Đurađ Crnojević ( sr-cyr, Ђурађ Црноjeвић, ; d. 1514) was the last Serbian medieval Lord of ZetaSlijepčević 1974, p. 43: "Према Карлу Хопфу и Балшићи и Црнојевићи »припадају без спора српскоме племену». between 1490 and 1496, from the Crnojević dynasty.

Early life and ancestry

Born into the ruling

House of Crnojević A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condit ...

, he was the son of

Ivan Crnojević Ivan Crnojević ( sr-Cyrl, Иван Црнојевић, italics=no, lit=Ivan the Black) was the lord of Zeta and Montenegrin-Serbian leader from 1465 to 1490. Having formed an alliance with the Republic of Venice, he led the resistance against the ...

and his wife, Voisava Arianiti, member of the

Arianiti family The Arianiti were a noble Albanian nobility, Albanian family that ruled large parts of Albania and neighboring territories from the 11th to the 16th century. Their domain stretched across the Shkumbin valley and the old Via Egnatia road and reach ...

. Đurađ was the founder of the first Serbian printing house. Crnojević styled himself ''"Duke of Zeta"''. His grandmother from his father's side was a sister of

Skanderbeg Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanians, Albanian Albanian nobility, feudal lord and military commander who led Skanderbeg's rebellion, a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, ...

. This made Đurađ Skanderbeg's grandnephew and through his mother he was the grandson of

Gjergj Arianiti Gjergj Arianiti (13??–1462) was an Albanian feudal lord who led several successful campaigns against the Ottoman Empire. He was the father of Donika, Skanderbeg's wife, as well as the uncle of Moisi Golemi. Gjergj Arianiti was Skanderbeg's ...

and nephew of Scanderbeg's wife

Donika Kastrioti Andronika "Donika" Arianiti, commonly known as Donika Kastrioti, (1428 – 1506) was an Albanians, Albanian noblewoman and Grand Princess of Albania from her marriage to Skanderbeg. She was the daughter of Gjergj Arianiti, an earlier leader in th ...

. Đurađ Crnojević was well known throughout his life by his great education, knowledge of astronomy, geometry and other sciences.

Life and reign

During his short-term reign he became famous for making efforts to spread the cultural heritage rather than for his political successes. The

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

made him leave Zeta in 1496. His brother Stefan inherited his position of the Lord of Zeta. In 1497 Venetians imprisoned Đurađ for some time, accusing him to be an Ottoman collaborator. He again spent some time in Venetian prison in period between 30 July and 25 October 1498. This time the Ottomans insisted that Venetians should put him into prison, which they eventually did. On 22 October 1499 he wrote his testament, which is considered as valuable literature work of its time. In the spring of 1500 Đurađ Crnojević came to Scutari, based on the invitation of

Feriz Beg Feriz Beg ( 1495–1515) was a 15th and 16th-century Ottoman military officer, Sanjak-bey of the Sanjak of Scutari and Sanjak of Bosnia. Origin Feriz Beg belonged to the Mihaloğlu family, a noted Byzantine family which converted to Islam and w ...

who instructed Crnojević to travel to Istanbul. In Istanbul Crnojević officially ceded his possessions to the sultan who granted him an estate (

timar A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...

) in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

to govern it as its

sipahi The ''sipahi'' ( , ) were professional cavalrymen deployed by the Seljuk Turks and later by the Ottoman Empire. ''Sipahi'' units included the land grant–holding ('' timar'') provincial ''timarli sipahi'', which constituted most of the arm ...

. Although he was removed from the historical scene, his books remained as a great contribution to the

Serb The Serbs ( sr-Cyr, Срби, Srbi, ) are a South Slavic ethnic group native to Southeastern Europe who share a common Serbian ancestry, culture, history, and language. They primarily live in Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

ian culture. With the help of

Hieromonk Makarije Hieromonk Makarije (; 1494 – died after 1528) was a Serbian monk who is considered the founder of Serbian and Romanian printing, having printed the first book in the Serbian language and the first book in the territory of Walachia (part of mod ...

he printed five books of importance to the Serbian cultural heritage: ''Oktoih prvoglasnik'' (1493/94), ''Oktoih petoglasnik'' (1494), ''Psaltir s posljedovanjem'' (1495), ''Trebnik'' (prayer book; 1495/96), and ''Četvorojevanđelje'' (probably 1496).

Death

Đurađ Crnojević died in 1514, in Anatolia,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

. After his death, on 20 April 1514, his widow Elisabetta presented his will at the court of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

to be officially approved and validated, but due to question of it's authenticity, the matter was settled only three years later, on 7 January 1517.

Marriages and issue

He married two times. His first wife was Yela Thopia, the daughter of

Karl Muzaka Thopia Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl of Austria, last Austrian Emperor * Karl (footballer) (born 1993), Karl Cachoe ...

(born circa 1455), by his first wife, Suina

Muzaka The Muzaka family was an noble Albanian family that ruled over the region of Myzeqe (southern Albania) in the Late Middle Ages. The Muzaka are also referred to by some authors as a tribe or a clan. The earliest historical document that mentions ...

. They were the parents of at least one son, Solomun Crnojević (killed in 1521), and possibly three or more children. Ivan (Giovanni) Crnojević was Prison governor at

Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...

. His other son Costantine married Maria

Contarini The Contarini is one of the founding families of Venicehttps://archive.org/details/teatroaraldicose02tett, Leone Tettoni. ''Teatro araldico ovvero raccolta generale delle armi ed insegne gentilizie delle piu illustri e nobili casate che esis ...

and died in relative poverty in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. His descendants can be traced only until the second half of the 17th century, but afterwards went extinct. His daughter Antonia married Jerolim Zagurović, Lord of Kotor. His second wife was Elisabetta Erizzo (d. 1522), member of the

Venetian nobility The Venetian patriciate (, ) was one of the three social bodies into which the society of the Republic of Venice was divided, together with citizens and foreigners. was the Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble title of the members of the Aris ...

, daughter of Antonio Erizzo and cousin of Paolo Erizzo, Bailo of Negroponte. This was a political marriage that was meant to ensure good re-lations between

Zeta Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; , , classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter zay ...

and the

Venetian Republic The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

.https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-11/%C5%BDene%20Crne%20Gore%20MONOGRAFIJA.pdf

Family tree

References

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crnojevic, Djuradj 04 15th-century births 1514 deaths 15th-century lords in Europe 15th-century Serbian nobility 15th-century Venetian people Durad 4 Arianiti family Printers of incunabula Ottoman vassalage