Kingdom of Croatia

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Kingdom of Croatia from 1066-1077



King Petar Kresimir
1066 - 1074

The good king Peter, as he was known by the people saw the realities of the political landscape around him.
The Holy Roman Empire to the west and the powerful Hungary to the north were his neighbours.
However as a Christian ruler he would not have to fear from them unless he would provoke them somehow.
That is why king Petar tried to use peaceful means and diplomacy to strenghten his kingdom.
He funded some construction projects in his capital Senj like the training grounds and the court of justice.
Also he opened a mine in the province of Rama.
He was an able administrator and all the nobles liked him.
When the Duchy of Belgrade seceded from Byzantium he offered it protection and moved the borders of his kingdom
peacefully to the east.

This put his kingdom in a direct contact with pagan Pecheneg tribes.
He saw this as an opportunity to spread Christianity and reward some of his vassals with land.
War was declared. He successfully saw the war to end before passing away in 1074.

King Stjepan 1074 -

King Petar Kresimirs was succeeded by his brother Stjepan who was a priest.
After the the Pechengeg war Stjepan became a bishop of one of the newly conquered provinces.
The rest of the provinces mostly went to the powerful duke of Slavonia Dmitar Zvonimir.

The count of Zachlumia who had 3 sons got one province. Interestingly he decided to give the province to his
daugher who has not come out of age.

The war with the Pechengeg initiated the war with the pagan Kuman.
King Stjepan, who was no fighter but his greatest achievement was that he manged to make a peace with them.
However the Kuman were left free to conquer Hum in Bosnia and Rashka an Zeta in Serbia.
Surprised by the Kuman rapid advance Stjepan saw the importance of building forts in his kingdom.

Stjepan decided to avoid any wars if he could.
His only son Matija was 9 years old.
And Stjepan tried to give him the best possible army education.

Here is the map after the Pecheneg and Kuman wars.
Green are the Kuman conquests of christian lands.

 

[Devin Perry]

It's always fun to bash the Pechengs. Plenty of opportunity to expand as HRE and Byz break up. Good luck.

 

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Matija The Great 1082 - 1113

Matija lost his father Stjepan when he was 13 years old.
Stjepan did not finish bringing his son up, but nevertheless Matija became to be the longest reigning and the
most famous of the early kings of Croatia.

Since Matija was a born military genious it was not hard to foresee what his rule would be like.
He was predestined to be involved in important wars.
However the nobles where afraid that should Matija be killed in a war there would be
a crisis so they advised him to marry first.
Matija married a sister of the Count Subic of Usora.
This way he wanted to strenghten the ties with that noble family.
Also his wife was a good diplomat so she helped him as a chancellor to secure the loyalty of the nobles.

Matija was a knowledgable tactician. He wanted to strenghten his kingdom and gather all the nobles around him.
That is why he introduced the feudal contract law.
At once all nobles were happier and Matija's treasury did't have to spend so much on gifts.
After stabilising things at home and after he got a successor Ivajlo Matija turned to the east.

He succedded to get the Republic of Ragusa as a vassal peacefully because they were at war with the
tribe of don.
Immediately afterwards Matija declared war on the infidels of Kuman who have invaded Bosnia and parts of Serbia.
After defeating them Matija could be crowned to the King of Serbia.
Matija always followed the policy of strenghtening his local vassals.
That is why in the following wars Matija gave Istria to the family of Frangepan (Frankopan) and
also some other lands to his followers.
The last war Matija was involved in was the war in which he became the king of Bulgaria.

At the end of his reign Matija commanded 3 kingdoms which encompassed almost all of the south slavic.
His kingdom was prosperous but he had many powerfull rivals: The Republic of Venice and the Hungarian king held
clames on Matija's cores.
Beeing in his laters years Matija decided to use stratagem against his most powerful rival.
Beeing the papal controller Matija convinved the pope to excommunicate the young king Alcid Arpad of Hungary.
Shortly afterwards Hungary went into feudal anarchy as most vassals started proclaiming their independence.

 

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Ivajlo

Ivajlo 1113 -

The Christian world was in peril.
All of Spain was muslim and seljuk Turks attactked even into Germany proper.
Seeing this as an opportunity to gain a foothold in Germany Ivajlo at once launched a campaign against the
Turks in Austria. With the might of his whole kingdom he only managed to take two provinces from the turks.
This showed a weakness of his kingdom.
The Turks could easily have overrun his kingdom if they didn't concentrate on Germany.
How absurd.
There was still a crusade active to liberate some country in the far east while
turkish sheikdoms could be seen in central Europe.
Is it a bug? Can it be true?
As Ivajlo knew he could not hold the border provinces without beeing at constant war with the Arabs,
he decided to create bishforics there.

 

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Newgame

This is too easy.

Now I will play the 1337 scenario where Croatia is in a kingdom with Hungary.
Altough formally a kingdom (the Hungarian king crowned himself as a king of Croatia) Croatia is in a servitude position.
The Magyar used their position of power so most of the nobles in the north of the country (Slavonia) including it's Duke or Ban are Hungarian.

Only in the south remained some nobles of Croatian origin.

I will play as the counts Frangepan which were historically one of the last Croatian noble families.
The last members of the Frangepan family survived into the 17th century well after the historical Turkish invasion.
The last count Fran Krsto Frankopan was executed in Wiener Neustadt by the Habsburgs.

After a forced death of the last king of Croatia Dmitar Zvonimir in the 11th century, Croatia entered into a personal union with Hungary.
There was a legend spread among the people that because they killed the "good and infinitely just" King Zvonimir they would not have their own state for a 1000 years.
Instead foreigners would rule them.
Lets see if freedom is possible for the people of Croatia in Crusader Kings.
I could have taken the Duke of Croatia to play but as he was Hungarian it was not realistic to expect he would fight for the rights of his country.



How do you suggest I do it?
All around are powerfull opponents. Venic hold Istria and the coast.
To go against the Hungarian King right away would be suicide.
I think my only option is to try make friends with the other nobles.

 

[Devin Perry]

that was certainly short lived. For 1337 I suggest you pick a fight with Bosnia and hope your liege comes to your aid. Or kill your wife and find a girl who's the only child of some old duke.

 

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The Subic family - counts of Senj

Altough the Subic family only has one province they could be
used with much luck to unite the Croatian state.
One of count Mladen's successors is Juraj who is also the successor of Veglia by a maternal line.

Count Mladen Subic was a martial expert however he needs more prestige to grab a title of some province.

Maybe one day the Subics will control 2 provinces.
CK is not so exciting when playing as a count.

Wait and gather prestige.

 

[Enewald]

You should try to inherit Hungary, or go conquering some small Muslim sheikdoms and create a new duchy somewhere else.