Ut primatum habeant: the early medieval church in Dalmatia and the Aquileian strategy

In the ninth century, the church of Rome, having lost power in the Balkans in the iconoclastic period, struggled to maintain control over the eastern Adriatic coast, which was divided between the Byzantine and Frankish empires. The Dalmatian church hierarchy strived to preserve the integrity of their province under the authority of the archbishop of Spalatum, but was challenged by the bishop of Nona from the Slavic Duchy of the Croats, who claimed the metropolitan status for himself. Their conflict was resolved at the Councils of Spalatum in 925 and 928. The article re-examines the ninth- and tenth-century context for the councils, and suggests parallels between the Dalmatian case and the earlier debate between Cividale and Grado over metropolitan authority in the province of Aquileia. It demonstrates that the Dalmatian church may have followed an Aquileian precedent.