Croatia in Personal Union With Hungary - Cause of Croatia's Union With Hungary

Cause of Croatia's Union With Hungary

Dmitar Zvonimir (died 1089) was the King of Croatia of the Svetoslavić branch of the House of Trpimirović. He began as a ban of Slavonia in the service of Stjepan I of Croatia and then as duke of Croatia for his successor Petar Krešimir IV. Peter declared him his heir and, in late 1074 or early 1075, Dmitar Zvonimir succeeded to the Croatian throne. Zvonimir married his distant relative Jelena Lijepa in 1063. Jelena was born as Hungarian princess (Ilona) and was the daughter of Árpád dynasty King Béla I, sister to King Ladislaus I of Hungary. They had a son, Radovan, who died in his late teens or early twenties. After Zvonimir's death, he was succeeded by Stephen II, last of the House of Trpimirović. Stjepan's rule was relatively ineffectual and lasted less than two years. He spent most of this time in the tranquility of the monastery of St. Stephen beneath the Pines (Sv. Stjepan pod Borovima) near Split. Stjepan II died peacefully at the beginning of 1091, without leaving an heir. Since there was no living male member of the House of Trpimirović, civil war and unrest broke out in Croatia shortly afterward.

Some Croatian nobles (especially from the northern parts of Croatia), contesting the succession after the death of Zvonimir, offered the Croatian throne to King Ladislaus I of Hungary. Some Croatian nobles (especially from the southern parts of Croatia) refused the idea of Hungarians being kings of Croatia, and they supported Petar Svačić as their lord. Finally, in the midst of that struggle, Petar Svačić was elected king by Croatian feudal lords in 1093. Petar's seat of power was based in Knin. His rule was marked by a struggle for control of the country with Hungary. During his reign he was able to expel Prince Álmos from Slavonia, and unite Croatia to the river Drava. But, Ladislaus I of Hungary used his sister's marriage to king Zvonimir as justification for his inheritance of the Croatian Crown. He attacked the Kingdom of Croatia with his army. Ladislaus launched an offensive and managed to breach Croatian lines along the Drava River. The well-prepared Hungarians soon and occupied the entire province of Slavonia, but were halted by the Croats at Mount Gvozd (nears today's Karlovac). Shortly after his army's success, Ladislaus died (1095), leaving his nephew Coloman to continue the campaign. King Petar's troops maintained their resistance repelling Hungarian assaults for nearly two years. Coloman grew frustrated at his army's impotence and in 1097 assembled an enormous force at the eastern foot of Mount Gvozd. The subsequent offensive was brutal and absolute, resulting in Petar's death. His heroism was commemorated in the renaming of Mount Gvozd to Petrova Gora (Peter's Mountain).

The Hungarians realized that conquering Croatia wouldn't be easy. They had major successes in battles over Slavonia, but when they engaged with Croatian forces on mountainous terrain, they suffered great losses. Coloman saw that Dalmatia would be even harder to conquer, because it had numerous fortified towns that would take years to defeat. He started to negotiate with Croatian feudal lords. As Croatians didn't have a king any more, they saw that war with Coloman could destroy them, so they accepted Coloman's proposal. Five years of negotiations between Croatia's remaining noblemen and Coloman followed thereafter. Finally, in 1102, an historic settlement was reached (Pacta Conventa) by which the Croats agreed to recognise Coloman as king. In return, he promised to maintain Croatia as a separate kingdom, not to settle Croatia with Hungarians, to guarantee Croatia's self-governance under a ban (royal governor), and to respect all the rights, laws and privileges of the Croatian Kingdom.

Historians disagree as to whether Croatia was conquered by force, or Croatian nobles and their subjects willingly elected Coloman as their king. Either way, Coloman became king of Croatia because he was the best choice at the time, since Croatians didn't have living male member of the House of Trpimirović, or an outstanding powerful noble such as Pavao I Šubić Bribirski who would rampage two hundred years later.