page_title: Serbs of Montenegro
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Serbs of Montenegro / History
caption_attribution_description: English: The fresco of young Saint Sava, King`s Church in Studenica, Serbia Čeština: Freska s portrétem mladého Svatého Sávy v Královském kostele kláštera Studenica v Srbsku Српски / srpski: Фреска младог Светог Саве у краљевској цркви у манастиру Студеница
context_page_description: Serbs of Montenegro or Montenegrin Serbs, compose the second largest ethnic group in Montenegro, after the Montenegrins. Additional 0.64% of the population is made up of Serbs-Montenegrins and Montenegrins-Serbs. Serbs are a native population of Old Montenegro, Old Herzegovina, Brda, Raška, Bay of Kotor and Zeta.
context_section_description: During the Slavic migrations of the 6th and 7th centuries, the territory of modern-day Montenegro was settled by Serbs, who created several principalities in the region. In southern parts of modern Montenegro, Principality of Duklja was formed, while western parts belonged to the Principality of Travunija. Northern parts of modern Montenegro belonged to the inner Principality of Serbia. All of those early polities were described in historiographical works of Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenetos (944-959).
  In 1018, all of Serbian principalities came under the supreme rule of the Byzantine Empire. Regions of Duklja and Travunija broke away from Byzantine rule c. 1034-1042, under prince Stefan Vojislav, founder of the Vojislavljević dynasty. His son Mihailo I Vojislavljević (d. 1081) liberated Zahumlje and inner Serbia, creating a united Serbian polity and taking the title of king (c. 1077). The reign of his son, King Constantine Bodin (d. 1100), was followed by a period of regional fragmentation, lasting throughout much of the 12th century.
  After 1180, all of what is today Montenegro came under the rule of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja, the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty. The region of Zeta, formerly known as Duklja, became a crown land of the united Serbian state. It was given to Vukan Nemanjić (d. 1208), the oldest son of Stefan Nemanja, and later to crown prince Stefan Radoslav, son of King Stefan Nemanjić, who succeeded his father as Serbian King in 1228. Thus it became a custom to grant the region to the heir of the throne or some other member of the royal family. In 1219, two dioceses of the Serbian Orthodox Church were created on the territory of modern-day Montenegro, Eparchy of Zeta centered in the Monastery of Holy Archangel Michael on Prevlaka, and Eparchy of Budimlja centered in the Monastery of Đurđevi Stupovi. Several other monasteries also date to this period, such as: Morača, Praskvica, Vranjina, and others. Serbian Despotate is the last independent medieval Serb state and it included most of modern-day Montenegro.
  Montenegro saw independence under the Petrović-Njegoš dynasty, at first as a principality and then as a kingdom. Both the Kingdom of Serbia and the Kingdom of Montenegro fought together as independent states in the Balkan Wars and in the First World War. At the end of the war in 1918 tensions arose between the two states as the Montenegrin Whites with Serbian support deposed Nicholas I of Montenegro and proclaimed Montenegro's unification with Serbia as part of Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed into Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929), while the Montenegrin Greens opposed it. The conflict led to the Christmas Uprising, in which the Whites with support from the Serbian army defeated the Greens. During the period of the monarchic Yugoslavia, ruled by the Serbian Karađorđević dynasty, the tensions between Serbs and Croats were increasing and most of the Montenegrin politicians supported the Serbian proposed centralised state.
  During the Second World War both Serbs and Montenegrins were very active in both resistance movements, the Yugoslav Partisans and the Yugoslav Army in the Fatherland known as the Chetniks. At the end of the war the socialist Yugoslavia was created and the two became republics within the Yugoslav federation.
  Yugoslav Partisan Milovan Đilas described himself as a Montenegrin Serb and described Montenegro as the spiritual homeland of Serbs, saying "I am not a Montenegrin because I am a Serb, but a Serb because I am a Montenegrin. We Montenegrins are the salt of the Serbs. All the strength of the Serbs is not here [in Montenegro] but their soul is." Đilas also has said "The Montenegrins are, despite provincial and historical differences, quintessentially Serbs, and Montenegro the cradle of Serbian myths and of aspirations for the unification of Serbs.".
  After the secession of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Macedonia in 1991 and 1992, SR Montenegro held the Montenegrin referendum in 1992 which ended with a 95.96% of votes in favour for a state unio
caption: Saint Sava, born in Duklja, was a Serbian prince and  the first Archbishop of the autocephalous Serbian Church
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