Petar II Petrović-Njegoš place of birth Njeguši
Early life and origins
Petar II Petrović-Njegoš was born Radivoje "Rade" Petrović on 13 November [O.S. 1 November] 1813 in the mountain village of Njeguši, near Cetinje. His father, Tomislav "Tomo" Petrović (b. 1762–63), was a member of the Petrović clan of the Njeguši tribe of Katuni nahiya. Njegoš's mother, Ivana Proroković, hailed from the hamlet of Mali Zalaz and was the daughter of Njeguši captain Lazo Proroković. There is no reliable information about her exact year of birth, but it is believed that she was about ten years younger than her husband. Tomo and Ivana had five children; their eldest son was Petar ("Pero"), Rade was their middle son and Jovan ("Joko") was their youngest. The couple's daughters were named Marija and Stana; Marija was married to a Montenegrin chieftain named Andrija Perović, the serdar (count) of Cuce, while Stana was married to Filip Đurašković, the serdar of Rijeka Crnojevića.Njeguši is a remote village, situated near the Adriatic coast in western Montenegro (or Old Montenegro). The eponymous tribe is one of the oldest in Montenegro, and its history can be traced back to the 14th century. It likely came about as the result of intermarriages between Illyrian population and South Slavic settlers during the 10th century, according to the author Milovan Djilas. Njeguši was dominated by the Petrovićes' ancestral home, which was the only two-storied house in the village and was made entirely out of stone. Members of Njeguši's Petrović clan had been hereditary Serbian Orthodox Metropolitans (Prince-Bishops) of Cetinje since 1696; the title of Prince-Bishop (Serbian: vladika) was passed from uncle to nephew since Orthodox prelates were required to be celibate and could not have children of their own. The ruling Prince-Bishop was allowed to nominate his own successor, subject to approval by the Montenegrin chieftains and the people of Montenegro.Njegoš spent his early years in Njeguši shepherding his father's flock, playing the gusle (a traditional one-stringed instrument) and attending family and church celebrations where stories of battles and past suffering were told. His education was rudimentary; he was taught how to read and write by monks at the Cetinje Monastery when he was twelve years old, studied Italian at the Savina Monastery for a year and spent eighteen months at the Topla Monastery near Herceg Novi, learning Russian and French under the tuition of reverend Josif Tropović. In October 1827, the young Njegoš was taken under the tutelage of the poet and playwright Sima Milutinović (nicknamed "Sarajlija"), who had come to Montenegro to serve as the official secretary of Njegoš's uncle, vladika Petar I. A Sarajevan Serb, Milutinović introduced Njegoš to poetry and inspired him to write down Serb folk tales which had been passed down orally through the centuries. An unconventional mentor, he also taught Njegoš sports, shooting and sword-fighting.
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