Tomislav, King of Croatia
Tomislav (died in 928?) was the first king of Croatia. He reigned from 910 until his death and declared himself the first King of the medieval Croatian state in 925.
He was crowned king at the fields of Tomislavgrad in 925 by order of Pope John X. During his life he united the Pannonian and Dalmatian duchies to form a Croatian Kingdom. Under his rule, Croatia became one of the most powerful kingdoms in medieval Europe.
He was member of the Trpimirović dynasty and probably the son of Dalmatian duke (knez) Mutimir. Tomislav himself became duke of Dalmatia around 910.
Tomislav defeated the Magyars in battle and forced them across the Drava River. Since then this river has been the age-old border between these two people. Tomislav also annexed Sava Croatia to his state. This included the area between the rivers Drava, Sava and Kupa, which would later be known as Slavonia. This was the first time that the two Croatian principalities were united.
King Tomislav allied himself with the Byzantine Empire, and had to repel the attacks of the Bulgarians who invaded Croatia due to Tomislav's friendship with the Byzantines. The Croats fought the army of Simeon I of Bulgaria led by duke Alobogotur on May 27, 927 and won Battle of the Bosnian Highlands. This huge battle is considered to be one of the greatest and blodiest single-day battles in history. As ally of the Byzantium, he was granted the right to administer the coastal cities (Zadar, Split, Trogir, so-called Byzantine Dalmatia) and thus rounded off his state from the Adriatic Sea to the Drava River, and from the Rasa River in Istria to the Drina River.
After he became King in 925, at two church synods in Split, he established the relationship between the dioceses of Split (Latin) and of Nin (Croatian), and in this way strengthened internal relations in Croatia and resolved the dispute around the liturgical language between the Latinists and Croatian Glagolites (users of Glagolitic alphabet). Through this, Tomislav obtained the support of the Pope, who was at that time the most important power in Europe.
Tomislav's organized a strong military state. His army and navy was consisted of, approximately, 100,000 infantry, 60,000 cavaliers, 80 large and 100 smaller battleships.
Tomislav disappeared in 928, and it is still not known where or how he actually died. At the time of his death there was discord in the country over whether the liturgical language of the Roman Catholic Church in Croatia would be Latin or Croatian.
Tomislav is celebrated as the founder of the first united Croatian state. In the Croatian capital of Zagreb, there is a square dedicated to Tomislav. Near the place where he was crowned lies the town of Tomislavgrad (Tomislav's City).