Bjelopavlići (clan)

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Bjelopavlići (pronounced [bjɛlɔ̌paːv̞lit͡ɕi], Serbian Cyrillic: Бјелопавлићи) is a Serb clan and region in central Montenegro (Brda clan, Highlanders).[1][2][3] The clan is situated around Danilovgrad.

History

Bjelopavlići is regarded one of the traditional Serb clans in Montenegro.[1][2] The Bjelopavlići are first mentioned in Serbian documents dating to 1411, when they, together with the Malonšići, Ozrinići and Maznići, had looted a ship of the Republic of Ragusa (from Dubrovnik).[4] The eponymous founder, Bijeli Pavle ("White Paul"), is sourced as having fled Metohija from the Ottomans, and settling in Luška župa (Latin: Lusca, later known as Zeta).[5]

According to geneaologist Dušan Vučurović and Dr. Sreten Vuković, who analysed archives of Ragusan papers and Ottoman defters, Pavle, a Serbian Orthodox, was born around 1280, in Hvost, in Metohija, between Peć and Prizren. Pavle settled Upper Zeta in 1300-1303, during the rule of Stephen Milutin (r. 1282–1321).[6][7] The tomb of Bijeli Pavle is found in the "Gradac Jovanovica"-Serbian Orthodox church.

Pavle had two sons:

  • Šćepan
    • Vražegrmci
    • Martinići
  • Mitar
    • Petar - Petrušinovići
    • Pavko - Pavkovići
    • Nikola
      • Matijaševići
      • Tomaševići
    • Kaleta - Kalezići

Early modern period

The Venetians fought Stephen Vukčić Kosača in the 15th century, and Zeta, and the clans, including Bjelopavlići, were not able to defend themselves and were forced to pay taxes to Venice.

In 1496, the Ottomans conquered the greater part of Zeta and the surrounding area called "Hills" (Brda), which included the Vasojevići, Bjelopavlići, Piperi, Kuči, Bratonožići, Moračani and Rovčani.

In the late 16th century, Damjan and Pavle, two monks of Mileševa, sent a letter to the pope explaining the geography of the Serbian people ("What is Serbia"); Bjelopavlići is one of the clan regions.[3]

In 1612 the Sultan sent the son of Mehmet Pasha to Podgorica to tackle the uprisings by the people. The Pasha remained in Podgorica for three months and then decided to ravage Bjelopavlići, taking 80 women and children as slaves, setting the village on fire and stealing animals. The males were hiding in other villages and upon the department of the Ottoman soldiers, the tribesmen attacked and killed 300 sipahis with their horses and baggage stolen.[8] In 1613, the Ottomans launched a campaign against the rebel tribes of Montenegro. They reached an agreement with the people for one thousand ducats and twelve slaves.[8] In 1614, according to Mariano Bolizza, a Kotoran public servant of Venice, the region was under the command of the Ottoman army in Podgorica. 800 men in arms of Bjelopavlići (Italian: Biellopaulichi) were commanded by Neneca Latinović and Bratič Tomašević.[8] Bjelopavlići consisted of 360 houses which were Serb (ethnic Serb, Orthodox Christian).[8]

They are mentioned as a "Serbian Orthodox clan" in a historical-geographical survey from 1757 and a letter sent by the Clan federation to Russia from 1789.[1][2]

Modern

Knjaz Danilo was assassinated in August, 1860 as he was boarding a ship at the port of Kotor. The assassin, Chief Todor Kadić of the Bjelopavlići, was said to be assisted by Austrian authorities in carrying out the assassination. Some speculate that there was a personal feud between the two, the fact that Danilo had an affair with Todor's wife and the ongoing mistreatment of the Bjelopavlići tribe by Danilo's guards and his forces.[9]

During Nikola I, the Bjelopavlici had bad relations with the rule as a member of the tribe, Andrija Radović, was sentenced to 15 years in a bombing trial and the trials in 1908-1909 further damaged relations.[10]

Christmas Uprising

Montenegro was unified with Serbia on November 26, 1918. During the Christmas Uprising in 1919, when the "Greens" (backed by the Kingdom of Italy sought Montenegro as a federal unit instead of an annexed Montenegro and instigated a rebellion, the Bjelopavlići were on the pro-Serb ("Kingdom of Serbia") side of the Montenegrin Whites (Bjelasi, The opponents were the Greens, Zelenaši).[10]

World War II

On 11 February 1942, Chetnik Colonel Bajo Stanišić revolted against the Yugoslav Partisans of KPJ in the villages of Bjelopavlici.[10]

People

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Vasa Djeric, O srpskom imenu po zapadnijem krajevima nasega naroda /On the Serbian Name in the Western Lands of our People! (Biograd, 1900), pp.21-22.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Dimitrije-Dimo Vujovic, Prilozi izucavanju crnogorskog nacionalnog pitanja /The Research of the Montenegrin Nationality/ (Niksic: Univerzitetska rijec, 1987), p. 172
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 The Serbs
  4. ↑ Medo Pucić, Spomenici srpski od godine 1395. do 1423. (Serbian monuments from Year 1395 to 1423), book I, Belgrade 1858 and book II, Belgrade 1862
  5. ↑ Petar Šobajić, Bjelopavlići i Pješivci, Srpski etn. zbornik 27, Beograd 1923, 175. "Miljanov beleži da su se braća razdvojila u Metohiji, to jest da je odatle otišao samo Bijeli Pavle, a da Gašo nije napuštao Metohiju" (Cjelokupna djela 2, s. 80.)
  6. ↑ Montenews, kultura, 3969
  7. ↑ Miloševići, prvi dio
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Mariano Bolizza
  9. ↑ p. 39
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2
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