Lika region, where the Guduscans may have lived
The
Guduscani
or
Goduscani
(
Croatian
:
Gudu??ani, Ga?ani
) were a tribe whose location and origin on the territory of early medieval Croatia remains a matter of dispute. According to different hypotheses, they were a tribe or clan of Croat, Slavic, Avaric or Gothic origin that was located around present-day
Gacka
(
Lika
), between upper
Kupa River
and the
Dalmatian
coast, or that were inhabitants around the river Gudu?a near the
Bribir
region.
Etymology
[
edit
]
They are mentioned three times in the
Frankish Annals
(
Guduscani
,
Guduscanorum
,
Guduscanis
) and twice in
Vita Hludovici
(
Goduscanorum
).
Petar Skok
and
Radoslav Kati?i?
derived their ethnonym from Proto-Slavic
*gъd-
, similar to Proto-Prussian
gude
in the meaning of "forest". Skok, and
Petar ?imunovi?
, also derived it from Proto-Slavic
*gadъ
(
<gu-odh-/*guedh-
), "snake", or
*gatъ
, "gap, depth, dam".
Constantine VII
(905?959) mentioned in his work
De Administrando Imperio
a
?upanija
in Croatia in the 10th century called "G?tz?k?", which is translated as
Gacka
. Some tried to connect Gacka as an
ethnonym
of the Guduscans, but it is not certain that Gacka got its name from the tribe.
The hypothetical derivation from the toponym of Roman city of
Guduscum
(
Ku?evo
in Serbia) is rejected by now because such a toponym never existed.
The theory relating their name to the name of
Goths
is problematic because the suffix indicates that the ethnonym originates from name of a place and not people.
History
[
edit
]
In the
Frankish Annals
, the Guduscani are mentioned as allies to the Carolingians, and the
Duke
Borna
is mentioned as
"dux Dalmaciae", "dux
Dalmatiae et Liburniae
"
and
"dux Guduscanorum"
.
[6]
However, there exist different semantic readings of the source, some saying that Borna was the duke of Guduscani, of Guduscani and
Timo?ani
or a separate duke from both of them.
[8]
Borna seemingly was the first titled duke, i.e. prince (dux) of Guduscani, which indicates that the Guduscans initially could have been the temporary basis of Borna's authority and could have occupied a much larger territory from
Bribir
(river Gudu?a, a confluence of
Krka river
) in
Dalmatia
to
Gacka
in
Lika
,
south of
Lower Pannonia
.
[6]
The old consideration that the Guduscani originated from the territory of
Moesia
(present-day
Serbia
) and that together with the Timo?ani became allies of the Franks is disputable due to lack of evidence and arguments.
In 818 they were part of an envoy of
Borna
sent with the other South Slavic tribes (
nationes
) of Timo?ani and
Praedenecenti
(possibly an off-shot of
Abodrites
) to the court of
Louis the Pious
in
Herstal
.
[12]
Some scholars also related them to the Khash?n?n (possibly
Kashubians
) mentioned by
Al-Masudi
.
[13]
In 819 alongside Borna fought against
Ljudevit
, the Duke of the
Slavs in Lower Pannonia
. They were part of the army of Borna against Ljudevit at the
Battle of Kupa
(819) but deserted before the battle.
[6]
[12]
Borna conquered their lands again upon returning from the battle.
[6]
[12]
Identity
[
edit
]
Seemingly only after the fall of Guduscani, and during the time of
Mislav
or
Trpimir
, was imposed a dynasty with undisputed Croatian identity which legitimized and spread it further.
Depending on the interpretation of the Byzantine and Frankish sources, some historians consider them to be a tribe separate from the Croats and that the emergence of the Croatian political identity and power is not related to the region of Lika yet of Northern Dalmatia.
Some argue that Borna possibly was their gentile chieftain and they represented only one small tribe among others in medieval Croatia.
However, Borna most probably was not a member of the Guduscani because they later deserted him and got reconquered. The events and their behavior indicates that Guduscani were a separate identity and group from the Croats in Dalmatia, possibly related to the account of
Avars
living in Croatia from
De Administrando Imperio
and that were more similar or shared more history with Pannonian Slavs than Croats.
The view that the Guduscani were Gothic remnants is not widely accepted, as the
state of the Goths
was in Italy and it ceased to exist in the mid-6th century, while their presence in the former
Roman province of Dalmatia
and
Liburnia
was not dominant, however, there were
Valagoths
as well in the region.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
?o?kovi?, Pejo (1998),
"Ga?ani"
,
Croatian Biographical Lexicon
(HBL)
(in Croatian),
Miroslav Krle?a Lexicographical Institute
- ^
D?ino, Danijel (2020).
From Justinian to Branimir: The Making of the Middle Ages in Dalmatia
. Routledge. p. 173.
ISBN
9781000206852
.
Whether Borna was primarily the leader of a group called the Guduscani remains disputed. The passage from the ARF mentioning the meeting at the imperial court in 818 can be read in two different ways: that Borna was dux of the Guduscani or that he was dux Dalmatiae, attending the meeting at the imperial court together with the deputies of the Guduscani and the Timocani who had recently defected from the Bulgars to the Franks. The Vita Hludowici reproduces the same information but only mentions the deputies of the Guduscani and Timocani without naming Borna.
- ^
a
b
c
"Ga?ani"
,
Croatian Encyclopaedia
, 2020
, retrieved
28 December
2020
- ^
Fa?l?n, A?mad Ibn
(2012).
Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness: Arab Travellers in the Far North
. Translated by Lunde, Paul; Stone, Caroline. Penguin. pp. 128, 200.
ISBN
978-0-14-045507-6
.
Sources
[
edit
]
|
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East Slavs
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West Slavs
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South Slavs
| |
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- Notes
(ethnicity is undefined):
1
= supposedly Eastern Slavic tribes
- 2
= supposedly
Finno-Ugric
tribes
- 3
= some of the Silesian tribes are Germanic, for example
Silings
- 5
= generally considered synonym for early medieval Slovaks
|