The Settlement of Serbs on Balkans and the First State

The Arrival of Slavs, the Adoption of Christianity and the Serbian State of Stefan Nemanja

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       Barbarian raids into the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) lasted throughout the 5th century. Science has yet to establish to which tribes these barbarians belonged. Old sources mentioned Scythes, Bulgarians, and Goths. At the beginning of the 6th century, during the reign of Justin I (518-527), a raid of Slavs, i.e. Antis, who lived in steppes north of the outflow of the Danube, was mentioned for the first time. During the first part of his reign (527-565), Tsar Justinian of Byzantium waged successful wars against the Antis and Sclavinis on the left bank of the Danube where the old Roman limes still stood, at least on some points. As Byzantine mercenaries, the Antis waged wars even against the Goths in Italy. In the mid 6th century, the Sclavinis fiercely plundered Byzantium, reaching in their campaigns as far as Constantinopole and Dalmatia. At about the same time, the Avars appeared as new enemies to Byzantium. The fifteen-year Avar-Byzantine war was waged around Singidunum and Viminacium. In the second half of the 6th century, joint Avar-Sclavini troops plundered across Thrace and Macedonia, imperiling Salonika. At the opening of the 7th century, Byzantine sources note, Slavic people, comprising Draguvitis, Sagudatis, Velegezitis, Vajunitis and Verzitis, devastated Thessaly, Hellada, Achaea, Epirus, crossing even into Asia. These Slavs were defeated at Salonika, where they remained and settled.

       The arrival of the Bulgarians to the Balkan peninsula had permanent historical effect on the life of Byzantium and on the Serbs. Bulgarian ancestors, named by science Protobulgarians - nomads and horsemen - crossed the Danube in 680, settled on the territory between the Danube and the Balkan mountains, and imposed themselves as rulers of the Slavic population which lived in eight tribal regions. The assimilation of the Slavic and Protobulgarian population was quick, without formidable obstacles.

       Their state swooped southwards in the second half of the 8th century, striving to expand over the Slavic population inhabiting Thrace. The 50-year Bulgarian-Byzantine war, waged with variable fortune, settled the border between these two states. After that, Bulgarian expansion turned westward and at the opening of the 9th century, the Bulgarians came in contact with the Serbs.

  &nbs    Little is known about the life and state of the Serbs in the central regions of the Balkan peninsula. According to Tsar C. Porpyrogenitus, the ruler's son who had brought the Serbs died before the arrival of the Bulgarians (i.e. before 680). Succeeding him were his son, grandson and so on - arohonti (princes) of the same clan. The earlier known Serbian princes belonged to that clan or family: Viseslav, Radoslav, Prosigoj and Vlastimir. According to the same source, the Bulgarians and Serbs lived in peace, submitting to Byzantine tsars, until Bulgarian Khan Presijam attacked Prince Vlastimir of Serbia.

       The war lasted for three years, probably between 836 and 852, and in it the Bulgarian Khan lost the "largest part of his army". This bespeaks of the strength of Vlastimir's state, which is known to have stretched over parts of present-day Herzegovina.

       His sons Mutimir, Strojimir and Gojnik succeeded Vlastimir. They, too, were to withstand a Bulgarian attack. Vladimir, son of Khan Boris, apparently, headed the Bulgarian army though unsuccessfully. The Serbs took prisoners him and twelve Bulgarian velmozas (boyars). The Serbian ruler released them and after this peace prevailed. Knez Mutimir ruled until 891/892. At the time Byzantium was still strong and held the entire western Adriatic coast. Serbian princes still recognized the rule of the Byzantine tsar. Testifying to this is that the Serbs waged wars in southern Italy as Byzantine soldiers.

       At the end of the 9th century the Serbs adopted Christianity. To argument this, science has taken the appearance of the first Christian holy names with the Serbs. It is known that Vlastimir's grandsons were named Stefan (Mutimir's son) and Petar (Gojnik's son). Presumably, they were born between 870-874. Little is known about the early phase of the Christianization of Serbs. Most probably the first missionaries were Methodius' disciples and priests of the archbishopric in Split, who spoke in Latin. Apparently the upper layers of Serbian society first embraced Christianity, while the majority of the population retained its old Slavic pagan religion. It is assumed that the origin and celebration of the Serbian family's patron day - the slava - was, in fact, a modification of the old respect for ancestry (the cult of the ancestor). The conciliation of pagan belief and the new Christian faith was probably adopted completely during the time of St. Sava. This referred to the believers of the autocephalus Serbian Archbishopric founded in 1219. The bicentennial of the history of the Serbian state (from the close of the 11th century) was marked by struggles for power among Mutimir's sons ¬ (Pribislav, Bran, Stefan), his nephew Petar (Gojnik's son), Klonimir (Stojimir's son) and his grandson Pavle (Bran's son), Zaharije (Pribislav's son) and Caslav (Klonimir's son). Bulgaria and Byzantium invariably took part in those struggles. The consolidation, expansion and growth of the Serbian state in the nmid-10th century were the work of Caslav, a protege of Tsar C. Porphyrogenitus of Byzantium. The western border of Caslav's state was drawn on the Pliva, Livno and Imota, and the northern on the Sava river. It has not been established whether the east border was on the Zapadna Morava. Caslav was killed in a battle against the Hungarians in the north of his state c. 950. He was the last member of the oldest Serbian dynasty.

       At the opening of the 11th century, after the fall of Samuil's state, the Serbian states Raska, Zahumlje and Duklja were vassals to Byzantium. This lasted throughout the 11th century, even though the zupan of Raska, Vukan, warred against Tsar Alexius I Comnenus of Byzaium. His successors attempted to free themselves during the Byzantine-Hungarian war (1127-1129) and later, but failed. Serbian zupan Uros, Vukan's grandson, waged a full-scale war against Tsar Manuel I Comnenus. Having won a fierce battle on the Tara (1150), the Byzantine tsar imposed on the Serbian zupan "the yoke of submission twice as much as before", a Byzantine chronicler penned. Uros's successor, his brother Desa, also attempted to free himself of vassal tribute to Byzantium. To that aim he sought help from the Hungarian and German rulers, precisely which cost him the throne; he was taken prisoner to Constantinople by the Byzantines, though he contrived his return to the country.

       There is evidence of his dying in Trebinje and being buried in the St. Petar's monastery in Polje.

       After Desa, the name Stefan Nemanja appeared for the first time in connection with the Byzantine-Hungarian war at Zemun in 1165. He was most likely related to the zupans of Raska. He was born in Ribnica (Zeta), to where his parents had fled. Nemanja was baptized by Latin priests first, and then after his arrival to Ras, by Orthodox priests in the church of Sts. Petar and Pavle.

       When Nemanja's eldest brother Tihomir was the zupan of Raska, Nemanja was a regional lord. He ruled over Toplice, Ibar, Rasina and Reka. After meeting with Tsar Manuel I Comnenus of Byzantium, Nemanja received as a gift Dubocica (a region near Leskovac).

       As an established custom, the brothers did not get along as regional lords. Nemanja aspired to become grand zupan, and in fact became so in 1166. To achieve this, he had to defeat Tihomir's army.

       As grand zupan, Nemanja, like his predecessors, endeavored to free himself from Byzantine submission. He saw suitable opportunity for this in the 1171-1172 Byzantine-Venetian war. However, the war ended happily for Byzantium, and Tsar Manuel waged a campaign against Serbia. Nemanja evaded war, negotiating with the tsar, and was taken to Constantinopole from where he returned as vassal to Byzantine, remaining loyal to Tsar Manuel until his death in 1180.

       After the death of Manuel I, Byzantium met with internal difficulties, of which the northern neighbors, including Nemanja, sought to take advantage. From 1183, Nemanja began the expansion of his state. First he conquered Duklja with the coastal towns Danj, Sarda, Drivast, Skadar, Svac, Ulcinj, Bar and Kotor. From 1184-1185 Nemanja's brothers Miroslav and Stracimir at Ćtempted to conquer Dubrovnik.

       The conflict ended with the signing of a peace accord settling the questions of territories and trade. Nemanja directed the further expansion of his state southward. By 1190 he took Metohia (Patkovo, Hvosno, Podrimlje, Kostrc, Draskovina) with the region of Prizren, then Kosovo (Lab, Lipljan, Sitnica), Skoplje and territory on the upper course of the Vardar (Gornji and Donji Polog). To the east, Nemanja annexed lands around Djunis (Zagrlat), Nis, Dubocica, Vranje and Morava (Binacka Morava). His rule also included territories between Zapadna and Velika Morava (Velac, Belica, and Lepenica). Nemanja's state was open to the Adriatic Sea from present-day Omis in the north and Ljies in the south. Nemanja's biographer, Stefan Prvovencani (the First Crowned) wrote that Nemanja had conquered the Byzantine cities of Pernik, Zemln (Zemen), Velbuzd (Custendil), Zitominsk and Stob.

       Tsar Isaac II Angelus of Byzantium attempted to retrieve the seized lands, but despite victory, he failed to do so. Thankto the strength of his state, Nemanja succeeded in winning independence and marrying his son Stefan to a Byzantine princess, which considerably raised his reputation. Nemanja ended his reign by willingly stepping down from the ruler's throne for the benefit of his son Stefan. He became a monk and took the monastic name Simeon.

       Even at the beginning of his reign Nemanja had a benevolent attitude toward the church. He erected the St. Nikola monastery near present-day Kursumlija and the church of the Holy Mother of God at the mouth of the Kosanica river. Subsequently, as a part of his endowment, he built Djurdje's Columns, Studenica and Chilandar on Mt Athos together with his son Rastko (St. Sava).