Ljutovid of Zahumlje

Ljutovid (Serbian Cyrillic: Љутовид) was an independent Serbian ruler of Zahumlje, in present-day western Herzegovina and southern Croatia, who flourished in the middle of the 11th century in alliance with the Byzantine Empire. He held the supreme authority of Serbs at that time.[1]

Ljutovid
Prince of Zahumlje
Reignfloruit c. 1039–1054
ReligionChristian

In a charter dated July 1039, Ljutovid is styled "protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou, hypatos, strategos" of "Serbia and Zahumlje", which suggests Emperor Michael IV[2] granted him nominal right over neighbouring lands, including Duklja.[1]

In 1042, the Župan of Rascia, Ban of Bosnia and Ljutovid, receives piles of imperial gold and silver from the Byzantines for the support to overthrowing Stefan Vojislav of Duklja.[1][3] He led the army of the allied force against Duklja in 1043 but was ambushed at the Klobuk hill[4] of Konavli (then part of Travunia) by Vojislav, who defeated the army. Vojislav went on to pursue and annex most of Zahumlje and Travunia.

In a possibly forged document, with two variants dated 1039 and 1151, Ljutovid awarded the monastery on Lokrum with Babino Polje on the island of Mljet (modern Croatia).[5] According to it, Protospatar Ljutovit declared that no one, neither Ragusan, nor citizen of Ston, neither Latin, nor Slav, could impede the donation.[5]

References
  1. Stephenson 2003, pp. 42-43: "if the idea of developing a thema of Serbia existed briefly, it was swiftly abandoned and the title strategos passed to the local aristocracy. In a charter issued July 1039 the Slavic ruler of Zahumlje styled himself "Ljutovit, protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou, hypatos, strategos of Serbia and Zahumlje." Ljutovid's claim to be strategos not only of Zahumlje, but all Serbia suggests that he had been courted by the emperor, and awarded nominal rights neighbouring lands, including Duklja, which was at the time at war with the empire. Moreover, if we can trust the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, our only narrative source, we must conclude that none of the Serbian lands was under direct Byzantine control in 1042. In that year, we are told, the ban of Bosnia, župan of Raška, and Slavic princeps of Zahumlje (Chelmana), Ljutovid, received Byzantine ambassadors offering piles of imperial silver and gold to support imperial efforts against the ruler of neighbouring Duklja, Stefan Vojislav. The use of Latin princeps, rather than iupanus or banus, to describe Ljutovid, supports the notion that he held the supreme authority among the Serbs at the time."
  2. p. 150
  3. Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, ch. 38: "iupano Rassae et bano Bosnae et principi regionis Chelmanae"
  4. Marko Vego, Naselja bosanske srednjevjekovne države, Svjetlost, 1957. Google Books
  5. John Van Antwerp Fine, When ethnicity did not matter in the Balkans

Sources
  • Stephenson, Paul (2003). The legend of Basil the Bulgar-slayer. Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-0-521-81530-7. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
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