Becoming Slav, Becoming Croat (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, Volume 12)

293 Pages·2010·4.66 MB·English

by  Danijel Dzino

Becoming Slav, Becoming Croat
East Central and Eastern
Europe in the Middle Ages,
450–1450
General Editor
Florin Curta
VOLUME 12
Becoming Slav, Becoming Croat
Identity Transformations in Post-Roman
and Early Medieval Dalmatia
By
Danijel Dzino
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2010
Cover illustration: Celestin Mato Medović, Dolazak Hrvata (Arrival of the Croats,
1903).
With kind permission of the Croatian Institute for History, Zagreb.
Th is book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Dzino, Danijel.
Becoming Slav, becoming Croat : identity transformations in post-Roman and early
medieval Dalmatia / by Danijel Dzino.
p. cm. -- (East Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 450-1450, ISSN
1872-8103 ; v. 12)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-90-04-18646-0 (hbk. : alk. paper) 1. Dalmatia (Croatia)--History.
2. Illyria--History. 3. Dalmatia (Croatia)--Ethnic relations. 4. Slavs--Ethnic identity--
History--To 1500. 5. Croats--Ethnic identity--History--To 1500. 6. Ethnicity--
Croatia--Dalmatia--History--To 1500. 7. Group identity--Croatia--Dalmatia--History
--To 1500. 8. Social change--Croatia--Dalmatia--History--To 1500. 9. Croatia--
History--To 1102. I. Title. II. Series.
DR1627.D95 2010

949.72--dc22
2010018298
ISSN 1872-8103
ISBN 978 90 04 18646 0
Copyright 2010 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Th e Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints BRILL, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the
publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill
p rovided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to Th e Copyright Clearance Center,
222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
Printed in the Netherlands
In memoriam
†
My grandparents
Nenad Ostojić (1920–2004) and
Kosara Ostojić (1923–2009)
I miss you both.
To Barbara, with love

CONTENTS
Acknowledgments .....................................................................................ix
Notes ...........................................................................................................xi
Abbreviations ...........................................................................................xiii
Collections of Epigraphic Inscriptions ................................................xvii
List of Pictures and Maps .......................................................................xix
Introduction .................................................................................................1
1. Croat Origins in the Croatian Imagination .....................................14
2. Th eoretical Framework and the Scholarship ...................................32
3. Identities Before the Slavs ..................................................................56
4. Illyricum and Dalmatia 378–600 : A Very Brief Overview ...........74
5. Written Sources on the Slav Migration in the 6th and
7th centuries in Western Illyricum and Dalmatia ..........................92
6. Th e “Dark Ages”: 7th and 8th Century in Post-Roman
Dalmatia I (Cemeteries) ...................................................................118
7. Th e “Dark Ages”: 7th and 8th Century in Post-Roman
Dalmatia II (Becoming Slavs) ..........................................................155
8. Th e Ninth Century: Chroati Ex Machina .......................................175
Conclusion ..............................................................................................211
Appendix: List of Dalmatian Rulers .....................................................219
Primary Sources .....................................................................................221
Bibliography of Secondary Sources ......................................................225
Index ........................................................................................................261

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Th is book has had an unusual way of coming into being. Reaching for
Florin Curta’s book Th e making of the Slavs one slow aft ernoon in the
Barr-Smith library of the Adelaide University bugged me so much so
that I needed to write a review of it for the Croatian journal Diadora.
Th e review, while still unpublished, was noticed by Ivan Mužić who
asked me to write an introduction for his new book, Hrvatska Povijest
Devetog Stoljeća. Th at introduction was noticed by Denis Alimov, who
asked me to write an article for the volume of Studia Slavica et Balcanica
Petropolitana, dedicated to Curta’s book. Th e article was fi nally read by
Curta himself, who proposed that I expand it into a book. Th e circle
was fi nally completed, taking me into the dark and unexplored areas of
post-Roman Dalmatia for the next year and a half.
It is indeed a good feeling to have this book fi nished, and there are
quite a few people and institutions that I need to thank here. First and
foremost, I wish to acknowledge Florin Curta and Brill Academic
Publishers, for giving me the opportunity to publish this typescript,
and to my anonymous readers for their suggestions and criticisms.
Next, my former department at the University of Adelaide, South
Australia, as well as my current department of Ancient History at
Macquarie University in Sydney; in particular Alanna Nobbs and
Andrew Gillett for their ongoing support and belief in me.
Furthermore, I wish to thank to the Australian Academy of Humani-
ties for granting me a generous Travelling Fellowship, which enabled
my trip to Kalamazoo and University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) in the
United States in May 2009, as well as the Australian Research Council
for granting me the Australian Postdoctoral Fellowship for my project
on Ancient and Medieval Identity-shift s and the Construction of
Identities in Post-Yugoslav Space, of which this book is an important
part.
I also wish to off er my thanks and deep gratitude to Mladen Ančić
(University of Zadar) and Trpimir Vedriš (University of Zagreb) for
reading this manuscript and suggesting improvements.
I want to thank the organisers and participants at a symposium
in Zagreb entitled, “New directions in the research of identities and
late antique and early medieval Illyricum,” held in January 2009, in