Stjepan II of Croatia

Stjepan II (died in 1091), the last member of the Trpimirović dynasty and last native Croatian king to rule the entire Medieval Croatian Kingdom.

He was due to succeed Petar Krešimir IV, but was sidelined by the people and clergy in 1075 who instead bestowed the title of king to Dmitar Zvonimir, previously a ban in Slavonia. Dmitar Zvonimir was a member of the junior Trpimirović branch the Svetoslavić's (descendants of Svetoslav Suronja). By the time Dmitar Zvonimir died in 1089, Stjepan was old and seriously affected by ill health. Nevertheless, he assumed the throne after being persuaded by the aristocracy and clergy.

Stjepan's rule was relatively ineffectual and lasted less than two years. He spent most of this time in the tranquillity of the monastery of Sv. Stjepan pod Borovima (St. Stephen beneath the Pines) near Split. Zvonimir's widow, Jelena Lijepa, reportedly plotted the inheritance of the Croatian Crown for her brother, King Laszlo I of Hungary. fact|date= November 2007

Stjepan II died peacefully in December 1090, or at the beginning of 1091, without leaving an heir. War and unrest broke out in Croatia shortly afterward.

External links

*http://members.tripod.com/royalcroatia/stjepan2.htm