List of dukes and kings of Croatia

This is a complete list of dukes and kings of Croatia (knez, kralj) under domestic ethnic and elected dynasties during the Croatian Kingdom (925–1918). This article follows the monarch's title number according to Hungarian succession for convenience. For example, the Hungarian monarch Béla IV is according to Croatian succession correctly titled Béla III. This is because Hungarians had a king named Béla prior to the incorporation of Croatia under the Hungarian Crown but the Croats did not.

Early history
The details of the arrival of the Croats in the Balkans are sparsely documented by more or less reliable historical sources. Around late 6th and early 7th century, Croats migrated from White Croatia (around present-day Galicia). According to a legend recorded in the 10th-century De Administrando Imperio, the Croats came to their present region under the leadership of five brothers (called Kloukas, Lobelos, Kosentzis, Mouchlo, and Chrobatos) and of two sisters (called Touga and Bouga), and successfully fought and expelled the Pannonian Avars influence in the Roman province of Dalmatia.

It is theorized that one of the brothers, Chrobatos (Hrvat) gave his name to the Croats (Hrvati) as a whole, although mainstream historians dismiss this notion as not verifiable. The Croats started gradually converting to Christianity under the rule of Porga in the 7th century.

Dukes of Lower Pannonia (8th century–896)
The areas of modern-day Croatia located in the Pannonian plain had also been settled by Slavic tribes in the early Middle Ages, and history recorded some of their rulers.

Dukes of Croatia (8th century–925)
Slavic tribes known as the Croats settled to areas of present-day Croatia around the beginning of the 7th century, and their rulers started to be recorded in historical records in the late 8th century.

Višeslav left behind a baptismal font, surviving to this day, which mentioned him being a duke. Višeslav used to be considered by Croatian historiography as a duke of the Croats, but the evidence for most of the claims regarding him is too scarce.

Kings of Croatia (925–1102)
In his letter from 925, Pope John X refers to Tomislav I of Trpimirović dynasty as Rex Chroatorum (King of the Croats). All Croatian rulers after Tomislav I held the title of King of Croatia. This is confirmed by epigraphic inscription mentioning the earliest known Croatian queen (regina) Domaslava dated to first half of 10th century.

Under the Hungarian Crown (1102–1527)
From 1102, the reigning King of Hungary was also the ruler of the Kingdom of Croatia in agreement with the Croatian nobles. Croatia was governed on his behalf by a viceroy (ban) and a parliament (sabor). In 1409 Ladislaus of Naples sold his rights to Dalmatia to Republic of Venice for 100,000 ducats.

Under the Habsburg monarchy (1527–1918)
On 1 January 1527, the Croatian Parliament met in Cetin to elect Ferdinand I of Habsburg as the new King of Croatia. The Habsburg monarchy had annexed the lands of Dalmatia after the Napoleonic War of the First Coalition. The Kingdom of Dalmatia was a crown land of the Austrian Empire (1815–1867) and the Cisleithanian half of Austria-Hungary (1867–1918).

Kings of Yugoslavia (1918–1945)
After the World War I and the breakup of Austria-Hungary, Croatia joined a newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Following a brief period of self-rule, that state became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes under the Karađorđević dynasty. The name of the kingdom was changed in 1929, amid unitarianist reforms, to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. After the Treaty of Rapallo in 1920 Istria and parts of Dalmatia were annexed to Kingdom of Italy. On the basis of the Cvetković–Maček Agreement, and the Decree on the Banate of Croatia dated 24 August 1939, the Banate of Croatia was created. Under the Agreement elected Sabor and a crown-appointed ban would decide internal matters in Croatia.

King of the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1943)
In 1941, Croatia was occupied by the Axis powers along with the rest of Yugoslavia. The Independent State of Croatia was set as a puppet state of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. Soon after its creation, the state government passed three laws on the creation of the Crown of Zvonimir, which made the country de jure a kingdom. Three days later the Treaties of Rome were signed. The Italian Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta was designated King of Croatia. Numerous Adriatic islands and a portion of Dalmatia were annexed by Italy, which all combined to become the Italian Governonate of Dalmatia. On September 10, 1943 Independent State of Croatia declared that the Treaties of Rome were null and void and annexed the portion of Dalmatia that had been ceded to Italy.

After WWII

 * List of heads of state of Yugoslavia (1945–1991)
 * List of presidents of Croatia (1991–present)
 * List of prime ministers of Croatia (1991–present)

"Duke of Croatia"
The title Duke of Croatia has been used widely:
 * The Doges of Venice used it, with Byzantine approval, from c. 1100, when Hungary was in the process of absorbing the Kingdom of Croatia, until the Treaty of Zadar with Hungary in 1358.
 * The Dukes of Merania, whose territory bordered Croatia, were sometimes called Dukes of Croatia in contemporary chronicles.
 * Various Hungarian noblemen granted authority in the South Slav lands added Croatia to their title of Duke of Slavonia in the 13th and 14th centuries.