User:Kiksam/Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia

Demetrius Zvonimir (Dmitar Zvonimir,, Demetrius Suinnimir/Zuonimir/Sunimirio, died 20 April 1089) was King of Croatia and Dalmatia from 1075 until his death in 1089. He was crowned as king in Solin on 8 October 1076. Zvonimir also ruled as Ban of Slavonia (1064–1074), and was named Duke of Croatia in around 1075. His native name was Zvonimir, while the name Demetrius (Dmitar in Croatian) was adopted at his coronation.

He began as Ban of Slavonia in the service of King Peter Krešimir IV. Afterwards, he was appointed as Duke of Croatia by Peter Krešimir IV, who later declared him as his heir. In 1075, Demetrius Zvonimir succeeded to the Croatian throne through papal diplomacy. His reign is characterized as relatively peaceful; with no extensive war campaigns, and economic and cultural development. He was the last native king who exerted any real power over the entire Croatian state, which he inherited at its height and ruled it from the city of Knin.

After his death, Croatia entered a period of anarchy. His death and succession were subject of controversy in Croatian historiography, and was later a subject of medieval legends pertaining to his alleged assassination. His reign remained long in the memory thereafter and is typically viewed as the last native king.

Early years
Although his exact origin is a speculation, a theory suggests that Zvonimir was most likely a descendant of Svetoslav Suronja and the younger cousin of Peter Krešimir IV. On another note, it is believed that he had no real connection with the Croatian royal family of Trpimirović but was designated by Krešimir IV and later elected (confirmed) by an assembly of nobles (bans). The only few things that are truly known about his background assert that he had a magister (Latin for "teacher") named "Šestak", who also contributed to building monasteries around Croatia, that his maternal uncle was named Streza, and that his family owned some estates near the city of Biograd.

Ban of Slavonia and Croatia
During the reign of Peter Krešimir IV, Zvonimir probably ruled in Slavonia, specifically the land between the rivers Drava and Sava, with the title of ban. The term "Slavonia" (Sclavonia) at the time referred to both modern day Slavonia and North-West Croatia.

The neighbouring Holy Roman Empire under Henry IV invaded Hungary in 1063 to restore Solomon to the throne. Hungary was then ruled by Béla I, whose third daughter Helen was married to Zvonimir. Croatia was also attacked around 1067 by the Carantanian army of Ulric I, who occupied a part of Kvarner and eastern coast of Istria, the March of Dalmatia. Since the Croatian king was preoccupied with rebellion in Dalmatia, due to the prohibition of Slavic liturgy, Zvonimir was compelled to seek protection from Solomon, King of Hungary instead. Géza I and Solomon helped Zvonimir in restoring his rule in the March of Dalmatia. After they jointly repelled the Carantanians from Croatia, Ban Zvonimir sent gifts to Solomon as a sign of gratitude. Shortly afterwards in 1070 Zvonimir is first mentioned as a Ban of Croatia in charters from Zadar. Croatian charters at the time were issued in the names of both King Peter Krešimir and Ban Zvonimir. At the beginning of 1075, Zvonimir held the title of "Duke of Croatia". This title made him not only the ruler of northern Dalmatia, but also the chief advisor of the king and his heir. In that same year, Normans from southern Italy, led by Count Amico of Giovinazzo, invaded Croatia and captured a certain Croatian ruler whose name is not known, possibly King Peter Krešimir, who died soon after. About the middle of 1075, Zvonimir regained the allegiance of the coastal cities of Dalmatia which had been lost to the Normans. Meanwhile, another contender, Stephen Trpimirović, who had also been the Duke of Croatia had relinquished his claims for the throne and had rellocated to the "Church of Saint Sthephen beneath the pines" (Croatian: Crkva Svetog Stjepana pod Borovima) in the vicinity of Split, where he was to live a secluded life. This paved Zvonimir's path to the throne, who had been supported by Pope Gregory VII.

Reign as king
Zvonimir was crowned on 8 October 1076 at Solin in the Basilica of Saint Peter and Moses (known today as the Hollow Church) by a representative of Pope Gregory VII (1073-1085). Zvonimir took an oath of fealty to Pope, by which he promised his support in the implementations of the Church reforms in Croatia. After the Papal legate crowned him, Zvonimir in 1076 gave the Benedictine monastery of Saint Gregory in Vrana to the Pope as a sign of loyalty and as an accommodation for papal legates coming to Croatia. The title of Zvonimir was "King of Croatia and Dalmatia" (Rex Chroatie atque Dalmatie), while his name and title in Croatian language, as found on the Baška tablet, was "Zvonimir, kral hrvatski" (Zvonimir, Croatian king), in Glagolitic script zvъnъmirъ, kralъ xrъvatъskъ. He took the Christian name of "Demetrius" at the coronation, most likely after the saint Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria.

Following Zvonimir's coronation, the papal legates summoned a church council in Split, which reiterated the ban on the use of Slavic language in liturgy and the condemnation of the Cyrillic alphabet, which the council of 1060 branded as heresy. The king instituted the Gregorian reform and made many domestic reforms. He also promised the abolition of slavery, but with little success (see Supetar cartulary). He continued the expansive and pro-Roman policies of his predecessor, maintaining close alliance with the papacy. The foundation of a three-naved basilica dedicated to Saint Cecilia is ascribed to Zvonimir; it was located near his seat Knin, the city which is today nicknamed "Zvonimir's city". He made significant donations to the Archbishopric of Split whose head Lawrence had also been his personal advisor.

Demetrius Zvonimir sought to gain firmer control of his kingdom by ousting various local nobles (hereditary provincial leaders and landlords) from local administration and replacing them with his own supporters, court nobles and high clerics, since he had close ties with the papacy. The provincial nobles were governing their provinces (županije) with a significant level of internal independence.

At first, he was in a minor conflict with the one of the dukes from Istria (a sevant of emperor Henry II) who was preparing for an attack on Croatia, in which the pope interfered in 1079 and settled the fray on behalf of Zvonimir. The Annales Carinthiæ and Chronica Hungarorum record that Zvonimir eventually invaded Carinthia to aid Hungary in war during 1079/83, but this is disputed. Demetrius Zvonimir also took a hard line against the Byzantine Empire, but, unlike Peter Krešimir IV, he was also an ally of the Normans, with whom he joined in wars against Byzantium. When Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, invaded the western Balkan provinces of the empire in 1084, Zvonimir sent troops to his aid.

Death and succession
There are several versions of Zvonimir's death. The 13th century chronicler Thomas the Archdeacon and a charter of king Stephen II, said to have been issued closely after his death in 1089, both assert that Zvonimir died of natural causes. This view had been mostly accepted in modern historiography. Various later sources give the date 20 April of the year 1089 as the date of his death. They also name the royal village of Kosovo (today's Biskupija near Knin) and the place by the basillica of Saint Cecillia as the place of death. These sources were typically associated with the allegations of his assassination, now believed to be a medieval legend.

He was most likely buried in the church of St. Mary in his capital Knin, while his remains were transferred to the nearby Kapitul during the Ottoman wars, and subsequently, in Solin some time after.

Demetrius Zvonimir was married to his distant relative Jelena, the sister of Ladislaus I of Hungary. Through Helen, he was connected to the royal families of not only Hungary, but also Poland, Denmark, Bulgaria, and Byzantium. She bore him a son, Radovan, who predeceased him, and a daughter, Claudia, who was married to the vojvoda of Lapčani Lika. Since Zvonimir died without leaving an heir from his posterity, he was succeeded by Stephen II, last of the House of Trpimirović. Stephen II ruled briefly until his death in 1091, at which point Ladislaus became the best candidate for the succession.

Croatia subsequently entered a period of anarchy, with various sides and nobles fighting over supremacy in the kingdom. The 14th century chronicle Chronicon Pictum narrates that, after Zvonimir's death, his widow had requested her brother Ladislaus to intervene. Historia Salonitana instead claiming it was one of the Slavonian nobles that had approached and requested his intervention.

Legacy
The culturally and historically significant Baška tablet was inscribed shortly after his death and contains references to him and a number of his nobles of the 11th century. For the first time, Baška tablet mentions the title of Croatian Kings in Croatian: kral (kralj in modern Croatian). His name is also contained in the 11th/12th-century Jurandvor fragments from the same church in Baška, on the island of Krk.

Legend about death
Demetrius Zvonimir remained in the collective memory of the Croats for centuries after his death.

The legend about his murder was recorded in the 13th century Polish–Hungarian Chronicle, referencing Ladislaus as his avenger during Ladislaus' conquest of Croatia.

Another account, from the Croatian redaction of the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, says that in 1089, desiring to heal the East-West Schism Pope Urban II asked Zvonimir, his strongest Balkan ally, to come to the military aid of Alexios I Komnenos against the Seljuks. Zvonimir convened the Sabor at a place called "seven churches in Kosovo", which had been identified by the archaeologists as Biskupija near Knin. His intention was to mobilize the army on behalf of the pope and the emperor, but the nobility refused him and a rebellion erupted, leading to Zvonimir's assassination at the hands of his own soldiers.

Ivan Tomašić's Chronicon breve Regni Croatiae from 1563 gives an identical account, instead naming the murderer as the king's personal chaplain Tadija Slovinac, who had entered the king's tent located by the Basillica of Saint Cecillia in Kosovo amd killed him in his sleep upon the insistence of the population. Tomašić also records that his remains were located in the Church of Saint Bartholomew in Kapitul in the outskirts of Knin.

Various other sources of the 16th century record similar events, among which an epitaph ascribed to his grave was recorded: Who could refrain the people, not to sigh, when they watch this grave, truly worthy of sorrow? Because in this darkness a bright star rests, with sublime ancestry. How it oddly numbs! Since its barbarous death can only be explained by cursing, with dark crime of wicked folk, where their fury relents until the heart eases and with murder they take down the king, very healthy, with much power, the pious Zvonimir, distinctly fair and honest, who was their shield against enemies, used to crush the rival doors, mourn, champions, already a leader plies, old and young of Croatian land, because what was first divination of the kingdom and also honour and glory, is now in ruins.

His death marked the collapse of Croatian royal power. The myth of the "Curse of King Zvonimir" is based on the legend of his assassination. Historian Johannes Lucius was the first to dismiss these claims in his 1673 historiographical work De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae ("On the Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia").

Modern
"Zvonimir" is today a traditional and quite common Croatian male forename, meaning "sound, chime" (zvoni) and "peace, prestige" (mir), King Zvonimir being the first recorded bearer of the name. The Grand Order of King Dmitar Zvonimir, which is awarded to high-ranking officials, is named after him.

Family
In c. 1063 Zvonimir married Helen, daughter of Béla I of Hungary and his wife Richeza of Poland. They had three recorded children:
 * Radovan (c. 1065 – 1083/1089), designated heir, but is dead before 1089
 * Claudia, wife of Vonick, Voivode of Lapčani, Lika
 * Vinica, wife of Michael Nelipčić

Literature

 * Nemet, Dražen; Death of Croatian king Zvonimir - problem, sources and interpretation
 * Gunjača, Stjepan; Ispravci i dopune u starijoj hrvatskoj historiji, Zagreb, Školska knjiga, 1973-1978
 * John Van Antwerp Fine; The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century, 1991
 * Florin Curta; Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250