After the fatal defeat of Kossovo, which extinguished the independence of Servia for more than four centuries (see Servia), George Balsha, the ruling prince of the Zeta, withdrew to the mountainous portion of his realm, which became an asylum for many of the Servian nobles and for others who had been outlawed or persecuted by the Turkish conqueror. The principality now owned no suzerain, and the history of its heroic struggle with the Turks began. The long record of warfare is varied by conflicts with the Venetians, who at times allied themselves with the mountaineers, but usually deserted them in the hour of need. The Balsha family became extinct in 1421, and a new dynasty was founded by Stephan Tzernoyevitch, or Tzernovitch, who fixed his capital at Zhabliak on the north-east side of Lake Scutari, and joined with his relative, the famous Scanderbeg (q.v.) in many campaigns against the Turks. After the Turkish conquest of Bosnia in 1463, of the Herzegovina in 1476 and of Albania in 1478, and the surrender of Scutari by the Venetians in 1479, the Montenegrins found themselves surrounded on all sides by the Ottoman power, and the struggle was henceforth for existence. Abandoned by Venice and unable to obtain succour from any Christian state, Ivan the Black, the son and successor of Stephan, set fire to Zhabliak in 1484, and withdrew with his people to the mountain village of Tzetinye (Cettigne) which has ever since been the capital of the little principality. Here he founded the famous monastery and created a bishopric in order to establish the spiritual power at the seat of government. Ivan was one of the greatest heroes of Montenegrin history: according to the national legend, he still sleeps in a cave near his fortress of Obod—to awake when the hour arrives for the expulsion of the Turks from Europe.
The Tzernoyevitch dynasty came to an end in 1516, and from this date till 1696 the mountaineers were ruled by the vladikas or bishops of Cettigne, elected by assemblies of the chiefs and people, and consecrated by the patriarch of Ipek. The elective vladikas were aided in matters relating to national defence by a civil governor. The institution The Elective Vladikas. of a theocratic sovereignty probably saved the country from absorption in the Turkish Empire, the supreme power being vested in a sacrosanct person, whose position was unattainable by ambitious Chieftains, and whose holy office precluded the possibility of his defection to Islam. The earlier vladikas were left comparatively unmolested by the Turks, and were enabled to devote their attention to the issue of numerous psalters, missals and gospels from the printing-press at Obod. But the beginning of the 17th century was marked by renewed Turkish aggression. Cettigne was taken in 1623 and again in 1687, when the monastery of Ivan the Black was blown up by the monks; a tribute was for a time imposed on the mountaineers, but the bolder spirits maintained their resistance in the heights, and the invading armies found it impossible to prolong their stay in these inhospitable regions.
In 1696 it was decided to continue the hereditary principle with the theocratic system, and Danilo Petrovitch of Niegush, the first ruler of the present reigning family, was nominated vladika with power to select his successor from among his relatives. The succession was henceforth regularly from uncle to nephew, owing The House of Petrovitch. to the rule of celibacy imposed on the monastic order. The reign of Danilo I. was memorable for the massacre of the Moslems settled in the principality (the “Montenegrin vespers”) on Christmas Eve 1702, the great defeat of the Turkish invaders at Tzarevlatz (1712), the capture of Cettigne by the Turks and the destruction for the third time of its monastery (1714), and the inauguration of the intimate relations which have ever since existed with Russia by the visit of the vladika to Peter the Great in 1715. With Russian aid Danilo was enabled in some degree to repair the ruin which had overtaken his little realm. In the time of his successor Sava (1737–1782) an impostor named Stephan Mali, who represented himself as the Russian emperor Peter III., won the confidence of the Montenegrins, and governed the country with ability for several years (1768–1773), the mountaineers defeating the combined efforts of the Turks and Venetians to remove him. He was eventually assassinated by a Greek suborned by the pasha of Scutari. Peter I. (1782–1830), the greatest of the vladikas, took part in the war of Austria and Russia against Turkey (1788–92), but was abandoned by his allies in the. treaties of Sistova and Jassy. He nevertheless completely routed the Turks in the battle of Krussa (1796), annexed the Brda region to the principality, and obtained a formal recognition of Montenegrin independence from the sultan in 1799. In concert with the Russians he besieged the French in Ragusa (1806), and in 1813–14 expelled them from the Bocche di Cattaro with the aid of a British fleet under Admiral Fremantle. The much-coveted seaport, however, was almost immediately occupied by an Austrian force. Peter I. reorganized the internal administration and promulgated the first Montenegrin code of laws. After his death he was canonized as a saint by the people. His successor Peter II. (1830–1851), a poet, statesman and reformer, as well as a capable military chief, instituted a senate (1831), abolished the office of civil governor (1832), revived the national printing-press, and did much to educate and civilize his people. He was buried by his desire on the summit of Mount Lovchen that his spirit might survey his beloved land. He was the last of the vladikas; his nephew Danilo II. (1851–1860) at once declined the ecclesiastical dignity, and assuming the title of gospodar, or prince, settled the succession on his direct male descendants. He defeated the Turks near Ostrog in 1853, but refrained from attacking them during the Crimean War. His pacific policy produced much discontent among the warlike mountaineers, which culminated in an open revolt. His demand for the recognition of Montenegrin independence and other claims were set aside by the Congress of Paris. In 1858 his brother Mirko, “the Sword of Montenegro,” routed the Turks with great slaughter at Grahovo. In 1855 Danilo II. promulgated a new code, assuring civil and religious liberty to his subjects. On the 11th of August 1860 he was shot at Persano on the Bocche di Cattaro by a Montenegrin whom he had exiled after the revolt, and died two days afterwards. He left no male offspring, and was succeeded by Nicholas, the son of his brother Mirko.
Shortly after the accession of Prince Nicholas (Aug. 13, 1860), an insurrection broke out in Herzegovina, and the sympathy which the mountaineers displayed with their Christian kinsmen led to a rupture with Turkey (1862). Notwithstanding the heroic defence of Ostrog by the prince’s father, Mirko, the war proved disastrous, Prince Nicholas. owing to the superior armament and discipline of the Turkish troops, and severe terms were imposed on the principality by the convention of Scutari (Aug. 31). During the fourteen years of peace which followed, the country suffered greatly from pestilence and famine. Within this period a series of reforms were carried out by the prince: the army was rearmed and reorganized, an educational system was initiated, and a constitution under which the prince surrendered various prerogatives to the Senate was granted. In 1869 the Krivoshians, or Serb inhabitants of the northern shores of the Bocche di Cattaro, rose against the Austrian government; the excitement in Montenegro was intense, but the prince succeeded in checking the warlike ardour of his subjects. The revolt in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1875 had more important consequences for the principality. On the 2nd of July 1876 Prince Nicholas, in alliance with Prince Milan of Servia, declared war against Turkey and invaded Herzegovina. A victory was gained at Vuchidol (July 28), and Medun was captured; but the Servian army suffered reverses, and an armistice was arranged in November. In the following spring the determination of Russia to take the field against Turkey encouraged the Montenegrins to renew the war. The Turks succeeded in occupying Ostrog, but were subsequently repulsed; the greater part of their forces was soon withdrawn to Bulgaria, and Prince Nicholas captured successively Nikshitch, Antivari and Dulcigno. The recovery of the seaboard, which had belonged to Montenegro in the middle ages, was perhaps the principal achievement of the war. The enlargement of territory stipulated for by Russia under the treaty
