Tomislav I

Tomislav (, la, Tamisclaus) was the first king of Croatia. He became Duke of Croatia and was crowned king in 925, reigning until 928. During Tomislav's rule, Croatia forged an alliance with the Byzantine Empire against Bulgaria. Croatia's struggles with the First Bulgarian Empire eventually led to war, which culminated in the decisive Battle of the Bosnian Highlands in 926. In the north, Croatia often clashed with the Principality of Hungary; the state retained its borders and, to some extent, expanded with the disintegrated Lower Pannonia.

Tomislav attended the 925 Council of Split, convened by Pope John X, to discuss the use of Slavic languages in liturgy, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction over both Croatia and the Byzantine Theme of Dalmatia. Although the Pope sought to prohibit Slavic liturgy, the council did not agree. Jurisdiction over the region was given to the Archbishop of Split instead of Bishop Gregory of Nin. Since historical information on Tomislav is scarce, the exact years of his accession and death are unknown. The reigns of his successors were marked by a series of civil wars in Croatia and a gradual weakening of the country.

Reign

Duke of Croatia

Although Tomislav's ancestry is unknown, he might have been a member of the Trpimirović dynasty. There is a nearly twenty-year difference between the first documentation of Tomislav and the last mention of Muncimir, his predecessor as Duke of Croatia. Historical records of Tomislav are scarce, but it is assumed that he was a son of Muncimir. Tomislav succeeded Muncimir, son of Trpimir I, as duke in (the most widely-accepted view) or after others ruled following Muncimir's death. In any case, Tomislav came to the Croatian throne some time between 910 and 914. In ''Historia Salonitana'' (''History of Salona''), a 13th-century chronicle by Thomas the Archdeacon of Split, Tomislav was mentioned as duke of Croatia in 914.

After the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin in the late 9th and early 10th centuries, the Hungarians immediately began raiding and expanding their territory. They threatened Lower Pannonia (still nominally under Frankish suzerainty) and killed Braslav, the last Pannonian duke. The Hungarians also fought Croatia, although it was not a primary target of their raids.

The ''Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja'' mentions that Tomislav, the length of whose rule was specified as 13 years, successfully fought the Battle of Drava River with the Hungarians. Since the Venetian chronicler Andrea Dandolo and a notary of King Béla III mention Hungarian victories against Croatia in the same period, however, both sides had gains. Croatia maintained its northern borders and expanded into part of the collapsed Pannonian Duchy, including its former capital Sisak. The plains north of Sisak were difficult to defend against Hungarian cavalry, but Sisak had been well-fortified since the reign of Duke Ljudevit. The sparsely-populated area between the Sava and Drava rivers was on the outskirts of Hungary and the Duchy of Croatia (centered on the coast), so neither country could strengthen its rule there after the Duchy of Pannonia dissolved.

East of Croatia, the First Bulgarian Empire's power increased significantly. After a war between the Bulgarian '' knyaz'' Boris I and Croatian Duke Trpimir I, Croatian-Bulgarian relations were fairly good. Papal legates regularly crossed Croatian territory (where they received protection) to Bulgaria. The situation changed in the 10th century during the reign of Simeon I, who decided to subordinate the Byzantine Empire to himself.

Tomislav's realm covered most of southern and central Croatia and the Dalmatian coast, excluding the Theme of Dalmatia, parts of present-day western Herzegovina and northern and western Bosnia. During the early 10th century, Croatia was divided into 11 counties: Livno, Cetina, Imotski, Pliva, Pset, Primorje, Bribir, Nona, Knin, Sidraga, and Nin. Three counties (Lika, Krbava, and Gacka) were ruled by a ban. After its expansion, Tomislav's state presumably contained more than eleven counties. Byzantine emperor and chronicler Constantine VII writes in '' De Administrando Imperio'' that at its peak, Croatia could have raised a military force composed of 100,000 infantry, 60,000 horsemen, and a naval fleet of 80 large ships and 100 smaller vessels. However, these figures are viewed as a considerable exaggeration of the size of the Croatian army. According to palaeographic analysis of the manuscript of ''De Administrando Imperio'', the population of medieval Croatia was estimated at 440,000 to 880,000; its military force probably consisted of 20,000–100,000 infantrymen and 3,000–24,000 horsemen organized into 60 '' allagia''.

Coronation and Croatian kingdom

Tomislav had become King of Croatia by 925, and was the first Croatian ruler whom the papal chancellery called "king". It is generally said that Tomislav was crowned in 924 or 925, but it is not known exactly when, where, or by whom. Letters in which Tomislav was called king were preserved in a version of Thomas the Archdeacon's 13th-century ''History of Salona''.Florin Curta: Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250, p. 196
/ref> A note preceding the proceedings of the 925 Council of Split calls Tomislav king "in the province of the Croats and in the Dalmatian regions" (''in prouintia Croatorum et Dalmatiarum finibus Tamisclao rege''). In the council's 12th canon, the ruler of the Croats is called "king" (''rex et proceres Chroatorum''); in a letter from Pope John X, Tomislav is called "King of the Croats" (''Tamisclao, regi Crouatorum''). Although no inscriptions of Tomislav exist to confirm the title, later inscriptions and charters confirm that his 10th-century successors called themselves "kings".

Older historiography assumed that Tomislav was crowned in a field at Duvno (near Tomislavgrad), although there are no contemporary records of this event. This conclusion was drawn from the ''Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja'', which describes a coronation of a King Svatopluk (Budimir in a later version of the chronicle) and a council held in a field at Dalma. Some 19th-century historians theorized that Tomislav and Svatopluk were the same person, or the author was mistaken about the king's name. Other theories suggest that the pope (or a representative) had Tomislav crowned before the 925 Council of Split, or Tomislav crowned himself.

Councils of Split

In 925, Pope John X convened a church council in Split to decide which bishops in the former Roman province of Dalmatia would have ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The jurisdiction was contested by Gregory (the Croatian bishop of Nin) and John, the archbishop of Split. Before the council, Bishop Gregory was responsible for a significantly larger territory than Archbishop John; however, his reputation and finances could not compete with that of the Archbishopric of Split. Split also claimed continuity with the ancient Archbishopric of Salona and, due to this tradition, the council confirmed Split as the arch episcopal see. The territory from the river Raša in Istria to Kotor, including Nin, was subject to Split. The use of the Croatian language and Glagolitic script in ecclesiastical services was also discussed. The Pope sought to condemn it but the council allowed its use for local priests and monks, who were prevented from advancing to higher positions.

Thomas the Archdeacon did not mention the council in his ''Historia Salonitana''. He wrote that Split had had ecclesiastical rights over former Roman Dalmatia since the 7th century (contradicting the council proceedings which bestowed the rights to Split in 925), apparently to maintain his narrative's consistency.

The council was attended by Tomislav (referred to as a king in related documents) and Michael of Zahumlje. According to some historians, Michael recognized Tomislav's rule (making Zachlumia a vassal state of Croatia). Tomislav did not protest the council's decision. Bishop Gregory appealed to the pope, and a second council (also in Split) was convened in 928 to resolve the controversy and enforce the first council's conclusions. The supremacy of the metropolitan archbishopric of Split was confirmed, and the Diocese of Nin

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