Do the Walls of Ozalj Hide the Trpimirović Crown?

Croatia’s lost medieval royal crown remains one of the country’s enduring historical mysteries. Historians know that the last ruler crowned with a Croatian crown was Ladislaus of Naples, but they do not know how or where the crown disappeared.

Two surviving depictions provide clues to its appearance. A relief in the Split baptistery shows a king wearing a cloak and holding an orb in his left hand and a cross in his right. Another image of a king, discovered by archaeologist Bjelovučić in the church of St. Michael in Ston, shows a similar crown.

The crown resembles a Frankish design with three crosses, one in the center and two at the sides. It also appears to carry five precious stones. Yet it is uncertain which rulers the images represent, or whether they depict a king at all rather than Jesus Christ. Tomislav, however, is reliably recorded as having been crowned in 925 and as having been a powerful ruler.

The Trpimirović royal insignia were kept until Dmitar Zvonimir’s coronation at the monastery of St. Gregory in Vrana. Zvonimir was crowned in Solin on October 8, 1076, after the legitimate heir, Duke Stjepan, had been confined to the monastery of St. Stephen under the Pines in Split. The account notes that political violence against rivals was common in the medieval period.

Zvonimir relied on Pope Gregory VII rather than the Byzantine emperor. Papal legates Gebizo and Fulco brought the crown, scepter, sword and papal banner for the ceremony. Zvonimir then granted the pope the monastery at Vrana, where records mention “two golden crowns set with precious stones.” He did not choose to wear the Trpimirović crown.

One crown has been speculatively linked to Tomislav and the other to Stephen Držislav, who received his crown from Byzantium. The monastery also held two crosses, two chalices, plates and a silver-lettered Gospel book. The mystery of the crowns’ later fate remains unresolved.