Peter Kresimir IV, ruler of Croatia, had in 1069 persuaded the emperor in Constantinople to recognize him as supreme ruler of the parts of Dalmatia that the empire had controlled since the Croatian dynastic struggle of 997.

At the time, the empire was at war both with the Seljuq Turks in Asia and the Normans in southern Italy, so Kresimir had taken the opportunity and, avoiding an imperial nomination as proconsul or eparch, had consolidated his holdings as the regnum Dalmatiae et Chroatia.

This is not a formal title, but it designates a unified political-administrative territory, which had been the chief desire of the Croatian kings.