Gradu kmeti or iobagiones castri as an Element of the Social Structure of Croatian Kingdom

Autor razmatra elemente društvene strukture Hrvatskoga Kraljevstva u razdoblju ranoga i razvijenog srednjeg vijeka, usmjerujući posebnu pozornost na društvenu ulogu, status i obveze sloja profesionalnih ratnika („specijalista za nasilje“) koji se u vrelima pojavljuju pod nazivima (hrvatski) gradu kmeti odnosno (latinski) iobagiones castri. Podlogu rasprave čini raščlamba odgovarajućih odredaba Vinodolskoga zakona, spomenika koji ponajbolje osvjetljuje vlastitu percepciju pripadnika te društvene skupine. K tomu se raščlanjuju elementi društvenoga znanja kako ih zrcali diskurs različitih pisanih spomenika poglavito 13. stoljeća, kao što se nastoji definirati položaj pripadnika ovoga sloja pojmovima današnjih društvenih znanosti.Analyzing the elements of the social structure of Croatian Kingdom in the Early and High Middle Ages, the author pays particular attention to the social role, status and obligations of the class of professional warriors (“violence specialists”) mentioned in sources as gradu kmeti (in Croatian) or iobagiones castri (in Latin). Underpinning the discussion is an analysis of relevant provisions of the Vinodol Codex, a source that best illustrates the self-perception of the members of that social class. This paper also analyzes the elements of the social knowledge as reflected in the discourse of various written sources, particularly the ones from the 13th century. It also tries to define the position of the members of this class by using the terms employed by modern social sciences