The Land of the Black Mountain | Page 8

act as a buffer state against the inroads of the Avars. Each
state was ruled by a Zupan or Prince who owed allegiance to the Grand
Zupan, the head of the heptarchy. But the confederation was very loose,
the rival chieftains fighting amongst one another for the supremacy, for
the Serb race has ever been noted for its lack of unity and
corresponding love of freedom. The famous Bulgarian Czar Samuel,
circa 980, who had overrun the rest of the Serb states, and made for
himself a great empire, found that he was powerless to conquer the
warlike John Vladimir of the Zeta; and again, nearly a century later, in
1050, we find the Zeta Zupa so powerful that their Prince assumes the
title of King of Servia, and is confirmed in his right by Gregory VII.,
the famous Pope Hildebrand. Dissensions then broke out again, and for
the next hundred years the land owned the sway of the Greek Empire.
The two most celebrated Serb kings--Stefan Nemanja (1143) and
Stefan Dusan (1336-1356)--both ascended to the head of the
confederation from the principality of the Zeta. The latter raised the
Serb kingdom to its zenith, and formed an ephemeral empire which
bears many a resemblance to that of Napoleon. Montenegro had all this
time been steadily growing, and on the accession of Dusan to Servia,
the district of the Zeta fell to the Balsic, who proved themselves to be a
strong and competent race of rulers. They increased their territories to

such an extent that, at the time of the battle of Kossovo, they could
boast to ruling over all the land from Ragusa to the mouth of the Drin,
including the present West Montenegro and Southern Hercegovina,
with Skodra as the capital. After the overthrow of the great Servian
Empire on the field of Kossovo, Montenegro became entirely
independent of outside suzerainty, and from the year 1389 to the
present day, is the only Balkan state which has successfully defied the
invasions of the Turk. The Balsic engaged themselves in several
fruitless wars with Venice, by which they lost Skodra, so that, when
their line died out and the succession fell to Stefan Crnoievic (the name
Crnoievic, Black Prince, is supposed by some to be the origin of the
name Crnagora or Black Mountain), a new capital must perforce be
built, at the northern end of the lake, called Zabljak. Stefan Crnoievic
allied himself with Skenderbeg, the King of Albania, and within twelve
years is said to have fought over fifty battles with the Turks who, in
their impotent rage, poured army after army into the land, but entirely
failed to break the courage of this brave little people. His people gave
him the title of Voivoda of the Zeta, but the limits of his principality
seem to have been very undefined. The position of his son Ivan was,
however, of greater danger, for in 1444 the kingdom of Hungary had
fallen before the Turk, and they captured Constantinople nine years
later; after this Servia, Bosnia, Albania (on the death of Skenderbeg),
and Hercegovina were overrun in quick succession. In 1484 Ivan found
himself obliged to burn his capital of Zabljak, and retire into the more
inaccessible mountain fastnesses of the Katunska, the district round
Cetinje. Cetinje itself was chosen by Ivan as his new centre, and though
hardly pressed, he inflicted many severe defeats upon the Turks.
Arrived in his new capital, he called his braves together, and told them
that if they would surrender to the foe, they must find a new Prince, for,
as for himself, he preferred death. So this little band of warriors, and
they could not have numbered more than eight thousand fighting men,
swore to resist this almighty foe to death--not to attack, but to resist. It
must have been an impressive scene, this compact between Prince and
people, and later history bears out fully how nobly the descendants of
these mountain warriors have kept to their oath. For they, alone, of all
the Balkan states, have successfully repulsed the Turk, who, though
often seemingly victorious, has returned home with shattered armies

and full of impotent rage.
[Illustration: SKETCH MAP OF MONTENEGRO.]
In their need they applied to Venice for help, quoting the great
assistance that they were rendering her in occupying the Turks; but the
Queen of Cities, who was at that moment occupied in patching up a
treaty with the Sultan, turned a deaf ear to their entreaties. Montenegro
found then, for the first time--and all through her history she was
destined to find the same--that she must fight her battles alone. Allies
have used her always for their own ends and then shamefully deserted
her. Yet all through the spirit of indomitable courage has never deserted
the children of Crnagora, for