Prince-Bishopric of Montenegro

Origins

After the last Crnojević rulers left Zeta in the 1490s and the land was absorbed into the Ottoman sanjak of Scutari, the metropolitans of Cetinje became the recognised leaders of the highland clans; their secular role is traditionally dated from 1516. In 1697 the office passed to Danilo Petrović-Njegoš, whose family kept it, usually from uncle to nephew.

Rule and society

The vladika was both bishop and prince, ruling a confederation of fiercely independent clans with little central administration, bound together by Orthodoxy and war against the Ottomans. From Peter the Great onwards the prince-bishops sought Russian support. Petar I defeated Kara Mahmud Pasha Bushati in 1796, and Petar II, author of the epic The Mountain Wreath, created a senate and taxes.

Decline and legacy

When Petar II died in 1851, his nephew Danilo refused ordination and in 1852, with Russian approval, proclaimed himself secular prince, creating the Principality of Montenegro. The Petrović-Njegoš dynasty continued to rule until 1918, and the monastery at Cetinje remains the seat of the Metropolitanate.