Rastimir persecutus

The Historical Figure and the Chronology of Pre-Romanesque Stonemason's Workshops in the Eastern Adriatic

Abstract

The paper examines a fragment of a pre-Romanesque altar railing architrave discovered in the Eastern Orthodox Church of St George in Pađene near Knin. The dedicatory inscription bears the anthroponym [R]ASTIMIR PERSEC[vtvs]. This relief, like most pre-Romanesque fragments from Pađene, has been attributed to the so-called Trogir Stonemason's Workshop and broadly dated to the middle of the first half of the 9th century. By analysing historical sources of Bavarian origin, primarily the Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum, the “persecuted Rastimir” from the Pađene architrave is identified with Ratimar from this source, whose name is typically rendered as Ratimir in the historiography of Slavic peoples. Consequently, Rastimir of Pađene is identified as the ruler of the gentile Slavic Duchy of Carniola, who fled to the allied Duchy of Croatia in 838 after being pursued by the army of the East Frankish king Louis the German. Due to the recorded year of the duke’s persecution, this conclusion has both historical and art-historical implications, providing a firmer chronological support for the activities of the Trogir Stonemason's Workshop, which is important for establishing the chronology of pre-Romanesque stonemason's workshops on the Eastern Adriatic coast before the mid-9th century.