Pacta conventa (Croatia)
Encyclopedia
Pacta conventa was an alleged agreement concluded between King Coloman of Hungary and the Croatia
n nobility. While some claim it was a voluntary union of the two crowns, leaving Croatia as a sovereign state, others argue that Hungary simply annexed Croatia outright and forced an agreement. Some Croatian historians claim it was concluded in 1102, but most historians think it's a forgery from centuries later. A version from the 14th century is preserved in the Hungarian National Museum
in Budapest
.
, the last Croatian king of Croat descent, was killed on the battlefield in 1097, the Croats had refused to surrender. To end the war, an agreement was made where, probably in 1102, the Croatian nobles allegedly concluded the Pacta conventa with King Coloman before his crowning as the Croatian king in Biograd.
The Hungarian king offered "an agreement as pleases them" to the Croatian nobles
from the families of Kačić, Kukar
, Šubić
, Svačić, Plečić, Mogorović, Gušić, Čudomirić, Karinjanin and Lapčan, Lačničić, Jamometić and Tugomirić.
and Hungary
would be governed by the same ruler as two separate kingdoms. When he was crowned in Biograd na Moru
, Coloman promised all the public and state rights to the Kingdom of Croatia and some additional rights to the Croatian nobility. The Croats acknowledged Coloman as the king of Croatia and Dalmatia
and promised they would help him in war, at their cost on the Croatian side of Drava
and at his cost on the Hungarian side.
Coloman and his successors were invested with all the rights of kingship over the Kingdom of Croatia: to appoint the ban
, to issue privileges and land grants, to certify the laws voted by the Croatian Parliament, to collect taxes and duties, to own the "royal land" (terra regalis) of the extinct Croat royal dynasty, to have supreme command over the Croatian army and to make foreign policy.
Since the 19th century, a number of historians have claimed that Pacta conventa was not a genuine document. Some claim that the document is a forgery found in the Zagreb
diocese
and published in 1960, noting that Pacta Conventa was written with an idiom used three centuries after its supposed origin, i.e. in the 14th century and that Hungarian sources do not mention any "personal union
" between Hungary and Croatia. Though the validity of the document is disputed, there was at least a non-written agreement that regulated the relations between Hungary and Croatia in approximately the same way, since from 1102 until 1918 kings of Hungary were also kings of Croatia, represented by a governor (ban), but Croatia kept its own parliament (Sabor) and considerable autonomy.
Nevertheless, its source of inspiration must have been the political and social developments that had taken place over a 300-year period following 1102 when the two kingdoms united under the Hungarian king, either by the choice of the Croat nobility or by Hungarian force. The Croatian nobility retained its laws and privileges including the restriction of military service that they owed to the king within the boundaries of Croatia.
country study on the former Yugoslavia, King Coloman crushed opposition after the death of Ladislaus I of Hungary and won the crown of Dalmatia and Croatia in 1102. The crowning of Coloman forged a link between the Croatian and Hungarian crowns that lasted until the end of World War I. Croats have maintained for centuries that Croatia remained a sovereign state despite the voluntary union of the two crowns, but modern Hungarian and Serbian historians claim that Hungary annexed Croatia outright in 1102. According to Frederick Bernard Singleton in the eyes of Croatians Croatia was a separate state which happened to share a ruler with the Hungarians. and according to Daniel Power Croatia became part of Hungary in the late 11th and early twelfth century. According to the country study on Hungary Croatia was never assimilated into Hungary; rather, it became an associate kingdom administered by a ban, or civil governor. After death of king Louis II during the Battle of Mohács
in 1526 Croatian parliament has elected Ferdinand Habsburg
for king of Croatia. In either case, Hungarian culture permeated Croatia, the Croatian-Hungarian border shifted often, and at times Hungary treated Croatia as a vassal state.
According to the Croatian historical narrative, Croatian parliament took opportunity in 1526 to reassert its autonomy from Hungary with election of Ferdinand Habsburg for king and words:"...we joined the Holy Crown of Hungary by our own free will just as we do now, the rule of Your Majesty". Croatian historians also argue that the struggle for ascendancy to the Habsburg throne at this time provides evidence of Croatia's political autonomy. In the Croatian legal interpretation of the personal union, Louis II didn't leave any heirs and the legal carrier of the union (king) didn't exist anymore so the right to elect the king belonged once more to the Croatian nobility. Unlike Hungarian historians, Austrians never claimed they conquered Croatia by force and there appears to be little reason to doubt Croatian claims about the events of 1526. The intro of The Hungaro-Croatian Compromise of 1868 (The Nagodba) starts as: "Since Croatia and Slavonia have alike de jure and de facto belonged for centuries to the Crown of St. Stephen
..." Although the Nagodba provided a measure of political autonomy to Croatia-Slavonia, it was subordinated politically and economically to Budapest
.
In 1105 Coloman granted privileges to maritime cities in exchange for their submission. These included the election of their own bishops and prior which is later only confirmed by the king, prohibition of Hungarians settling in towns, the cities didn't pay tributes while royal agents supervised the collection of custom duties without interfering in local politics.
While Croatian historian Nada Klaić
thinks that some sort of surrender occurred in 1102, giving the Croatians light terms, Slovenian historians Matjaž Klemenčič and Mitja Žagar believe the Pacta Conventa never actually existed, but the story about it was important to support the Croatian position later in the Habsburg Empire of rights on the basis of that agreement. They think that although Croatia ceased to exist as an independent state, the Croatian nobility retained relatively strong powers. Klaić thinks that the Trogir manuscript, the earliest text of the alleged pact is not the text of that surrender, but describes contemporary relations between King and nobility and then traced that current 14th century reality back to an initial agreement, while Klemenčič and Žagar think that although Croatia ceased to exist as an independent state, the Croatian nobility retained relatively strong powers.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n nobility. While some claim it was a voluntary union of the two crowns, leaving Croatia as a sovereign state, others argue that Hungary simply annexed Croatia outright and forced an agreement. Some Croatian historians claim it was concluded in 1102, but most historians think it's a forgery from centuries later. A version from the 14th century is preserved in the Hungarian National Museum
Hungarian National Museum
- History:The Hungarian National Museum is said to have been founded in 1802 when Count Ferenc Széchényi set up the National Széchényi Library. This would then be followed a year later by the donating of a mineral collection by Széchényi’s wife. This led to the creation of the Hungarian National...
in Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
.
Background
After Petar SvačićPetar Svacic
Petar Svačić was the last king of Croatia. It is assumed that he began as a ban serving under king Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia and was then elected king by the 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...
, the last Croatian king of Croat descent, was killed on the battlefield in 1097, the Croats had refused to surrender. To end the war, an agreement was made where, probably in 1102, the Croatian nobles allegedly concluded the Pacta conventa with King Coloman before his crowning as the Croatian king in Biograd.
The Hungarian king offered "an agreement as pleases them" to the Croatian nobles
Croatian nobility
Croatian nobility refers to the noble families of Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, Istria, Bosnia and Republic of Ragusa.-General history of Croatian nobility:Croatian nobility titles mostly were granted by the kings of Croatia, later kings of Hungary-Croatia...
from the families of Kačić, Kukar
Kukar
Kukar is a small village in Croatia located approximately 3 km from the town of Vrlika under the mountain Dinara. It is part of the Vrlika municipality, within Split-Dalmatia County.-History:...
, Šubić
Šubic
The Šubić were one of the twelve tribes which constituted Croatian statehood in the Middle Ages; they held the county of Bribir in inland Dalmatia.-Origins:...
, Svačić, Plečić, Mogorović, Gušić, Čudomirić, Karinjanin and Lapčan, Lačničić, Jamometić and Tugomirić.
Content of Pacta conventa
The agreement determined that CroatiaCroatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
and Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
would be governed by the same ruler as two separate kingdoms. When he was crowned in Biograd na Moru
Biograd na Moru
Biograd na Moru is a city and municipality in northern Dalmatia, Croatia and is significant for being the former capital of the medieval Croatian Kingdom. Its population is 6,059 . Biograd is administratively part of the Zadar County...
, Coloman promised all the public and state rights to the Kingdom of Croatia and some additional rights to the Croatian nobility. The Croats acknowledged Coloman as the king of Croatia and Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
and promised they would help him in war, at their cost on the Croatian side of Drava
Drava
Drava or Drave is a river in southern Central Europe, a tributary of the Danube. It sources in Toblach/Dobbiaco, Italy, and flows east through East Tirol and Carinthia in Austria, into Slovenia , and then southeast, passing through Croatia and forming most of the border between Croatia and...
and at his cost on the Hungarian side.
Coloman and his successors were invested with all the rights of kingship over the Kingdom of Croatia: to appoint the ban
Ban (title)
Ban was a title used in several states in central and south-eastern Europe between the 7th century and the 20th century.-Etymology:The word ban has entered the English language probably as a borrowing from South Slavic ban, meaning "lord, master; ruler". The Slavic word is probably borrowed from...
, to issue privileges and land grants, to certify the laws voted by the Croatian Parliament, to collect taxes and duties, to own the "royal land" (terra regalis) of the extinct Croat royal dynasty, to have supreme command over the Croatian army and to make foreign policy.
Validity of the document itself
The document's validity is questionable. While some claim the earliest text concerning the alleged agreement came from the second half of the 14th century others call it a late medieval forgery, not a twelfth century source. While various items of the text seem anachronistic to some, other historians say these could be reworkings of a text from an actual agreement.Since the 19th century, a number of historians have claimed that Pacta conventa was not a genuine document. Some claim that the document is a forgery found in the Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
diocese
Diocese
A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...
and published in 1960, noting that Pacta Conventa was written with an idiom used three centuries after its supposed origin, i.e. in the 14th century and that Hungarian sources do not mention any "personal union
Personal union
A personal union is the combination by which two or more different states have the same monarch while their boundaries, their laws and their interests remain distinct. It should not be confused with a federation which is internationally considered a single state...
" between Hungary and Croatia. Though the validity of the document is disputed, there was at least a non-written agreement that regulated the relations between Hungary and Croatia in approximately the same way, since from 1102 until 1918 kings of Hungary were also kings of Croatia, represented by a governor (ban), but Croatia kept its own parliament (Sabor) and considerable autonomy.
Nevertheless, its source of inspiration must have been the political and social developments that had taken place over a 300-year period following 1102 when the two kingdoms united under the Hungarian king, either by the choice of the Croat nobility or by Hungarian force. The Croatian nobility retained its laws and privileges including the restriction of military service that they owed to the king within the boundaries of Croatia.
Interpretations of the agreement
According to the Library of CongressLibrary of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
country study on the former Yugoslavia, King Coloman crushed opposition after the death of Ladislaus I of Hungary and won the crown of Dalmatia and Croatia in 1102. The crowning of Coloman forged a link between the Croatian and Hungarian crowns that lasted until the end of World War I. Croats have maintained for centuries that Croatia remained a sovereign state despite the voluntary union of the two crowns, but modern Hungarian and Serbian historians claim that Hungary annexed Croatia outright in 1102. According to Frederick Bernard Singleton in the eyes of Croatians Croatia was a separate state which happened to share a ruler with the Hungarians. and according to Daniel Power Croatia became part of Hungary in the late 11th and early twelfth century. According to the country study on Hungary Croatia was never assimilated into Hungary; rather, it became an associate kingdom administered by a ban, or civil governor. After death of king Louis II during the Battle of Mohács
Battle of Mohács
The Battle of Mohács was fought on August 29, 1526 near Mohács, Hungary. In the battle, forces of the Kingdom of Hungary led by King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia were defeated by forces of the Ottoman Empire led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent....
in 1526 Croatian parliament has elected Ferdinand Habsburg
Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor
Ferdinand I was Holy Roman Emperor from 1558 and king of Bohemia and Hungary from 1526 until his death. Before his accession, he ruled the Austrian hereditary lands of the Habsburgs in the name of his elder brother, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor.The key events during his reign were the contest...
for king of Croatia. In either case, Hungarian culture permeated Croatia, the Croatian-Hungarian border shifted often, and at times Hungary treated Croatia as a vassal state.
According to the Croatian historical narrative, Croatian parliament took opportunity in 1526 to reassert its autonomy from Hungary with election of Ferdinand Habsburg for king and words:"...we joined the Holy Crown of Hungary by our own free will just as we do now, the rule of Your Majesty". Croatian historians also argue that the struggle for ascendancy to the Habsburg throne at this time provides evidence of Croatia's political autonomy. In the Croatian legal interpretation of the personal union, Louis II didn't leave any heirs and the legal carrier of the union (king) didn't exist anymore so the right to elect the king belonged once more to the Croatian nobility. Unlike Hungarian historians, Austrians never claimed they conquered Croatia by force and there appears to be little reason to doubt Croatian claims about the events of 1526. The intro of The Hungaro-Croatian Compromise of 1868 (The Nagodba) starts as: "Since Croatia and Slavonia have alike de jure and de facto belonged for centuries to the Crown of St. Stephen
Crown of St. Stephen
The Holy Crown of Hungary , also known as the Crown of Saint Stephen, was the coronation crown used by the Kingdom of Hungary for most of its existence.The Crown was bound to the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen, The Holy Crown of Hungary (Hungarian: Magyar Szent Korona, German: Stephanskrone,...
..." Although the Nagodba provided a measure of political autonomy to Croatia-Slavonia, it was subordinated politically and economically to Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
.
In 1105 Coloman granted privileges to maritime cities in exchange for their submission. These included the election of their own bishops and prior which is later only confirmed by the king, prohibition of Hungarians settling in towns, the cities didn't pay tributes while royal agents supervised the collection of custom duties without interfering in local politics.
While Croatian historian Nada Klaić
Nada Klaic
Nada Klaić was a Croatian historian. She was influential and controversial Croatian medievalist of the 20th century.-Academic career:...
thinks that some sort of surrender occurred in 1102, giving the Croatians light terms, Slovenian historians Matjaž Klemenčič and Mitja Žagar believe the Pacta Conventa never actually existed, but the story about it was important to support the Croatian position later in the Habsburg Empire of rights on the basis of that agreement. They think that although Croatia ceased to exist as an independent state, the Croatian nobility retained relatively strong powers. Klaić thinks that the Trogir manuscript, the earliest text of the alleged pact is not the text of that surrender, but describes contemporary relations between King and nobility and then traced that current 14th century reality back to an initial agreement, while Klemenčič and Žagar think that although Croatia ceased to exist as an independent state, the Croatian nobility retained relatively strong powers.