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Duklja

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File:Principalities02.png
Duklja according to De administrando imperio

Duklja/Дукља (Latin: Doclea or Dioclea) was a Serbian medieval state with hereditary lands roughly encompassing the terrotories of the Zeta River, Skadar Lake and the Boka bay and bordering with Travunia at Kotor. Duklja was at first a semi-independent part of the Grand Principality (Zhupanate) of Rascia (Raška) which was a vassal of the Eastern Roman Empire and later directly under Byzantine suzeranity until it won its independence in the mid-11th century, ruled by the House of Voislav (Vojislavljević).

Duklja was named after Dioclea (from Docleata, the ancient Illyrian tribe). Dioclea, located near present-day Podgorica, was the capital of early Duklja. Afterwards, Skadar became the capital of the state until the end of the Middle Ages. The Royal Capital of Duklja was Ston.

Name

"Doclea" was the name of the region during the early period of the Roman Empire. It is believed to originate from the name of an early Illyrian tribe. The Romans "hyper-corrected" to "Dioclea" wrongly guessing that an "I" had been lost due to vulgar speech patterns. "Duklja" is the later Slavic version of that word.

The relationship between the names of Duklja and Zeta is somewhat unclear, as the two terms overlap. Duklja was mostly referenced as the littoral area between the Bay of Kotor and the Skadar Lake, while Zeta refers to the river located inland. Zeta is thus the more accurate predecessor of the 19th century Montenegro, while today's Montenegro encompasses the territory of both. According to another interpretation, Duklja was composed of Zeta and Travunia. In any event, the name "Duklja" went out of use by the end of the Middle Ages.

History

Early

De Administrando Imperio from the 10th century mentions it in the story of the province of Dalmatia:

Now, the said Croatia and the rest of the Slavonic regions are situated thus: Diocleia is neighbour to the forts of Dyrrachium, I mean, to Elissus and to Helcynium and Antibari, and comes up as far as Decatera, and on the side of the mountain country it is neighbour to Serbia.

It was one of the four southern Dalmatian Slavic principalities (Sclavinias), other three being Zachlumia, Travunia and Pagania/Narenta/Neretvia.

The most famous description of Duklja is the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (Barski rodoslov) which was written by a Catholic priest from Bar around 1180-1196. It includes numerious informations on Duklja, and calls it a part of Red Croatia; according to a source it names, De Regno Sclavorum dating from 753.

Prince Petar or Predimir of Doclea and Travunia split his lands among his sons.

The Serbs were given this land by the Byzantine Emperor to inhabit and to be christianized. De Administrando Imperio mentions Ceslav Klomir (927-960)(Časlav Klonimirović) ruling Travunia and Pagania with the northeastern region of Rascia/Rasca (Raška/Рашка being the Slavic name), and forming an independent Serbian state. Duklja was directly to the south to Rascia but it maintained its semi-independence for several centuries. Some sources state that Ceslav ruled Duklja directly as well.

The Byzantine enclaves of Kotor, Bar and Ulcinj had to pay taxes and sometimes even be governed by the Doclean rulers.

Lead stamp of archont Petar (or Predimir) (9th century), the first known ruler of Duklja; The Holy Virgin Mary with the Christ Child (left) and and inscription in Greek "+ Petar archont of Dioklia AMIN" (right).

The death of Ceslav brought an opportunity for a more independent Duklja under rulers such as John Vladimir (Jovan Vladimir, ca. 990 - 1016), who fought the Arbanass tribes that menaced the eastern territories. Skadar was formalised as the political center of Duklja. The Bulgarian Tsar Samuil conquered Doclea and took the Prince as a prisoner. As a result of marriage between Jovan Vladimir and the Bulgarian princess Kossara, Jovan Vladimir was allowed to return and rule as a Bulgarian vassal. After the successful plot of the last Czar (Emperor) of the (first) Bulgarian Empire Ivan Vladislav to take Jovan Vladimir's life in 1016, Duklja became a part of the Byzantine theme of Serbia (thema Servia) under strategos of Serbia Constantine Diogenes; while its rulers kept only titles.

Duklja's population were then supporters of the Latin Rite (since the coastland was populated by the Romanized ancestral population with highly advanced Latin culture), but as time passed, more and more of the Eastern Rite appeared, and the Latin-orientated rulers of Duklja kept increasing their Eastern-orientation as the time passed.

High, Voislav, Golden Age

Starting in 1034, Dobroslav, also called Stephen Voislav (Stefan Vojislav; the eponym of the House of Voislav), who was among Travunian gentry, liberated Duklja by expelling the last Byzantine strategos of Serbia, Theophilos Erotikos. He gained the nickname "Stefan" from the Greek word Stephanos meaning "crowned" to resemble his independent power. The Nemanjid dinasty accepted it as their title in honor of Voislav. Voislav also helped the uprising of Slavs in Macedonia.

File:Mihailo.jpg
Mihailo Voislav, the greatest ruler of Duklja on a fresco in the Church of St. Michael in Ston: He was crowned as King of Slavs and became known as the Ruler of Tribals and Serbs during his reign

Later his achievements were repeated by his descendent Michael Voislav (Mihailo Vojislavljević; 1050-1082), who held the old Rascian Grand Princely title of Grand Zhupan (Prince) of Rascia (Veliki Župan Raške/Велики Жупан Рашке) up to 1077 when received the title of King of Slavs (and crown) from Pope Gregory VII. To mark his crowning, the Pope raised the Bishopric of Bar to an Archbishopric in 1080. His realm was known as the Kingdom of Serbia, and he often used the title Ruler of Tribals and Serbs. During Duklja's expansion into Croatia in which the Doclean forces went as far as Knin, he took the title King of Doclea and Dalmatia. He sends his son with an army to assist the insurrection of George Voiteh (Ѓорѓи Војтех) in 1072 during the Slavic rebellion in Macedonia. Constantin Bodin was accepted as Peter III, Czar of Bulgarians (see: List of Bulgarian monarchs), but he got captured by the Byzantine forces. He was rescued by his father in 1078. King Mihailo finished the incorporation of the Byzantine enclaves of Dubrovnik, Kotor, Bar and Ulcinj, started by his predecessor.

This period was useful for Duklja. While its eastern borders were used as a demarcational zone between the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch, the rulers of Duklja used the Latin side to gain independence from the Byzantine, but enforced Eastern Rite and Shismatic Orthodoxy not to allow to be controlled by the Catholic west.

Constantine Bodin (1082-1102) inherited his father's Doclean kingdom. He was a son-in-law of the Guy of Normandy Robert Guiscard. After the death of Bodin, Duklja didn't have any powerful rulers and fights over the crown were became more common. In 1101, an Army of Crusaders passed through Duklja under Count Raymond IV of Toulouse during the Crusade of 1101.

Other Voislav dinasty rulers after Bodin included Vukan, Marko, Uroš I, Uroš II.

Late, Rascian

Stracimir, brother of Nemanja ruled the lands roughly encompassing Duklja in Tihomir's (his oldest brother) name as a vassal of the Byzantine Empire since 1166. The same year Nemanja ascends to the throne as Grand Zhupan of Rascia after he defeats Tihomir's army near Pantino (in Kosovo). Stracimir helped Tihomir in this fight.

Stracimir would continue to nurish separatist tendencies, but his death would eventually bring the annexation of Doclea in 1186 (during the numerious struggles of Rascia against the Byzantine Empire in 1183-1196) when his brother, Zhupan of Rascia and Grand Zhupan of Rascia Stefan I Nemanja expanded Rascia to include Duklja and other coastal territories. He besieged many major cities of Duklja during his campaign with the exception of Kotor. Nemanja took the title Stefan from Voislav in his honor. Stefan Nemanja was the founder of the Nemanyid dynasty. Since him, the title of all Nemanjić rulers was Stefan (Stephanos). Nemanja gave Duklja to his oldest son, who took the old regal title as King of Doclea and Dalmatia.

Around this time, the name Zeta replaced the ancient name of the region (name deriving from the river of Zeta).

List of rulers

Chronology

People, Religion and Culture

The Church of St. Mihailo in Ston

Doclea's population was a mix of Romanized Latins or Vlachs and Slavs; Christians (both Catholics and Orthodox) and Slavic pagans.

The native people of Duklja were mainly Romanized population and some Greeks that lived in the coastal metropolises. They were Christians, and those cities were the beacons of christianization of the Slavic immigrants that came soon. The Slavs started to migrate to the region since the 6th century, but the mass arrivals of Slavs in the first half of the 7th century. Serbs came there, unsatisfied with their previous home of Servia in the theme of Thessalonika, where they were slaves. The Strategos of Singidunum helped them gain the blessing of Emperor Heraclius to be free and receive lands. De Regno Sclavorum from 753 mentions the inhabitants of Duklja as Red Croats.

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