House of Madi

House of Madi (Croatian: Madijevci) was a patrician family from Zadar. They were influential in Croatian politics from 10th till 12th century.

History

The Madii were the leading family of Zadar, the capital of the Byzantine theme of Dalmatia, from the late tenth until the mid eleventh century. They can be regarded as an example of, but also in a certain way as an exception to, families of the Dalmatian urban elite in the tenth and the eleventh centuries. Their family structure (especially the importance of female members in the second half of the eleventh century) reveals that they did not have a firmly-structured noble lineage such as those of the families who were to hold power in the Dalmatian towns in later centuries. Such a flexible family structure perhaps could be regarded as especially useful in those times when the positions of power were not strictly inheritable – the urban elite was not a totally closed group in which the position of an individual was automatically guaranteed at his/her birth. Like other families, the Madii leaned on the support of the extended family circle in ensuring the preservation of their leading position in the community. Through the successful cooperation of family members, they managed to obtain the highest secular and spiritual posts in Zadar in the first half of the eleventh century. In securing their position they relied on good relations with ecclesiastical institutions as well as on economic wealth. They also managed to make successful affinal connections with the Croatian royal family in the hinterland. It seems, too, that they were the only Dalmatian family at this time who had the ambition to expand the authority of Zadar’s priors outside the local context, first over the territory of central Dalmatia (the towns of Trogir and Split), and then even perhaps over the whole territory of the theme of Dalmatia. However, these plans were thwarted by historical circumstances, which were leading to the gradual disintegration of Dalmatia. The Byzantine Empire, which could not stop the slow declination of its own power in Dalmatia, had just enough strength to prevent the appearance of a semi-dependent local dynasty, similar to those in contemporary Italy. The attempt of the Madii thus failed. Although after a few decades they recovered, they did not manage to impose their authority in such a manner as they could in the first half of the eleventh century. In the second half of the century other families of Zadar ensured that their monopolisation of power would not be repeated again.^[1]

Notable members

• Andrija - prior of Zadar, founder of the St. Krševan Monastery. Died in 918.
• Helen I of Croatia - Croatian queen, wife of king Michael Krešimir II of Croatia, died in 976.
• Grgur/Dobronja, prior of Zadar, died in 1035. Tried to make Dalmatian cities independent from Byzantine Empire.
• Čika and her daughter Domnana, the founders the Benedictine monastery of St. Maria in Zadar in 1066 which received privileges from Croatian king Peter Krešimir IV.
• Vekenega, the daughter of Čika, became a nun in 1072 and later the abbess of the convent.

References