Pacta conventa (Croatia) in the context of "Coloman of Hungary"

Coloman the Learned, also the Book-Lover or the Bookish (Hungarian: Könyves Kálmán; Croatian: Koloman; Slovak: Koloman Učený; c. 1070 – 3 February 1116), was King of Hungary from 1095 and King of Croatia from 1097 until his death. Because Coloman and his younger brother Álmos were underage when their father Géza I died, their uncle Ladislaus I ascended the throne in 1077. Ladislaus prepared Coloman—who was "half-blind and humpbacked", according to late medieval Hungarian chronicles—for a church career, and Coloman was eventually appointed bishop of Eger or Várad (Oradea, Romania) in the early 1090s. The dying King Ladislaus preferred Álmos to Coloman when nominating his heir in early 1095. Coloman fled from Hungary but returned around 19 July 1095 when his uncle died. He was crowned in early 1096; the circumstances of his accession to the throne are unknown. He granted the Hungarian Duchy—one-third of the Kingdom of Hungary—to Álmos.

In the year of Coloman's coronation, at least five large groups of crusaders arrived in Hungary on their way to the Holy Land. He annihilated the bands who were entering his kingdom unauthorized or pillaging the countryside, but the main crusader army crossed Hungary without incident. He invaded Croatia in 1097, defeating its last native king Petar Snačić. Consequently, he was crowned king of Croatia in 1102. According to the late 14th-century Pacta conventa (the authenticity of which is not universally accepted by scholars), he was only crowned after having ratified a treaty with the leaders of the Croatian nobility. For centuries thereafter, the Hungarian monarchs were also the kings of Croatia.

The twelve noble tribes of Croatia (Latin: nobiles duodecim generationum regni Croatie), also known as twelve noble families of Croatia, was a medieval institution of nobility, alliance, or narrow noble community in the Kingdom of Croatia, which can be traced back at least to the 14th century, while the first mention of the institution was in the Pacta conventa document, which is supposedly a later copy of the original from 1102. Regardless of possible earlier references, the first verifiable mention dates from 1350, while the last from 1459. It is considered that by socio-economic power it was composed of lower and middle nobility, which had a privilege of retain and use of heirdom, tax exemption, and limited military obligations to the king. The twelve tribes are Čudomirić, Gusić, Kačić, Kukar, Jamomet, Lasničić, Lapčan and Karinjan, Mogorović, Poletčić, Snačić, Šubić, and Tugomirić.

Petar, commonly called Petar Svačić or Petar Snačić, was a feudal lord, notable for being one of the claimants of the Croatian throne between c. 1093 and 1097. He came to power in turbulent times after the death of the last Trpimirović, Stephen II. It is assumed that he began as a ban serving under the king Demetrius Zvonimir of Croatia and later (self-)proclaimed as a new king, contesting Ladislaus I of Hungary claim to the throne. Petar's seat of power was in Knin. His rule was marked by a struggle for control of the country with Coloman of Hungary, dying at the Battle of Gvozd Mountain in 1097. Following his death, after Coloman's coronation in Croatia and signing of Pacta conventa (1102), the Árpád dynasty officially ruled over the whole Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia.