Branimir inscription

Description

The inscribed beam and gable fragments contain a Latin language reference to Branimir as BRANIMIRO COM[ES]… DVX CRVATORṼ COGIT[AVIT]… ("the count Branimir… considered duke of the Croats…"). The first two words are inscribed on the 67 by beam fragment, and the rest on the 74 to wide and 65 cm tall gable fragment. Both of the fragments have matching ornamentation along the top edge, with a cross executed in Croatian interlace on the gable and a pair of birds, one to either side of the cross. The fragments were originally parts of a templon in a church completed in the 9th century and consecrated to Saint Jerome. The church was built by Branimir, who reigned in 879–892. The inscription is kept in Museum of Croatian Archaeological Monuments in Split.

The inscription is significant for the history of Croatia as it represents one of the oldest surviving references to a Croatian ruler, but also the earliest fully recorded use of the particular name for Croats. There are seven other preserved stone inscriptions mentioning Branimir, found in Nin, Ždrapanj near Skradin, Otres near Bribir, in Muć Gornji near Split, Lepuri near Benkovac among others. The one found in Muć contains the consecration year, dating the inscription to year 888.

The oldest epigraphic inscription of a Croatian ruler are most probably those of Mislav of Croatia. A possibly older references to a Croatian ethnonym have been confirmed in a church inscription found in Bijaći near Trogir dated to the end of the 8th or early 9th century; and a charter of duke Trpimir I of Croatia from the year 852, however, its original is lost, and analyses of its 1568 copy indicate it might not indeed be older than the Branimir inscription.

References

References

1. "Natpis kneza Branimira". Benkovac Tourist Board.
2. Ivan Mužić. (2007). "Hrvatska povijest devetoga stoljeća". Naklada Bošković.
3. (2018). "Tri nova posvetna natpisa s imenima hrvatskih vladara iz karolinškog perioda". Starohrvatska Prosvjeta.
4. (2023). "Nova epigrafska potvrda imena kneza Branimira u Lepurima kod Benkovca". Radovi Zavoda za hrvatsku povijest Filozofskoga fakulteta Sveučilišta u Zagrebu.
5. Supičić, Ivan. (1999). "Croatia in The Early Middle Ages: a Cultural Survey". Philip Wilson.
6. Florin Curta. (2006). "Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250". [[Cambridge University Press]].
7. Ivan Botica. (November 2006). "Recenzija, Prikaz - Na izvorima hrvatskoga zapadnoeuropskog identiteta, Mirjana Matijević Sokol - Vladimir Sokol (2005)". [[University of Zagreb]], Faculty of Philosophy.
8. (28 April 2005). "Kulturna kronika: Dvanaest hrvatskih stoljeća". [[Matica hrvatska]].
9. Ivan Mužić. (2007). "Hrvatska povijest devetoga stoljeća". Naklada Bošković.