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Raška (Serbian Cyrillic: Рашка; alternative spellings have included Raschka, Rascia and Rassa) was the central and most successful medieval Serbian state (or župa, area ruled by a župan) that unified neighboring Serbian tribes into a main medieval Serbian state in the Balkans.
[edit] BackgroundConstantine VII Porphyrogenitos describes Raška (Ῥασκία - Rascia) in De Administrando Imperio as being settled by Serbs at the start of the 7th century. Also in De Administrando Imperio, he wrote that the Serbs resided in Zachumlie (Zahumlje), Trebounia (Travunia), the Zeta (Duklja), Bosnia (Bosna) and Pagania (Paganija). From the early 7th century, the history of Raška becomes intimately bound with the history of the Serb House of Vlastimirović, which ruled from Raška. The house was named for Knez Vlastimir, who was the great-great-grandson of the Unknown Archont who led the Serbs to the Balkans from White Serbia. [edit] History[edit] IntroThe House of Vlastimirović was later succeeded by the House of Nemanjić and Stefan Dušan of the House of Nemanjić transformed Raška into powerful Serbian Empire in the 14th century. Upon their initial arrival, the Slavs formed "no uniform political organization", but rather remained divided into many tribes of various sizes, referred to as Sklaviniai by the Byzantines. These groups were led by native chiefs. Perhaps, the tribes were organized into zhupas, a form of territorial organization, being roughly equivalent to a county. Each zhupa consisted of several villages, linked by clan (ie extended family) relationships. It should be noted that the Serbs assimilated the much more populous Balkan natives (ie. Illyrians, Thracians etc.) into the Serbian ethnos. An embryonic Serbian state formed in the 9th century. At this time, the Bulgarian Khanate was expanding westward, and had already installed Bulgar despots over the Slavic tribes which inhabited what is present-day northern Serbia - the Srem region and eastern Slavonia. At the same time, it pushed into Macedonia from the south, effectively encircling the Serbs. As a response to this, with Byzantine support, a few Serbian zhupa united defensively under the lead of Knez (‘Prince’) Vlastimir- the founder of the Vlastimirovic dynasty. The extent and location of this early Serb principality is not known with certainty, but it probably lay in present day southern Serbia and southeastern Bosnia "in the difficult country between the Rivers Drina and Ibar". In between the Serb principality and the Adriatic coastline existed three minor 'principalities', Travunia, Zachlumia and Pagania. At this time Duklja did not exist as a political entity, as its eastern parts were part of Vlastimir's realm whilst the coastal cities were ruled by Byzantine governors. To the north, the Croats were beginning to consolidate into a Principality, whilst to the east loomed the Bulgarian Empire. Archaeological evidence shows that the fort of Ras, marked the early Serb-Bulgarian border. The Bulgarian invasion came sometime in the 840s, but was repelled by Knez Vlastimir. Vlastimir gave his daughter's hand to the son of the Zhupan of Travunia, Balaes. This established a long-lasting allegiance. Travunia henceforth acknowledged Serbia’s authority, and was incorporated in Serbia as a semi-independent principality. Vlastimir's sons- Mutimir, Gojnik and Stojmir- defeated another Bulgarian attack c.853, capturing Khan Boris’ son, Vladimir, and twelve leading boljars. They escorted Vladimir to Ras, at the Serb-Bulgarian border, exchanged gifts and concluded a peace treaty. However, this early princedom was far from a consolidated, cetralized state, and the various zhupans retained considerable independence. Rather than practising primogeniture, Slavic rulers practiced staresina, where rule fell upon the eldest person in the extended family (rather than the son of the King). The realm would then be split between the surviving brothers, sons, nephews and cousins. Such tradition repeatedly caused succession strife. [edit] BulgariaSometime after defeating the Bulgarians, Mutimir ousted his brothers (who fled to Bulgaria). He kept Gojnik’s son Peter in his court, but he managed to escape to Croatia. Mutimir ruled until 890, being succeeded by his son Prvoslav. However, Prvoslav was overthrown by Petar Gojnikovic, who had returned from his exile in Croatia c. 892. The name Peter is Christian; suggesting that Christianity had started to permeate into Serbia, undoubtedly through Serbia’s contacts with the Bulgarians and Byzantines. Peter secured himself on the throne (after fending off a challenge from Klonimir, son of Stojmir) and was recognised by Tsar Symeon of Bulgaria. An alliance was signed between the two states. Already having Travunia’s loyalty, Peter began to expand his state north and west. He annexed the Bosna River valley, and then moved west securing allegiance from the Pagans - who were fiercely independent, pirateering Slavs. However, Peter’s expansion into Dalmatia brought him into conflict with Prince Michael Visevic of Zahumlje. Michael had also grown powerful, ruling not only Zachlumia, but exerting his influence over Travunia and Dioklea. Porphyrogenitus explains that Michael’s roots were different from Vlastimirovici, and was unwilling to yield authority to Peter. Although allied to Symeon, Peter became increasingly disgruntled by the fact that he was essentially subordinate to him. Peter’s expansion toward the coast facilitated contacts with the Byzantines, by way of the strategos of Dyrrachium. Searching for allies against Bulgaria, the Byzantines showered Peter with gold and promises of greater independence if he would join their alliance- a convincing strategy. Peter might have been planning an attack on Bulgaria with the Magyars, showing that his realm had stretched north to the Sava river. However, Michael of Zahumlje fore-warned Symeon of this plan, since Michael was an enemy of Peter, and a loyal vassal of Symeon. What followed was multiple Bulgarian interventions and a succession of Serb rulers. Symeon attacked Serbia (in 917) and deposed Peter, placing Pavel Branovic (a grandson of Mutimir) as Prince of Serbia, subordinate to Symeon (although some scholars suggest that Symeon took control over Serbi directly at this time. Unhappy with this, the Byzantines then sent Zaharije Prvoslaviljevic in 920 to oust Pavel, but he failed and was sent to Bulgaria as prisoner. The Byzantines then succeeded in turning Prince Pavel to their side. In turn, the Bulgarians started indoctrinating Zaharije. Zaharije invaded Serbia with a Bulgarian force, and ousted his cousin Pavel in 922. However, he too turned to Byzantium. A punitive force sent by the Bulgarians was defeated. Zaharije sent the heads of the Bulgarian generals to Emperor Romanus as a sign of his loyalty to the Byzantines. Thus we see a continuous cycle of dynastic strife amongst Vlastimir’s successors, stirred on by the Byzantine and Bulgarians, who were effectively using the Serbs as pawns. Whilst Bulgarian help was more effective, Byzantine help seemed preferable. Simeon made peace with the Byzantines to settle affairs with Serbia once and for all. Frustrated by the traitorous smaller neighbour militarily, the Bulgarians decided to finish the things once and for all. In 924, he sent a large army accompanied by Caslav, son of Klonimir. The army forced Zaharije to flee to Croatia. The Serbian zhupans were then summoned to recognise Caslav as the new Prince. When they came, however, they were all imprisoned and taken to Bulgaria, as too was Caslav. Much of Serbia was ravaged, and many people fled to Croatia, Bulgaria and Constantinople. Simeon made Serbia into a Bulgarian province, so that Bulgaria now bordered Croatia and Zahumlje. He then resolved to attack Croatia, because it was a Byzantine ally and had sheltered the Serbian Prince.  At the battle of the Bosnian highlands, Croatia’s King Tomislav defeated the Bulgarians, whilst Prince Michael of Zahumlje maintained neutrality. During the fall of central Serbia, Michael Visevic was the pre-eminent Serb prince, having been awarded the honorary title of Patriakos by the Byzantine Emperor, and may have ruled over Zachlumia, Travunia and Dioklea. The Bulgarian subjugation of Serbia was for only three years. After Symeon died, Caslav Klonimirovic (927- c. 960s) led Serb refugees back to Serbia. He secured the allegiance of the Dalmatian duchies and expelled Bulgarian rule from central Serbia. After Tomislav’s death, Croatia was in near anarchy as his sons vied for sole rule, so Caslav was able to extend his rule north to the Vrbas river (gaining the alliegence of the chiefs of the various Bosnian zhupa). During this apogee of Serbian power, Christianity and culture penetrated Serbia as the Serb prince lived in peaceful and cordial relations with the Byzantines. However, strong as it had grown to be, Serbia’s power (as other early Slavic states) was only as strong as its ruler. There was no centralised rule, but was a more a confederacy of Slavic principalities. The existence of the unified Grand Principality was dependent on the alliegence of the lesser princes to Caslav. When he died defending Bosnia against Magyar incursions (sometime between 950-960), the coalition disintegrated. The various zhupans and princes previously loyal to Caslav undoubtedly tried to carve out their own realms, falling into conflict with each other. We do not know the details, and we do not know the names of any rulers- perhaps because no one was prominent enough to be noted. We do know that in the 990s, Jovan Vladimir rose as the most powerful Serbian noble, carving out a principality centred on the coast of modern Montenegro. This state became known as Duklja, after the ancient Roman town of Doclea. However, by 997, it had been conquered and made subject to Bulgaria again by tsar Samuel. When the Byzantines finally defeated the Bulgarians, they regained control over most of the Balkans for the first time in four centuries. Serbian lands were governed by a strategos presiding over the Theme of Sirmium. However, local Serbian princes continued to reign as suzerains to the Byzantines, maintaining total autonomy over their lands, such as the zhupanate of Rascia while only nominally being Byzantine vassals.[citation needed] Forts were maintained in Belgrade, Sirmium, Nis and Branicevo. These were, for the most part, in the hands of local nobility, which often revolted against Byzantine rule. [edit] Name origin theoryThe state of Raška was named after the Raška River in present-day south-western Serbia. It is thought that Sarmatian Serboi, an ancient tribe from the Caucasus that probably gave its name to the Slavic Serbs, left their traces around the river Volga (Ἀράξης - Araxes in Greek[citation needed]), which is also called "Rashki". This name is found wherever the name Serb is found in clusters. The name may also be connected with Thracians. [edit] Later usage of the termBetween 15th and 18th century, term Raška (Rascia, Ráczság) was used to designate southern parts of the Pannonian Plain that were inhabited by Serbs who migrated there from the territory of original Raška in the Balkans. Nowadays, the word Rashka (Рашка) is often used by Russian anti-patriots as a diminutive and abusive term for Russia.[citation needed] [edit] See also
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