Dalmacija:
Western sources give us a different picture of the identities in Dalmatia.
After showing no interest in the events in Dalmatia for more than a century,
chroniclers began to report on Charlemagne's successes against the Avars and
later on, against the Byzantines in Dalmatia. In 799, the earliest information in
The Royal Frankish Annals concerns the death of Erich, Duke of Friuli, in a
battle against the inhabitants of the castrum Tarsaticain Liburnia.
(Liburnia
was the westernmost part of Dalmatia, and during the Ostrogothic rule it was
treated as a separate province).
Einhard’s Life of Charlemagnementions only
this event related to Dalmatia, albeit without naming the citizens of Tarsatica.
More detailed reports are related to the uprising of Ljudevit, Duke of Lower
Pannonia, because Borna, Duke of Dalmatia and Liburnia, was engaged in
suppressing the revolt as a Frankish vassal and ally.
When writing about Borna's
province, The Royal Frankish Annals use only the names of Dalmatia and
Liburnia and a short list of peoples living there. Apart from the Dalmatians, also
designated as Romans — who were Byzantine subjects — the chronicler only
knows of Slavs in general and there are only two cases where he mentions specific
names. First, he stresses that Borna was also a dux Guduscanorum,
and that these
Guduscani abandoned him during a battle against Ljudevit, but that he later
managed to subdue them once again. From this, we can conclude that the
otherwise unknown Guduscaniwere a smaller group within the borders of later
Croatia, and that their name was mentioned only because their treason could have
endangered the Frankish vassal. The other case was that of the Sorabi, for whom
the annalist mentions that they were said to have governed much of Dalmatia — a
statement that can be supported by Constantine’s description of the sclaviniae.
These same events were also described in Astronomus’ Life of Louisin which he
narrates only about Dalmatia, Dalmatians, Romans and Slavs, and the Guduscani,
thus leaving out the Serbs by including them with the Dalmatians.
Western sources give us a different picture of the identities in Dalmatia.
After showing no interest in the events in Dalmatia for more than a century,
chroniclers began to report on Charlemagne's successes against the Avars and
later on, against the Byzantines in Dalmatia. In 799, the earliest information in
The Royal Frankish Annals concerns the death of Erich, Duke of Friuli, in a
battle against the inhabitants of the castrum Tarsaticain Liburnia.
(Liburnia
was the westernmost part of Dalmatia, and during the Ostrogothic rule it was
treated as a separate province).
Einhard’s Life of Charlemagnementions only
this event related to Dalmatia, albeit without naming the citizens of Tarsatica.
More detailed reports are related to the uprising of Ljudevit, Duke of Lower
Pannonia, because Borna, Duke of Dalmatia and Liburnia, was engaged in
suppressing the revolt as a Frankish vassal and ally.
When writing about Borna's
province, The Royal Frankish Annals use only the names of Dalmatia and
Liburnia and a short list of peoples living there. Apart from the Dalmatians, also
designated as Romans — who were Byzantine subjects — the chronicler only
knows of Slavs in general and there are only two cases where he mentions specific
names. First, he stresses that Borna was also a dux Guduscanorum,
and that these
Guduscani abandoned him during a battle against Ljudevit, but that he later
managed to subdue them once again. From this, we can conclude that the
otherwise unknown Guduscaniwere a smaller group within the borders of later
Croatia, and that their name was mentioned only because their treason could have
endangered the Frankish vassal. The other case was that of the Sorabi, for whom
the annalist mentions that they were said to have governed much of Dalmatia — a
statement that can be supported by Constantine’s description of the sclaviniae.
These same events were also described in Astronomus’ Life of Louisin which he
narrates only about Dalmatia, Dalmatians, Romans and Slavs, and the Guduscani,
thus leaving out the Serbs by including them with the Dalmatians.
