Nicholas I of Montenegro
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| King Nicholas I of Montenegro | |
| Prince of Montenegro King of Montenegro |
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 King Nikola (Nicholas) I |
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| Reign | 1860 - 28 August 1910 (Prince) 28 August 1910 – 26 November 1918 (King) 26 November 1918 - 1 March 1921 (King in exile) |
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| Coronation | 28 August 1910 |
| Full name | Nikola Mirkov Petrović-Njegoš |
| Born | 7 October 1841 |
| Birthplace | Njeguši, Montenegro |
| Died | 1 March 1921 (aged 79) |
| Place of death | Cap d'Antibes, France |
| Buried | Montenegro |
| Predecessor | Knjaz (Prince) Danilo I |
| Successor | Kingdom of Montenegro abolished |
| Wife | Milena Vukotić |
| Issue | Prince Mirko of Montenegro Prince Danilo Alexander of Montenegro Grand Voivode Petar of Zahumlje Princess Ljubica "Zorka" of Serbia Grand Duchess Anastasia "Stana" of Russia Grand Duchess Milica of Russia Queen Jelena "Elena" of Italy Princess Marija (Marica) of Montenegro Princess Anna of Battenberg Princess Sofija of Montenegro Princess Ksenija of Montenegro Princess Vjera of Montenegro |
| Royal House | House of Petrović-Njegoš |
| Royal anthem | Ubavoj nam Crnoj Gori |
| Father | Grand Duke Mirko Petrović-Njegoš |
| Mother | Anastasija Martinović |
| Religious beliefs | Serbian Orthodox Christian |
King Nikola I Mirkov Petrović-Njegoš (Serbian Cyrillic: Краљ Никола I Мирков Петровић-Његош) (October 7 [O.S. September 25] 1841 – March 1, 1921) was the only king of Montenegro, reigning as king from 1910 to 1918 and as prince from 1860 to 1910. He was also a poet, notably penning Onamo, 'namo, a popular anthem of Montenegro.
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[edit] Biography
Nikola was born at the village of Njeguši, the ancient home of the reigning House of Petrović. His father, Mirko Petrović-Njegoš, a celebrated Montenegrin warrior, was elder brother to Danilo II of Montenegro, who left no male offspring. After 1696, when the dignity of Vladika, or prince-bishop, became hereditary in the Petrović family, the sovereign power had descended from uncle to nephew, the Vladikas belonging to the order of the black clergy (i.e., monastic clergy) who are forbidden to marry. A change was introduced by Danilo II, who declined the episcopal office, married and declared the principality hereditary in the direct male line. Mirko Petrovic having resigned his claim to the throne, his son was nominated heir, and the old system of succession was thus accidentally continued.
Prince Nikola, who had been trained from infancy in martial and athletic exercises, spent a portion of his early boyhood at Trieste in the household of the Kustic family, to which his aunt, the princess Darinka, wife of Danilo II, belonged. The princess was an ardent advocate of French culture, and at her suggestion the young heir of the viadikas was sent to the Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. Unlike his contemporary, King Milan of Serbia, Prince Nikola was little influenced in his tastes and habits by his Parisian education; the young highlander, whose keen patriotism, capability for leadership and poetic talents early displayed themselves, showed no inclination for the pleasures of the French capital, and eagerly looked forward to returning to his native land.
He was still in Paris when, in consequence of the assassination of his uncle Danilo II, he succeeded as prince (August 13, 1860). In November 1860 he married Milena, daughter of the vojvoda Petar Vukotic.
In the period of peace which followed he carried out a series of military, administrative and educational reforms. The country was embroiled in a series of wars with the Ottoman Empire between 1862 and 1878. In 1867 he met the emperor Napoleon III at Paris, and in 1868 he undertook a journey to Russia, where he received an affectionate welcome from the tsar, Alexander II. He afterwards visited the courts of Berlin and Vienna. His efforts to enlist the sympathies of the Russian imperial family were productive of important results for Montenegro; considerable subventions were granted by the tsar and tsaritsa for educational and other purposes, and supplies of arms and ammunition were sent to Cetinje. In 1871 Prince Dolgorukov arrived at Montenegro on a special mission from the tsar, and distributed large sums of money among the people. In 1869 Prince Nikola, whose authority was now firmly established, succeeded in preventing the impetuous highlanders from aiding the Krivosians in their revolt against the Austrian government; similarly in 1897 he checked the martial excitement caused by the outbreak of the Greco-Turkish War.
In 1876 he declared war against Turkey; his military reputation was enhanced by the ensuing campaign, and still more by that of 1877/78, during which he captured Nikšić, Bar and Ulcinj. The war resulted in a considerable extension of the Montenegrin frontier and the acquisition of a seaboard on the Adriatic. He justified the war as a revenge for the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. In 1876 he sent a message to the Montenegrins in Herzegovina:
- Under Murad I the Serbian Tsardom was destroyed, under Murad V it has to rise again. This is my wish and wish of all of us as well as the wish of almighty God.
The independence of Montenegro was recognised at the Congress of Berlin in 1878 and in the succeeding decades Montenegro enjoyed considerable prosperity and stability. Education, communications and the army expanded greatly (the latter with support from Imperial Russia). In 1883 Prince Nikola visited the sultan, with whom he subsequently maintained the most cordial relations; in 1896 he celebrated the bicentenary of the Petrović dynasty, and in the same year he attended the coronation of the Tsar Nicholas II; in May 1898 he visited Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.
In 1900 he took the style of Royal Highness. He gave Montenegro its first constitution in 1905 following pressure from a population eager for more freedom. He also introduced west-European style press freedom and criminal law codes. In 1906, he introduced Montenegrin currency, the perper. On the August 28, 1910, during the celebration of his jubilee, he assumed the title of king, in accordance with a petition from the Skupština. He was at the same time gazetted field-marshal in the Russian army, an honor never previously conferred on any foreigner except the Duke of Wellington. When the Balkan Wars broke out in 1912 King Nicholas was one of the most enthusiastic of the allies. He wanted to drive the Ottomans completely out of Europe. He defied the Powers and captured Scutari despite the fact that they blockaded the whole coast of Montenegro. Again in the Great War which began in 1914 he was the first to go to Serbia's aid to repel the Austrian forces from the Balkan Peninsula.
After the First World War Montenegro united with the other south Slav lands, to form the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was renamed Yugoslavia in 1929. Nikola went into exile in France 1918, but continued to claim the throne until his death in Antibes three years later. He was buried in Italy. In 1989, the remains of Nikola, his queen Milena, and two of their twelve children were re-buried in Montenegro.
King Nikola was gifted with a fine physique and a commanding presence, was a successful military leader and a graceful poet, while his merits as a statesman received general recognition. His system of government, which may be described as a benevolent despotism, was perhaps that best suited to the character of his subjects. His historical dramas, poems and ballads hold a recognized place in contemporary Slavic literature; among them are Balkanska Carica and Knjaz Arvanit (dramas); Hajdana and Pesnik i Vila (poems); Skupljene Pesme and Nova Kola (miscellaneous songs); Onamo, 'namo, popular anthem of Montenegro.
His entire political work was inspired only with one idea, the restoration of a great Serbian Empire. Nikola saw himself as a modern-day Tsar Dušan, the rightful descendent of the medieval Serb throne.
[edit] Children
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Five of his daughters were married, each to princes and kings, giving Nikola the nickname "the father-in-law of Europe", a sobriquet he shared with the contemporary King of Denmark.
[edit] Daughters
- Princess Ljubica, known as Zorka married Petar Karađorđević (who after her death would become King Peter I, King of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, which became Yugoslavia, annexing Montenegro from Nikola himself),
- Princess Milica was married to Grand Duke Peter Nicolaievich Romanov of Russia, brother of Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich;
- Princess Anastasia (also known as Princess Stana) was married first with George, Duke of Leuchtenberg and after divorce secondly to the World War I general Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich of Russia, the younger; both her husbands were grandsons of Emperor Nicholas I and she had two children by her first marriage
- Princess Jelena became Queen Elena of Italy, wife of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.
- Princess Marija (Marica)
- Princess Anna, married Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg, but remained childless
- Princess Sophia
[edit] Sons
- Crown Prince Danilo Alexander married Duchess Jutta (later known as Militza) of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, they had no children.
- Prince Mirko Dimitri married Natalija Konstantinović, a cousin of Alexander I Obrenović, and had a son, Prince Michael of Montenegro.
- Prince Petar of Montenegro.
The present heir to the throne is King Nikolas's great-grandson Prince Nikola, Prince Michael's son.
[edit] Literature
Nicholas of Montenegro (1912)
HE speaks as straight as his rifles shot,
As straight as a thrusting blade,
Waiting the deed that shall trouble the truce
His savage guns have made.
"You have dared the wrath of a dozen states,"
Was the challenge that he heard;
"We can die but once!" said the grim old King
As he gripped his mountain sword.
"For I paid in blood for the town I took,
The blood of my brave men slain,--
And if you covet the town I took
You must buy it with blood again!"
Stern old King of the stark, black hills,
Where the lean, fierce eagles breed,
Your speech rings true as your good sword rings--
And you are a king indeed!
Don Marquis, Dreams and Dust, 1915
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Nicholas I of Montenegro
Born: October 7 1841 Died: March 1 1921 |
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| Regnal titles | ||
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| Preceded by Danilo II |
Prince of Montenegro 1860 – August 28, 1910 |
Proclaimed King of Montenegro |
| New title | King of Montenegro August 28, 1910 – November 26, 1918 |
Title abolished Montenegro merged into Kingdom of Serbia which again merged into Kingdom of Yugoslavia
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| Vacant
Montenegrin monarchy not restored yet
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| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Danilo II as Prince of Montenegro |
Head of State of Montenegro as Prince of Montenegro, later as King of Montenegro 1860 – November 26, 1918 |
Succeeded by Petar I as King of Yugoslavia |
| Titles in pretence | ||
| Loss of title | — TITULAR — King of Montenegro November 26, 1918 – March 1, 1921 |
Succeeded by Crown Prince Danilo |
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King Nicholas I (1918-1921) |
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[edit] External links
- The national Museum of Montenegro
- Digital Library of Montenegrin Culture - in Montenegrin
- The Njegoskij Fund Public Project : Private family archives-based digital documentary fund focused on history and culture of Royal Montenegro.
- Crnogorska kraljevska loza
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
