tribal confederation · Poland, Lithuania and Russia

White Croats

600 CE – 992 CE (approx.)

A shadowy Slavic people north of the Carpathians, named by a Byzantine emperor as the homeland of the Croats of the Adriatic.

Origins

The Byzantine emperor Constantine VII wrote in the 10th century of a White or unbaptised Croatia beyond Hungary, from which some Croats had migrated to Dalmatia in the 7th century. Historians usually place the White Croats on the upper Dniester and Vistula, on both slopes of the Carpathians, but their exact territory is disputed.

Rule and society

Very little is known of their society. They appear to have lived in fortified hill settlements, such as the large site at Stilsko near Lviv, and to have farmed and herded in the Carpathian foothills. The Primary Chronicle lists Croats among the East Slavic tribes who took part in Oleg's campaign against Constantinople in 907.

Decline and legacy

In 992 Vladimir I of Kievan Rus' campaigned against the Croats, and they disappear from the sources soon afterwards. Their eastern lands became part of Rus' and later the Principality of Galicia, while the western parts around Krakow passed to the Duchy of Poland.

Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.

Connections (1)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). White Croats. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/white-croats
MLA
“White Croats.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/white-croats. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “White Croats.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/white-croats.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘White Croats’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/white-croats (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻