Pavle Branovic ( sr, Павле Брановић, gr, Παῦλος; 870–921) was the
Prince of the Serbs from 917 to 921. He was put on the throne by the Bulgarian Tsar
Symeon I of Bulgaria, who had imprisoned the previous prince, Petar after he had become a Byzantine ally. Pavle ruled for four years, before being defeated by
Zaharija Pribislavljević, his cousin. Pavle was the son of
Bran
Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, ...
, the middle son of
Mutimir
Mutimir ( sr, Мутимир, el, Μουντιμῆρος) was prince of Serbia from ca. 850 until 891. He defeated the Bulgar army, allied himself with the Byzantine emperor and ruled the first Serbian Principality when the Christianization of ...
(r. 851–891) of the
Vlastimirović dynasty
The Vlastimirović ( sr-Cyrl, Властимировић, Vlastimirovići / Властимировићи) was the first Serbian royal dynasty, named after Prince Vlastimir (ruled c. 831–851), who was recognized by the Byzantine Empire. The ...
.
Pavle was born in the 870s, between 870 and 874 to
Bran Mutimirović, the middle son of
Mutimir
Mutimir ( sr, Мутимир, el, Μουντιμῆρος) was prince of Serbia from ca. 850 until 891. He defeated the Bulgar army, allied himself with the Byzantine emperor and ruled the first Serbian Principality when the Christianization of ...
. His Christian name, in relation to the previous generation of pagan names, shows the spread Christianization of the Serbs.
After Mutimir, his grandfather, died in 891,
Pribislav succeeded as prince. Pribislav ruled briefly for a year when
Petar Petar ( sr, Петар, bg, Петър) is a South Slavic languages, South Slavic masculine given name, their variant of the Biblical name Petros (given name), Petros cognate to Peter (given name), Peter.
Derivative forms include Pero (given name) ...
returned and defeated him. Pribislav fled to Croatia with his brothers Bran (Pavle's father) and
Stefan. Bran later returned and led an unsuccessful rebellion against Petar in 894. Bran was defeated, captured and blinded (as per
Byzantine tradition).
In 917, a Byzantine army led by
Leo Phokas invaded Bulgaria but was decisively defeated at the
Battle of Achelous on 20 August 917. After the Achelous, Symeon sent an army to Serbia led by Pavle (after he had heard of a Byzantine–Serbian alliance), to take the Serbian throne, however, unsuccessfully as Petar proved a good opponent. Symeon then sent generals
Marmais Marmais ( bg, Мармаис; died 924) was a Bulgarian military commander, nobleman and ''komita'' (duke) of a western Bulgarian region ( Sredets or Macedonia) during the reign of Emperor Simeon I (893–927). He was a descendant of an ancient B ...
and
Theodore Sigritsa Theodore Sigritsa ( bg, Теодор Сигрица) or Sigritzes (died 924) was a Bulgarian military commander and noble, ''kavkhan'' (first minister) of Emperor Simeon I (r. 893–927).
In 895 he headed a delegation in Constantinople for exchan ...
, persuading Petar (through an
oath
Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to g ...
) to come out and meet them, then captured and took him to Bulgaria where he was put in prison, dying within a year. Symeon put Pavle on the Serbian throne.
In 920,
Zaharija, the exiled son of Pribislav (the eldest of Mutimir's sons), was sent by
Romanos I Lekapenos
Romanos I Lekapenos ( el, Ρωμανός Λεκαπηνός; 870 – 15 June 948), Latinized as Romanus I Lecapenus, was Byzantine emperor from 920 until his deposition in 944, serving as regent for the infant Constantine VII.
Origin
Romanos ...
(r. 920–944) to seize the throne. Pavle defeated and captured him, handing him over to Symeon, who held him for future use. In the meantime, Pavle switched his allegiance back to the Byzantines, prompting Symeon to dispatch Zaharija against him at the head of a Bulgarian army in 921. Zaharija won the battle but soon reaffirmed his Byzantine alliance. There are no more mentions of Pavle.
See also
*
Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 913–927
*
Bulgarian–Serbian wars of 917–924
The Bulgarian–Serbian wars of 917–924 ( bg, Българо–сръбски войни от 917–924) were a series of conflicts fought between the Bulgarian Empire and the Principality of Serbia as a part of the greater Byzantine–Bulgarian ...
Annotations
References
Sources
;Primary sources
*
;Secondary sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Steven Runciman, A History of the First Bulgarian Empire, London 1930.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pavle Branovic
10th-century Serbian monarchs
10th-century rulers in Europe
Vlastimirović dynasty
Eastern Orthodox monarchs
Serbian exiles
People of the Bulgarian–Serbian Wars
Christian monarchs