Place:Pomorje

Principalities of Pomorje in the Early Middle Ages

Pomorje (Serbian Cyrillic: Поморје) or Primorje (Serbian Cyrillic: Приморје), also known as Littoral Serbia (Serbian: Приморска Србија / Primrska Srbija; Latin: Serbia Maritima) and Seaside, is a term (literary meaning: maritime, littoral or coastland) used in historical contexts to designate a geographical region of several territories of Upper Dalmatia and its hinterland, belonging to the present-day Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, settled by Slavs.

History

At the beginning of the 9th century, according to 822 entry of Einhard's Royal Frankish Annals, Serbs were ruling over "the greater part of Dalmatia" (ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur). The state of maritime regions in the Early Middle Ages was described in the De Administrando Imperio, a work by Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII (l. 905-959) dedicated to his son, Romanus II, as a domestic and foreign policy manual.

Pomorje included most of the coastal regions of modern-day Montenegro, the southern regions of Bosnia and Herzegovina, notably most of Herzegovina region, and a southeastern part of region Dalmatia in Croatia.

Use in royal titles

The term was used in royal and religious titles both by Bosnian and Serbian monarchs and their heirs (Uroš I, styled himself "King in Christ, God faithful, King of Serbia and Maritime Lands", and Patriarchs (Saint Sava III, "Archbishop of All Serbian and Maritime Lands").

• Desa, styled himself "Prince of Pomorje (Maritime Lands)"
• Vladislav, styled himself "King of all the Serbian and Maritime Lands"
• Uroš I, styled himself "King in Christ, God faithful, King of Serbia and Maritime Lands"
• Uroš IV Dušan, "King of all the Serbian and Maritime Lands"
• 1329 Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia, styled "high and mighty lord, free ruler and master of Bosnia, Usora and Soli, Donji Kraji and many other places, and Prince of the Hum and the Seaside"
• 1377 Tvrtko I crowned himself King of "Serbia, Bosnia, Primorje, and the Western lands."

See also

• Duklja
• Travunia
• Zahumlje
• Pagania

Sources

Primary sources

• Moravcsik, Gyula, ed (1967). Constantine Porphyrogenitus: De Administrando Imperio (2nd revised ed.). Washington D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. https://books.google.com/books?id=3al15wpFWiMC. 
• Pertz, Georg Heinrich, ed (1845). Einhardi Annales. Hanover. https://books.google.com/books?id=yBhKAAAAcAAJ. 
• Scholz, Bernhard Walter, ed (1970). Carolingian Chronicles: Royal Frankish Annals and Nithard's Histories. University of Michigan Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=sTzl6wFjehMC. 
• Шишић, Фердо, ed (1928). Летопис Попа Дукљанина (Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja). Београд-Загреб: Српска краљевска академија. https://books.google.com/books?id=HXwCSCgxTlcC. 
• Кунчер, Драгана (2009). Gesta Regum Sclavorum. 1. Београд-Никшић: Историјски институт, Манастир Острог. 
• Живковић, Тибор (2009). Gesta Regum Sclavorum. 2. Београд-Никшић: Историјски институт, Манастир Острог. 

Secondary sources

• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing. https://books.google.com/books?id=2Wc-DWRzoeIC. 
• Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://archive.org/details/southeasterneuro0000curt. 
• Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. (1991) [1983]. The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0NBxG9Id58C. 
• Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. (1994) [1987]. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=LvVbRrH1QBgC. 
• Fine, John Van Antwerp Jr. (2005). When Ethnicity Did Not Matter in the Balkans: A Study of Identity in Pre-Nationalist Croatia, Dalmatia, and Slavonia in the Medieval and Early-Modern Periods. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=wEF5oN5erE0C. 
• Hupchick, Dennis P. (2002). The Balkans: From Constantinople to Communism. New York: Palgrave. https://archive.org/details/balkansfromconst00hupc_0. 
• Hupchick, Dennis P. (2017). The Bulgarian-Byzantine Wars for Early Medieval Balkan Hegemony: Silver-Lined Skulls and Blinded Armies. New York: Springer. https://books.google.com/books?id=Wa4sDwAAQBAJ. 
• Janković, Đorđe (2004). "The Slavs in the 6th Century North Illyricum". Гласник Српског археолошког друштва 20: 39-61. http://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/delo/13047. 
• Јанковић, Ђорђе (2007). Српско Поморје од 7. до 10. столећа (Serbian Maritime from 7th to 10th Century). Београд: Српско археолошко друштво. http://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/djankovic/djankovic-pomorje.pdf. 
• Luttwak, Edward N. (2009). The Grand Strategy of the Byzantine Empire. Harvard University Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=cUVJKJejPY8C. 
• Orbini, Mauro (1601). Il Regno de gli Slavi hoggi corrottamente detti Schiavoni. Pesaro: Apresso Girolamo Concordia. https://books.google.com/books?id=Fx3OntcdUkQC. 
• Орбин, Мавро (1968). Краљевство Словена. Београд: Српска књижевна задруга. https://books.google.com/books?id=MduZAAAAIAAJ. 
• Ostrogorsky, George (1956). History of the Byzantine State. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. https://books.google.com/books?lr=&redir_esc=y&hl=sr&id=Bt0_AAAAYAAJ. 
• Runciman, Steven (1988). The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and His Reign: A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium. Cambridge University Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=XHVzWN6gqxQC. 
• Sedlar, Jean W. (1994). East Central Europe in the Middle Ages, 1000-1500. Seattle: University of Washington Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=4NYTCgAAQBAJ. 
• Stephenson, Paul (2003). The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=Z0PmrXKnczUC. 
• Тошић, Ђуро (2005). "Требињци и Захумљани у средњовјековном Котору". Истраживања: Филозофски факултет у Новом Саду 16: 221-227. 
• Vlasto, Alexis P. (1970). The Entry of the Slavs into Christendom: An Introduction to the Medieval History of the Slavs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://books.google.com/books?id=fpVOAAAAIAAJ. 
• Whittow, Mark (1996), The Making of Byzantium, 600–1025, MacMillan Press, ISBN 0-520-20496-4 
• Живковић, Тибор (2002). Јужни Словени под византијском влашћу 600-1025 (South Slavs under the Byzantine Rule 600-1025). Београд: Историјски институт САНУ, Службени гласник. https://books.google.com/books?id=oE-gAAAAMAAJ. 
• Živković, Tibor (2008). Forging unity: The South Slavs between East and West 550-1150. Belgrade: The Institute of History, Čigoja štampa. https://books.google.com/books?id=JlIsAQAAIAAJ. 

Further reading

• Ćorović, Vladimir (2001). "Istorija srpskog naroda". http://www.rastko.rs/rastko-bl/istorija/corovic/istorija/index_l.html. 
• Janković, Đorđe (2007). "Serbian Maritime from 7th to 10th Century: Summary of the Monograph". http://www.rastko.rs/arheologija/djankovic/djankovic-pomorje-info_en.html.