List of rulers of Croatia

This is a complete list of rulers of Croatia under Croatian or foreign monarchs. This article follows the monarch's title number according to Hungarian succession for convenience. For example, the Hungarian monarch Béla IV is according to Croatian succession correctly titled Béla III. This is because Hungarians had a king named Béla prior to the incorporation of Croatia under the Hungarian Crown but the Croats did not.

Early History[edit]

The details of the arrival of the Croats are scarcely documented. Around 626, Croats migrated from White Croatia (around what is now Galicia) at the invitation of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius. According to a legend recorded in De Administrando Imperio, the Croats came to their present region under the leadership of five brothers called Kloukas, Lobelos, Kosentzis, Mouchlo, Chrobatos and two sisters called Touga and Bouga.

It is theorized that one of the brothers called Chrobatos (Hrvat) gave the name for Croats (Hrvati) as a whole, although mainstream historians dismiss this as not verifiable. The Croats started gradually converting to Christianity under the rule of Porga in the 7th century.

Dukes of Pannonia (8th century–896)[edit]

Also called Pannonian Croatia in Croatian historiography. Croatian sources claim it was a Croatian duchy while others claim it was an unspecified Slavic duchy with its inhabitants called simply "Slavs" (lat. Sclavi).

Dukes of Dalmatian Croatia (7th century–925)[edit]

Portrait	Name	Reign start	Reign end	Notes
	Višeslav	c. 785	c. 802	Višeslav left behind a baptismal font, surviving to this day, which mentioned him being a duke (although duke of an unspecified region). Since the baptismal font was found in Nin, which was believed to be inhabited Croats at the time, Višeslav is conisdered by Croatian historiography as a Croatian duke.
	Borna	c. 810	821	Son of Višeslav. Vassal of Frankish Emperor Charlemagne. His titles were Duke of the Guduscani, Duke of Dalmatia and Liburnia. Since Croats inhabited those areas at the time, he is considered a Croatian duke.
	Vladislav	821	c. 823	Nephew of Borna
	Ljudemisl	c. 823	c. 835	Some sources claim he may have killed Ljudevit, the Pannonian duke.
	Mislav	c. 835	c. 845
House of Trpimirović
	Trpimir	c. 845	864	Founder of the Trpimirović dynasty
	Zdeslav	864	864	Son of Trpimir
House of Domagojević
	Domagoj	864	876	Overthrew Zdeslav.
	Unnamed son of Domagoj	876	878	Later killed during a civil war.
House of Trpimirović
	Zdeslav	878	879	Restored ruler, overthrew the unnamed son of Domagoj. Killed by Zdeslav in May 879.
House of Domagojević
	Branimir	879	c. 892
House of Trpimirović
	Muncimir	892	910	Son of Trpimir. Also called Mutimir.
	Tomislav	910	925

Kings of Croatia (925–1102)[edit]

In his letter from 925, Pope John X refers to Tomislav as Rex Chroatorum (King of the Croats). All Croatian rulers after Tomislav held the title of king.

Portrait	Name	Reign start	Reign end	Notes
House of Trpimirović
	Tomislav	925	928	Possibly the son of Muncimir. After his death, civil wars weakened the state and some territory, including Bosnia, was lost. His title as rex (king) is based on two contemporary documents: a correspondence dated 925 where the Pope John X addresses him with the title Rex Croatorum (King of the Croats) a transcript from the First Church Council of Split where he is also referred to as rex He was also addressed as princeps (prince) and dux (duke) on other occasions. Nevertheless, in modern Croatia he is traditionally considered the first (and arguably the most famous) Croatian king.
	Trpimir II	928	935	Younger brother or son of Tomislav
	Krešimir I	935	945	Son of Trpimir II
	Miroslav	945	949	Son of Krešimir I
	Michael Krešimir II	949	969	Younger brother of Miroslav. Michael Krešimir ruled jointly with his wife Queen Helen of Zadar. During their reign, the Croatian Kingdom regained previously lost territories, including Bosnia. Upon Michael Krešimir's death in 969, his wife ruled as regent for their underage son Stephen Držislav.
	Helen of Zadar	969	976	Ruled as regent for her son Stephen Držislav from 969 until her death 8 October 976.
	Stephen Držislav	969	997	Son of Michael Krešimir and Queen Helen of Zadar. He received royal insigia as an act of recognition from the Byzantine Emperor and was crowned by the Archbishop of Split in Biograd in 988. Thomas the Archdeacon's Historia Salonitana names him as the first King of Croatia (rex), regardless, he is considered the first crowned Croatian king.[1]
	Svetoslav Suronja	997	1000	Son of Stephen Držislav. Dethroned by his brothers Krešimir III and Gojslav.
	Gojslav	1000	1020	Younger brother of Svetoslav Suronja. Co-ruled with Krešimir III.
	Krešimir III	1000	1030	Younger brother of Svetoslav Suronja. Ruled alone after the death of Gojslav in 1020
	Stephen I	1030	1058	Son of Krešimir III
	Peter Krešimir IV the Great	1058	1074	Son of Stephen I. During his reign the Croatian Kingdom reached its peak
	Demetrius Zvonimir	1075	1089	Cousin of Peter Krešimir IV. Married Princess Helen, daughter of King Bela II of Hungary (c. 1063).
	Stephen II	1089	1090	Son of Častimir who was younger brother of King Peter Krešimir IV the Great.
House of Árpád
	Álmos	1095	1095	After the death of King Demetrius Zvonimir in 1089, King Ladislaus I of Hungary (1077–1095) ruled in Slavonia. He set his nephew Álmos to rule as his proxy with the title of prince (1091–1095). In 1095, Ladislaus I appointed his nephew as the King of Croatia but he was recognized as king only by the Hungarian nobility. Álmos was defeated by the newly elected Croatian king Petar Svačić who expelled him from Slavonia in 1095, which was again annexed to the Croatian Kingdom.
House of Svačić
	Petar Svačić	1093	1097	Petar Svačić was elected to rule by the Croatian nobles. He fought with Coloman of Hungary for control of Croatia and was killed at the Battle of Gvozd Mountain in 1097. From 1102 onwards, the Kings of Hungary were also Kings of Croatia, because of the political union of the two crowns.

Hungarian kings of Croatia (1102–1527)[edit]

From 1102, the reigning King of Hungary is also the ruler of the Kingdom of Croatia in agreement with the Croatian nobles.^[2][3] Croatia is governed on his behalf by a viceroy (ban) and a parliament (sabor).

Portrait	Name	Reign start	Reign end	Notes
House of Árpád
	Coloman	1102	3 February 1116	King of Hungary from 1095 and King of Croatia from 1102 until his death in 1116. Coloman, supported by Pannonian Croats, defeated an army of Croatian and Dalmatian nobles allied to Petar Svačić at the Battle of Gvozd Mountain. Recognized by a council (sabor) of Croatian nobles and crowned as King of Croatia in 1102.
	Stephen II	3 February 1116	3 April 1131	Son of Coloman
	Béla II the Blind	3 April 1131	13 February 1141	Grandson of Géza I, son of Álmos. He was Coloman's younger brother.
	Géza II	13 February 1141	31 May 1162	Son of Béla II the Blind
	Stephen III	31 May 1162	4 March 1172	Son of Géza II
	Ladislaus II	31 May 1162	14 January 1163	Rebel anti-king, younger brother of Géza II
	Stephen IV	14 January 1163	June 1163	Rebel anti-king, younger brother of Géza II
	Béla III	4 March 1172	13 April 1196	Younger brother of Stephen III
	Emeric	13 April 1196	30 November 1204	Son of Béla III
	Ladislaus III	30 November 1204	7 May 1205	Son of Emeric, crowned and died as a child
	Andrew II	7 May 1205	21 September 1235	Brother of Emeric. In 1222, he issued a Golden Bull which established the rights of noblemen, including the right to disobey the king when he acted contrary to law.
	Béla IV	21 September 1235	3 May 1270	Son of Andrew II. Ruled during First Mongol invasion (1241–1242). In 1242, he issued a Golden Bull which proclaimed Zagreb and Samobor a free royal city.
	Stephen V	3 May 1270	6 August 1272	Son of Béla IV. Prince of Slavonia from 1246 to 1257
	Ladislaus IV the Cuman	6 August 1272	10 July 1290	Son of Stephen V. He lived with the nomad Cuman tribes contrary to the wishes of the Catholic clergy and was thus excomunicated.
	Andrew III the Venetian	4 August 1290	14 January 1301	Grandson of Andrew II. Last Hungarian king from the Árpád dynasty.
House of Přemyslid
	Wenceslaus	27 August 1301	9 October 1305	Great-great-grandson of Béla IV. Rule contested by Charles Robert of Anjou (Charles I of Hungary).
House of Wittelsbach
	Béla V	9 October 1305	May 1307	Grandson of Béla IV. Rule contested by Charles Robert of Anjou (Charles I of Hungary).
House of Anjou
	Charles Martel of Anjou	1290	1295	Set up by Pope Nicholas IV and the ecclesiastical party as successor of his maternal uncle, the childless Ladislaus IV the Cuman. His title as king was recognized by the Šubić and Kőszegi noble families.
	Charles I	14 January 1301	16 July 1342	Son of Charles Martel of Anjou. Also called Charles Robert. Rule contested by Wenceslaus of Přemyslid and Béla V of Wittesbach.
	Louis I the Great	16 July 1342	11 September 1382	Also King of Poland from 1370 to 1382
	Mary	11 September 1382	17 May 1395	Married Sigismund of Luxembourg after he invaded Upper Hungary in 1385. After the assassination of King Charles II in 1386, Mary officially remained the co-ruler with her husband Sigismund.
	Charles II	31 December 1385	24 February 1386	Also King of Naples. After Mary renounced the throne, Charles III of Naples was crowned as King Charles II of Hungary on 31 December 1385. He was wounded in an assassination attempt at the instigation of Mary's mother on 7 February 1386 and died on 24 February that same year.
	Ladislaus of Naples	1890	1414	Son of Charles II. He claimed the Crown of Hungary and Croatia since 1390 in oppositon to Mary and Sigismund of Luxemburg. Never crowned.
House of Luxembourg
	Sigismund	31 March 1387	9 December 1437	Also King of Bohemia from 1419 and Holy Roman Emperorfrom 1433 until his death in 1437.
House of Habsburg
	Albert I	18 December 1437	27 October 1439	Son-in-law of Sigismund. He was also King of Bohemia from 1438 until his death in 1439.
House of Jagiellon
	Vladislaus I	15 May 1440	10 November 1444	Also King of Poland from 1434 until his death in 1444. Crown contested by Ladislaus V the Posthumus.
House of Habsburg
	Ladislaus V the Posthumus	10 November 1444	23 November 1457	Son of Albert I. Born in 1440 after his father's death, spent most of his life in captivity. Crown contested by Vladislaus I between 1440 and 1444. He had no children and was the last of the Albertinian line of the Habsburg dynasty.
House of Hunyadi
	Matthias I	24 January 1458	6 April 1490	Elected by the nobles. He was son of John Hunyadi. Also King of Bohemia from 1469 until his death in 1490, a title he contested with Vladislaus II.
House of Jagiellon
	Vladislaus II	15 July 1490	13 May 1516	Also King of Bohemia from 1471 (contested with Matthias I until 1490). The Hungarian nobles elected him king after his supporters defeated the son of Matthias I who relinquished his claim to the Hungarian throne prior to that. Died in 1516.
	Louis II	13 May 1516	29 August 1526	Also King of Bohemia from 1516 until his death in 1526 at the Battle of Mohács.
House of Zápolya
	John I	10 November 1526	22 July 1540	Claimed the throne with the support of Hungarian nobles and later Suleiman the Magnificent. Kingship contested between Ferdinand I of Habsburg. John I made an agreement with Ferdinand I to recognize his right to reunite Hungary after John I's death, but shortly after John his son's birth, and on his deathbed, John I bequeathed his realm to his son.
	John II	13 September 1540	16 August 1570	Son of John I. Elected by supporters of John I as King of Hungary. Claim contested by Ferdinand I and Maximilian. Never crowned.

Under the Habsburgs (1527–1918)[edit]

On 1 January 1527, the Croatian Parliament met in Cetin to elect Ferdinand I of Habsburg as the new King of Croatia.

Portrait	Name	Reign start	Reign end	Notes
House of Habsburg
	Ferdinand I	16 December 1526	25 July 1564	Claimed the throne according to the agreement between the House of Jagiellon and the House of Habsburg
	Maximilian	8 September 1563	12 October 1576	Ruled during Battle of Szigetvár and Croatian-Slovene Peasant Revolt.
	Rudolf	25 September 1572	26 June 1608	Ruled during Battle of Sisak. Abdicated in favor of his younger brother Matthias II.
	Matthias II	26 June 1608	20 March 1619	Brother of Rudolf
	Ferdinand II	1 July 1618	15 February 1637	In 1630, he issued Statuta Valachorum that placed Vlachs (mainly Orthodox Serbs) in the Military Frontier under the direct rule by Vienna, removing the Croatian Parliament's jurisdiction over them.
	Ferdinand III	8 December 1625	2 April 1657
	Leopold I	27 June 1657	5 May 1705	Crushed the Zrinski–Frankopan Conspiracy and abolished the right of the Croatian Parliament to elect a king. In 1669, he founded the University of Zagreb
	Joseph I	5 May 1705	17 April 1711
	Charles III	11 April 1711	20 October 1740	Issued and edict called the Pragmatic Sanction where he acknowledged female inheritance of the Austrian crown after extinction of the male line and thus enabling his daughter Maria Theresa to become sovereign.
	Maria Theresa	20 October 1740	29 November 1780	Divided Croatia into counties (županije). In 1767, she formed a Croatian Royal Council (Consilium Regium) until 1779 when she abolished it. She conducted military and economy reforms, especially concerning serfdom and schooling.
House of Habsburg-Lorraine
	Joseph II	29 November 1780	20 February 1790	Abolished serfdom and conducted a partial Germanization of Croatian lands.
	Leopold II	20 February 1790	1 March 1792
	Francis I	1 March 1792	2 March 1835
	Ferdinand IV	28 September 1830	2 December 1848	Being epileptic and mentally ill, abdicated in favour of his nephew Franz Joseph (son of his younger brother Franz Karl). Ferdinand IV died in 1875.
	Franz Joseph I	2 December 1848	21 November 1916	Longest ruling Croatian monarch. During his reign, Croatian lands (Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia) were unified by Ban Josip Jelačič in 1848. In 1867, he reorganized the monarchy into a dual Austrian and Hungarian part. From 1868, the Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia was an autonomous kingdom within the Kingdom of Hungary.
	Charles IV	21 November 1916	16 November 1918	In his coronation oath to the Croatian Parliament, he acknowledged the unity of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia with Rijeka.[4] During the last days of the monarchy he accepted the trialist manifest on creating a so-called "Zvonimir's Kingdom".[5][6][7][8][9] He reigned until 1918, when he renounced participation in state affairs, but did not abdicate. The Croatian Parliament ended the union of Croatia with Hungary and Austria on 29 October 1918 but never dethroned King Charles IV.[10] He spent the remaining years of his life attempting to restore the monarchy until his death in 1922.

Kings of Yugoslavia (1918–1941)[edit]

After the World War I and the breakup of Austria-Hungary, Croatia joined a newly formed State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. Following a brief period of self-rule, that state became part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes under the Karađorđević dynasty. The name of the kingdom was changed in 1929, amid unitarianist reforms, to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. In 1941, Yugoslavia was occupied by the Axis powers along with the rest of Yugoslavia. The Axis set up the Independent State of Croatia as a puppet state, while many Croats fought for the Yugoslav Partisans.

Portrait	Name	Reign start	Reign end	Notes
House of Karađorđević
	Peter I	1 December 1918	16 August 1921
	Alexander I	16 August 1921	9 October 1934	Assassinated by the VMRO with Ustashe support in 1934.
	Peter II	9 October 1934	29 November 1941	Prince Paul of Yugoslavia was his regent. Exiled to Great Britain after Axis invasion in 1941.

King of the Independent State of Croatia (1941–1943)[edit]

During the German occupation of Yugoslavia, a puppet state under Italian protection called the Independent State of Croatia was created, with Ante Pavelić as its leader. Soon after its creation, the state government passed three laws on the creation of the Crown of Zvonimir, which made the country de jure a kingdom.^[11][12] Three days later the Treaties of Rome were signed. The Italian Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta was designated King of Croatia. He abdicated in 1943.

Portrait	Name	Reign start	Reign end	Notes
House of Savoy-Aosta
	Tomislav II	18 May 1941	31 July 1943	Tomislav II established a Croatian royal office (kraljevski stol) in Florence and later in Rome.[13][14] He had at first refused to assume the kingship in opposition to the Italian annexation of the Dalmatia region,[15] and is therefore referred to in some sources as king designate.[16][17][18][19] He abdicated on 31 July 1943 after the dismissal of Benito Mussolini on the orders of Victor Emmanuel III.[20][21][22][23]

After WWII[edit]

• List of heads of state of Yugoslavia (1945–1991)
• List of Presidents of Croatia (1991–present)
• List of Prime Ministers of Croatia (1991–present)

Gallery[edit]

"Duke of Croatia"[edit]

The title Duke of Croatia has been used widely:

• The Doges of Venice used it, with Byzantine approval, from c. 1100, when Hungary was in the process of absorbing the Kingdom of Croatia, until the Treaty of Zadar with Hungary in 1358.
• The Dukes of Merania, whose territory bordered Croatia, were sometimes called Dukes of Croatia in contemporary chronicles.
• Various Hungarian noblemen granted authority in the South Slav lands added Croatia to their title of Duke of Slavonia in the 13th and 14th centuries.

See also[edit]

• Ban of Croatia
• Ban of Slavonia
• List of rulers of Austria
• Croatian Parliament
• History of Croatia
• Timeline of Croatian history

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Monarchs of Croatia from Everything2
• The History Files: Kingdoms of Eastern Europe: Croatia
• WHKMLA History of Croatia, ToC
• Rulers of Croatia and Slavonia
• List of Croatian rulers PDF, University of Michigan
• [6]
• List of Croatian Heads of State