MAJA PETRINEC Muzej hrvatskih arheolokih spomenika Split, Croatial By Their Fruit YouWillRecognizeThem: TheBeginnings OfChristianityAmongThe Croats In The LightOfArchaeologicalEvidence !tthe tum ofthe S!hand the 9!h century, the Croatian territory enters into the Frankish phereof interest.I tistheagethatis marked asthe beginning of the spread of Chris-tianity among the Slavic population through mis-sionariesfrom Aquilea.In terms of archaeology, thisprocessiswelldocumented by severalindi-vidualartifacts such as:the thurible fromthe sur-Fig.l- Thethurible,Vrli-ka,upanijaSplitsko-dal-matinska,Croatia rounding ofVrlika near Sinj(fig.1)that iscompa-rablewiththe cup of theBavarianDuke TasilIo fromtheBenedictine Abbey inKremsmtinster; thestrapenddiscoveredatGornjiVrbljaniin present-day Bosnia(fig.2), carrying aninscrip-tionof votivemeaningandthenameof the Frankish craftsman(Tetgis); and the reliquary of St. Anselmfromthe treasury of the parish church Fig.2- Theend, GornjiVrbljani,BosniaandI Herzegowina l mhas-split.hr 194Maj a Pet rinec Fig.3- Therel iquary ofSt.Anselm,Nin,upanijaZadarska,Croat ia inNin(Fig. 3).Evidenceonmi ssionary work is also doubtlessly providedby titulars of individual pre-Romanesque churchesfromthe 9rh century (St.AnselminNin, St.Martha inB i j a i and the priests'namesthat areinscribedintothechurch furni shing (deaconGhumperrus,abbot Theode-bertus)( HRVATII KAROLI NZI2000). Indi vidualfindsthathavebeendi scovered withinrow cemeteri esdatedfromthe end of the Fig.4- Three-branched t-shapedant lerJecipient, grave161, Nin-Zdrijac, u-panijaZadarska , Croatia srhandthe first half of the ()fhcentury test ifythe beginning ofthespreadof C hri sti anityamong the commonpopulati on. Three-BranchedT-ShapedAntler Recipient Sofar,theth ree-branchedT-shapedantlerre-cipi entshavebeendi scoveredinseveralcases '-l II 195ByTheirFruitYouWill RecognizeThem:TheBeginnings.. . Fig.5- Three-bra nched t -shapedantl errecipient , upanijaSi ben-sko-kni nska,Croatia withinearl ymedi aevalgravesasfo ll ows:in graves161 (fi g4. )and180(fi g. 6)atdrij acin Nin and grave128 at Goricain 1998, s. 97).Particul arl y interesting is the speci-menthat was wrongly ass ignedinearli erlitera-ture tothe site Ivoevci near Knin, but most like-ly ori gi natesfromanearl y medi aeval gravefrom close-by (fi g. 5) . Fig.6- Three-branched t -shapedantlerJecipient, grave180, Nin-Zdrijac, u-panijaZadarska, Croatia T-shapedrecipientsare most numerous wi th-inthefram ework of the Avaro-Slavi c and Slavic cemeteriesinthe region of the Carpathi anBasin, where,uptothepresent, approximately twenty suchobj ectshavebeendi scovered.Theoldest onesare consideredtobeunornamentedspeci-mensfromcemeteri esdatedtothe7th and8th century(Dunapentele, Abony,Kiskbre, AJattyan, 196 Ullo II,Gater,j..1:to a fibula.The gravehasbeen dated to thefirst quarter of the 9th century. Themost significant parallelstothe speci-menfromdrijac canhowever befoundinthe Moravian area. Notabl)l,they are recognizablein 198 onelittlecrossthathasbeen discoveredinthe culturalstratanext tothe so-calledfifthchurch in andina similar,not entirely pre-served, small cross,that isthreaded onto a neck-lace, whichhasbeenfoundinthe child's grave 71ne>..1:totherotunda St.Peter in inthe CzechRepublic(OLLE1980,s.269,figo3,2, s.359, T. II). There, it has been insecondary us-age.Duetothefactthatbothcrossesarealso decorated withhumanmasks,they are associat-ed with the Blatnica style.Human masks appear onthecross-guardof theCarolingiansword, strapfittingsandharnessfittingsfromthe eponymic site Blatnica in Slovakia(BENDA1963, s.201,figo1,s.213,figo16). With regardtothe crossfrom drijac, the cross-shaped strap fitting isparticularly interesting.Its arms are decorated withmirroredplacedhumanfiguresandwith fourrelief-producedmasksintheprotruding central part. They are arranged between the plas-tic-shaped St. Andrew's cross. Reliefillustrations of human masks and ado-rants arefoundat certain locations in southwest-ern Slovakiainthe latehorizon of the cast bronze. Some cemeteries of thishorizondisclosefinds that can be,inthe broader sense, connected to the Blatnica style. A peculiar decorated headgear ofa horse,discoveredin grave10 at the site ZitavsIci Ton, particularly stands out 1956, s.57-58,figo17).It consists of one larger fitting that ismade of six bronze gildedhuman masks, which areinterconnected by the St. An-drew's cross and attached to the frontalstrap, and three smaller fittingsthat consist of three inter-connectedidenticalmasksfromthe headgear's sidestrap.Bronze,sometimesgildedwether-belIs,decoratedwithhumanmasks(itavska Ton,Komarno,NoveZamky),havebeenno-ticedin the same cultural and chronological hori-zon.In the Moravian region, this type ofdecora-tion appears also on some other craftwork objects fromthe late 9th century, such asthe bronze gild-ed spur, whichisdecorated withhumanmasks anddiscoveredintheluxuriantgrave44next totheso-calledsecondchurchin (POULiK1975, T. 34). Inthelight of thegivenfacts,it canbeas-sumed that the crossfrom drijac hasitsorigin inthe cross-shaped fibulaeof the early Carolin-gianage.Its presence on cemeteries, which most-lybelong to the horizon of paga nburial customs, as well asin some other cases when talking about therespectivefibulae,canbelinkedtothebe-MajaPetrinec ginningof Christianization.Suchconclusion complieswithhistoricalinformation;andthe presence of the firstmissionaries in our region at the end of the 8th century isverifiedby several aforementioned significant sacra l artifactsfrom theearlyCarolingianculturalcirclesuchas thurible fromthe source of the Cetina river.The cross fromdrijac however islinked,by there-lief illustrations of adorants andhumanmasks, to certainfindsthat belong tothe Blatnica style, whichischaracteristicfortheareaofthe Carpathian Basin at the end of the wars between theFranks and Avarsandright at the beginning of the 9th century. Bronze Pendant With Depiction Of The Holy Trinity The bronze pendant originates from grave 216 at drijacinNin(fig.8).Itiscast-made,hasan ovalshape and a smallc1aspat the top with a ring throughit.The brimisribbedandhasarelief depiction on both sides that displaysthreeper-sonsholding eachothershands.There areno known analogiesto thispendant.It isassumed, that itillustrates three equally important persons Fig.8 - Thependent withgepiction of theHol-lyTrinity,grave216,Nin-Zdrijac,upanijadarska,Croatia 199ByTheir FruitYouWill RecognizeThem:TheBeginnings ... representingtheHoly Trinity, whichisparti-cularly respectedintheiconography of the West-ern Church inthe early Carolingian age(MILO- V I 2000,s.134).Themostdistinguished scientistsfromthe Benedictine order, such asAI-cuin andGottschaIk, wrotenamely their works by advocating the doctrines on the Holy Trinity, whichhasbeenreligiouslydominatinginthe early 9th century, and sooverwhelming that the Christianfaithevencalleditself fidesSanctae Trinitatis(DELONGA2000,s.241-244).If we accept such aninterpretation of the depiction on the Zdrijac pendant (whichisstrongly convinc-ing with regardtonumerous epigraphic confir-mations onthe worship of theHoly Trinity in theinscriptions on churches' furnishingsinthe areaof the Croatian principality),thenitspres-ence inthe grave with mostly paganburial char-acteristicstestifies the beginning of the spreading of Christianity. Crosses On Slabs OfGrave Architec-ture Finally,I wouldliketostressthepeculiar ap-pearance, which so farhasbeennoticed, within early mediaevalcemeteries, only at severalsites inthenarrower surrounding of the smalltown Sinjinthehinterlandof theDalmatiancoast. Hence,thisshouldbe considered alocalpecu-liarity.The referenceishere to crossesthat are carvedattheheadandbottom slabs of the gra-ves(PETRINEC2002,s.222-223).Therepre-sentedcrosseshere arethe Greek cross,St-An-drew's cross and the Maltese cross, which occur indifferent versions(fig.9-12).Inseveral cases, theGreekcrosshasequilateraltrianglesen-gravedatthetipsor itsarms ending insplitting branches. Incontrast tothe earlier mentioned casesre-garding findsof recipients,locketsand crosses that appear alreadyinthepagancontext, graves withcarvedcrossescanbe chronologically de-terminedtothemid andthe secondhalf of the 9th century. Exactly the period, when the Chri s-tianityprocesshasalreadystartedtoaffectthe broadlayers of the Croatian society and when the Fig.9-12 - Crossesonslabs of gravearchitec-abandonment of paganburialofferings in burial ture,Glavice,upanijaSplitsko-dalmatinska, customsbecame common.Croatia 200MajaPetrinec References J. 1980 MaterijalnakulturaHrvataod7. do9. Zagreb.BENDA K.1963 KarolinsIcislokablatnickehonalezu,Slovenski A rc/teol6gia ,Xl-l,Bratislava, p. 199-222. V. 1956Pohrebiskozneskorej dobyavarskev itavskej Toni na Slovensku,Slovenska A rcheol6gia ,N-l, Bratislava, p. 5-131. . 1998 starohrvatskogroblj e, Rijeka.DELONGA V.2000 Pismenostkarolinkogdoba injeni hrvatskiodjeci- latinska batinau hrvatskim kra-jevima, [in:] Hrvatii karolinzi(Raspravei lIrela),Split,p. 216-249. M .1993 Simbolikaukrasnih motiva na roinama iz grobova nekropole Nin-drijac,Adrias4-5,Split,p.63-74EISNER J. 1952DevfnskaNovaVes, slovanskepohfebite, Bratislava.FRIESINGER H.1975-1977 StudienzurArchaologiederSlawenin Nieder6sterreichII , Mitteihlllgender prallistorischenKom-missionderOsterreichisdlellAkademie derWissenschaften,XVII-XVIII vo!.,Wien.HERMANN J. 1985DieSlawen inDeutschland,Berlin.HRVATI I KAROLINZI2000 Hrvati iKarolinzi (Katalog),Split.KAVANovA B. 1995 Knochen- undGeweihindustriein [in:] StudiaIzumBurgwallvonMikul&e,vo!. l ,Brno. A.2000 Karolinki utjecaji ukneevini Hrvatskoj, [in:]Hrvati i karolir/zi(Raspravei vrela),Split,p. 106-139.MULLER R.1992GraberfeldundSiedlungresteausderKarolingerzeitvonZalaszabar-Deszosziget,DieKarolin-gerzeitim unterenZalatal,An/aeus Comllluni