page_title: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia
section_title: Reign as king
hierarchical_section_title: Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia / Reign as king
caption_attribution_description: Hrvatski: Darovnica kralja Zvonimira samostanu opatica sv. Benedikta u Splitu za zemljište Pusticu u Lažanima (1076.-78.), HR-HDA-876-10, Hrvatski državni arhiv
context_page_description: Demetrius Zvonimir was King of Croatia and Dalmatia from 1076 until his death in 1089. He was crowned as king in Solin on 8 October 1076. Zvonimir also served as Ban of Croatia, and was named Duke of Croatia in around 1075. His native name was Zvonimir; he adopted the forename Demetrius at his coronation.
  He first served as ban in the service of King Peter Krešimir IV. Afterwards, Peter Krešimir IV appointed him duke and declared him as his heir. In 1075, Demetrius Zvonimir succeeded to the Croatian throne through papal diplomacy. His reign is characterized as relatively peaceful, with no extensive war campaigns; he focused instead on Croatia's economic and cultural development. He was the last native king who exerted any real power over the entire Croatian state, which he inherited at its height and ruled from the city of Knin. Medieval legends allege his assassination; his death and succession are subjects of controversy in Croatian historiography. His reign was followed by a period of anarchy, which ended with the ascension of the Hungarian Árpád dynasty and the creation of a union with Hungary.
context_section_description: Zvonimir was crowned on 8 October 1076 at Solin in the Basilica of Saint Peter and Moses (known today as the Hollow Church) by a representative of Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085). Zvonimir took an oath of fealty to the Pope, promising to support the implementation of the Church reforms in Croatia. After his coronation, Zvonimir in 1076 gave the Benedictine monastery of Saint Gregory in Vrana to the Pope, both as a sign of loyalty and as accommodation for papal legates visiting Croatia. The title of Zvonimir was "King of Croatia and Dalmatia" (Latin: Rex Chroatie atque Dalmatie), while his name and title in Croatian language, as found on the Baška tablet, was "Zvonimir, kral hrvatski" (English: Zvonimir, Croatian king), in Glagolitic script zvъnъmirъ, kralъ xrъvatъskъ. He took the Christian name of "Demetrius" at the coronation, most likely after the saint Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria.
  Following Zvonimir's coronation, the papal legates summoned a church council in Split, which reiterated the ban on the use of Slavic language in liturgy and the condemnation of the Cyrillic alphabet, which the council of 1060 had branded as heresy. The king instituted the Gregorian reform; he also promised the eventual abolition of slavery, but with little success (see Supetar cartulary). He maintained authority over Dalmatia, which could be felt as far as the distant town of Osor on island of Cres, where he is referenced in a 1082 lauda. He continued the expansive and pro-Roman policies of his predecessor, maintaining a close alliance with the papacy. He made significant donations to the Archbishopric of Split whose head Lawrence had also been his personal advisor.
  Demetrius Zvonimir sought to gain firmer control of his kingdom by ousting various local nobles (hereditary provincial leaders and landlords) from local administration and replacing them with his own supporters, court nobles and, reflecting his close papal ties, high clerics. The provincial nobles were governing their provinces (županije) with a significant level of internal independence. In 1080, he bethrothed his daughter Klaudija to the noble Vonick of the Lapčan tribe, to whom he also granted the county (županija) of Karin as a dowry.
  Around 1079, tensions arose between Croatia and the neighboring Holy Roman Empire, whose duke Vecelin (a sevant of emperor Henry IV) was preparing for an attack on Croatia from his estates in Istria. The pope intervened on behalf of Zvonimir, urging Vecelin to make any complaint to him directly regarding any issues with the king. The Annales Carinthiæ and Chronica Hungarorum record that Zvonimir eventually invaded Carinthia to aid Hungary in war between 1079 and 1083, but this is disputed. Demetrius Zvonimir also took a hard line against the Byzantine Empire, but, unlike Peter Krešimir IV, he was also an ally of the Normans, with whom he joined in wars against Byzantium. When Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia, invaded the western Balkan provinces of the empire in 1084, Zvonimir sent troops to his aid.
caption: Grant of Zvonimir
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