s. After the recovery of Italy by Belisarius and
Narses it belonged to Byzantium from 537, and was ruled from Ravenna by
a _catapan_ at Salona. The war with Chosroes in 600-614 strained the
Byzantine resources and thus denuded the coast of soldiers, so that the
Avar and Slav inroads met with little resistance under Heraclius
(610-640), who had called in the latter to drive out the Avars; Narona,
Salona, Epidaurus, Burnum, and Rhizinium were destroyed. In 641 Pope
John IV., a Dalmatian by birth, sent Abbot John to Istria and Dalmatia
to ransom prisoners and collect relics.

The Croats and Serbs exterminated the Avars in the middle of the seventh
century and delivered the province, the Croats occupying the west to the
river Cetina, the Serbs the east from the Cetina to Albania. Under the
Serbs the southern portion was divided into four _zupanje_, of which the
only name which has survived is Trebinia, which reached from Cattaro to
Ragusa and included the mountain regions. The Croat dukes recognised the
sovereignty of the Carlovingians, as is proved by the oldest inscription
extant, that of Tripimir (852), being dated by the rule of the Emperor
Lothair. The title of king was assumed by Muncimir in 914. Two or three
of the kings resided at Nona in the eleventh century--Stepan ([symbol:
dagger] 1052), Peter Cresimir and Svinimir ([symbol: dagger] 1089). The
widow of the last invited her brother Ladislas of Hungary to take the
kingdom. In 1097 Coloman I. of Hungary married the daughter of Roger of
Sicily. Under Coloman II. (1102-1113) the coast towns from Zara to
Spalato were Hungarian, while Ragusa and Cattaro remained under the
protection of Byzantium.

The government of the Dalmatian cities was democratic to a considerable
extent, the oligarchy embracing a large proportion of the inhabitants,
and the monasteries were expected to contribute to the common needs and
share in the defence of the town. The supreme official was called prior;
judges and tribunes also are mentioned in contemporary documents. A
certain dependence upon the Greek Empire was recognised, for in Zara the
_strategos_, the _catapan_, and the proconsul of Dalmatia appear even
after the time of the Croatian kings. The Venetian doge had the title of
King of Dalmatia given him by the Emperor of Constantinople about the
end of the eleventh century in return for the help given by the fleet
against the Normans.

During the whole of the twelfth century Venice and