''Historia Salonitanorum atque Spalatinorum pontificum'' or the History of the Bishops of Salona and Split ( hr, Povijest biskupa Salone i Splita), commonly known simply as the ''Historia Salonitana'', is a chronicle by

Thomas the Archdeacon Thomas the Archdeacon ( la, Thomas Archidiaconus; it, Tommaso Arcidiacono; hr, Toma Arhiđakon; c. 1200 – 8 May 1268), also known as Thomas of Spalato ( la, Thomas Spalatensis, hu, Spalatói Tamás), was a Roman Catholic cleric, historian and ...

from the 13th century which contains significant information about the early history of the

Croats The Croats (; hr, Hrvati ) are a South Slavic ethnic group who share a common Croatian ancestry, culture, history and language. They are also a recognized minority in a number of neighboring countries, namely Austria, the Czech Republic, G ...

. It was first published by

Johannes Lucius Johannes Lucius ( hr, Ivan Lučić; it, Giovanni Lucio; September 1604 – 11 January 1679) was a Dalmatian historian, whose greatest work is ''De regno Dalmatiae et Croatiae'' ("On the Kingdom of Dalmatia and Croatia"), which includes valua ...

. Gioanni, Stéphane (2009), ''The bishops of Salona (2nd-7th century) in the ''Historia Salonitana'' by Thomas the Archdeacon (13th century): history and hagiography'', in ''Écrire l’histoire des évêques et des papes'', Fr. Bougard and M. Sot (edd.), Brepols, pp. 243-263 rench text An extended version of this work, known as the ''Historia Salonitana maior'' was published in the 16th century, and critical editions of both have been republished by

Nada Klaić Nada Klaić (21 July 1920 – 2 August 1988) was a Croatian historian. She was a Croatian medievalist of the 20th century. A substantial part of the work was devoted to criticism of medieval sources. Academic career Nada Klaić was born in Zagre ...

(Belgrade: Naucno delo, 1967). The chronicle gives an account of the arrival of the Croats: :''From the Polish territories called Lingonia seven or eight tribal clans arrived under Totilo. When they saw that the Croatian land would be suitable for habitation because in it there were few Roman colonies, they sought and obtained for their duke...The people called Croats...Many call them Goths, and likewise Slavs, according to the particular name of those who arrived from Poland and Bohemia.'' This account may be considered more similar to that which is found in ''

De Administrando Imperio ''De Administrando Imperio'' ("On the Governance of the Empire") is the Latin title of a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is ("To yown son Romanos"). It is a domes ...

'' than the ''

Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja The ''Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea or Duklja'' ( sh, Ljetopis popa Dukljanina) is the usual name given to a purportedly medieval chronicle written in the late 13th century by an anonymous priest from Duklja. Its oldest preserved copy is in La ...

''. The chronicle notes that by the time of the

Byzantine Emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as le ...

Heraclius Heraclius ( grc-gre, Ἡράκλειος, Hērákleios; c. 575 – 11 February 641), was List of Byzantine emperors, Eastern Roman emperor from 610 to 641. His rise to power began in 608, when he and his father, Heraclius the Elder, the Exa ...

and

Pope John IV Pope John IV ( la, Ioannes IV; died 12 October 642) was the bishop of Rome from 24 December 640 to his death. His election followed a four-month vacancy. He wrote to the clergy of Ireland and Scotland to tell them of the mistakes they were maki ...

, some Croats had been converted to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

. Both these men died in the mid 7th century, which leaves an estimate of the actual arrival of the Croats to the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

at sometime in the early part of the century. It provides an extended information about the Croatian kings Demetrius Zvonimir and Peter Krešimir IV.

References

13th-century Latin books 13th century in Croatia {{Croatia-hist-stub