White Croatia
The Roman Empire was divided in 395. Arcadia retained civic life under the Roman Empire; it was sacked in 395 by the Goths. In 148 BC the Romans formally incorporated Thessaly into the province of Macedonia.
Later the Croats entered the Western Roman Empire. The historical border between the Eastern and Western Roman Empire was the River Drina. It flows between present Serbia and Bosnia, and in the past it divided in political and cultural sense, two very different civilizations, which had been separated until the penetration of the Turks in the 16th century. Later in 1054 this division also defined the border of the two Churches, one under Byzantium (Constantinople) and the other under Rome. Let us mention that Montenegro and Albania belonged to the Western Church. In 1184 the Serbian Orthodox Church penetrated by military expansion to Montenegro. Until that time the territory of Montenegro was a part of Red Croatia. Serbia, and later Montenegro, developed on the heritage of the Eastern Roman Empire (or Byzantine Empire).
The Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610-641) asked the Croats from White Croatia for help in protecting his Empire from the penetration of the Avars. As written by Byzantine Emperor Constantin Porphyrogenetus from the middle of the 10th century, a part of the White Croats, led by two sisters Buga and Tuga, and five brothers Kluk, Lobel, Muhlo, Kosjenc, Horvat, moved to the territories of present-day Croatia. This happened in the 7th century. There they came in touch with the Romans and romanized descendants of Illyrians, Celts and others. Soon after their arrival in the 7th century they were baptised and so accepted Christianity. The Croats were the first among the Slavs who converted to Christianity. According to Byzantine ruler Constantin Porphyrogenetus, the Croats made an agreement with the Pope Agaton as early as in 679, in which they obliged themselves not to undertake any offensive wars against neighbouring Christian states. This was the first international diplomatic agreement of the Croats with the Holy See. The importance of this event has been pointed out by the Pope John Paul II in his speech held in the Croatian language during his apostolic visit to Croatia in Zagreb in September 1994. The Pope also stressed the importance of more than 13 centuries of Christianity among the Croats.
From Old Norwegian, Viking travel writers Sigurd, Ohtere, and Wulfstan from the 8th century mention the Kingdom of Krowataland on the territory of today's Ukraine. It has been investigated by a Czech historian and writer Karel Krocha. A very old mention of the name of HORITS, the ancient name of the Croats (Horvat), can be found in the Latin work ``Historia adversus'' Pagano by Paulus Orosius (9th century). Its translation into Old English has been made by King Alfred (871-901). As is well known, many important monuments of pre-Romanesque Croatian art have been found in the region of Knin which used to be the residence of Croatian Kings (11th century). Here are two examples, both from the 9th century. The earliest known Croatian duke was Borna, who ruled from around 812 to 821. Duke Trpimir ruled from 845 to 864. In 852 he issued the oldest known governmental document in the Latin script, where the Croatian name was mentioned (dux Chroatorum). The fact that his name is recorded in the Cedad Gospels (from today's Italian city Cividale) shows the cultural level of his state. The most famous Benedictine monk Gottschalk found refuge at the Croatian court from 846 to 848.
Trpimir invited the Benedictines, known as great promoters of education and economy. One of the earliest Benedictine monasteries was built in 852 near Split. In the 11th century Croatian Benedictines had more than 40 monasteries, mostly along the Adriatic coast. They contributed a great deal to the cultural and material development of the Croats. On the photo you can see a choir screen panel from Split, containing pentagram and nice interlace patterns, 11th century. Besides the name of Trpimir also the names of some other Croatian dukes can be seen in Cedad Gospels: Branimir, Braslav, their wifes, and escort. In 871 the King of Italy Ludovic II and Byzantine Emperor Basil I defeated the Arabs in the city of Bari (Italy). Croatian soldiers also participated in the battle, arriving to Bari on Dubrovnik ships.