Montenegro (Crna-Gora)

Capital : Titograd

History

The Montenegrins are descended from Slavic tribes from the Baltic and Germany who colonized the Balkan peninsula in the C6th, and the native Illyrians. There were some Roman settlements in the Province of Prevalis and these Christianized the area.

This was the only one of the Yugoslav states not to have experienced a great deal of migration, probably due to the mountains which made access and farming difficult. Most areas could not produce enough food to last the whole year and many communities resorted to banditry for survival. The population was small but strongly resisted the Ottoman Turks, who invaded in 1499. The upland clans, which were probably of Serbian origin and numbered about 100 000, were Orthodox Christians. The area was part of the Nemanja province of Zeta but when the Serbian state was driven north after the Battle of Kosovo it was cut off and began to be known as Crna Gora or Montenegro (both these names mean 'Black Mountain').

After 1516, the bishops began to rule Montenegro, gaining greater temporal powers than those of Serbia. In 1696, the bishops of the Njegos clan established a continuous line of religious leaders. They strengthened the alliance with Russia dating from the C16th and drew a subsidy from this until 1767 after which they turned to the Habsburg monarchy. After the last Ottoman attack on Montenegro, beginning in 1785, was defeated by Montenegrin and Albanian forces led by an Albanian pasha in 1796, the country went back to Russia for support.

The most famous bishop was probably the last, Petar Petrovic Njegos, who was also a well-known poet, but even he was unable to collect taxes or administer a centralized legal system. In 1851, he was appointed as his successor as a secular ruler, his nephew, Danilo, who managed to establish a legal code and a unified army but was assassinated in 1859. Under his successor, Prince Nikola, Montenegro doubled in size and acquired access to the Adriatic coast having previously been landlocked. After Russian encouragement, the European powers recognised it as independent after the bravery of its forces during the Russo-Ottoman War of 1877-8 but the Treaty of Berlin put it under Habsburg supervision.

During the C19th, the Principality of Montenegro was smaller, more isolated and less developed than the other Yugoslav territories but it managed to escape foreign occupation, separate itself from Serbia and conduct diplomatic relations with the rest of Europe. The population was only about 60 000 by the mid C19th. This increased to 117 000 when the new territories were added and had risen to 185 000 by 1900. Education was heavily invested in and literacy increased dramatically. More inland territory was added after the Balkan Wars of 1912-13 with Montenegro doubling in size again and bringing a large Muslim Turk population into the country, much of which was either forced to emigrate or to convert to Orthodoxy. The total population was now about 500 000, including many Serbs who objected to the autocratic rule of King Nikola, who had refused to recognise the election victory of the newly formed People's Party in 1905.

Montenegro had allied itself with the Serbs against the Turks in 1912 but was not in favour of political unity with Serbia. It was becoming more difficult to maintain the independence of the small nation and the idea of a Yugoslav state gathered support. After the First World War, the first Yugoslav state was formed with the Serbian ruler, Alexander Karadjordjevic, proclaimed King of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918. This lasted until WWII when the monarchy was deposed and the second Yugoslavia was founded after further Balkan conflict in 1945-6 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia under Josip Broz Tito, a Croatian. There were six republics: Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Montenegro, and two autonomous regions, Kosovo and Vojvodina.

The Communist state, against expectation, outlasted the death of Tito in 1980. There was much rivalry amongst the various Communist parties of the different republics and the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 further weakened and eventually destroyed the single League of Communists.

In Montenegro, a new Communist leader was installed by Slobodan Milolosevic's Serbia in 1989. This young reforming leader, Momir Bulatovic, also won the election of 1991. He supported the continued existence of the Yugoslavian state, remaining part of rump Yugoslavia when Slovenia and Croatia left. In December 1992, elections were held and the Democratic Party of Socialists won a small overall majority in parliament and later formed a coalition with the People's Party, the Liberal Alliance and the Social Democratic Party. In the second round of presidential elections in January 1993, Momir Bulatovic was elected president.

Montenegrin Names

Male

Baltazar	Danilo	Djuradj	Goce	Ivan	Kiro
Krste	Lazar	Ljes	Milovan	Momir	Petar
Sava	Stefan	Stracimir	Vasilje

Female

Darinka

Elena

Ksenija

Milena

Milica

Vjera

Surnames

Bogisic	Bulatovic	Delchev	Djilas	Djurisic	Gvenkovski
Kolisevski	Njegos	Petrovic

Rulers

Vojislaveljevic

Stephen Vojislav, prince of Zeta	1036
King Constantin Bodin	-1101

Nemanjid Dynasty

	1165-
Dusan Nemajic	-1355 (Serbia)

Balsic (Zeta/Duklja)

Balsa I	c 1360
Stracimir		son of Balsa I
Djuradj	-1378	son of Balsa I
Balsa II	1378-85	son of Balsa I	?Milica Mrnjavcevic sis Vukasin of Serbia
Djuradj II	1385-1403		Jelena, d Lazar of Serbia
Balsa III	1403-21	son of Djuradj II
Stefan Lazarevic of Serbia	1421	uncle of Balsa III
Djuradj Brankovic	1421-c 27	son of Stefan?

Crnojevic (Montenegro)

Djuradj + Ljes	Lovcen area	Djurasevic/Crnojevic brothers
Stefan	1427-65		Mara, sister of Skanderbeg
Ivan	1465-90	son of Stefan
Djuradj	1490-6	son of Ivan

Vladikas or Bishops

Danilo Petrovic	1697-1735
Sava Petrovic	1735-82
Vasilje Petrovic	1750-66
Petar I (St Peter of Cetinje)	1782-1830
Petar II Njegos	1830-1851

Pero Tomov Petrovic	1851	nephew of Petar II
Danilo	1851-60	bro of Pero Tomov	Darinka
Nikola I	1860-1918	nephew of Danilo	Milena Vukotic

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This collection of names compiled by Kate Monk. Copyright January 1997, Kate Monk. Last updated November, 97. Copies may be made for personal use only.