Duklja
From Freepedia
Image:Principalities.jpg Duklja (Latin: Doclea or Dioclea) was a medieval state located in modern-day Montenegro and northern Albania (including the city of Skadar). Duklja was vassal of the Eastern Roman Empire until it won its independence in the mid-11th century, ruled by the House of Vojislavljević.
Duklja was named after the town of Dioclea, which got its name from the ancient Illyrian tribe of Docleata. The location of Dioclea is near today's Podgorica, while the center of Duklja was actually near Bar (which was the archiepiscopal center).
Name
"Doclea" the name of the region during the early period of the Roman Empire, was termed for an early Illyrian tribe. In later centuries, 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 Travunja. In any event, the name "Duklja" went out of use by the end of the Middle Ages.
History
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 duchies, other three being Pagania/Narenta, Zahumlje and Travunia.
De Administrando Imperio also mentions Časlav Klonimirović uniting Travunia and Pagania with the northeastern region of Raška, which would amount to forming a Serbian state. Duklja was directly to the south to Raška but it maintained its independence in parallel for several centuries.
One of the famous mentions of Duklja is the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja which was written by a priest from Dioclea (Bar) around 1180-1196 and which includes various information about these and related territories, and calls them Red Croatia.
Duklja was populated by Christians of the Latin Rite and was initially usually under the suzerainty of the Byzantine Empire or of Bulgaria up to the 11th century when the dukes of Duklja started having noticeable success in their struggle for independence.
Starting in 1036, Dobroslav, also called Stephen Vojislav (the eponym of House of Vojislavljević), who was from Travunia, liberated Duklja from the Bulgarians for a short period. Later his achievements were repeated by his descendent Mihailo (1050-1082), who held the title of Grand Župan since 1077. Mihailo possibly received the title of king (and crown) from Pope Gregory VII, although it is still an issue of debate; as is the fact that he is the first Serb recognised monarch (first crowned-by-Pope King).
Another important ruler was Bodin (1082-1101), a son of Mihailo and son-in-law of the Normandian ruler Robert Guiscard. After the death of Bodin, Duklja didn't have any powerful rulers and fights over the crown were became more common. Other Vojislavljević rulers after Bodin included Vukan, Marko, Uroš I, Uroš II.
Finally, in 1186 Stefan Nemanja expanded Raška to include Duklja and other coastal territories. Stefan Nemanja was the founder of the Nemanjić Serbian royal dynasty, the first dynasty to have a member of it recognized by the Pope (Stefan Prvovenčani in 1217).
Nemanja himself was initially baptized under Roman rite like the other rulers of Duklja, and later rebaptized under Byzantine Rite. He gave the rule over Duklja to his son Vukan Nemanjić, and due to the difference in religions the two ostensibly united territories were at odds. Eventually though the Serbian Orthodox influence prevailed, and became dominant; remaining so to this very day, with fluctuations like during the Ottoman period.
