Pribina was a Croatian nobleman and politician who is the first historically attested

Ban of Croatia Ban of Croatia () was the title of local rulers or office holders and after 1102, viceroys of Croatia. From the earliest periods of the Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by Ban (title), bans as a ruler's representative (viceroy) and sup ...

, having served under kings Miroslav and

Michael Krešimir II of Croatia Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * he He ..., a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name * Michael (bishop elect)">Michael (surname)">he He ..., a given nam ...

. Pribina is known to have killed king Miroslav during a civil war in the kingdom and replaced him with Michael Krešimir II because the former had restrained his jurisdiction over some areas. He ruled over counties (županija)

Gacka The Gacka is a river located in the Lika region of central Croatia. Because for a large part of its course it is a subterranean river, estimates of its length vary. The aboveground part has undergone substantial human intervention – before it ...

Krbava Krbava (; ) is a historical region located in Mountainous Croatia and a former Catholic bishopric (1185–1460), precursor of the diocese of Modruš and present Latin titular see. It can be considered either located east of Lika, or indeed as ...

and

Lika Lika () is a traditional region of Croatia proper, roughly bound by the Velebit mountain from the southwest and the Plješevica mountain from the northeast. On the north-west end Lika is bounded by Ogulin-Plaški basin, and on the south-east by t ...

, according to ''

De Administrando Imperio (; ) is a Greek-language work written by the 10th-century Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII. It is a domestic and foreign policy manual for the use of Constantine's son and successor, the Emperor Romanos II. It is a prominent example of Byz ...

''. He is also referred to in a charter as ''potens banus'', meaning "powerful ban". According to historian

Tibor Živković Tibor Živković ( sr-cyr, Тибор Живковић; 11 March 1966 – 26 March 2013) was a Serbian historian and Byzantinist who specialised in the period of the Early Middle Ages. Biography Živković was born in Mostar, and studied history ...

, implying different chronological order of Croatian dukes and kings, Pribina should be identified with the same-named Duke of Lower Pannonia,

Pribina Pribina (c. 800861) was a Slavs, Slavic prince whose adventurous career, recorded in the ''Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, Conversion of the Bavarians and the Carantanians'' (a historical work written in 870), illustrates the political ...

, while Frankish archon Kotzil with Duke's son Kocel, both mentioned in ''

'' regarding the deposition of Miroslav in 861 and armed revolt by the Croats who were led by their Duke Domagoj in which "managed to prevail and killed all the Franks and their archon, called Kotzil" in 874.

References

{{s-end Bans of Croatia 10th-century Croatian nobility