House of Vojislavljević

Vojislavljević
Country

Duklja/Doclea (modern Montenegro, Herzegovina, southernmost Dalmatia)

  • Doclea, Dalmatia (1034-1186)
  • Rascia (1064-1091)
  • Bosnia (1064-?)
Ancestral house Vlastimirović dynasty
Titles
Founder Stefan Vojislav
Final sovereign Radoslav Gradišnić
Founding 1034
Dissolution 1186
Cadet branches

The Vojislavljević (Serbian: pl. Војислављевићи, Vojislavljevići) was the second Serb medieval dynasty, named after archon Stefan Vojislav, who wrestled the region from Byzantine hands in the 1040s. It ruled Duklja with the surrounding territories; including Zahumlje, Rascia and Bosnia, where the dynasty's cadet branches became rulers.

Contents

Background

History

Its eponymous founder was a "Travunian Serb", Stefan Vojislav, who was possibly kin to Jovan Vladimir. According to the Chronicle, Vojislav was a son of Dragomir, himself the uncle of Jovan Vladimir.C Dragomir had held Travunija and Zahumlje, then ruled Doclea for two years after the death of Jovan Vladimir (1016).C In 1018, Dragomir was killed by locals of Kotor.C

Mihailo I became Grand Prince around 1050/1055. He restored independence and maintained it from the Byzantine Empire. It sought closer relations with other greater powers, such as the Pope and the Normans. Mihailo installed his son Petrislav as Prince of Rascia. After the aborted rebellion in Bulgaria, the military governor of Dyrrhachium, Nicephorus Bryennius, restored Byzantine rule to Rascia in 1073. Mihailo reportedly received royal insignia in 1077 from Pope Gregory VII, although this is still a matter of debate. An image of King Mihajlo with his crown is still found in the Church of St. Mihajlo in Ston, a town in the Pelješac peninsula (in present-day Croatia). Mihajlo's rule ended in 1080.

His successor was his son Constantin Bodin, who ruled from 1080 to 1101. Bodin fought Byzantium and Normans further to the south, and took the town of Dyrrachium. He established vassal states in Bosnia (under Stefan) and Raška (under Vukan and Marko), which recognized his supremacy. Vukan and Marko, the new princes of Raška were probably sons of the aforementioned Petrislav. Vukan (1083–1115) was the Grand Župan while Marko headed administration of a part of the land. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios later forced Vukan to acknowledge Byzantine suzerainty in 1094. After Bodin died in 1101, incessant struggles for power among his heirs weakened the state. Bodin had previously exiled Dobroslav, his younger brother, together with their cousin Kočapar. In 1101 they returned, and vied for power together with another grandson of Mihajlo's, Vladimir. Vladimir at one point married the daughter of Vukan of Raška.

Decline

In 1114, Đorđe, son of Constantin Bodin, came to power in Duklja. The next year Vukan was replaced in Raška by his nephew Uroš I. (ca. 1115-1131). Đorđe's rule lasted until 1118.

One of the sons of Uroš I was Zavida, Prince of Zahumlje. His four sons would eventually bring order to the Rascian lands and found the House of Nemanja.

In these struggles, the pro-Raška rulers eventually managed to rise to power in Duklja, culminating in the rise of Stefan Nemanja, one of Zavida's sons (around 1166). His son Stefan Nemanjić restored the old Doclean crown in 1217 by receiving from the Pope regal insignia as "King of all Serbs and Maritime Lands".

Rulers

Family tree

See also

References

  1. ^ Scylitzes, 408-9
  2. ^ Cedrenus, ed. Bonn, II, p. 526
  3. ^ Kekaumenos, ed Litavrin, 170-2
  4. ^ Paul Magdalino, Byzantium in the year 1000, p. 124

Sources

  • John V.A. Fine. (1991). The early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the 6th to the Late 12th Century. The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08149-7
  • John V.A. Fine. (1994). The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4
  • Constantine Porphyrogenitus, De Administrando Imperio, edited by Gy. Moravcsik and translated by R. J. H. Jenkins, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington D. C., 1993
  • Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja