Ban of Croatia

Ban of Croatia
The heraldic standard of the Croatian ban in the 19th century
Reports to	King of Croatia Croatian Parliament
Seat	Banski dvori, Zagreb, Croatia
Inaugural holder	Pribina
Formation	10th century

Ban of Croatia (Croatian: Hrvatski ban; Hungarian: horvát bán) was the title of local rulers or office holders and after 1102 viceroys of Croatia. From earliest periods of Croatian state, some provinces were ruled by Bans as a rulers representative (viceroy) and supreme military commander. In the 18th century, Croatian bans eventually become chief government officials in Croatia. They were at the head of Ban's Government, effectively the first prime ministers of Croatia. The institution of ban in Croatia persisted until the 20th century.

South Slavic ban (Croatian pronunciation: [bâːn], with a long [a]). The long form is directly attested in 10th-century Constantine Porphyrogenitus' book De Administrando Imperio as βο(ε)άνος, in a chapter dedicated to Croats and the organisation of their state, describing how their ban "has under his rule Krbava, Lika and Gacka".

References from the earliest periods are scarce, but history recalls that the first known Croatian ban is Pribina in the 10th century (in 949 and in 969). Ban on his territory was pursuing administrative, judicial and military authority.

The meaning of the title was elevated to that of provincial governor in the Kingdom of Croatia (for example, King Dmitar Zvonimir was originally a ban in 1065 serving under King Peter Krešimir IV).

He eventually attained an imperial title of protospatharios somewhere between 1035 and 1042, which governed his influence over the Byzantine Dalmatian thema.