Borna (duke)

He is first mentioned regarding an 818 meeting at Herstal of Frankish Emperor Louis the Pious with envoys of the Obotrites, Borna (duke of the Guduscani), and of the Timociani, who had recently revolted against the Bulgars and switched sides to the Franks, and also Ljudevit, duke of the Slavs in Lower Pannonia, the commander of the March of Friuli.

[9] During this battle, Dragomuž (Dragomosus), Ljudevit's father-in-law who had joined Borna with the outbreak of the rebellion, fell.

[9] Worn down, attacked in the rear and flank, with heavy losses, Ljudevit was forced to retreat from Borna's territory.

[9] Ljudevit had 3,000 lost soldiers, and Borna seized more than 300 horses, and spoils of all kinds, then informed the Frankish emperor through his envoys of this.

[10] In springtime, the three armies were dispatched, the first from Italy through the Noric Alps, the second through Carinthia, the third from Bavaria through Upper Pannonia.

[10] The armies united and ravaged the land, and returned home without significant losses, while Ljudevit had stayed safe in a mountainous castle.

[11] Meanwhile, Borna, now mentioned as the "Duke of Dalmatia and Liburnia", died, and was succeeded by his nephew (by his sister),[12] Vladislav, by the people's will and emperor's approval.

[30] Marquart, in Osteuropäische u. ostasiatische Streifzöge (1903), identified De Administrando Imperio's Porinos and Porga with Borna.

[31] The identification of Borna with Porin, and Porga, in Croatian historiography was advanced by historians who argued Frankish baptism of the Croats in the 9th century.

[20] However, as noted by Tibor Živković, "it is not so difficult to refute this theory, or rather hypothesis", as on the mere basis of the chronology of arrival and baptism in the 7th century, as well the non-Slavic origin of personal names of early Croatian rulers in the 7th century, Porga and Porin were the same person who could not be Borna or Branimir (r. 879–892), with whom some scholars tried to identify as well.

[33] However, considering that is known name of Borna's uncle (Ljudemisl) and nephew (Vladislav), that there's lack of evidence that the Franks sent a Saxon count, and historical sources do not mention significant information such as Gottschalk being Borna's son or that Gottschalk's father was a duke, the hypothesis can be easily rejected.

[34] In the Royal Frankish Annals Borna is named "Duke of the Guduscani" (Latin: ducis Guduscanorum) in 818.