Ljudevit Posavski

Ljudevit Posavski ("Trans-Savian") was a Slavic Prince of Pannonian Croatia from 810 to 823. The capital of his realm was in Sisak. As the ruler of the Pannonian Croats, he led an unsuccessful resistance to Frankish domination. In 822, after being forced to flee, he became a petty duke of a tribe of the Serbs. He held close ties with the Carantanian and Carniolan Slovenes and with the Serbian tribe of Timočani, named after the Timok river. He is often regarded as a national hero in Croatian and Slovenian history.

Rebellions against the Franks

In 818 Ljudevit sent his emissaries to Emperor Louis in Heristal. They described the horrors conducted by Cadolah and his men in Pannonia, but the King of Franks refused to make peace.

Ljudevit raised a rebellion against his Frankish rulers in 819 after he was seriously accused by the Frankish court. The Emperor Louis the Pious (814-840) sent Margrave Cadolah of Friuli (800-819) to quell the rebellion. The Frankish Frontier forces led by Cadolah have raided the land and tortured the population, most notably the children.

As the Pannonian Croats were amassing forces, so did the Franks led by Cadolah return in 819. But the Frankish forces were soon defeated; and Cadolah himself had to retreat back to his home Furlania, where soon he died of disease.

In July 819 on the Council in Ingelheim Ljudevit's emissaries offered truce conditions, but Emperor Louis refused; demanding more concessions to him. Ljudevit started to gather allies for his plight. His traditional ally was "Prince Borna of Dalmatia" -- originally duke Borna II of the Timočani; but the Frankish ruler had promised Borna that he would make him "Prince of Pannonia" if he helped the Franks to crush Ljudevit's rebellion; so Borna accepted. Ljudevit found assistance among the Karantanian and Carniolan Slavs who, as neighbours of the margravate of Friuli, were jeopardized the same as the Pannonians. The Slavs around the valley of Timok - Timočani also joined him, because they were jeoperdized by the neighbouring Bulgars.

The Franks sent a large army led by the new Margrave of Friuli, Balderic to meet Ljudevit in autumn, the same year while he was conscripting more Carantanian troops along the river of Drava. The Frankish forces had numerical advantage, so they pushed Ljudevit and his men from Carniola across the Drava. Ljudevit had to fall back to central parts of his realm. Balderic didn't push to chase Ljudevit, since he had to pacify the Slovenians. Prince Borna moved with Ljudevit's father-in-law Dragomuž and their forces from the south-west. At the heat of the Battle of Kupa, near the river Kupa, the "Guduscans" abandoned Borna and crossed to Ljudevit's side; while Dragomuž was killed. Borna escaped from the battlefield with the help of his bodyguards.

Ljudevit seized the opportunity and breached into Dalmatia in December. His forces raided Dalmatia. Borna was too weak, so the Dalmatian Croats defended themselves through sneaky tactics and used attrition as their best ally to exhaust the Pannonian forces. Harsh winter came to the hill areas, so Ljudevit was forced to return. According to Borna's reports to the Frankish Emperor, Ljudevit suffered heavy casualties: 3,000 soldiers, over 300 horses and lots of food.

The War continues

In January of 820, Borna made an alliance with the Frankish Emperor in Aachen. The plan was to crush Ljudevit's realm with a joint-attack from three sides. As soon as the winter retreated, massive Frankish armies were being amassed in Italia, East Francia, Bavaria, Saxony and Alemannia that were going to simultaneously invade Ljudevit's lands in the spring. The northern Frankish group moved from Bavaria across Pannonia to make an invasion across the river of Drava. Ljudevit's forces successfully stopped this Army at the river. The southern group moved across the Noric Alps, using the road from Aquileia to Ljubljana. Ljudevit was successful again, as he stopped them before crossing the Alps. The central group moved from Tyrol to Carniola. Ljudevit attempted to halt its advance three times, but every single time would the Franks win, using numerical advantage. When this Army reached the Drava, Ljudevit had to fall back to the heart of his realm.

The Franks have opened ways for the southern and northern Armies, so they launched a total invasion. Ljudevit concluded that all resistance would be futile, so he retreated to a stronghold that he built on top of hill that was heavily fortified; while his people took shelter in local forest and swamps. Ljudevit did not negotiate with the Franks. The Franks eventually retreated from his lands, with their ranks thinned by disease which the northern forces caught in the marshes of Drava. The Slovenes from Carantania and Carniola recognized the Friulian margrave Balderic as their ruler, while some remained loyal to Ljudevit. Prince Borna died in 821, and was succeeded by Ljudevit's nephew, Vladislav. Emperor Louis recognized as "Prince of Dalmatia and Liburnia" in February 821 on the Council of Aachen.

The Emperor discussed again about war plans against Ljudevit on that Council. The Franks decided to repeat the progress, and push towards Ljudevit from three sides again. Ljudevit saw that it was obvious that he couldn't fight the Franks on open field, so he began to consctruct massive fortifications. He was helped by the Venetian Patriarch Fortunat who sent him architects and masons from Italy.

During the last and final Frankish invasion of 822, the Patriarch from Grad, Fortunat, who was a supporter of Ljudevit fled to Zadar into exile with the Byzantines.

Flight to the Serbs

According to the Royal Frankish Annals, in 822, Ljudevit went from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs somewhere in western Bosnia who controlled a great part of Dalmatia (Roman province). Historians claim that the place Ljudevit fled to was Srb on the mouth of Una (in Lika, Croatia) but other historians dispute this as unfounded. Another array of historians reject the possibility that Ljudevit went to the Serbs at all - but to the actual city of Srb and the Lord whom he killed was a local nobleman - although this is an ongoing controversy. Ljudevit was welcomed at the local Serbian ruler's court, but he tricked him, killing him and then taking the power for himself. Some believe the Serbian ruler was an ally of the Franks and Ljudevit thought that he was about to betray him. Ljudevit soon sent an envoy to the Frankish court, claiming that he is ready to recognize the Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious as his supreme ruler.

Ljudevit's reign was not very well accepted amongst the Serbs, so he fled to Borna's uncle, Ljudemisl of Dalmatia. Ljudemisl had Ljudevit killed in 823.

See also

* History of Croatia
* History of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* History of Serbia
* List of rulers of Croatia
* List of Serbian rulers
* List of rulers of Bosnia
* List of Croatians
* Royal Frankish Annals "of the Frankish historian Einhard"

References

* "Annales Regni Francorum, Frankish historian Einhard, 8th-9th century"
* "De Administrando Imperio, Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porfyrogenitus, 950"
* [http://www.fictionbook.ru/author/unknown/annales_regni_francorum/unknown_annales_regni_francorum.html Einhardt: Annales Regni Francorum - in Latin]
* Ivan Mužić, „Hrvatska povijest devetoga stoljeća“, (Povjesnice Hrvata 3), Split 2007