Dmitar Zvonimir
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Dmitar Zvonimir or Demetrius of the Svetoslavić branch of the House of Trpimirović was a ruler of Slavonia first, then a Ban in service of King Stjepan I and then King of Croatia from 1076 until his death. He was the last native king who exerted power over the entire Croatian state.
During the reign of king Petar Krešimir IV, Zvonimir's relative by Orseolo family, Dmitar Zvonimir ruled, from about 1065, as the ban in northern Croatia between rivers Drava and Sava (today Slavonia). Petar Krešimir IV designated Zvonimir as his heir and successor. At the beginning of 1075, Zvonimir became by the mercy of God Duke of Dalmatian Croatia. He was crowned as King of Croatia on October 9, 1076 at Solin in the Basilica of Saint Peter and Moses, by a representative of Pope Gregory VII. Dmitar Zvonimir was not a member of royal House of Trpimir. He ruled from Knin.
Some Hungarian sources portrait him Svinimir Uroš as a brother of Urso, and son of Urso, who might have been related to King Peter Urseolo. Their descendants bore the title Uroš and became župans, bans and leaders of regions in Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Zvonimir was married to his distant relative Jelena Lijepa (the Beautiful), the sister of King Ladislaus I of Hungary. Jelena had excellent family connections, being a daughter of Arpad King Bela I, a grand-daughter of Polish King Mieszko II Lambert himself the uncle of Canute the Great King of Danes and England, a great-grand-daughter of Csar Samuil and the aunt to Ladislaus' daughter Piroska, christened Irene, the mother of future Byzantine Emperor Manuel I and the wife of Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos, brother of the historian Anna Comnena.
During Zvonimir's rule, slavery was abolished in the kingdom. He was also an ally of Normans in wars against Byzantine Empire. Dmitar Zvonimir died with no heir (his son Radovan died earlier, his daughter Claudia being married to Vojvoda of Lapcani Lika who was not eligible as a successor) to succeeded him on the throne. Zvonimir's brother-in-law Ladislaus I became, after the death of Stjepan II in 1091 and last member of Trpimirović dynasty, the strongest candidate for the throne of Croatia, through his sister Jelena, Zvonimir's widow.
Dmitar Zvonimir probably died of natural causes. By one account, probably legend, he was killed in a rebellion against him, that broke out at the sabor of Kosovo Polje near Knin in 1089. By this source, rebellion broke out because of discontent of nobles and essentailly pagan Slavic population against Zvonimir's policies, that were mostly dictates by the Pope.
The culturally and historically significant Baška tablet was inscribed shortly after his death and contains references to him and a number of his nobles of XI century.
| Preceded by: ???? | Ban of Slavonia 1065–???? | Succeeded by: none |
| Preceded by: ???? | Ban of Croatia 1069–1075 | Succeeded by: ???? |
| Preceded by: Petar Krešimir IV | Duke of Dalmatian Croatia 1075–1076 | Succeeded by: Dmitar Zvonimir |
| Preceded by: Petar Krešimir IV | King of Croatia 1076–1089 | Succeeded by: Stjepan II |
