Paul I Šubić of Bribir (, ; – 1 May 1312) was Ban of Croatia between 1275 and 1312, and Lord of Bosnia from 1299 to 1312. As the oldest son of Stephen II of the Šubić noble family, he inherited the title of count of Bribir. He was appointed ban in 1273. He was relieved from duty in 1274, following his involvement in disputes between the Dalmatian coastal cities of Trogir and Split, and was returned to office in 1275.
With the help of his brothers, Mladen I and George I, Paul imposed direct rule over most of the coastal cities. The contest over the lands of the Kačić family in southern Croatia, who were known for piracy in the Adriatic Sea, brought Paul into conflict with the Republic of Venice. At the same time, the Šubićs became allies with the House of Anjou from Naples. Fighting with Venice continued intermittently until a peace treaty in 1294.
During the succession crisis of the 1290s, Paul emerged as one of the most powerful oligarchs in the realm, and was the main ally of the Angevins in their struggle against the Árpád dynasty. In 1300, Paul invited the Angevin contender to the throne, Charles Robert, to Split and from there accompanied him to Zagreb, where Charles was recognized as king of Hungary and Croatia. Paul did not take part in subsequent activities of Charles in Hungary, where he was not recognized as king for another 10 years. Paul expanded his dominion eastward, over the Banate of Bosnia in 1299, and Hum in 1301, whose territories he distributed among his family members. In 1304, Paul led a campaign into Bosnia after Mladen I, whom Paul appointed Ban of Bosnia, was killed by rebels. The rebellion was quickly quelled, and Paul passed the title of Bosnian ban to his son, Mladen II.
The king's authority over the lands held by Paul was only nominal throughout the entirety of his rule, during which he managed to turn his titles into hereditary ones for his family. His main seats were in Bribir and the city of Skradin. He issued his own coin, minted with silver from Bosnia, and arranged the establishment of three new Catholic dioceses in Croatia. In 1311, Paul assisted a revolt against Venice in Zadar and gained control over the city, which led to another war with the Venetians. Paul died shortly after the capture of Zadar, in May 1312, while peace negotiations with Venice were underway. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Mladen II.
Early life Paul was the eldest son of Stephen II of the Šubić family, the most influential noble house in the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia, at the time in a personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary. The exact date of Paul's birth is unknown, the year is estimated around 1245. He had two brothers, Mladen I and George I. Of his sisters, the name of Stanislava is known. Paul's father, Stephen II, was involved in the war with the Mongol Empire in 1242, when King Béla IV took refugee in the city of Trogir, which he governed. For his assistance, Béla granted the County of Bribir hereditarily to Stephen in 1251. Around this time, Stephen emerged as the head of the Šubić family, following an internal struggle for leadership. Along with Trogir and Bribir, the Šubićs governed the County of Šibenik. Stephen's wife, whose name is not known, was related to the royal Árpád dynasty, probably with one of its female branches.
Paul inherited the title of count of Bribir from his father, who died before 1267. The first mention of his name occurs in 1272, when he was Podestà of the city of Trogir. In May 1273, Paul was Count of Trogir and Split. His brother, George I, was named Count of Šibenik. Paul had good relations with the Gutkeleds, and supported Slavonian Ban Joachim Gutkeled, who was probably his cousin, in his struggle with competing nobles. From 1273, Paul was the ban of the maritime regions (), in place of previous ban Maurus. The ban of the maritime regions, also referred to as Ban of Croatia, was in the 13th century the deputy of the ban of all Slavonia, who governed both the Croatian Kingdom and Slavonia. Through this duty, the influence of Paul and his brothers grew rapidly.
Reign Consolidation of power
Paul became involved in the longstanding dispute between Split and Trogir. The two cities were at war in the 1240s over possessions in the hinterland of Split. Paul acted in favor of Split and tried to strengthen his rule over Trogir, which had mutinied against Paul. He ignored the warnings of King Ladislaus IV, who took Trogir under his protection. In the winter of 1273/1274, Split attacked the Fortress of Klis, whose castellan was a supporter of Trogir. While the attack failed, Paul managed to subjugate Trogir in the spring of 1274. He was also involved in the dispute between Šibenik and Trogir over the Church of Šibenik. Paul favored the position of Šibenik, and pressed for the secession of its Church from the Diocese of Trogir. He was then briefly removed from the position of ban in the second half of 1274. He returned to the office in the summer of the following year. The position of ban of all Slavonia was held jointly by Ivan Kőszegi and Nicholas Gutkeled. For Nicholas, a new title, ban of all Croatia and Dalmatia, was established. Nicholas held this title in 1275, and Paul remained the only ban in Croatia after he moved to Hungary.
Paul's brother, Mladen I, succeeded him as Podestà of Trogir, and was later Count of Trogir and Split. By 1278, the Šubićs governed almost all coastal cities south of the Velebit Mountain. Among them was Skradin near Šibenik. Skradin was one of Paul's seats, along with Bribir, Klis, and the Ostrovica Fortress. Beside these, Paul also owned the castles of Knin and Počitelj. The lands owned by the Šubićs did not form a compact area, and they competed with other noble families for control over counties and forts.
Paul sought to consolidate his control over the holdings of the Kačić family, a pirate stronghold in southern Croatia, centred around the city of Omiš. The House of Anjou from the Kingdom of Naples was also active in suppressing the pirates from that area. During this period, the Šubić and the Anjou families established friendly relations. The Angevins controlled southern Italy, which was an important source of grain for Dalmatian coastal cities and the hinterland in late 13th century. The first contacts between the two families were made before Paul's 2nd term as ban, at the initiative of the Angevins who saw in them potential allies.
The Angevin forces took the islands of Hvar and Brač from the Kačićs in 1275. The Republic of Venice started its own war against the Kačićs in 1276. By April 1278, the islands of Hvar and Brač recognized Venetian authority. This threatened Paul's interests and he intervened in the conflict against Venice. In the course of the war, Paul gained control of Omiš and the island of Brač, where he appointed a nobleman from Zadar to govern it. George I was appointed Count of Omiš. The Kačićs were no longer in power, which eliminated the threat of pirates to Paul's ships in the Adriatic Sea.
In 1288, Paul started negotiating a peace deal with Venice. After long talks, a peace treaty was concluded in May 1290. Paul's representatives in the negotiations guaranteed that the pirates from Omiš would not attack Venetian ships and that they would not sail in the northern Adriatic. The Venetian authority over the islands of Hvar and Brač was acknowledged. The cities of Trogir, Šibenik, and Split agreed to pay 20,000 libras to Venice as a warranty. The Venetians guaranteed that they would not attack Paul's territories and gave his brother, George I, a free passage in his visits to the Papal States and in other trips. The peace treaty was broken in May 1293, when Venice captured Omiš with the help of a local noble. The conflict was renewed and lasted until March 1294 and a new peace treaty, signed under the same conditions as the first one, and Omiš returned to the Šubićs. Paul turned to seeking allies in Venice, through his ties with the Tiepolo family, as well as in the Venetian-controlled Dalmatian communes of Rab and Zadar. Marital ties were established with the House of Gorizia, who were rivals of Venice.
Paul maintained good relations with the Pope and the Catholic Church. He shared common interests with the Roman Curia in suppressing heresy in the region and countering Venetian dominance in the Adriatic, and both supported the House of Anjou in their claim to the throne. Their contacts became more frequent after 1290, during the pontificate of Pope Nicholas IV. Prior to becoming pope, Nicholas was the Franciscan minister provincial of Slavonia, which covered the Kingdom of Croatia and Dalmatia. The Šubićs were also close to the Franciscan movement in Croatia.
Succession crisis
With the death of King Ladislaus IV in 1290, who left no heirs, a war of succession broke out between Andrew III of the Árpád dynasty, supported by most of the Hungarian nobles, and Charles Martel of the House of Anjou, with the support of most of the Croatian nobility. Among them were the Šubić, the Kurjaković, the Frankopan, and the Babonić families, but their loyalty varied. Andrew III and Charles Martel competed with each other for the support of the nobility in Croatia and Slavonia. The Angevins primarily turned to Paul, while Andrew found an ally in Slavonian Ban Stephen III Babonić. This resulted in a dispute between the Šubićs and the Babonićs over the county of Drežnik near Bihać, which Andrew granted to the Babonićs, while the Angevins granted it to the Šubićs.
In November 1291, the Angevins and Paul agreed on the import of grain from Apulia. In 1292, Charles Martel's father, Charles II, in the name of his son, awarded Paul and the Šubić family the hereditary rights to all of Croatia from the Gvozd Mountain to the Neretva River, "with all the barons, vassals, cities, castles, and villages, with adjacent islands and all the rights and appurtenances", except for the westernmost part of Croatia, ruled by the Frankopans. In 1293, Andrew III made a similar gesture by naming Paul the hereditary ban of Croatia and Dalmatia. With this move, Andrew may have won Paul's support for a brief time. Andrew III also asked Paul to recognize his mother, Tomasina Morosini, as the duchess of all Slavonia, a title that covered the entire territory from the Drava and Danube rivers to the Adriatic sea. This was not acceptable to Paul and he turned back to the Angevins.
The sudden death of Charles Martel from the plague in 1295 hampered the ambitions of the Anjou family. Charles Martel's rights to the throne passed to his son, Charles Robert. Charles II confirmed Paul's position of ban for life. Andrew III was accepted as king by the nobility and a short period of peace followed. In 1299, Andrew appointed his uncle, Albertino Morosini, Duke of Slavonia, and as he had no sons, the heir to the throne. This led to a new revolt on behalf of Charles Robert. The same year, Charles II confirmed all possessions of Paul and his brothers, both current and any in the future, on the condition that the Šubićs provide troops for the Angevin campaigns. Previous grants were unconditioned, and Paul started distancing himself from the Angevins.