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Zachlumia or Zachumlia (Serbo-Croatian: Zahumlje / Захумље, pronounced [zǎxuːmʎe]), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, respectively). In some periods it was a fully independent or semi-independent South Slavic principality. It maintained relations with various foreign and neighbouring powers (Byzantine Empire, First Bulgarian Empire, Kingdom of Croatia, Principality of Serbia) and later was subjected (temporarily or for a longer period) to Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Bosnia, and at the end to the Ottoman Empire.
Zachlumia is a derivative of Hum, from Proto-Slavic *xŭlmŭ, borrowed from a Germanic language (cf. Proto-Germanic *hulma-), meaning "Hill". South Slavic Zahumlje is named after the mountain of Hum (za + Hum "behind the Hum"), above Bona, at the mouth of the Buna. The principality is named Zahumlje or Hum in Serbo-Croatian (Serbian Cyrillic: Захумље, Хум). It is Zachlumia in Latin, Хлъмъ in Old Church Slavonic, and Ζαχλούμων χώρα ("land of Zachlumians") in Greek. The names Chelmania, Chulmia and terra de Chelmo appear in later Latin and Italian chronicles.
De Administrando Imperio described the polity of Zachlumia as: "From Ragusa begins the domain of the Zachlumi (Ζαχλοῦμοι) and stretches along as far as the river Orontius: and on the side of the coast it is neighbour to the Pagani, but on the side of the mountain country it is neighbour to the Croats on the north and to Serbia at the front ... Those who live there now, Zachlumi, are Serbs, from the time of that prince who claimed the protection of the Emperor Heraclius. In the territory of the Zachlumi are the inhabited cities of Stagnon, Mokriskik, Iosli, Galoumainik, Dobriskik".
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (14th or 16th century) described the geography under the rule of the South Slavic ("Red Croatia") rulers, Hum had two major cities: Bona and Hum. The main settlements in Zachlumia were Ston, Ošlje, Dobar, the towns of Mokriskik and Glumainik. The principality sprang from Dalmatia (Croatia) to the northwest and Pagania to the west; to the mountain of Kalinovik and the Gatačko polje, where it bordered Travunia. The eastern border of Zahumlje went along the line Popovo-Ljubinje-Dabar and met with the Travunian border at the city of Ragusa. Zachlumia was split on 9 zhupanates: Ston, Popovo, Dubrava, Luka, Dabar, Žapska, Gorička and Večenik around Neretva. Zahumlje had access to the Adriatic Sea with the Pelješac peninsula and faced Serbia northwards.
Slavs invaded Balkans during Justinian I (r. 527–565), when eventually up to 100,000 Slavs raided Thessalonica. The Western Balkans was settled with Sclaveni (Sklavenoi), the east with Antes. The Sklavenoi plundered Thrace in 545, and again the next year. In 551, the Slavs crossed Niš initially headed for Thessalonica, but ended up in Dalmatia. In 577 some 100,000 Slavs poured into Thrace and Illyricum, pillaging cities and settling down. Hum had also a large number of Vlachs who were descendent from a pre-Slavic population. Related to Romanians and originally speaking a language related to Romanian, the Vlachs of what was Hum are today Slavic speaking.
In the second decade of the 7th century, the Avars and their Slavic subjects occupied most of the Byzantine province of Dalmatia, including the territory of what would become Zahumlje, sacking towns and enslaving or displacing the local population. Some of the Slavs and Avars might have permanently settled in the occupied areas. They attacked Constantinople in 626 but were defeated by the Byzantines, after which the Avars ceased to play a significant role in the Balkans.
Around 630, during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, Serbs and Croats (Slavic tribes) led by their respective aristocracies entered the western Balkans from the north, which was approved by the emperor. They inhabited areas that had been devastated by the Avars, where Byzantium (East Roman Empire) had generally been reduced to only nominal rule. According to DAI, Zahumlje was one of the regions settled by the Serbs from an area near Thessaloniki who previously arrived there from White Serbia, but a closer reading of the source suggests that the Constantine VII's consideration about the population's ethnic identity is based on Serbian political rule and influence during the time of Časlav of Serbia and does not indicate ethnic origin. 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 Zachlumia. According to Tibor Živković the area of the Vistula where the Litziki ancestors of Michael of Zahumlje originate was the place where White Croats would be expected and not White Serbs, and it's unclear whether the Zachlumians "in the migration period to the Balkans really were Serbs or Croats or Slavic tribes which in alliance with Serbs or Croats arrived in the Balkans". According to Francis Dvornik the Zachlumians "had a closer bond of interest with the Croats than with the Serbs, since they seem to have migrated to their new home not with the Serbs, but with the Croats". Michael's tribal origin is related to the oral tradition from Historia Salonitana by Thomas the Archdeacon about seven or eight tribes of nobles called Lingones who arrived from Poland and settled in Croatia. Much of Dalmatia was sometime earlier settled by the Croats, and Zahumlje bordered their territory on the north. According to Thomas the Archdeacon, when describing the reign of Croatian king Stephen Držislav in the late 10th century, notes that Duchy of Hum (Zachlumia or Chulmie) was a part of the Kingdom of Croatia, before and after Stjepan Držislav:
"Istaque fuerunt regni eorum confinia: ab oriente Delmina, ubi fuit civitas Delmis, ... ab occidente Carinthia, versus mare usque ad oppidum Stridonis, quod nunc est confinium Dalmatie et Ystrie; ab aquilone vero a ripa Danubii usque ad mare Dalmaticum cum tota Maronia et Chulmie ducatu."
"The boundaries of that kingdom were as follows. To the east: Delmina. ... To the west: Carinthia, towards the sea up to the town of Stridon, which now marks the boundary between Dalmatia and Istria. To the north, moreover: from the banks of the Danube down to the Dalmatian sea, including all of Maronia and the Duchy of Hum."
Charlemagne, King of the Franks from 768 until his death in 814, expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire (800) that incorporated much of western and central Europe. He brought the Frankish state face to face with the West Slavs to the northeast and the Avars and South Slavs to the southeast of the Frankish empire. Dalmatia which was southeast of the Frankish empire, was chiefly in the hands of South Slavic tribes. North of Dubrovnik these came to be under Croatian župans (princes) and eventually came to consider themselves Croatians, while many of those to the south of Dubrovnik were coming to consider themselves Serbs. Despite Frankish overlordship, the Franks had almost no role in Dalmatia (Dalmatian Croatia and Zahumlje) in the period from the 820s through 840s.
In 866, a major Arab raid along Dalmatia struck Budva and Kotor, and then laid siege to Dubrovnik in 867. The city of Dubrovnik appealed to Byzantine Emperor Basil the Macedonian, who responded by sending over one hundred ships. Finally, the 866–867 Saracens' siege of Dubrovnik, which lasted fifteen months, was raised due to the intervention of Basil I, who sent a fleet under the command of Niketas Oryphas in relief of the city. After this successful intervention, the Byzantine navy sailed along the coast collecting promises of loyalty to the empire from the Dalmatian cities. At this moment the local Slavic tribes (in Zahumlje, Travunija, and Konavle), who had aided the intervention, also accepted Byzantine suzerainty. Afterwards, the Slavs of Dalmatia and Zahumlje took part in the Byzantine military actions against the Arabs in Bari in 870–871. The Roman cities in Dalmatia had long been pillaged by the Slavic tribes in the mountaines around them. Basil I allowed the towns to pay tribute to the Slavic tribes to reduce the Slavs raiding. Presumably a large portion of this tribute went to the prince of Dalmatian Croatia. In late 870s, the theme of Dalmatia ("thema Dalmatias") was established, but with no real Byzantine authority. These small cities in the region (also Dyrrachium) did not stretch into the hinterlands, and had none military capacity, thus Basil I paid a tax of '72 gold coins' to the princes of Zahumlje and Travunia.
In 879, the Pope asked for help from duke Zdeslav Trpimirović for an armed escort for his delegates across southern Dalmatia and Zahumlje. Later in 880, the Pope ask the same from Zdeslav's successor, prince Branimir.
The history of Zahumlje as a greater political entity starts with the emerging of Michael of Zahumlje, an independent South Slavic ruler who flourished in the early part of the 10th century. A neighbour of Croatian Kingdom and Principality of Serbia as well as an ally of Bulgaria, he was nevertheless able to maintain independent rule throughout at least a good part of his reign.
Michael have come into territorial conflict with the neighbouring prince Peter Gojniković, the ruler of inner Serbia, who was extending his power westwards. To eliminate that threat and as a close ally of Bulgaria, Michael warned the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I about the alliance between Peter and Symeon's enemy, the Byzantine Empire. In 912 Michael kidnapped the Venetian Doge's son Peter Badoari that was returning to Venice from Constantinople and sent him to Czar Simeon as a sign of loyalty. Symeon attacked inner Serbia and captured Peter, who later died in prison, and Michael was able to restore the majority of control.
The Historia Salonitana maior, whose composition may have begun in the late 13th century, cites a letter of Pope John X to Tomislav, "king (rex) of the Croats", in which he refers to the first council in some detail. If the letter is authentic, it shows that the council was attended not only by the bishops of Croatian and Byzantine Dalmatia, but also by Tomislav, whose territory also included the Byzantine cities of Dalmatia, and by a number of Michael's representatives. Zahumlje may have been under Croatian influence, but remained a separate political entity. Both Zahumlje and Croatia were under the religious jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Split. In this letter, John describes Michael as "the most excellent leader of the Zachlumi" (excellentissimus dux Chulmorum), and is mentioned the Ston bishopric (ecclesia Stagnensis) which jurisdiction remained under Split until 1022. It is uncertain whether the inscription and depiction of a Slavic ruler in the Church of St. Michael in Ston is a reference to Michael of Zahumlje, the 11th century Mihailo I of Duklja or St. Michael himself.
After the Italian city of Siponto (Latin: Sipontum) was heavily jeopardized by the raiding Arabs and Langobards, Mihailo won a magnificent military victory by taking the city upon the recommendations from Constantinople and orders from his ally, King Tomislav Trpimirovic, but didn't keep it permanently. Mihailo Višević entered into closer relations with the Byzantine Empire, after the death of Bulgaria's Tsar Simeon. He gained the grand titles of the Byzantine court as anthypatos and patrician (patrikios). He remained as ruler of Zahumlje into the 940s, while maintaining good relations with the Papacy.
After the death of Michael (after c. 930s or 940s), the fate of Zahumlje is uncertain due to lack of historical sources about it. Some historians believe that Zahumlje came under the rule of prince Časlav of Serbia, but there's no evidence for it and DAI which was written in the mid-10th century clearly states that Zachlumia is a separate polity from Serbia. The 13th century Thomas the Archdeacon claimed that the Croatian kingdom included Zachlumia before and after Stephen Držislav (969–997), but that's also disputable.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Zachlumia”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.