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The Article analyses the concept of the society of Split under Historia Salonitana
of Thomas Archdeacon. By the expression clerus et populus Thomas denotes the entirety of the population of Split considering both components - population liable to ecclesiastical jurisdiction and population under secular authorities, applying the quoted term in the segments of chronicle where the municipal community functions in a unique manner towards the notables who arrive in communal
area. Describing the class society of Split, Thomas differentiates the nobility (nobiles) from the commoners (populares). According to their involvement in communal development noblemen are the most respectable category of the society although their class status, in the time of Thomas, was not yet determined under legal
principles. Nevertheless, in those segments of Historia Salonitana where the secular component of the society of Split does jeopardize the rights of the Church, Thomas replaces the term populus with the expression layci (laity, laymen), regularly with negative characteristics. The activities of Thomas Archd. upon his arrival in Split after his studies in Bologna, (ca. 1225) are characterized by two ideological demands: the self-rule and independence of the Church ref. all secular authorities and the autonomy of the commune referring the pattern of the internal
organization. That was the reason why Thomas became the opposer to the outer feudalists and the promoter of so called Latin style of government/administration (regimen Latinorum) established in Split (as a result of his support) upon the arrival of the potestat Garganus from Ancona (1239). The autonomy of the municipal entity ref. every extracommunal authorities provoked the resentment of Hungaro-Croatian King Bela IV. towards Split and the king imposed Hugrin from the city of Split (both) as the archbishop and the prince-governor (1244). The arrival of Hugrin has implied the break-up of Thomas' idea of double autonomy: the prerogative of the Church ref. the institute of archbishop and the right of the municipal community ref. designation of the
principal.
Key words: Thomas Archdeacon, Historia Salonitana (the History of Salona), clerus et populus, the Church of Split, communal government/administration, Arpad dynasty.
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