Croatia Vacation Holidays
Kingdom of Croatia

Croatia Kingdom

The Croats arrived in what is today Croatia in the seventh century. They organized into two dukedoms; the duchy of Pannonian Croatia in the north and the duchy of Littoral Croatia in the south. For the most part, the Christianization of the settled Croats ended in the 9th century. Both duchies become Frankish vasals in late 8th century, and eventually become independent in following century.

The first native Croatian ruler recognized by the pope was duke Branimir, whom Pope John VIII called dux Croatorum ("king of Croats") in 879. During the early 10th century the Pannonian Croatia was overrun by the Magyars, later being defeated by the duke Tomislav of Littoral Croatia who managed to unite the 2 duchies, and was crowned in 925 as the first king of Croatian kingdom. This crowning was later confirmed by the Byzantium which gave the king crown to Stjepan Držislav and pope crown to king Zvonimir. The medieval Croatian kingdom reached its peak during the reign of Kings Petar Krešimir IV (1058–1074) and Zvonimir (1075–1089).