The Migration
"Though it is difficult for the modern scholars to separate fact from legend it is believed that an ambassador from the Avar Khagan came to a gathering of the White Croat chieftains in late autumn of 623 offering cattle and oat in return for assistance against the Lombards on their western borders. In addition all the land they could seize would be theirs. Though most were distrustful of the Avars against whom they fought less than a generation ago a clan made out of seven noble families decided to answer the call. Led by five brothers Klukas, Lobelos, Kosentzis, Mouchlo and Chrobatos and two sisters Touga and Bouga they crossed the Carpathians in early spring. Passing through the western parts of the Khaganate they raided local Slav communities for what little food had survived the winter causing famine in their wake and sowing the seeds of unrest that would explode later in the year.
On Pentecost 624 the Croat horde supported by auxiliaries from other Slavic tribes crossed the river Isonzo and entered Italy. The next day the Avar Khagan began the siege of Constantinople and their Serb allies broke through the gates of Thessalonica. The fighting between the Croats and the Lombards of northern Italy was fierce but the more numerous and more mobile invaders defeated the Lombards that were caught in a middle of a civil war. King Arioald was slain in the battle of Mantua along with most of northern Lombard nobility and what resistance remained was quickly crushed. In the east the Roman Empire had lost one of its jewels, Constantinople, that was only until a few years earlier the capitol of the Empire. Yet all was not well for the Khaganate for the Khagan had died upon the fall of the great city and his horde broke into factions that completely devastated the city through looting and clashing violently among themselves.
Seizing the opportunity Emperor Heraclius sent an envoy to the marauding Croats in northern Italy hopping to win them over and prevent their penetration further south. The opportunistic horsemen quickly made terms with the Romans. The lands they have taken from the Lombards would be theirs as well as Istria that would be handed to them for safekeeping, in addition a yearly payment of 5 000 solids would be sent by the Romans in return for their “protection” of northern Italy. The pact was sealed with the blood of a new Lombard king Grasulf II that tried to gather a new army in the vicinity of Pavia, where the combined forces of the Croats and the Exarch of Ravenna massacred the opposition, erasing almost all trace of the Lombards north of the Apennines.
While the Croats were cementing their rule over northern Italy, the western marches of the Khaganate went up in flames as the local Slavs rose up in rebellion, led by a certain Samo, determined to throw away the Avar yoke. The Avar retaliation never came as the Khaganate was sundered by a power struggle over the subject who should be the next Khagan and while the Avars fought among themselves their vassals took the road of independence and began to shape their own destiny. The year 625 was even worse for the Avars as their former allies, the Croats attacked, driving them out of the mountainous region that is between Istria and Pannonia.
In the meantime the seven chieftains of the Croats divided the land among themselves with the eldest Chrobatos taking Istria for himself and making the ruined hill fort of Monkodonja the seat of his domain. The rest of the third decade of the 7th century saw continued fighting in Pannonia. Finally in year 630 Chrobatos and Samo jointly attacked the great Avar Hring sacking it. The Croats used the loot to refurbish the Basilica of Euphrasian in Parentium. It is believed that Chrobatos and other Croatian nobles received the Cross at that time. The Khaganate was left in a complete ruin just waiting for someone to blow away what was left. Further south the other former Avar ally, the Serbs settled in Macedonia and Thessaly. Just as the Croats the Romans placated them with lands and gold hoping to buy time to restore their military power and subdue the “barbarians”."
Extract from: “From the Mountains to the Sea” by Fredo Šišić, Institute of History, Trst
Croats arriving at the coast
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