Archont Petar
Encyclopedia
Petar Gojniković or Peter of Serbia was Prince of the Serbs from 892 to 917. He ruled and expanded the First Serbian Principality (Rascia), and won several wars against other family members that sought the crown. He was the first Serbian monarch with a Christian (non-Slavic) name.
Petar was the son of Gojnik
, the youngest son of Vlastimir (r. 831-851) of the first Serbian dynasty
(ruling since the early 7th century).
, the youngest son of dynastic founding father Vlastimir. His [Byzantine] Christian name, in relation to the previous generation of pagan names, shows the spread Christianization of Serbs. At the time of his birth, Serbia was ruled as an Oligarchy
by the three brothers (Mutimir, Gojnik and Strojimir), although Mutimir, the oldest, had supreme rule.
In the 880s, Mutimir seized the throne, exiling his younger brothers and Klonimir
, Strojimir's son to the Bulgar Khanate; the court of Boris I of Bulgaria
. This was most likely due to treachery
. Young Petar was kept at the Serbian court of Mutimir for political reasons, but he soon fled to Branimir of Croatia
.
. Pribislav only ruled for a year when Petar returned in 892, defeating him in battle and seizing the throne, Pribislav fled to Croatia with his brothers Bran
and Stefan
. Bran later returned and led an unsuccessful rebellion against Petar in 894. Bran was defeated, captured and blinded (blinding
was a Byzantine tradition that meant to disqualify a person to take the throne
). In 896, Klonimir returns from Bulgaria, backed by Tsar Boris, and invades Serbia, taking the important stronghold Dostinika
(Drsnik, in Klina
). Klonimir was defeated and killed.
Christianity presumably was spreading in his time, also since Serbia bordered Bulgaria, Christian influences and perhaps missionairies came from there. This would increase in the twenty-year peace.
According to De Administrando Imperio
, Constantine VII's own work, Petar ruled under the suzerainty of Leo VI and at peace with Bulgaria for twenty years.
dies, his brother Alexander III succeeds him. The unpopular, inexperienced, ill and possibly drunk Emperor Alexander ruled until his death on June 6th, 913. This was ideal to Symeon, who had his troops waiting in Thrace
, to attack Byzantium. In August 913, Symeon appeared at the walls of Constantinople
, seeking no plundering, only the crown. Symeon had, in contrast to Tsar Boris, been schooled in Constantinople
and had the Byzantine ideology, and wanted to rule a joint Greek-Bulgarian Empire as Roman Emperor. Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos
recognized Symeon as Emperor of Bulgaria, and married his daughter to Constantine VII
. In February 914, Zoe Karbonopsina
, the mother of Constantine, quickly ousted Nicholas as regent (although letting him remain the Patriarch), and she, as regent, nullified the title given to Symeon, as well as the marriage plans. Zoe's acts enraged Symeon, who went on to conquer Thrace
. The Byzantines had no choice but to look for allies; sending envoys to the Magyars, Pechenegs and Serbs.
As Peter had secured the eastern border, he had turned to the west, where he sought to strengthen his grip of the local Slavic principalities. He defeated Tišemir of Bosnia
, annexing the valley of Bosna. He then expands along the Neretva
, annexing the Narentines, where he seems to have come into conflict with Michael Višević, the ruler of Zahumlje
(with Trebinje
and most of Duklja
), who was an important Bulgarian ally. Petar (since 897 theoretically a Bulgar vassal, though not necessarily a willing one) met with strategos of Durazzo Leo Rhabduchus in Neretva, where he was offered money and greater independence in exchange of leading an army (also containing Tourkoi, Magyars) against Symeon. It seems that Petar had now agreed to join the Byzantines, but this has not been fully determined. Michael Višević heard of the possible alliance between Serbia and the Byzantines, and warned Symeon.
In 917, a Byzantine army led by Leo Phokas
invaded Bulgaria, but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Achelous
in 20 August 917. After Achelous, Symeon sends an army led by Pavle
(the son of Bran), to take the Serbian throne, however, unsuccessfully as Petar proved a good opponent. Symeon sent generals Marmaim and Sigritzes Theodore, persuading Petar (through an oath
) to come out and meet them, then captured and took him to Bulgaria where he was put in prison, dying within a year. His remains are entombed in the Church of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul in Stari Ras, the capital. Symeon put Pavle
, the son of Bran, on the Serbian throne.
Petar was the son of Gojnik
Gojnik
Gojnik Vlastimirović or Gojnik of Serbia was a Serbian Župan who was subject to his elder brother Mutimir, the Grand Župan of the Serbian lands from ca. 850-860 with his brother Strojimir...
, the youngest son of Vlastimir (r. 831-851) of the first Serbian dynasty
House of Vlastimirovic
The Vlastimirović Dynasty was the first Serbian royal dynasty, named after Prince Vlastimir , who was recognized by the Byzantine Empire.The dynasty starts with the Unknown Archont, who ruled during Emperor Heraclius ....
(ruling since the early 7th century).
Early
Petar was born between 870 and 874, as the son of the Prince GojnikGojnik
Gojnik Vlastimirović or Gojnik of Serbia was a Serbian Župan who was subject to his elder brother Mutimir, the Grand Župan of the Serbian lands from ca. 850-860 with his brother Strojimir...
, the youngest son of dynastic founding father Vlastimir. His [Byzantine] Christian name, in relation to the previous generation of pagan names, shows the spread Christianization of Serbs. At the time of his birth, Serbia was ruled as an Oligarchy
Oligarchy
Oligarchy is a form of power structure in which power effectively rests with an elite class distinguished by royalty, wealth, family ties, commercial, and/or military legitimacy...
by the three brothers (Mutimir, Gojnik and Strojimir), although Mutimir, the oldest, had supreme rule.
In the 880s, Mutimir seized the throne, exiling his younger brothers and Klonimir
Klonimir
Klonimir Strojimirović or Klonimir of Serbia was a 9th-century Serbian royalty that briefly ruled Dostinika in 867, a city he had occupied of the Serbian ruler Petar.His father Strojimir was the youngest son of Vlastimir of Serbia...
, Strojimir's son to the Bulgar Khanate; the court of Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I of Bulgaria
Boris I, also known as Boris-Mihail and Bogoris was the Knyaz of First Bulgarian Empire in 852–889. At the time of his baptism in 864, Boris was named Michael after his godfather, Emperor Michael III...
. This was most likely due to treachery
Treachery
Treachery is a statutory offence in Australia. There was also an unrelated statutory offence bearing that name in the United Kingdom, but it has been abolished. Both of these offences were derived from or inspired by the related offence of treason. The name treachery was chosen because it is a...
. Young Petar was kept at the Serbian court of Mutimir for political reasons, but he soon fled to Branimir of Croatia
Branimir of Croatia
Branimir was a ruler of Dalmatian Croatia who reigned as Knez from 879 to 892. He was recognized by Pope John VIII as the Duke of the Croats...
.
Civil wars
Mutimir died in 890 or 891, leaving the throne to his oldest son, PribislavPribislav
Pribislav Henry was a Christian prince and the last ruler of the Slavic Hevelli tribe in the Northern March of Brandenburg. During Pribislav's reign, in which he cultivated close connections with the German nobility, the Holy Roman Empire re-affirmed Christian government in the Hevelli region...
. Pribislav only ruled for a year when Petar returned in 892, defeating him in battle and seizing the throne, Pribislav fled to Croatia with his brothers Bran
Bran Mutimirović
Bran Mutimirović was a Serbian royalty, son of Serbian ruler Mutimir.He and Stefan escorted Khan Boris to the Rascian-Bulgar border after the Serbs successfully fought off the Khan's army in an attempted revenge to the defeat of Presian years earlier by their grandfather Vlastimir...
and Stefan
Stefan Mutimirović
Stefan Mutimirović was a 9th century Serbian royal member of the ruling dynasty, the Vlastimirović.He was the younger son of Mutimir of the ruling Serbian dynasty, the Vlastimirovići. His father had with his brothers Strojimir and Gojnik, defeated the Bulgar Army sent by Tsar Boris, led by his son...
. Bran later returned and led an unsuccessful rebellion against Petar in 894. Bran was defeated, captured and blinded (blinding
Blinding
Blinding can refer to:*The act of making someone blind**Metaphorical and extended uses of same: see blindness#Metaphorical uses*Blinding , a technique by which an agent can provide a service to a client in an encoded form without knowing either the real input or the real output*Blinding , a novel...
was a Byzantine tradition that meant to disqualify a person to take the throne
Political mutilation in Byzantine culture
Mutilation in the Byzantine Empire was a common method of punishment for criminals of the era but it also had a role in the Empire's political life. The mutilation of political rivals by the Emperor was deemed an effective way of sidelining from the line of succession a person who was seen as a...
). In 896, Klonimir returns from Bulgaria, backed by Tsar Boris, and invades Serbia, taking the important stronghold Dostinika
Dostinika
Dostinik or Destinikon was the first capital of Serbia during the Middle Ages in present-day Metohia or Prijepolje-Sjenica or somewhere between rivers Bosna and Drina....
(Drsnik, in Klina
Klina
Klina or Klinë is a city and municipality in the Peć district of north-western Kosovo. It is located at the confluence of the river Klina into the White Drin.-Demographics:-External links:* *...
). Klonimir was defeated and killed.
Bulgarian alliance
After several failures to capture the throne by other Vlastimirovićs, including the one backed by the Bulgars, Symeon I of Bulgaria recognized Petar as ruler. He was put under the protection of Symeon, resulting in a twenty-year peace and Serbian-Bulgarian alliance (897-917). Petar was probably not happy with his subordinate position, and may have dreamed of reasserting his independence, his situation and the succession wars of the three branches of Vlastimir's sons was to play a key part in the coming Bulgarian-Byzantine War.Christianity presumably was spreading in his time, also since Serbia bordered Bulgaria, Christian influences and perhaps missionairies came from there. This would increase in the twenty-year peace.
According to De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio
De Administrando Imperio is the Latin title of a Greek work written by the 10th-century Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine VII. The Greek title of the work is...
, Constantine VII's own work, Petar ruled under the suzerainty of Leo VI and at peace with Bulgaria for twenty years.
Bulgarian-Byzantine War, Expansion to the west, and death
On May 11th, 912, Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the WiseLeo VI the Wise
Leo VI, surnamed the Wise or the Philosopher , was Byzantine emperor from 886 to 912. The second ruler of the Macedonian dynasty , he was very well-read, leading to his surname...
dies, his brother Alexander III succeeds him. The unpopular, inexperienced, ill and possibly drunk Emperor Alexander ruled until his death on June 6th, 913. This was ideal to Symeon, who had his troops waiting in Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
, to attack Byzantium. In August 913, Symeon appeared at the walls of Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
, seeking no plundering, only the crown. Symeon had, in contrast to Tsar Boris, been schooled in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and had the Byzantine ideology, and wanted to rule a joint Greek-Bulgarian Empire as Roman Emperor. Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos
Nicholas Mystikos
Nicholas I Mystikos or Nicholas I Mysticus was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from March 901 to February 906 and from May 912 to his death in 925. His feast day in the Orthodox Church is May 16.Nicholas was born in the Italian Peninsula and had become a friend of the Patriarch Photios...
recognized Symeon as Emperor of Bulgaria, and married his daughter to Constantine VII
Constantine VII
Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
. In February 914, Zoe Karbonopsina
Zoe Karbonopsina
Zoe Karbonopsina, also Karvounopsina or Carbonopsina, i.e., "with the Coal-Black Eyes" , was fourth wife of the Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise and the mother of Constantine VII....
, the mother of Constantine, quickly ousted Nicholas as regent (although letting him remain the Patriarch), and she, as regent, nullified the title given to Symeon, as well as the marriage plans. Zoe's acts enraged Symeon, who went on to conquer Thrace
Thrace
Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...
. The Byzantines had no choice but to look for allies; sending envoys to the Magyars, Pechenegs and Serbs.
As Peter had secured the eastern border, he had turned to the west, where he sought to strengthen his grip of the local Slavic principalities. He defeated Tišemir of Bosnia
Bosnia (region)
Bosnia is a eponomous region of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It lies mainly in the Dinaric Alps, ranging to the southern borders of the Pannonian plain, with the rivers Sava and Drina marking its northern and eastern borders. The other eponomous region, the southern, other half of the country is...
, annexing the valley of Bosna. He then expands along the Neretva
Neretva
Neretva is the largest river of the eastern part of the Adriatic basin. It has been harnessed and controlled to a large extent by four HE power-plants with large dams and their storage lakes, but it is still recognized for its natural beauty, diversity of its landscape and visual...
, annexing the Narentines, where he seems to have come into conflict with Michael Višević, the ruler of Zahumlje
Zahumlje
Zachlumia or Zahumlje was a medieval principality located in modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia...
(with Trebinje
Trebinje
Trebinje is the southernmost municipality and town in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is administratively part of the Republika Srpska entity and is located in southeastern Herzegovina, some from the Adriatic Sea....
and most of Duklja
Duklja
Doclea or Duklja was a medieval state with hereditary lands roughly encompassing the territories of present-day southeastern Montenegro, from Kotor on the west to the river Bojana on the east and to the sources of Zeta and Morača rivers on the north....
), who was an important Bulgarian ally. Petar (since 897 theoretically a Bulgar vassal, though not necessarily a willing one) met with strategos of Durazzo Leo Rhabduchus in Neretva, where he was offered money and greater independence in exchange of leading an army (also containing Tourkoi, Magyars) against Symeon. It seems that Petar had now agreed to join the Byzantines, but this has not been fully determined. Michael Višević heard of the possible alliance between Serbia and the Byzantines, and warned Symeon.
In 917, a Byzantine army led by Leo Phokas
Leo Phokas
Leo Phokas or Phocas may refer to:* Leo Phokas the Elder, Byzantine general in the early 10th century* Leo Phokas the Younger, great-nephew of the above, Byzantine general in the mid-10th century...
invaded Bulgaria, but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Achelous
Battle of Achelous
Battle of Achelous or Battle of Acheloos can refer to:* Battle of Achelous on the Moesian Achelous river, between the Byzantines and Bulgarians....
in 20 August 917. After Achelous, Symeon sends an army led by Pavle
Pavle Branović
Pavle Branović or Pavle of Serbia was Prince of the Serbs from 917 to 921. He was put on the throne by the Bulgarian Tsar Symeon I of Bulgaria, who had murdered the previous Prince Petar, who had become a Byzantine ally. Pavle ruled for 4 years, before being defeated by Prince Zaharija, his...
(the son of Bran), to take the Serbian throne, however, unsuccessfully as Petar proved a good opponent. Symeon sent generals Marmaim and Sigritzes Theodore, persuading Petar (through an oath
Oath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
) to come out and meet them, then captured and took him to Bulgaria where he was put in prison, dying within a year. His remains are entombed in the Church of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul in Stari Ras, the capital. Symeon put Pavle
Pavle Branović
Pavle Branović or Pavle of Serbia was Prince of the Serbs from 917 to 921. He was put on the throne by the Bulgarian Tsar Symeon I of Bulgaria, who had murdered the previous Prince Petar, who had become a Byzantine ally. Pavle ruled for 4 years, before being defeated by Prince Zaharija, his...
, the son of Bran, on the Serbian throne.
Sources
- De Administrando Imperio by Constantine PorphyrogenitusConstantine VIIConstantine VII Porphyrogennetos or Porphyrogenitus, "the Purple-born" was the fourth Emperor of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire, reigning from 913 to 959...
, edited by Gy. Moravcsik and translated by R. J. H. Jenkins, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington D. C., 1993 - J. B. Bury, History of the Eastern Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil: A.D. 802-867. ISBN 1605204218, 9781605204215. Google Books
- Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-89452-4.
- Ćorović, VladimirVladimir CorovicVladimir Ćorović was a 20th-century Serbian historian, member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts . He is best known for his many acclaimed works on the history of Serbs and Yugoslavia.-Early:...
, Istorija srpskog naroda, Book I, (In Serbian) Electric Book, Rastko Electronic Book, Antikvarneknjige (Cyrillic)- Drugi Period, IV: Pokrštavanje Južnih Slovena
- Istorija Srpskog Naroda, Srbi između Vizantije, Hrvatske i Bugarske
- The Serbs, ISBN 0631204717, 9780631204718. Wiley-Blackwell, 2004, Google Books.
- Tibor Živković, Portreti srpskih vladara (IX—XII), Beograd, 2006 (ISBN 86-17-13754-1), p. 11
- Forging Unity The South Slavs between East and West 550-1150
- Ferjančić, B. 1997, "Basile I et la restauration du pouvoir byzantin au IXème siècle", Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, no. 36, pp. 9–30.