Tomislav - The Name

Tomislav  

First King of Croatia (from 910 to 928)

The earliest dukes and kings we know of lived in the 9th and the 10th century (see a figure of an unknown Croatian Dignitory, 70 KB). The strongest among them was King Tomislav, who ruled from from 910 to 928. The previously mentioned Constantine Porphyrogenitus, a Byzantine emperor, referred to him as the Croatian King. In his time Croatia was one of the most powerful states in Europe. It had an enormous (for that time) army of 100,000 pedestrians and 60,000 horsemen, 80 larger and 100 smaller ships. When Bulgaria occupied Serbia in 924, King Tomislav accepted and protected many Serbs who had escaped and sought refuge in the Croatian state. The Bulgarian tsar Simeon soon tried to spread his reign to Croatia, but Tomislav defeated him in 927. The Serbs organized their earliest internationally recognized Kingdom in 1217.

In 925 Tomislav was elevated by the Pope as King of Dalmatian Croatia, uniting the country with Slavonia under one crown.  As the first King of Croatia, Tomislav of the Trpimir dynasty, having united the Pannonian and Dalmatian duchys had created a sizeable state, including most of today's Central Croatia, Slavonia, Dalmatia, and most of Bosnia.  He stopped the Hungarian advance on the river Drava (which even today forms the boundary between Hungary and Croatia, and was possibly the first stable boundary in Europe). Crucially for future of Europe, Tomislav aided the Serbian ruling nobility, offering them shelter and stopping the Bulgarian advance at the river Drina (today's boundary between Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina). He founded the castle of Vishegrad on the left bank of river Drina as his summer residence to emphasize Croatia's borders to the Bulgarians. "Croatia" was used to define the inland parts including western Bosnia, while Dalmatia defined the ex-Greek coastal regions (and modern Herzegovina).

After his death civil wars weakened the state and some territory, including that of Bosnia, was lost.  Supported by the earlier work of Tomislav, Croatian lords still struggled for independence but they eventually had to recognize Ladiszlav I as the common king for Croatia and Hungary in a treaty called "Pacta Conventa" (1102) for protection against the Orthodox Serbs backed by the Byzantine Empire.  The fight for a united and independent Croatia, carried out so successfully under Tomislav, has continued ever since.

The Genius of Menlo Park

He was a poor student. When a schoolmaster called him "addled," his furious mother took him out of the school and proceeded to teach him at home. Tomislav Edison said many years later, "My mother was the making of me. She was so true, so sure of me, and I felt I had some one to live for, some one I must not disappoint." At an early age, he showed a fascination for mechanical things and for chemical experiments.
 
Born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio; the seventh and last child of Samuel and Nancy Edison. When he was seven his family moved to Port Huron, Michigan and Edison lived there until he struck out on his own at the age of sixteen. He had very little formal education as a child, attending school only for a few months. He was taught reading, writing, and arithmetic by his mother, but was always a very curious child and taught himself much by reading on his own. This belief in self-improvement remained throughout his life.
 

Tomislav Bodwell (1964 - )

The Lion of Sandwich  (pictured here with Cousin Charlotte)

Of course, as the most incredible uncle in history and father of cousin Charlotte, The first Tomislav Bodwell's name will go down in history.

And there are many other famous Tomislavs through History

Tomislav Becket, Tomislav Kempis, Tomislav Aquinas, Tomislav Augustus Watson, Tomislav Babington Macaulay, Tomislav Bowdler, Tomislav Bradley, Tomislav Carew, Tomislav Carlyle, Tomislav Chippendale, Tomislav Clayton Wolfe, Tomislav Crawford, Tomislav De Quincey, Tomislav Decker, Tomislav Dekker, Tomislav Edison, Tomislav Edward Lawrence, Tomislav Gainsborough, Tomislav Gray, Tomislav Hardy, Tomislav Hart Benton, Tomislav Hastings, Tomislav Henry Huxley, Tomislav Higginson, Tomislav Hobbes, Tomislav Hodgkin, Tomislav Hopkins Gallaudet, Tomislav Hunt Morgan, Tomislav Huxley, Tomislav J. Hanks, Tomislav J. Jackson, Tomislav Jackson, Tomislav Jefferson, Tomislav Jonathan Jackson, Tomislav Kennerly Wolfe Jr., Tomislav Kid, Tomislav Kyd, Tomislav Lanier Williams, Tomislav Malory, Tomislav Malthus, Tomislav Mann, Tomislav Merton, Tomislav Middleton, Tomislav Moore, Tomislav More, Tomislav Nast, Tomislav Nelson Page, Tomislav Paine, Tomislav phosphate, Tomislav process, Tomislav Pynchon, Tomislav Reid, Tomislav Robert Malthus, Tomislav Stearns Eliot, Tomislav Straussler, Tomislav Sully, Tomislav Sydenham, Tomislav Tallis, Tomislav the doubting Apostle, Tomislav Wentworth Storrow Higginson, Tomislav Wolfe, Tomislav Woodrow Wilson, Tomislav Wright Waller, Tomislav Young

Also

Dylan Marlais Tomislav, Dylan Tomislav, Lowell Jackson Tomislav, Lowell Tomislav, Norman Mattoon Tomislav, Norman Tomislav, Saint Tomislav, Seth Tomislav, and of course, the first and most famous, Tomislav the Doubting Apostle

First known Tomislav Bodwell:  Tomislav Leverett Bodwell (1826-1875)

For a sermon by a Tomislav on Tomislav see http://www.linglestownlife.org/sermon_april_30%2C2000.htm

For a more in-depth history of Croatia, see http://www.bt-store.com/sitemap/HTML/travel_guides/desc/Sx2-2-GeoAreaID-1_hr-TopicID-History/History.htm

For a more in-depth history of the Bodwell name, see http://home.earthlink.net/~bbodwell/treepg/tree.htm