Pacta conventa (Croatia)

Pacta conventa
Photo of an alleged copy of Pacta conventa or Qualiter
Created	1102; 14th century (manuscript)
Location	Budapest
Purpose	Agreement concluded between King Coloman of Hungary and the Croatian nobility

Pacta conventa (Lat. agreed accords) was an alleged agreement concluded between King Coloman of Hungary and the Croatian nobility in 1102 or afterwards, defining the status of Croatia in the union with Hungary. The earliest manuscript of the document is of the fourteenth century.

The document titled Pacta conventa or Qualiter (the first word in the document) was found in a Trogir library. Until the 19th century it was considered that it dated to 1102. However, most historians today hold that it is not an authentic document from 1102 and likely a forgery from the 14th century, but that the contents of the Pacta Conventa still correspond to the political situation of that time in Croatia. The document is preserved in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest.

After Petar Svačić, the last Croatian king of Croat descent, was killed on the battlefield in 1097, the Croats had refused to surrender. To end the war, an agreement was made, probably in 1102. The Croatian nobles allegedly concluded the Pacta conventa with King Coloman before his crowning as the Croatian king in Biograd.

The Hungarian king offered "an agreement as pleases them" to the twelve noble Croatian tribes from the families of Kačić, Kukar, Šubić, Snačić, Polečić, Mogorović, Gušić, Čudomerić, Karinjanin and Lapčan, Lisničić, Jamometić and Tugomerić.

The agreement determined that the Croatian nobles who signed the document with King Coloman would retain their possessions and properties without interference. It also granted the mentioned families exemption from tax or tributes to the king. Each of the twelve noble Croatian tribes were obliged to answer the king's call if someone attacked his borders and send at least ten armed horsemen to war, as far as the Drava River (Croatia's northern boundary with Hungary) at their own expense. Beyond that point, the Hungarian king paid the expenses.