| History of Serbia |
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 Serbiaportal |
The Serbs trace their history to the 6th- and 7th-century migrations of Early Slavs to south-eastern Europe. Settling in various parts of the Balkans, Early Slavs assimilated local Byzantine populations (primarily descendants of different paleo-Balkan peoples) and other former Roman citizens. Their descendants later coalesced into different Balkan Slavic medieval states. [1] [2]
Various historical authors mentioned names of Serbs (Serbian : Srbi) and Sorbs (Upper Sorbian : Serbja; Lower Sorbian : Serby) in different variants: as Cervetiis (Servetiis), gentis (S)urbiorum, Suurbi, Sorabi, Soraborum, Sorabos, Surpe, Sorabici, Sorabiet, Sarbin, Swrbjn, Servians, Sorbi, Sirbia, Sribia, Zirbia, Zribia, Suurbelant, Surbia, Serbulia / Sorbulia among others. [3] [4] [5] These authors used these names to refer to Serbs and Sorbs in areas where their historical (or current) presence was/is not disputed (notably in the Balkans and Lusatia), but there are also sources that mention the same or similar names in other parts of the World (most notably in the Asiatic Sarmatia in the Caucasus). Attempts of various researchers to connect these names with modern Serbs produced various theories about the origin of the Serb people.
According to De Administrando Imperio (DAI), written by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII (912-959), the Serbs originated from the "White Serbs" who lived on the "other side of Turkey" (name used for Hungary), in the area that they called "Boiki" (Bohemia). White Serbia bordered to the Franks and White Croatia. DAI claims that after two brothers inherited the rule from their father, one of them took half of the people and migrated to the Byzantine Empire (i.e. to the Balkans), which was governed by Emperor Heraclius (610–641). [13] [14] [15] According to German historian Ludwig Albrecht Gebhardi, the two brothers were sons of Dervan, the dux (duke) of the Surbi (Sorbs). [16] Another part of the White Serbs did not migrate southwards, but remained in the Elbe region. Descendants of these White Serbs with still preserved ethnic identity are the present day Lusatian Serbs (Sorbs), who still live in the Lusatia (Lužica, Lausitz) region of eastern Germany.
Contrary to the general consideration in science, there are also opinions that the data from De administrando imperio that describes Serb migration to the Balkans is not correct and that the Serbs came to the Balkans from Eastern Europe, together with other South Slavs. [17] [18]
In the Balkans, Serbs settled first an area near Thessaloniki and then area around rivers Tara, Ibar, Drina and Lim (in the present-day border region of Serbia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina), and joined with surrounding South Slavic tribes that came to the Balkans earlier (in the 6th century) and the Byzantine population consisting from different people and tribes. Over time, the South Slavic mixed with the Serbs and also adopted Serb name as their own. [19] [20]
The Emperor Constantine III (641) transferred a part of the Slavs from the Balkans (Vardar region) to Asia Minor. There these migrants founded the city of Gordoservon, the name of which gives grounds for supposing that among its founders there were Serbs, and was also known under names Gordoserbon and Servochoria. [21]
Theory about Iranian origin of the Serb ethnonym assumes that ancient Serbi / Serboi from north Caucasus (Asiatic Sarmatia) were a Sarmatian (Alanian) tribe. [22] The theory subsequently assumes that Alanian Serbi were subdued by the Huns in the 4th century and that they, as part of the Hunnic army, migrated to the western edge of the Hunnic Empire (in the area of Central Europe near the river Elbe, later designated as White Serbia in what is now Saxony and Thuringia (eastern Germany), recorded by Vibius Sequester as Cervetiis (Servetiis). [23] After the Hunnic leader Attila died (in 453), Alanian Serbi presumably became independent and ruled in the east of the river Saale (in modern-day Germany) over the local Slavic population. [23] [22] [24] Over time, they, it is argued, intermarried with the local Slavic population of the region, [22] [24] adopted Slavic language, and transferred their name to the Slavs. [23] [25] According to Tadeusz Sulimirski, similar event could occur in the Balkans Serbia, settled by Slavs who came from the north and who were ruled by already slavicized Serboi. [23] [24]
Deformed human skulls that are connected to the Alans are also discovered in the area that was later designated as "White Serbia". [23] [25] According to Indo-European interpretation, different sides of the World are designated with different colors, thus, white color is a designation for the west, black color for the north, blue or green color for the east and red color for the south. According to that view, White Serbia and White Croatia were designated as western Serbia and western Croatia, and were situated in the west from some hypothetical lands that had same names and that presumably existed in the east. [26]
This theory assumes that Serbs are an autochthonic people in the Balkans and Podunavlje, where they presumably lived before historical Slavic and Serb migration to the Balkans in the 6th–7th centuries. [27] Proponents of this theory (for example Jovan I. Deretić, Olga Luković Pjanović [ sr ], Miloš Milojević) claimed that Serbs either came to the Balkans long before the 7th century or Serb 7th-century migration to the Balkans was only partial and Serbs who, according to De Administrando Imperio , came from the north found in the Balkans other Serbs that already lived there. [27] It is suggested that the ancient city of Serbinum in Pannonia was named after these hypothetical autochthonic Serbs. In mainstream historiography, this is considered to be a fringe theory, and the methods used by its proponents are considered pseudoscientific. [28]
The Principality of Serbia was one of the early medieval states of the Serbs, located in the western regions of Southeastern Europe. It existed from the 8th century up to c. 969–971 and was ruled by the Vlastimirović dynasty. Its first ruler known by name was Višeslav who started ruling around 780. While by that time, starting from the year 680–681, the Bulgarian state had taken the lands to the east. Vlastimir resisted and defeated the Bulgarian army in a three-year-war (839–842), and the two powers lived in peace for some decades. Vlastimir's three sons succeeded in ruling Serbia together, although not for long; Serbia became a key part in the power struggle between the Byzantines and Bulgarians, predominantly allied with the Byzantines, which also resulted in major dynastic wars for a period of three decades. The principality was annexed in 924 by Simeon I and subjected to Bulgarian rule until 933 when Serbian prince Časlav was established as ruler of the Serbian land, becoming the most powerful ruler of the Vlastimirović dynasty.
Duklja 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 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, and his son, Constantine Bodin, 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 and installed vassal rulers there, this maritime principality emerged as the most powerful Serb polity, seen in the titles used by its rulers. 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.
Časlav was Prince of the Serbs from c. 933 until his death in c. 943/960.
The term Unknown Archon,Unknown Prince, or Unnamed Serbian Archon refers to a prince of the Sorbs of the first half of the 7th century who supposedly led his people from their original homeland in White Serbia to settle in the Balkans during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610–641), as mentioned in Emperor Constantine VII's work De Administrando Imperio. The work does not record his name, but states that he was the progenitor of the first Serbian dynasty, and that he died before the arrival of the Bulgars on the Balkans (680), succeeded by his son, and then grandson.
Dervan or Derwan was an early duke of the Sorbs.
Višeslav or Vojislav, is the first Serbian ruler known by name, who ruled in c. 780. Serbia was a Slavic principality, subject to the Byzantine Empire, located in the western Balkans, bordering with Bulgaria in the east. Mentioned in the De Administrando Imperio (DAI) from the mid-10th century, Višeslav was a progenitor of the Serbian ruling family, known in historiography as the Vlastimirović dynasty. He was descended from the unnamed "Serbian prince" who led his people to the Dalmatia province and established hereditary rule under Byzantine suzerainty. The names of Višeslav's predecessors were not included in the DAI. The dynasty ruled the Principality of Serbia from the early 8th century until around 960.
White Serbia, also called Boiki, is the name applied to the assumed homeland of the White Serbs, a tribal subgroup of Wends, a mixed and the westernmost group of Early Slavs. They are the ancestors of the modern Sorbs in Saxony and Serbs in Serbia.
Petar Gojniković or Peter of Serbia was Prince of the Serbs from 892 to 917. He ruled and expanded the First Serbian Principality and won several wars against other family members that sought the crown. He was the first Serbian monarch with a Christian (non-Slavic) name.
Mutimir was prince of the first Serbian Principality from ca. 850 until 891. He defeated the Bulgar army, and allied himself with the Byzantine emperor, and the Church in Serbia with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Serboi or Serbi and Sirbi was a tribe mentioned in Greco-Roman geography as living in the North Caucasus, believed by scholars to have been Sarmatian.
Michael of Zahumlje, also known as Michael Višević or rarely as Michael Vuševukčić, was a semi-independent, or independent Slavic ruler of Zahumlje, in present-day central Herzegovina and southern Croatia, who flourished in the early part of the 10th century. Prince Michael of Zahumlje had a common boundary with the Serbia and probably with the Kingdom of Croatia, but was an ally of Bulgaria. He was nevertheless able to maintain independent rule throughout at least a majority of his reign.
Prosigoj was a Serbian ruler believed to have ruled prior to c. 830. Serbia was a Slavic principality subject to the Byzantine Empire, located in the western Balkans, bordering with Bulgaria in the east. Mentioned in the De Administrando Imperio (DAI) from the mid-10th century, he succeeded his father Radoslav and was succeeded by his son Vlastimir.
Serbs, a South Slavic people, and Sorbs, a West Slavic people, have been theorized to have common ancestry prior to the Migration Period due to their ethnonym.
Pribislav was Prince of the Serbs for a year, in 891–892, before being deposed by his cousin Petar. He was the eldest son of Mutimir of the Vlastimirović dynasty, who ruled during the expanding and Christianization of Serbia.
Destinikon, rendered also as Destinik and in Serbian as Dostinik or Dostinika (Достиника), was one of eight inhabited cities (καστρα/kastra) of "baptized Serbia", mentioned in De Administrando Imperio. The city's name probably derives from Greek or Latin.
Names of the Serbs and Serbia are terms and other designations referring to general terminology and nomenclature on the Serbs and Serbia. Throughout history, various endonyms and exonyms have been used in reference to ethnic Serbs and their lands. Basic terms, used in Serbian language, were introduced via classical languages into other languages, including English. The process of interlingual transmission began during the early medieval period, and continued up to the modern times, being finalized in major international languages at the beginning of the 20th century.
Pavle Branovic was the Prince of the Serbs from 917 to 921. He was put on the throne by the Bulgarian Tsar Symeon I of Bulgaria, who had imprisoned the previous prince (Petar) after he had become a Byzantine ally. Pavle ruled for four years, before being defeated by Zaharija Pribislavljević, his cousin. Pavle was the son of Bran, the middle son of Mutimir of the Vlastimirović dynasty.
Serbi may refer to:
Sporoi or Spori was according to Eastern Roman scholar Procopius (500–560) the old name of the Antes and Sclaveni, two Early Slavic branches. Procopius stated that the Sclaveni and Antes spoke the same language, but he did not trace their common origin back to the Veneti but to a people he called "Sporoi". He derived the name from Greek σπείρω, because "they populated the land with scattered settlements".
The Sorbs, also known as Serbs or White Serbs in Serbian historiography, were an Early Slavic tribe settled between the Saale-Elbe valley and the Lusatian Neisse. They were part of the Polabian Slavs and Wends group of Early Slavs. In the 7th century CE, the tribe joined Samo's Empire, and some Sorbs emigrated from their homeland to Southeast Europe. The tribe is last mentioned in the late-10th century, but its descendants can be found among Germanized people of Saxony, among the Slavic ethnic group of the Sorbs in Lusatia, and among the Serbs of Southeastern Europe.
The coming of the Slavs facilitated the transformation of the East Roman into the 'Byzantine' Empire, and Hellenic continuity was preserved. When Slavic states developed in the Balkans, most did so under the strong cultural influence of neighboring Byzantium.