Metropolitan Danilo I Petrović-Njegoš

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Danilo I Šćepčev Petrović-Njegoš a.k.a Vladika Danilo (Cyrillic: Данило I Шћешчев Петровић-Његош) (Njeguši, circa 1670 - Podmaine monastery, January 11, 1735, reigned 1697-1735).

Historians and common Montenegrin people most often refer to Danilo I as Vladika Danilo, as opposed to Knjaz Danilo (Danilo II).

Vladika Danilo was born in circa 1670. Metropolitan and ruler of Montenegro. He founded the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty in Montenegro in 1697. After coordinating defense operations and settling, at least partially, tribal (family) disputes among his people, Danilo launched a struggle against the Ottomans in 1711. During his rule political ties between Russia and Montenegro were first established. In 1715, Danilo visited Czar Peter I at St. Petersburg and secured his alliance against the Ottomans—a journey that became traditional among his successors. He subsequently recovered Zeta from the Ottomans and restored the monastery at Cetinje. In the text written on the manuscript gospel, his gift to Serb Patriarchate of Peć, in 1732, Danilo proudly expressed himself as "Danil Njegoš, the Bishop of Cetinje, the leader of the Serbian land."