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Medieval principality in Eastern/Southern Europe
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Duklja (Serbian Cyrillic: Дукља; Greek: Διόκλεια, romanized: Diókleia; Latin: Dioclea) was a medieval South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana river in the east, and to the sources of the Zeta and Morača rivers in the north. First mentioned in 10th– and 11th-century Byzantine chronicles, it was a vassal of the Bulgarian Empire between 997 and 1018, and then of the Byzantine Empire until it became independent in 1040 under Stefan Vojislav (fl. 1034–43) who rose up and managed to take over territories of the earlier Serbian Principality, founding the Vojislavljević dynasty. Between 1043 and 1080, under Mihailo Vojislavljević (r. 1050–81), and his son, Constantine Bodin (r. 1081–1101), Duklja saw its apogee. Mihailo was given the nominal title King of Slavs by the Pope after having left the Byzantine camp and supported an uprising in the Balkans, in which his son Bodin played a central part. Having incorporated the Serbian hinterland (known as Grand Principality of Serbia, and anachronistically as Raška) and installed vassal rulers there, this maritime principality emerged as the most powerful Serb polity, seen in the titles used by its rulers ("Prince of Serbia", "of Serbs"). However, its rise was short-lived, as Bodin was defeated by the Byzantines and imprisoned; pushed to the background, his relative and vassal Vukan became independent in Raška, which continued the fight against the Byzantines while Duklja was struck with civil wars. Between 1113 and 1149 Duklja was the centre of Serbian–Byzantine conflict, with members of the Vojislavljević as protégés of either fighting each other for power. Duklja was then incorporated as a crown land of the Grand Principality of Serbia ruled by the Vukanović dynasty, subsequently known as Zeta, remaining so until the fall of the Serbian Empire in the 14th century.
In historiography, Konstantin Jireček was the first to use the name "Duklja". Doclea was originally the name of the Roman city on the site of modern Podgorica (Ribnica), built by Roman Emperor Diocletian, who hailed from this region of Roman Dalmatia. The Romanized Illyrian tribe known as Docleatae that inhabited the area derived their name from the city. In later centuries, the Romans hypercorrected the name to Dioclea, wrongly guessing that an i had been lost due to vulgar speech patterns. Duklja is the later Slavic version of the name of this region, attributed to the principality under Byzantine suzerainty ("Diokleia", Διόκλεια). The demonym, or tribal name, appearing in De Administrando Imperio was "Dioklētianoí" (Διοκλητιανοί).
According to De Administrando Imperio (948–952), in chapter 35, Diókleia (Διόκλεια) included the "large, inhabited cities" of Gradetai, Nougrade, and Lontodokla. Gradetai may have been Starigrad, Nougrade may have been Prevlaka, while the location of Lontodokla is uncertain.
According to the later, somewhat dubious source, Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, a ruler named Hvalimir who was alleged to be an ancestor of Jovan Vladimir (ca. 990–1016), held Zeta and its towns, and the following counties: Lusca (Luška), Podlugiae (Podlužje), Gorsca (Gorska), Cupelnich (Kupelnik), Obliquus (Oblik), Prapratna, Cermeniza (Crmnica) and Budua (Budva) with Cuceva (Kučevo) and Gripuli (Grbalj).
Since the 12th century, the term Zeta began to replace the name Duklja.
The DAI claims that Duklja had been made desolate by the Avars and "repopulated in the time of the Emperor Heraclius, just as were Croatia and Serbia" (i.e. in the first half of the 7th century), by Slavs. While he clearly states that the neighbouring principalities of Serbia, Pagania, Zahumlje, Travunia and Kanalites had been settled by the 'unbaptized Serbs', he mentions Duklja simply as having been settled by 'Slavs'. The statements of various Byzantine writers in which the Diocleans are also called as Serbs, Croats, and Dalmati do not allow equalization of Duklja inhabitants until 12th century either with the Serbs or with the Croats. Scholars have debated at length as to the reliability of DAI. For example, Francis Dvornik and Florin Curta, among others, suggested that the DAI was a political document, rather than a strictly historical one and that it probably indicates that the coastal županijas were under the authority of the Serbian prince, Časlav Klonimirović, in the mid-10th century. Tibor Živković, Neven Budak and Hrvoje Gračanin also concluded that a closer reading suggests that Constantine consideration about regional ethnic identity is based on Serbian political rule and expansion in the 10th century which does not necessarily indicate ethnic origin. Relja Novaković also came to a similar conclusion. John V.A. Fine argues "given that Serbs settled in regions along its borders, presumably this would have also been a Serb region". Ivo Banac proposed that the DAI mention that a part of the Croats "split off and took control of Illyricum and Pannonia" after settling western part of the province of Dalmatia could be connected to Duklja, while Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja calls that area as Red Croatia. According to historian Sima Ćirković, although Constantine VII does not mention tribes of whom peoples of Duklja originate, the authors of the XI century considered rulers of Zeta to be Serbs and sometimes call their land Serbia. Ćirković also considers that this narrow scientific question has been politicized by opposing Diocleans to Serbs and ignoring historical sources from 11th and 12th century. The dubious Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, compiled in 1298–1301 by a Cistercian monk in the service of Paul I Šubić of Bribir, nevertheless if does again promote mere Byzantine confusion over Serbs and Croats, with other historical sources does allude to the existence of Croats and their political influence far into Montenegrin inland until the late 12th century.
Ultimately, the origins of Duklja are not known with certainty, for the literary evidence often rests on semi-legendary genealogies. Moreover, what actually constituted a people (gens) in the Middle Ages has been rigorously debated. There is no clear evidence that peoples known as Serbs or Croats migrated en masse as coherent nations able to resettle large territories, and that arrived as small military elites which assimilated and organized other already settled Slavs. Both Florin Curta and John Fine, among other medievalists, have argued that ethnonyms such as Serb or Croat were primarily political labels referring to a dux and his retinue of nobles as well as military elite, while on a lower level it also referred the mass of commoners who inhabited the territory under the often nominal and transient rule of such leaders. There is little evidence that a modern notion of nation-type ethnicity, and the values associated with it, existed in medieval societies. Rather, some sort of group identity began to form within the Balkans from the late 7th century as Slavic notables formed a system of alliances. This coincides with the final demise of Avar hegemony over the western Balkans. At the same time, the Byzantines had begun to re-establish some control in parts of the Balkans after the 7th-century collapse of imperial control. The establishment of the Byzantine theme of Dyrrhachium facilitated diplomatic contacts between the East Romans and the Adriatic Sclaviniae.
Rather, for the general masses, identity was rooted primarily with one's own clan, village and region. As Fine states, "In this large region settled by Slavs, all of whom spoke the same language, certain political entities emerged, and that is all that they were, political entities". Duklja was one such polity, and its subsequent history was closely intertwined with that of Serbia/Rascia and the Byzantine Empire, and as well as Rome and 'western' powers. As such Duklja is seen as one of the medieval Serb states and was the political and cultural predecessor of modern Montenegro.
Little is known about Duklja prior to the 11th century. The main source on the history of early South Slavic states is De Administrando Imperio by Emperor Constantine VII (compiled before 952). The work mentions virtually nothing about Duklja apart from that it was settled by Slavs and was ruled by the Byzantine Emperors. It probably did not exist as an established, independent polity before the late 10th century. The Byzantines ruled over coastal cities such as Doclea, Bar, Kotor, and the hinterland surrounding these. Archaeological evidence (a personal seal belonging to "Peter of Diokleia") suggests that local officials governed this small region in the name of the Emperor. The Slav regions that were not directly under Byzantine rule (such as Travunia) were organized into numerous župa, (roughly, a county) ruled by local families.
Slav raids on Eastern Roman territory are mentioned in 518, and by the 580s they had conquered large areas referred to as Sclavinia ("Slavdom", from Sklavenoi). Duklja was settled by Slavs predominantly during the 7th century, although the area was subject to raids by Avars and Slavs from the 6th century. Being a mountainous region, it perhaps served as an area of refuge for pre-Slavic populations. According to Noel Malcolm, today's western Serbia was area where Serbs settled in 7th century and from there they expanded their rule on territory of Duklja. Prince Višeslav (fl. 768–814), the first known Serbian monarch by name, ruled the hereditary lands (Županias, "counties") of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim. He managed to unite several more provinces and tribes into what would become the Serbian Principality. Višeslav was succeeded by his son Radoslav and then Prosigoj, during that time the Serbs were people "who are said to hold a great/large part of Dalmatia" (ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur, Royal Frankish Annals, 822), but according to John (Jr.) Fine, it was hard to find Serbs in this area since the Byzantine sources were limited to the southern coast, but it is possible that among other tribes existed a tribe or group of small tribes of Serbs. Prince Vlastimir further united Serbian tribes against the growing threat from the Bulgarian Empire, his realm spanned over southwestern Serbia, much of Montenegro, eastern Herzegovina and southeastern Bosnia. Prince Petar Gojniković expanded along the Neretva, annexing the Narentines, where he seems to have come into conflict with Michael Višević, a Bulgarian ally and the ruler of Zahumlje (with Trebinje and most of what would later be Duklja). Michael Višević heard of the possible alliance between Serbia and the Byzantines, and warned Symeon. Symeon defeats Petar and in the following years there is a power struggle between the Bulgars and Byzantines over Serbian overlordship. Prince Časlav ruled over a confederacy of tribes covering an expansive area. Some consider he took over regions previously held by Michael, who disappears from sources in 925.
After Časlav died in ca. 960, Stari Ras and probably also Serbian lands were annexed by the Byzantines who formed Catepanate of Ras. A Peter, whose seal has been found, was the archon Diokleias probably at the turn of the 11th century. A Serbian diplomatic mission, likely sent from Duklja, arrived at the Byzantine capital of Constantinople and was recorded in a charter of the Great Lavra Monastery, written in 993. In the 11th century, Jovan Vladimir ruled Duklja, with his court centered in Bar on the Adriatic coast; he held much of the Pomorje under his control including Travunija and Zachlumia. His realm may have stretched west- and northwards to include some parts of the Zagorje (inland Serbia and Bosnia) as well. Vladimir's pre-eminent position over other Slavic nobles in the area explains why Emperor Basil approached him for an anti-Bulgarian alliance. With his hands tied by war in Anatolia, Basil required allies for his war against Tsar Samuel, who ruled the Bulgarian empire stretching over Northern Bulgaria, Western Bulgaria, Macedonia, Serbia, Raška and Epirus. Samuel invaded Duklja in 997, and pushed through Dalmatia up to the city of Zadar, incorporating Bosnia and Serbia into his realm. After defeating Vladimir, Samuel reinstated him as a vassal Prince. We do not know what Vladimir's connection was to the previous Serbian dynasty as much of what is written in the Chronicles of the Priest of Duklja about the genealogy of the Doclean rulers is mythological. Vladimir was murdered by Vladislav, Samuel's brother and successor, circa 1016 AD. The last prominent member of his family, his uncle Dragimir, was killed by some local citizens in Kotor in 1018. That same year, the Byzantines had defeated the Bulgarians, and in one masterful stroke re-took virtually the entire Balkans.
The Byzantine victory over the Bulgarians was a critical development in Balkan history. The Byzantines ruled most of the Balkans – Bulgaria, Serbia, Duklja, and Bosnia all fell back under Byzantine rule for the first time since the 6th century. Over much of the 11th century, we hear very little about events from the interior. Central Serbia was probably under the jurisdiction of the strategos (governor) of Sirmium – Constantine Diogenes. Some historians suggest that Duklja was ruled directly by the strategos of Dyrrhachium, while others posit that a native prince (whose name has not survived) was allowed to remain, ruling as a Byzantine vassal. Either way, the Slavic nobility was under Byzantine control.
Short-lived as it was, Vladimir's influence in Balkan politics shifted the centre of Serbian rule from inland Serbia to the coast. This was a "renewed Serbian state centered on Duklja".
Text from the Wikipedia article “Duklja”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.