Unknown Archon

Unknown Archon
Prince of the Serbs (ἄρχων Σερβλίας)
Migration of Serbs from White Serbia
Prince of the Serbs
Reign	fl. 610–41
Successor	His son (unknown)
Born	late 6th century White Serbia
Died	before 680 Serbia
Issue	An unnamed son
Dynasty	Vlastimirović (progenitor)
Religion	Slavic

The Unknown Archon (Serbian: непознати архонт/nepoznati arhont, непознати кнез/nepoznati knez) or Serb Archon (архонт Србин/arhont Srbin) refers to the Serbian prince who led the Serbs from their homeland to settle in the Balkans during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610–641), as mentioned in Emperor Constantine VII's De Administrando Imperio (950s). The work states that he was the progenitor of the first Serbian dynasty (known as the Vlastimirović), and that he died before the settlement of the Bulgars (680). Serbian historiography commonly treats him as the first Serbian ruler.

De Administrando Imperio

: The Serbs are descended from the unbaptized Serbs, also called 'white', who live beyond Turkey in a place called by them Boiki, where their neighbour is Francia, as is also Great Croatia, the unbaptized, also called 'white': in this place, then, these Serbs also originally dwelt. But when two brothers succeeded their father in the rule of Serbia, one of them, taking a moiety of the folk, claimed the protection of Heraclius, the emperor of the Romans, and the same emperor Heraclius received him and gave him a place in the province of Thessalonica to settle in, namely Serbia, which from that time has acquired this denomination.

Now, after some time these same Serbs decided to depart to their own homes, and the emperor sent them off. But when they had crossed the river Danube, they changed their minds and sent a request to the emperor Heraclius, through the military governor then governing Belgrade, that he would grant them other land to settle in.

And since what is now Serbia and Pagania and the so-called country of the Zachlumi and Trebounia and the country of the Kanalites were under the dominion of the emperor of the Romans, and since these countries had been made desolate by the Avars (for they had expelled from those parts the Romans who now live in Dalmatia and Dyrrachium), therefore the emperor settled these same Serbs in these countries, and they were subject to the emperor of the Romans; and the emperor brought elders from Rome and baptized them and taught them fairly to perform the works of piety and expounded to them the faith of the Christians.

And since Bulgaria was beneath the dominion of the Romans ... when, therefore, that same Serbian prince died who had claimed the emperor's protection, his son ruled in succession, and thereafter his grandson, and in like manner the succeeding princes from his family."

Contemporary related events

• Serbs were resettled by the Byzantines in the mid-7th century to Asia Minor (see also Asia Minor Slavs), where the town of Gordoservon was mentioned in 680.

Studies

According to German historian Ludwig Albrecht Gebhardi (1735–1802), the Serb archon was a son of Dervan, who was the Duke (dux) of the Surbi, east of the Saale. This theory was supported by Miloš Milojević, and Relja Novaković included the possibility that they were relatives in his work.

See also

Vlastimirović dynasty

Višeslav (c. 780) Radoslav (after 800) Prosigoj (before 830) Vlastimir (c. 830–851) Mutimir (c. 851–891) Pribislav (891–892) Petar (892–917) Pavle (917–921) Zaharija (921–924) Časlav (933–960)

• List of Serbian monarchs

Sources

Primary sources

Unknown Archon Vlastimirović dynasty
Regnal titles
First	Prince of the Serbs fl. 610–41	Unknown Next known title holder: Višeslav