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Stefan Dobroslav I Vojislav

Stefan Dobroslav I Vojislav

Male - 1051    Has 17 ancestors and more than 100 descendants in this family tree.

Personal Information    |    Notes    |    All

  • Name Stefan Dobroslav I Vojislav 
    Birth Brusno Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Male 
    Death 1051 
    Person ID I681988  Geneagraphie
    Last Modified 10 Oct 2010 

    Father Dragomir Dukljanina   d. 1018 
    Mother NN 
    Family ID F348599  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Children 
     1. Gojislav
    +2. Radoslav
     3. Saganek
     4. Predimir
    +5. Mihajlo I   d. 1081
    Family ID F348598  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
    Last Modified 10 Oct 2010 

  • Notes 
    • a 11th-century Serbian ruler of Duklja (1018-1043) of the House of Vojislav.

      He was born in the month of April, in Brusno, to father Dragimir Dukljanina of Travunija and Hum and was raised in Bosnia by his mother, the daughter of Rascian Serb ruler Ljutomir of Serbian Zagorje.

      Having reached its pinnacle during the long reign of emperor Basil II, the Byzantine empire entered, following his death in 1025, a steady decline. This was particularly evident in the Balkans. There, the elimination of the perennial Bulgarian threat, combined with insensitive taxation policy reversals, helped spur liberation movements. Around 1034, Stefan Vojislav, cousin of the assassinated Vladimir of Zeta, organized a rebellion while the Byzantine Empire was switching the throne. He was defeated and imprisoned in Constantinople with his realm restored under the control of Byzantine Serbia's strategos Theophilos Erotikos. He regained his freedom and organized a new rebellion in late 1037 or early 1038 targeting the allies of the Emperor in the neighbouring regions.

      Taking advantage of guerilla warfare and the distracting effects of other uprisings, he staved off several punitive expeditions, asserting partial control over the principalities of Travunija and Zahumlje in the process. Thus, by 1040 his state stretched in the coastal region from Ston in the north, down to the Skadar Lake, his capital, Skadar, set up along the southern banks of the lake, with other courts in Trebinje, Kotor and Bar.

      The Byzantine Emperor Michael, waiting in Thessalonika, was to receive a shipment of gold of 10 Kentenars from Southern Italy in 1039. One galley accidentally crashed in Duklja's Bay. Its treasures were taken by Vojislav who refused to return the gold, which greatly boosted the economy of his realm. This incurred Michael's fury, as he sent Imperial Eunuch George Probatas to crush Vojislav's movement. The Eunuch's army was caught in the Doclean Gorges in an ambush and suffered a total defeat. Voislav's son, Radoslav was famous for killing a Byzantine military commander himself on the battlefield. Kekaumenos, a strategos sent for Vojislav, ended up imprisoned by Vojislav and taken to Ston. The uprising of Peter Delian in 1040-42 who now crowned himself as Czar Peter II of Bulgarians made another Byzantine incursion against Duklja unlikely as the Byzantines were more threatened by the Bulgarians who advanced.

      In 1042, the new emperor Constantine IX decided to attack Duklja with a army based in Dyrrhacium and the neighbouring themes. The Byzantine army under Michaelus Anastasii was defeated and Vojislav ensured a future for Duklja without imperial authority.

      Vojislav spent the rest of his rule in peace, until his death in ca. 1051. He was succeeded by his widow and five sons - Gojislav, Predimir, Mihailo, Saganek and Radoslav. He was buried in the Church of St. Andrew in Prapratna.

      Duklja briefly became the center of the Serbian state which replaced -in terms of leadership- the powerful Serbian core of Rascia; it held this position for a few years, his son Mihailo I of Duklja ruled Duklja as the other principalities unified with Rascia.
    • a 11th-century Serbian ruler of Duklja (1018-1043) of the House of Vojislav.

      He was born in the month of April, in Brusno, to father Dragimir Dukljanina of Travunija and Hum and was raised in Bosnia by his mother, the daughter of Rascian Serb ruler Ljutomir of Serbian Zagorje.

      Having reached its pinnacle during the long reign of emperor Basil II, the Byzantine empire entered, following his death in 1025, a steady decline. This was particularly evident in the Balkans. There, the elimination of the perennial Bulgarian threat, combined with insensitive taxation policy reversals, helped spur liberation movements. Around 1034, Stefan Vojislav, cousin of the assassinated Vladimir of Zeta, organized a rebellion while the Byzantine Empire was switching the throne. He was defeated and imprisoned in Constantinople with his realm restored under the control of Byzantine Serbia's strategos Theophilos Erotikos. He regained his freedom and organized a new rebellion in late 1037 or early 1038 targeting the allies of the Emperor in the neighbouring regions.

      Taking advantage of guerilla warfare and the distracting effects of other uprisings, he staved off several punitive expeditions, asserting partial control over the principalities of Travunija and Zahumlje in the process. Thus, by 1040 his state stretched in the coastal region from Ston in the north, down to the Skadar Lake, his capital, Skadar, set up along the southern banks of the lake, with other courts in Trebinje, Kotor and Bar.

      The Byzantine Emperor Michael, waiting in Thessalonika, was to receive a shipment of gold of 10 Kentenars from Southern Italy in 1039. One galley accidentally crashed in Duklja's Bay. Its treasures were taken by Vojislav who refused to return the gold, which greatly boosted the economy of his realm. This incurred Michael's fury, as he sent Imperial Eunuch George Probatas to crush Vojislav's movement. The Eunuch's army was caught in the Doclean Gorges in an ambush and suffered a total defeat. Voislav's son, Radoslav was famous for killing a Byzantine military commander himself on the battlefield. Kekaumenos, a strategos sent for Vojislav, ended up imprisoned by Vojislav and taken to Ston. The uprising of Peter Delian in 1040-42 who now crowned himself as Czar Peter II of Bulgarians made another Byzantine incursion against Duklja unlikely as the Byzantines were more threatened by the Bulgarians who advanced.

      In 1042, the new emperor Constantine IX decided to attack Duklja with a army based in Dyrrhacium and the neighbouring themes. The Byzantine army under Michaelus Anastasii was defeated and Vojislav ensured a future for Duklja without imperial authority.

      Vojislav spent the rest of his rule in peace, until his death in ca. 1051. He was succeeded by his widow and five sons. He was buried in the Church of St. Andrew in Prapratna.

      Duklja briefly became the center of the Serbian state which replaced -in terms of leadership- the powerful Serbian core of Rascia; it held this position for a few years, his son Mihailo I of Duklja ruled Duklja as the other principalities unified with Rascia.



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