capital was Sisek at the
junction of the Kupa (Kulpa) and the Save. According to Constantino, the
boundaries of the land possessed by the Croats of Dalmatia were, on the
south, the river Zetina and the towns of Imoski and Iiwno. On the east,
the Urbas, with the towns of Yazye and Baynaluka. On the north the
Drave, the Kulpa, the town of Albunon, and the Arsia in Istria; and on
the west the Adriatic. (Stritter, ii, 395, note; Schafarik, op. cit.,
ii, 279.) They also doubtless occupied several of the Dalmatian islands
and the Istrian peninsula, whose inhabitants speak the Croatian dialect
(Schafarik, id.) In Croatia, Constantino says there were eleven
Zupas, i.e^ gaus: Chlewiana, i.e., Chlewno (the modern Liwno, in
Herzegovina); Tsentsina (Zetina); Imota (Imolski near the Zetina); Plewa
(the modern Pliwa); Pesenta (the mountain of Wesenta, south of the
Yayze); Parathalassia (Primorye, a district between the Zetina and the
Krka) Brebera (Bribri, between the Krka and Lake Karin); Nona (Nin, on
an island in the strait of Puntadur); Tnina (Knin, on the river Krka);
Sidraga (the district of Belgrade or Zara Vecchia); Nina (the district
on both sides of the Dzrmanya, including the town of By elina); Kribasa
(the later county of Krbarva); Litsa (the military district of Lika);
Gutsika (the open country of Gazko.) (Schafarik, op. cit., ii,
295-6.) The three last gaus were subject to the Ban, an officer of whom
I shall have more to say presently.
From the names of these gaus and the towns which they enclosed, it
would seem, says Schafarik, that the division of Dalmatian Croatia did
not reach northwards to the Sen and the Otoschatz; and this northern
frontier strip from the Arsia and from the mountain Albunon (Yawonirk ?)
to the Kulpa, belonged to the other section of Croatia, whose princes
bad authority as far as the Danube and Syrmia. Croatia therefore'was
bounded on the north by the Wends, who as early as 631 had gained
possession of Friauli on the north-east (Schafarik, by a lapsus
penidlli says north-west) by the Pannonian Avares, and on the east
and south by the Serbs; from whom the latter were separated by the
rivers Urbas and Zetina; and it included the modern districts of Turkish
Croatia, Dalmatia and some of its islands, a part of the military
frontier, and of Austrian Croatia, Istria and Carinthia.
Schafarik remarks that it is well to remember that there were certain
towns on the coast which having been for a long time subject to the
Greek Empire, secured for a while their independence, but ended by
becoming tributary to the Croats. These were Rauaium or Ragusa, called
Dubrownik by the Slaves; Trangurium, i.e., Trogir or Trau;
Diadora, i.e.,
[331] Zader or Yadera; and the islands of Arbe,
i.e., Bab; Wekla, i.e.,
Kark or Kerk; and Opsara, ix.9 Oserò or Absorus. To these
towns and islands and the neighbouring district, the name Dalmatia now
became more and more restricted, in order to distinguish them from the
neighbouring Croatian districts proper; and their inhabitants, as
Constantino tells us, retained the name of Romani or Eomans. (Schafarik,
ii, 280.) Their descendants are still well known as the so-called
Italians of the Dalmatian coast.
Having considered their country, let us now turn to the history of the
invaders. When he had, persuaded them to settle down on his frontiers,
the next thing which the Emperor Heraclius was solicitous about was the
conversion of the Croats to Christianity. He accordingly applied to the
Pope, who sent a number of priests to baptise them. Their prince at this
time was named Porga, the son of one of the five brothers already named.
Porga is a curious and uncommon name, apparently not Slavic; and
Schafarik compares it with Purgas, the name of a Mordwin chief mentioned
in the year 1229 (op. cit., ii, 280, note), a fact which makes it
probable that the Croats were at this time subject to alien princes,
perhaps of Avar descent.
The conversion of the Croats by missionaries of the Latin Church, and
not by those of the Eastern Church, became a very important fact in
later days, and a fact which still forms a notable element in that
congeries of political difficulties, the Eastern Question. The Pope who
was reigning at the time was John the Fourth who entered into close
relations with the new converts, put them under the protection of the
Holy See, and made them promise, probably, at the instance of the
Byzantine Court, to abstain from making any attacks on other countries.
This promise they further ratified in writing, an<J it was honestly
carried out. Being restricted from making aggressive wars, they partly
occupied themselves in agriculture, and partly in trade, their ships
frequenting the various towns on the Adriatic. (Schafarik, ii, 281.)
They accordingly became rich, and their country populous. Constantino
tells us they had a force of 60,000 cavali^, and 100,000 infantry; 80
ships, each manned by 40 hands, and 100 others, with lesser crews of 20
and 10 men. (Stritter ii, 396). He tells us also there was an archbishop
and a bishop among them, with priests and deacons. Through their
influence and that of several other ecclesiastics, notably John of
Kavenna, Archbishop of Spalato, they were not only grounded in the
faith, but were also closely attached to the Empire. According to
Thomas, Archdeacon of Spalato, the first bishoprics created in Croatia
were those of Dubno (Deluminium) and Sisek (Siscia). (Schafarik, 281,
»ote.) We thus find the Croats attached [332] politically
to Byzantium, while their religious ties were with Rome. Unlike their
Slavic neighbours, they were never subject to the kings of Bulgaria,
with whom, however, they lived on amicable terms. We have hardly a
notice of the Croats during the next one hundred and fifty years; in
fact, the only reference to them during this interval, given by
Schafarik, relates to an invasion of Apulia by a host of Slaves who came
from the Adriatic. " De Venetiarum finibus," are the chronicler's words;
as they are said by the annalists to have gone with a multitude of
ships, it is probable they were Croats. (Schafarik, 282, note 1.) We do
not meet with any further references to their country till we come to
the days of the Frank conqueror "Karl the Great." Having conquered the
Lombard kingdom in 774, and ravaged Friauli in 776; he then in his
struggle with the Bavarian prince Tassilo and his Avar allies, overran
the Wendish districts on the Ens in the Tyrol, Karinthia, and Istria.
This extension of the Frank arms led inevitably to their speedily
overshadowing the Croats. The rivalry between the Byzantine and Romish
churches had begun its work, and was at this period intensified by the
ill-feeling between the Greek Emperor and his grandees. On the bloody
defeat of the Byzantines in Italy in 788, the Franks overran Istria,
Liburnia, and Pannonia on the Save. They annexed these districts as far
as the Danube, and appointed Marquises or Margraves and Counts there, on
whom the native Slavic chiefs became dependent. This was in 789. Thus
the Grand Prince (Veliki Zupan), who had his seat at Sisek, became a
Frank subject. The Franks gave him the title of rector, and made him
immediately dependent on the Marquises of Friauli. It was probably from
this event that the district of Syrmia was called Frankokhorion, while
the town now called Mandyelos, the Budaliia of the Bomans, received the
name of Frankavilla. (Id., 283.) Hitherto the Dalmatian towns had
not been interfered with; according to Eginhardt, this was because of
the friendship of his master for the Byzantine Emperor (Egin. " Vit»
Car.:" Pertz. i, 451); but in the year 806, Paulus, Duke of Zara, and
Donatus, bishop of the same town, went to him with rich presents, and
also apparently with their submission. (Eginhardt; Pertz, i, 133.) This
change of masters led to considerable ill-feeling between Karl and the
Emperor Nicephorus. This was terminated by a treaty in 810, by which the
latter transferred his now merely nominal sovereignty over the Dalmatian
Croats to the Frank Emperor, while he retained control over the towns of
Zader, Trogir, Spalato, Bagusa, and the islands of Oserò, Eab, and Kerk,
i.e.,
of the district now called Dalmatia. (Schafarik, 282-3). Thus the
Croats became to a large extent subjects of the [
333] Prank Empire. On the death of the Great Karl, the Franks
began a somewhat persecuting policy towards them. In 817 a dispute arose
between Kadolach, Duke of Friauli, and the Byzantine Emperor Leo the
Armenian, as to the boundaries of Dalmatia. The Greeks presented their
complaints on this matter to the diet held in 817 at Aachen, and the
Emperor sent Albgar the son of Miroch, to settle matters on the spot
(Eginhardt, " Annates " sub ann. 817.)
Kadolach appears to have treated the Croats on the Save very
arbitrarily, and Liudewit their prince sent an embassy with complaints
to the diet at Vannes. (Eginhardt, " Annates," 818.) No notice having
apparently been taken of his complaints, he rebelled, and an army was
sent against him, which seems to have been partially successful, and
Liudewit sued for peace. As his terms were not reciprocated by the
Emperor, he persuaded the neighbouring Wends and also the Timociani, who
had recently fallen away from their allegiance to the Bulgarians and
submitted to the Emperor, to rebel. Meanwhile, Kadolach, the Marquis of
Friauli, caught the fever and died, and was succeeded by Baldric; who
marched into Carinthia, where he encountered the army of Liudewit, and
having defeated it on the Drave, drove him out of that province.
He was attacked on another side by Borna, the chief of the Dalmatian
Croats, who was apparently in alliance with the Franks. The struggle
took place on the River Culpa, but Borna was deserted by the Guduscani,
and was defeated. In this battle Dragomus, the father-in-law of
Liudewit, who had been treacherous to his son-in-law, and had deserted
him, perished.
Borna, on his retreat homewards, succeeded in reducing the Guduscani
once more to obedience. In the winter Liudewit invaded his borders, and
ravaged them with fire and sword. Borna, however, revenged himself,
killed 3,000 of the enemy, captured 300 of their horses, and recovered
much booty. (Eginhardt, "Annales," 819; Pertz, i, 205-6.) Thus did the
Croats imitate a very common policy among the Slaves, and tear each
other's throats, while the Empire stood by approvingly.
In January, 820, it was determined at an Imperial diet, to send three
armies simultaneously into the country of Liudewit. Borna assisted at
this diet with his advice. One of these armies marched through the
Norican Alps; a second by way of Carinthia; while the third went through
Bavaria and Upper Pannonia. The first and last were obliged to return
again, but the one which marched through Carinthia defeated the enemy
three times, and crossed the Drave; but Liudewit defended himself
bravely, shut himself up in his capital; and the Franks [334]
contented themselves with devastating the country round, and then
retiring. They had however struck terror into some of the rebels, for we
read that the people of Camiola who lived about the Save, and close to
Friaufi, submitted to Baldric; and the Carinthians, who had sided with
Liudewit, also submitted. (Eginhardt, " Annales," ad ann. 820.)
Meanwhile Borna the chief of the Dalmatian Croats, died. He is called
dux Dalmatiae et Liburni« by Eginhardt. He was succeeded by his nephew
Ladislavl. The Franks once more entered the country of Liudewit and
ravaged it in 821. In 822, they sent another army, on the approach of
which he was constrained to fly from his capital Sisek, and to escape to
the Servians (Schafarik says probably to Bosnia); Eginhardt tells tis he
there murdered one of the princes of the country, and appropriated his
territory. He then sent envoys to the Franka (Eginhardt, "Annales,"
822;Pertz i, 209.) He had however again to fly, and now escaped to
Dalmatia, where having lived for some time with Liudimysl, the uncle of
Borna, he was at length put to death by him. This was in 823.
This ended the independence of the Croats on the Save, who were now
united with the Dalmatian Croats.
This internecine war among the Croats was due no doubt partly, as
Schafarik sayB, to the jealousy created by a Bection of them being
subject to the Franks, and another section independent; but I believe
another reason not referred to by that historian was, that the Croats of
the north were still very largely pagans, while ^ their southern
brothers were Christians. The Frankish raids to which it gave rise were
accompanied with terrible barbarity, and the Emperor Constantine tells
us how even children At theip mothers' breasts were killed and thrown to
the dogs. They kept up the struggle however with the persistence of
their race, killed their prince Liudimysl the Frankish protege,
and also, according to Constantine, the Frank commander Kozilimis. This
war took place during the years 825-30, and during the reign of Prince
Porin. Being once more free the Croats turned to the Pope, asking him to
send people to baptise them, and also asking for bishops. (Constantine
Porphy.; Stritter, ii, 392.) Porin ruled over the whole of the Croats on
the Adriatic, whose borders extended probably as far as the modern
Slavoma; under him was a Ban who had authority over three gaus. Slavonic
itself, i.e., the country between the Drave and the Save, or at
all events its eastern portion, was at this time subject to the
Bulgarians, who had pushed their authority beyond the Drave. (Schafarik,
ii, 286.)
The various towns of Dalmatia which had been subject to the Greeks,
fell away during the reign of Michael the Second [335]
(820-29), and Zader set up an independent dux or doge of its own. (id.,
286; Stritter, ii, 88.) On Porin's death, he was succeeded for a short
space by Moislaf, who in 836 renewed the peace with Peter Tradonico the
Doge of Venice. His successor Trpimir in 837 ratified the gilt of
certain revenues which had been made by his predecessor Moislaf to the
church of Split or Spalato, and the deed by which he did it is the
oldest one extant relating to the Croatian princes. In his days there
came from the neighbouring Frank districts (i.e., from Istria and
Carniola) a pilgrim named Martin, dressed in secular garb. He did many
wonders, and although a pious person, he was infirm and lame in his
feet, and was carried about by men. He devoted himself to the conversion
of the people, and was so successful, that they desisted from acts of
piracy on their neighbours, and ceased attacking them except in
self-defence, and we are told the Croats became attached to seafaring,
and frequented the coast as far as Venice. (Constantino Porphyr.;
Stritter, ii, 394-5.) Unlike the neighbouring Slaves, the Croats were
never subject to the Bulgarians, nor did they even pay them tribute.
They only bad one struggle with them, in the days of Michael Soroses of
Bulgaria« who failing to beat them, made peace with them, and gifts were
interchanged. (Id., 395.)
Between, 868 and 878, we find that Sedeslaf or Sdeslaf, a relative of
Trpimir's, and a protege of the Byzantine Emperor Basil, the
Macedonian, was Prince of Croatia. He was probably a usurper, for
Trpimir left sons behind him. During Ins reign, the Croats again became
dependent on Byzantium, and transferred their ecclesiastical sympathies
from the Pope of Borne to the Patriarch of Constantinople. (Id.,
287.)
The chief reason for this, was the publication of the Slavic Liturgy in
the Cyrillic character in Bulgaria, Pannonia and Moravia, which so
pleased the neighbouring Croats and Serbs, that they sent to ask
teachers from the Emperor Basil, and accepted baptism from them. It is
probable that the Slavic Liturgy was at the same time promulgated in
Croatia, as would appear from a papal brief issued when the Croats
returned to their allegiance to him. (Schafarik, ii, 287.)
At this time all the mainland of Dalmatia was occupied by Slaves, and
the citizens of the town were chiefly Bomans, who also inhabited the
islands off the coast. As the latter, however, were terribly harassed by
pirates, no doubt Saracens, and were in danger of extermination, they
appealed to the Croats to allow them to move to the mainland; but they
refused permission, unless they paid tribute; upon which they appealed
to the Emperor Basil, who ordered that they should pay the same tax to
the Croats [336] which they had paid to the imperial
prefect; and from this date, Aspalathus, i.e., Spalato paid 200
gold pieces; Trogir, 100 gold pieces; Diodora (t.e., Zader), 110 gold
pieces; Opsara (Oserò), 100 gokMpieces; Arbe (Rab), 100 gold pieces;
Becla (Wkla), 100 gold pieces. This was in addition to a certain tax on
wine and other products. (Const Porp.; Stritter, ii, 398-9.) In return
apparently for this favour, the Croats and Servians sent a contingent to
help the Greeks at Bari, in the year 888, when they were attacked by the
Saracens. (Schafarik, ii, 287.)
In May, 879, Sdeslaf was killed by Branimir, who broke off the
connection with the East, and placed the Croats once more under the
ecclesiastical authority of Rome, and sent Theodosios, the " Diaconus "
of Nin, to Rome to be consecrated a bishop.
John, Archpriest of Solina; Vitalis, Bishop of Zader; Dominions, Bishop
of Oserò, and others who wei» referred to, did not wish to receive their
authority from Rome, and it may be mentioned as a proof of the strength
of the Eastern party, that Maximus, the new Archbishop of Spalato, was
consecrated by Walpert, the delegate of Photius, Patriarch of Aquileia.
And it was a long time before the Greek eult was completely driven out
of Croatia.
During Branimir's reign, the Croats were independent, both of the
Byzantines and the Franks. In 882, Branimir was succeeded by Mutimir or
Muntimir, the younger son of Trpimir, who had defeated his elder brother
Kryesimir. In a deed of his, dated in 892, we first meet with certain
high dignitaries, as the Maccecharius (? Magnus Cococus* or chief cook),
Cavel-larius, Camerarius, Pinzenarius, Armigsr. (Schafarik, ii, 288-9.)
Muntimir must not be confused with the prince of the same name who was
ruling at this time in Servia.
Muntimir was apparently succeeded by his elder brother Kryesimir, whose
authority he had usurped. The latter was reigning in 900, and continued
to rule till 914 (id., 289), when he was succeeded by his son
Miroslaf, who was killed three years later by the Croatian Ban Pribina.
(Stritter, ii, 396.) He was not allowed to keep his ill-gotten throne
long, for in 920 we find a prince named Tomislaf, who is known from a
letter to the Pope John the Tenth. During his reign, and in the year
925, a synod was held at Spalato, where the use of the Slavic Liturgy
was forbidden. At another synod in 928, three new Croatian bishoprics
were founded at Skradin, Sisek, and Duwno. In 924, the Serbian prince
Zacharias, with a great number of his people, sought shelter in Croatia
from the attacks of the Bulgarians. These emigrants did not return home
till ten years later. It was this close alliance of the two peoples,
* Or perhape Clanger, from mediaeval Greek Mataouka and low Latin
Haxuga, mazuca, a key [337] which probably led to the
invasion of Croatia in 927 by Alogoboturs, the general of the Bulgarian
king Simeon; an expedition which had an unfortunate end, the invaders
being badly beaten. In 940, Godimir, or Chedomir, became the ruler of
Croatia» and he was succeeded in 958, by his grandson Kryesimir the
Second, called the Great, who restored his country to its ancient
prosperity, which had much decayed during the recent revolutions. He was
succeeded by his younger son Drzislaf. He was the protege of the
Greek Emperors Basil and Constantine, and as a consequence of the
doubtless renewed prosperity of the country, we find him.forsaking the
ancient title of Veliki Zupan or Great Zupan, and adopting that of king,
which was borne by his successors. According to the frail testimony of
Thomas of Spalato, says Schafarik, he joined Neretwa and Zachlumen to
his kingdom. On the other hand, we find that the coast towns of
Dalmatia, Zader, Trogir and Spalato, and the islands of Kerk, Bab, and
Kortschula, which had been for one hundred and twenty years tributary to
the Croatians, were now conquered by Peter Urselus the Second, Doge of
Venice, who styled himself Dux Dalmati».
(Id., 291.)
Wilkinson, in reporting the results of this war, says, " The Croatians
were also expelled from the Isle of Pago, which was restored to Zara,
and Surigna was sent by his brother Mucimir (? Drzislar of Schafarik) on
a mission to the Doge at Trau, with instructions to make peace on any
terms. A treaty was therefore concluded, by which the King of Croatia
promised to abstain from all acts of aggression in Dalmatia, and sent
his son Stephen to Venice as a hostage for his fidelity. He there
received an education worthy of his rank, and afterwards married Nilcea,
the daughter of the Doge. (Op. cit., ii, 227.)
In the year 1000, Drzislaf was displaced by his elder brother Kryesimir
the Third (the first as king). Catalinich says he was killed in an
attempt to relieve the island of Pasmaus. (Wilkinson, op. cit^
ii, 226, Kryesimir.) He had been previously granted the title of
Patrician by the Greek Emperor. He tried to drive the Venetians out of
Dalmatia, but was defeated by them in 1013. Bulgaria and Servia had both
submitted to the throne of Byzantium, and according to Zonaras and
Cedrenus, their example was followed by that of the Croats. But
Schafarik has shown that these writers have used the term Croat in a
mistake for Serbian. (Op. cit,
ii, 291.) Kryesimir the Third was succeeded in 1035 by his son (? his
nephew, Wilkinson, op. cit., 227-8), Stephen the First, whose
wealth is proved by the rich presents he made to the Church. By his
second marriage with Wetenega, the widow of the Patrician Doym of Zader,
he had two sons; one of whom who [338] succeeded him as
Peter Kryesiniir the Fourth (or second as' king), was the most famous of
all the Croatian rulers. Soon after his accession in 1050, he recovered
the Dalmatian towns from the Venetians; the archbishop and city of
Spalato, and the Bishop of Rab acknowledged him as their suzerain. He
thereupon took the title of King of Dalmatia. In 1066 Zara was again
wrested from him by the Doge Domenico Contarmi. (Id., ii, 229.)
He introduced several ecclesiastical reforms. He planted new bishoprics
at Belgrade on the coast, and at Knin; and his sister Cica founded the
nunnery of Sta. Maria at Zara, of which she became the first abbess. The
Bishop of Kief was nominated High Chancellor of the realm. His diocese
reached as far as Drau. Under him a famous synod was held at Spalato,
where the Slavic Liturgy was again prohibited Methodeus was proclaimed
as a heretic, and the Cyreliian writing was denounced as an invention of
the Arian Goths. It was probably less from its Arian quality than from
its having originated with the Greek Church that it was unpopular.
Before his death, which happened in 1074, Stephen adopted his nephew
Kryesimir as his successor; but this was not carried out, for the throne
was seized by one named Slawisha, of whose history little is known. We
read however that in November, 1075, he was captured and carried off as
a prisoner to Apulia by the Norman chief Amikus. Wilkinson says the
Normans were called in by the partisans of the dispossessed Stephen, who
had retired to Spalato to the Benedictine convent of Saint Stephen.
(Op. cit., ii, 229.) The throne was then occupied by Demeter
Zwonimir, who had been Ban of Croatia, and had married the daughter of
St. Stephen of Hungary and sister of Vladislaf, but had been deposed by
Slawisha. (Wilkinson, ii, 230; Schafarik, 292.) To strengthen his
position, he, by the advice of the Archbishop Laurence of Solina,
acknowledged the Pope as his suzerain, who thereupon sent him the
emblems of the royal dignity, and he was duly crowned on the 9th of
October, 1076, in the church of St. Peter at Old Solina. (Id.,
293.) But things were now going badly with the Croats. The Normans
appeared in crowds on the coast, while the Venetians endeavoured to
Tecover their lost authority on the Dalmatian shore. On Zwonimir's death
in 1087, he was succeeded by Stephen the Second, the exiled nephew of
Kryesimir the Fourth. He had taken refuge in a monastery, as I have said
from which he now withdrew, and was duly crowned at Sebenico by the
Archbishop on the 8th of September, 1089; but hs died the following
yeaT, the last representation of the race of the Drzislafs. His death
was followed by a terrible civil strife, in the midst of which one of
the Zupans offered the crown te the biave Hungarian king [339]
Vladislaf. Accepting the invitation, he marched with an army to
Modrush, overran the country, and nominated his nephew Almus as its
king. Later he founded the Bishopric of Agram (the Slavic Zagreb). On
the death of Vladislaf, he was succeeded by Koloman, who seized upon
Bielogorod (now called Zara Vecchia) (Wilkinson, 231, note), and
apparently displaced Almus. The Zupan Peter thereupon rose in rebellion
against him, and he in turn marched an army into Croatia. The Croats in
the presence of this danger seem to have stopped their civil strife, and
divided the land among twelve Zupans.
They collected their warriors, and awaited the attack of Koloman on the
Drave. Not being certain of victory, the latter made proposals of peace,
in which he engaged to protect their liberties. These overtures were
successful, and peace was duly ratified, and the Croats acknowledged
Koloman and the Hungarians as their masters; and he undertook to respect
their rights, freedom, and laws. A Zupan (probably Peter is meant) who
was discontented with this peace, was slain in a fight in the mountains
of Gwozdansko; and Koloman was crowned at Bielograd by the Archbishop
Crescentius, of Spalato, with his bride Bussita, a daughter of the
Nonnan Count Eoger. (Wilkinson, ii, 231.) This was in 1102.
Thenceforward Croatia was governed by a deputy of the Hungarian king,
who was styled the Ban of Croatia, and the Hungarian kings took the
title of kings of Croatia and Dalmatia. Some of the Dalmatian islands
were seized by the Venetians, who after many bloody struggles, planted
their authority also in several of the towns on the coast (Id.,
294.) The story, and a veiy interesting one it is, of the fierce strife
between Hungary and Venice for these Dalmatian towns, has been told in
detail by Sir Gardner Wilkinson in the work already quoted (op. cit*>
chapter ix, passim), but it forms no part of our present subject.
Modern Austrian Croatia is divided into two well marked sections:
Provincial Croatia, comprising the three districts of Agram (Zagreb),
Warasdin, and Kreutz, with the maritime district adjoining; and
secondly, Military Croatia, until recently divided into two generals'
commands, and comprising eight regiments. Besides these, to which alone
the name of Croatia is now generally applied, there were comprised in
ancient Croatia the northern part of the modern Dalmatia as far as the
Zetina, the north-western part of Bosnia as far as the Urbas, and the
modern Slavonia. In early times it also included Istria, and although
the latter was detached from Croatia about the end of the eighth
century, it still retains a Croatian dialect. Over all this district the
Croats were the dominant race, and it was all known in early times as
Croatia, and included, as I have [340] said, three well
marked divisions, namely Pannonian Croatia, or Croatia on the Save,
Provincial Croatia, and Dalmatia.
The eastern portion of ancient Croatia is now called Slavonia; and it
is interesting to trace the history of this name. From the earliest
times to the days of Matthias Corvinus (i.e., 837-1492), the rulers of
Croatia bore no other title than that of princes and kings of Croatia
and Đalmatia. Foreigners, however, occasionally applied the generic name
Slavi to them. Thus in a letter from the Emperor Louis the Second to the
Emperor Basil, in 871, they are called Slavini, and their country
Slavonia. In a brief of Pope John the Tenth, 914-29, to John the
Fourteenth, Archbishop of Spalato, it is called Slavinorum terra,
Slavinia terra, and in another brief of Innocent the Fourth, Slavonia
terra. (Schafarik, op. cit.,
ii, 307.)
During the reigns of Bela the Third, 1170-96, and Andrew the Second,
1205-35, the section of Croatia lying between the Drave and the Save was
carved out into an appanage, and was called the Duchy of Slavonia
(ducatus Slavoniae). King Vladislaf probably suspicious against John
Corvinus, who ruled the Duchy of Croatia, took in 1492 the title of King
of Slavonia. After the battle of Mohacz, a portion of Slavonia was
occupied by the Turks, and we then find the name Croatia limited to that
portion of it comprising the districts of Agram, Warasdin, and Kreutz,
which still remained subject to the Hungarians; while the other portion,
which was occupied by the Turks, and was only recovered at a later day,
namely, the districts of Verocze, Posega, and Syrmia, received the name
of Slavonia, which it still retains. (Id.)
All the Croats, except a section who occupy the north-western mountain
district of Bosnia called Kraina, and often called Turkish Croatia, as
far as the river Urbas, are now subject to Austria. Kraina was a part of
the ancient Croatia, and was probably detached from it at the end of the
fourteenth century, when Tuarko founded the kingdom of Bosnia, and
appropriated considerable districts from Ins neighbours; and it fell
apparently with the rest of Bosnia into Turkish hands.
The Croats were originally no doubt a homogeneous race, and hardly
distinguishable from the Servians, of whom, in fact, they formed a
section.
At present there are, however, two well-marked Croatian dialects; one
prevails in provincial Croatia and in the country of the St. George and
the Kreutz or Cross Regiments, while the other prevails in the other
districts of Croatia in the Litorale and in Slavonia. The latter
apparently hardly differs from the dialect of the districts occupied by
the Servians proper. The [341] former perhaps originated
in a mixture of the invaders with the Slovenians of Carinthia, etc.,
otherwise known as Wends. (Id., 308-309.)
As I have said, the Croats and the Servians were originally one race,
speaking one language, and having one history. The great distinguishing
feature which has made their history run in separate grooves, has been
the fact of the former being Roman Catholics and the latter attached to
the Greek Church. This has given an entirely different direction to the
sympathies of the most patent social force in the country, namely, that
of the priesthood. The Croats also being further removed from such
dangerous neighbours, were not so sophisticated by Bulgarian or Turkish
domination, and retained their practical independence, although subject
to the Hungarian Crown.
But we must never foiget that in origin and in race they belong to the
great Servian stock, which will, we trust, occupy us in our next paper.
Source:
- H.H. Howorth, "The Spread of the Slaves. Part I. The Croats",