Venetian rule on Krk, starting in 1116. This, along with the Romanesque features of the church, dates the tablet to the late 11th or early 12th century. The meaning of the opening lines is contested. While some scholars interpret the introductory characters simply as Azъ ("I"), others believe that letters were also used to encode the year. There is no agreement, however, on the interpretation: 1100, 1077, 1079, 1105 and 1120 have been proposed. Significance The name of Croatia and King Zvonimir are mentioned on the tablet for the first time in Croatian. Despite the fact of not being the oldest Croatian Glagolitic monument (the Plomin tablet, Valun tablet, Krk inscription, are older and appeared in the 11th century) and in spite of the fact that it was not written in the pure Croatian vernacular - it has nevertheless been referred to by Stjepan Ivšić as "the jewel" of Croatian, while Stjepan Damjanović called it "the baptismal certificate of Croatian culture". It features a vaguely damaged ornamental string pattern, the Croatian interlace (). The tablet was depicted on the obverse of the Croatian 100 kuna banknote, issued in 1993 and 2002, and on a postage stamp issued by Croatian Post in 2000. References Bibliography Further reading Croatian culture Old Croatian inscriptions 1100 in Europe 11th century in Croatia Krk Croatian glagolithic texts 11th-century inscriptions Church Slavonic literature