Svetoslav Suronja

Svetoslav Suronja was a King of Croatia in 997-1000. He was a member of Trpimirović dynasty. He reigned with the help of his Ban, Varda.

He was the oldest son of king Stjepan Držislav. His father had given him the title of "Duke" and designated Svetoslav as his successor. After his brothers, Krešimir and Gojslav, had received news that Suronja had become king, they started organising a rebellion. The brothers had asked Bulgarian emperor Samuil for aid, even though the emperor was at war with the Byzantine Empire. In the war, the Byzantines were supported by Venice and Svetoslav Suronja, who had continued his father's policy. Samuil had accepted the revolters' invitation and attacked Croatia in 998, which started the last of three Croatian-Bulgarian wars. In his rampage, he took all of Croatian Dalmatia up to Zadar after which he ended his rampage, returning home to Bulgaria through Bosnia. [Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja] . Samuil gave all the territory he took to the revolters Krešimir and Gojslav. Using this newly-gained territory and further Bulgarian aid, the brothers overthrew their elder brother, Svetoslav Suronja, and became rulers of Croatia.

Using events like the casus belli, the Venetian Doge and Byzantine ally Pietro II Orseolo launched a campaign in Dalmatia against Croatia in 1000. In its conquist, he was either accepted or forcefully conquered Kvarner and Zadar, then Trogir and Split; then finally Korčula and Lastovo. Soon even the Croatian capital, Biograd, surrendered.

In Trogir under Venetian control, there was a meeting between Doge Pietro Orseolo II and Svetoslav Suronja. Suronja's heir, Stjepan Svetoslavić, was to marry the Doge's daughter, Joscella (Hicela) Orseolo, as part of the agreement made at their meeting.

After the coup d'état in Venice, Svetoslav Suronja and his family went to Hungary in exile and died. When in 1020, king Krešimir killed his brother Gojslav, the Pope's investigation [...audivit de Cressimiro Chroatorum principe quod dolo necari fecisset Goislavum fratrem suum misso apocrisario Mainardo...] of the murder turned Croatia into an anarchy, which was used by Svetoslav Suronja's son, Stjepan, who made a conquest in Croatian Slavonia with Hungarian against the fratricide king. He later received the title Ban of Slavonia. His descendant, Dmitar Zvonimir, will later become the Croatian king in 1074.

Footnotes

See also

*Croato-Bulgarian Wars
* Trpimirović dynasty
* History of Croatia

Sources

* "Intervju - ДИНАСТИЈЕ и владари јужнословенских народа". Special Edition 12, 16 June 1989.