Ljudevit Posavski (
Trans-Savian) was the Slavic
Duke of
Lower Pannonia 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. 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 original ally
was
Duke Borna of Dalmatia (Dux
Dalmatiae et Liburniae) - the leader of the
Guduscani (Gačani), 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, duke
Baldric of Friuli 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
Karantanians. Duke 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, his own Guduscani 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 at 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
Venetia 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 . Some Croatian
historians (f.e.
Nada Klaić)
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
References
- Royal Frankish Annales Annales Regni Francorum ed. G. H.
Pertz. Monumenta Germanicae Historica, Scriptores rerum
Germanicarum 6, (Hannover 1895) for the years 819-822.
- Life of the Emperor Louis (Vita
Hludowici), ed. E. Tremp. Monumenta Germaniae Historica:
Scriptores rerum Germanicarum 64 (Hannover 1995) chapters
31-35.
- Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio
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