Stepan I ( Horv. Stjepan ) - King of Croatia from the Trpimirovich dynasty, who ruled in 1030 - 1058 .
| Stepan I | |||||||
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| Stjepan | |||||||
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| Predecessor | Kreshimir III | ||||||
| Successor | Petar Kreshimir IV | ||||||
| Birth | is unknown | ||||||
| Death | |||||||
| Kind | Trpimirovichi | ||||||
| Father | Kreshimir III | ||||||
| Children | Petar Kreshimir | ||||||
Stepan was the son and heir of King Kreshimir , by whose name the branch of the Trpimirovich dynasty, starting with Stepan, is commonly called Kreshimirovich. After the death of his father, Stepan became the Croatian king, however, significant regions of the country were not under his control. The most developed part of the country, the Dalmatian coast, was formally under the rule of Byzantium , and the king of Croatia ruled them de jure as governor, but the largest cities of the coast were de facto independent. Slavonia also belonged to Croatia only legally, in fact, the banana of Slavonia, belonging to the branch of Trpimirovich, Svetoslavich, ruled it as an independent power.
Under these conditions, the king saw his main goal as regaining full control over Dalmatia. To this end, he tried in every possible way to strengthen the alliance with Byzantium , hoping with his help to weaken the influence of Venice in Dalmatia, which was not going to abandon its claims on the Croatian Adriatic coast. Stepan paid great attention to restoring the power of the Croatian army and navy, in 1032 he sent part of his fleet to help Byzantium in the war against the Arabs.
Successfully developed and trade. During the reign of Stepan, the cities of continental Croatia began to develop rapidly, before that they were much inferior in development to seaports. Around the fortress Knin located in a strategically important place, a city grew up in which the diocese was established in 1040 , and after the residence of the Croatian archbishop moved to Knin from Split, it became the religious center of the country.
Stepan I had two sons - the eldest, Petar Kresimir , inherited Stepan I after his death in 1058 ; the second name is unknown, his son under the name Stepan II became the last king of Croatia from the Trpimirovich dynasty (1089-1091).