Petar Gojniković

Petar Gojniković (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Гојниковић) or Predimir (ca. 870 - after 917) of the House of Vlastimirović was the Prince of the Serbian lands from 892 to 917.

Early reign

Petar was born somewhere between 870 and 874 as the son of the Serbian Prince Gojnik, the last son of the founding father Vlastimir. Back then Vlastimir's oldest son Mutimir, reigned together in some form of a primitive oligarchy together with Gojnik and the third and last brother, Strojimir. During the 880s Mutimir conducted a state strike with Bulgarian assistance, seized Strojimir, his son Klonimir and Gojnik and deported them to the Bulgarian khanate of Khan Boris. For unknown reasons he kept young Petar to himself, but he fled, shocked by what Mutimir did to his father and fearing for his own life, to the Croatian Dalmatian Duchy of Duke Branimir in exile.

In 891, with Croatian military assistance from Croatian Dalmatia, Peter invaded Serbia and deposed Mutimir's son (and successor) Pribislav. Mutimir's sons Pribislav and Stefan fled to Croatia, seeking exile. Barely 20 years old, Petar strengthened his grip over the Serbian lands and became one of the most famous members of the House of Vlastimir. His Christian name depicts that he was the first Serbian Christian ruler.

The Struggles

With the traditions of succession broken, many new pretenders to the Serbian throne arose. Already in 895 Mutimir's middle son Bran with help from the Croatian ruler Muncimir attempts to depose Petar and fails, getting himself caught. As a punishment for his mutiny, he was blinded. The tradition of blinding was taken from Byzantium and meant complete disabling of a person to take up any political position. As a result of this support, he broke off close diplomatic ties to the Croatian realm. In 897 Strojimir's son Klonimir invades from Bulgaria. In the civil war Klonimir had managed to conquer the strong fortification of Dostinik, but utterly failed in the end and was killed in battle by Peter.

Strengthening

At the entire eastern border, Peter's Serbian realm faced Bulgaria. In order to secure peace and stability along that the east, he became the godfather of Bulgarian Tsar Simeon. To the west, he started strengthening his hold of the local Slavic lands. He annexed the Narentine Pagania and defeated the local Slavic lord Tišemir in Bosnia, confirming his grip over the entire Bosnian valley. He also pushed into Zachlumia, pressing the local Serb ruler- Grand Prince Mihailo Višević to his maritime possessions. Therefore Petar Gojnikovic became the first Serbian ruler to have firmly established control over most of the Seaside. Only Dioklea remained outside his control, which was probably still under Byzantine control at the time. He made a somewhat significant twist in religious politics, connecting the Church in his state to the West and Latin culture.

Survival

The Bulgarian Emperor Symeon was fiercely striking against lands of the Byzantine Empire. In an effort to stop him, Constantinople began forging a military alliance with the Serbs and Magyars. On that occasion the Byzantine strategos of Dyrrachium Lion Rabduch met Peter somewhere on the Neretvian coast in 912. Peter was becoming unhappy with his alliance with Symeon, who saw Peter as his vassal. Thus Peter was won over by the Byzantines, who showereed him with gold and promises of greater independence. But Peter's enemy, the Zachlumian ruler Michael came to know about this meeting, so he informed Symeon in an effort to restore control over Zahumlje. As a sign of loyalty, he even caught a Venetian Galley with the Doge's successor Peter Badoari and sent him and his crew to Simeon's court as hostages - Venice was a Byzantine subject.

In 917 after successfully defeating the Byzantines in combat, Simeon sent an army under the leadership of Pavle, Bran's son and Mutimir's grandson, in effort to quickly crush all possibilities of such an alliance against him actually forming up. This time as well, without any greater difficulty, Peter defeated the pretender and repelled him and his forces back to Bulgaria. Obviously not succeeding to subject Serbia under his sphere of influence by means of force, Simeon looked for an alternative. He invited Peter to negotiate peace terms and allegedly renew the traditional friendship between the two Slavic states. When he accepted the proposal, Bulgarian soldiers caged him and took him to Bulgaria as a slave. Paul didn't have greater difficulties in succeeding the Serbian throne and reigned as a mere Bulgarian vassal. Michael Visevic managed to retake his land and further strengthen a hold over the entire Serbian Seaside (Zachlumia, Pagania, Travunia, parts of Dioklea). Paul had restored Eastern practice to the Church and start a period of conflicting Slavic and Latin services.

References

* Ćorović, Vladimir (1941). [http://www.rastko.org.yu/rastko-bl/istorija/corovic/istorija/2_5_l.html "Istorija Srpskog Naroda", Srbi između Vizantije, Hrvatske i Bugarske]
* History of Serbs, Konstantin Jireček
* John Fine