Dalmatia (theme)

The theme of Dalmatia (Greek θέμα Δαλματίας / Δελματίας, theme Dalmatias / Delmatias ) was a Byzantine theme on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea in Southeast Europe, whose capital was Zadar.

History

Dalmatia was the first time in the 530ern under Byzantine control, as the generals of Justinian I (reigned 527-565), it conquered by the Ostrogoths in the Gothic war. The invasions of the Avars and Slavs in the 7th century destroyed the ancient Roman cities and devastated the province, so that the Eastern Roman control was limited to a few coastal areas and islands. The city of Zara (Zadar) was administered at this time to a bishopric and was one of Archon.

At the beginning of the 9th century Dalmatia was conquered by Charlemagne ( reigned 768-814 ), he gave the area but 812 the Byzantines after the so-called " Pax Nicephori " back. After that the towns of Dalmatia but actually seem to have been independent of Byzantium. Nevertheless, an archon of Dalmatia is mentioned 842/843 in Taktikon Uspensky, and a seal of a " strategos of Dalmatia ", which is dated to the first half of the 9th century, could indicate a short-lived theme of Dalmatia. The actual establishment of Dalmatia as a theme but the reign of Basil attributed I. (reigned 867-886 ) to the campaigns of Nicetas Oryphas.

In the late 10th and early 11th century, the Byzantine rule over Dalmatia by Venice, which challenged Croatia, Serbia and the Kingdom of Hungary. With the exception of Dubrovnik and the southern third of Dalmatia Byzantium lost control of the issue in the 1060ern. However, it was restored by Emperor Manuel I Comnenus (reigned 1143-1180 ), but disappeared after his death again and was replaced by Venetian rule.