Croatia and
Hungary

The Croats, a people of Slavic also of
Hellenic background, inhabited the land between the Drava and
Sava rivers as well as along the Dalmatian Coast for some
centuries before the Hungarians’ arrival. Christians since the
7th Century AD, they maintained close relations with the Papacy.
United into a kingdom under Tomislav(910-928) who received his
crown from Pope John X in 925.Troubled with internecine conflicts
and marauders, the Tomislav dynasty ended with the death of king
Zvonimir in 1091. A convention of Croatian nobility invited king
László (Ladislaus) of Hungary to accept the Croatian crown and
concluded the Pacta Conventa with him to guarantee
Croatian autonomy in exchange. Bosnia, heretofore a part of
Croatia, demurred. Croatian autonomy henceforth was administered
by the Sabor or parliament. Upon the demise of Hungary’s House of
Árpád, the Croats crowned Charles Robert of Anjou- Naples, who
in 1310 was also crowned king of Hungaryas “Charles I”.

The Ottoman conquests in the 16th and 17th centuries put a
heavy strain on both nations; the ensuing Habsburg rule vacillated
between recognition of Croat and Hungarian autonomies versus
absolutism and gave rise to separatist movements. The 1848
revolution in Hungary created a new dilemma. The official language
in the Habsburg empire had been Latin. Universal, but
uncomfortable for all. As the Habsburgs wished to make a change to
German, most nationalities objected. While the Croats- as the
Romanians,Slovaks, etc.- welcomed the liberation of the serfs,
the”language problem'” persisted. The Hungarian revolt
demanded use of Hungarian in all lands under the Crown of Hungary,
at first not acceding to the demands of Croats (et al)to use
their own idiom in communities. In Croatia this strengthened the
hands of the “Illyrian” movement (for a separate
Croatia) and gave some credence to the Panslav blandishments out
of Russia and Serbia. The Vienna administration proceeded to
exploit these divisions to weaken Hungary’s ambitions and used
Jelaçiç as a tool. While in August the Hungarian diet approved
Croatian demands for autonomy and language use, the momentum
against Hungary did not stop

Click here to return to Vienna equivocates

Back to Milestones of 1848-49

Source: Andrew Vadász’s Kossuth & 1848-49 Collection.