HISTORY. Montenegro belonged in the Middle Ages to the great Servian kingdom, but after the power of the Servian% wns broken by the Turks in 1389 at the battle of Kossovo (q.v.), the Montenegrins under their Prince, who was of the royal blood of Servia, maintained their independence, though compelled to relinquish the plains about Scutari, with their chief fortress 8f Zahliak, and to confine themselves to the mountains (1485). In their warfare against the Turks the Montenegrins leaned ilium Venice, mis tress of the eastern coast of the Adriatic. In 1518 their last secular Prince resigned his office, and transferred the Government to the Vladika or Bishop, and the secular and ecclesiastical au thority was thereafter united in the Prince Bishop. The dignity of Prince-Bishop was elec tive: by the side of the chief magistrate was a civil governor. The Ottoman rulers continued to assert their claims to Montenegro, and included it in the Pashalie of Scutari; but the Montene grins, in their rocky fastnesses, succeeded gener ally in asserting their independence, and more than once the Moslem invaders met with disaster. In 1696 the office of Vladika ceased to be elective. In that year the present reigning dynasty of was inaugurated in the person of Danilo Petrovie'. For a century and a half the succession was from uncle to nephew, the Vladika not being permitted to marry. In 1710 the Montenegrins sought and obtained the pro tection of Russia, the Czar agreeing to grant them an annual subsidy, while they, on their part, agreed that the Vladika was to be con secrated by the Czar. In 1796 the Prince-Bishop Peter I. defeated the Pasha of Scutari, who had invaded Montenegro, and for the next quarter of a century there were no more Turkish inva sions. The Montenegrins rendered important aid to Russia at the beginning of the nineteenth cen tury against the French in Dalmatia, and took a prominent part in the attack on Ragusa and the capture of Curznla. but they were not al lowed to realize their dream of becoming masters of the seaport of Cattaro. Peter 11., who ruled from 1830 to 1851. made great efforts to civilize his people and improve' their condition. He es tablished the Senate, introduced schools, and endeavored, though unsuccessfully, to put an end to internal feuds and predatory expeditions into the neighboring provinces. In 1S51 the last Prince-Bishop died, and his successor, Danilo I., in 1852 separated the religious from the secular supremacy, retaining the latter under the title of Gospodar, or Prince. In 1852 war broke out with the Turks, who, under Omer Pasha, invaded the country. but tkrough the intervention of the Powers peace W:1 S arranged, February 15, 1853. Danilo went to the Paris Conference in
1856 to obtain recognition of the independence of Montenegro, but his efforts were unavailing. In 1861 the Montenegrins stirred up an insurrection against the Turkish rule in Herzegovina, which was soon suppressed, and in return they were so hard pressed by the Turks that they were glad to agree to a treaty (1862), by which the sov ereignty of Turkey over Montenegro was recog nized. Fresh complications caused :Montenegro to declare war against Turkey in January, 1S75, hut a compromise was effected. Montenegro, however, supported the insurrection against Tur key that broke out in Herzegovina a little later, and in July, 1876, was again at war. The Mon tenegrins cotiperated with the Russians against their hereditary enemy during the war of 1877 78; and by the Treaty of Berlin (1878) the European Powers recognized the independence of Montenegro with a greatly enlarged territory. including Nikir-itf, Podgoritza, and the port of Antivari, together with the seaboard district thereto appertaining. This was guarded by a restriction prohibiting Montenegro from having a navy and providing that its waters should be closed to ships of war of all nations. In 1880 the Great Powers made over Dnleigno to Monte negro. The Prince of Montenegro is probably the most absolute sovereign in Europe, the moun taineers of the little State showing the loyalty of clansmen for a chief. In 1S79 the Senate was transformed into a State Council. A very close personal and political friendship exists between the reigning House of ).lontenegro and the Im perial House of Russia. On October 24, 1896, Helena, the third (laughter of Prince Nicholas I., who ascended the throne in 1860, married Victor Emmanuel, Prince of Naples, who succeeded his father, Humbert, as King of Italy in 1900.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Delarue, Montenegro, histoirc, Bibliography. Delarue, Montenegro, histoirc, description, nuTurs, etc. (Paris, 1862) ; Schwarz, Montenegro (2d ed., Leipzig, 1888) ; Hassert, Reisc durch Montenegro (Vienna, 1893) ; id., "Beitrage zur physisehen Geographic von Mon tenegro," in Petermanns Mitteilungcn (Gotha. 1896) ; Norman, The Near East (London, 1896) : Miller, The Balkans (London, 1896) ; id., Travel and Politics, in the Year East (ib., 1898) ; and for the history: Andriri, Geschiehte des Fiirsten turns Montenegro (Vienna, 1853) ; Crousse, La (Brussels, 1876) ; Denton, Montenegro, its People and Their History (Lon don, 1877) ; Maton, Histoire daa Monteni'gro (Paris, 1881) ; Carr, Montenegro (Oxford, 1884) ; Coquelle, Ilistoirc du Montenegro et de la Bosnie (Paris, 1895 ) .