Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop of the Metropolitanate of Cetinje and poet
1813 CE
to 1851 CE
Petar II Petrović Njegoš (13 November 1813 - 31 October 1851) is a 19th-century Montenegrin Serb statesman, Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop of the Metropolitanate of Cetinje and poet, who is considered to have been responsible for transforming Montenegro from a theocracy into a secular society.
Njegoš was born in the village of Njeguši, near the Montenegrin town of Cetinje.
Growing up among illiterate peasants, he leaves his home at the age of eleven to be educated in the Cetinje Monastery, at this time the only place of learning in Montenegro.
Upon the death of his uncle, Peter I, Njegoš becomes the next Prince-Bishop of Montenegro at the young age of seventeen.
As a ruler and reformer, his greatest achievement is persuading the feuding clan chiefs of Montenegro to introduce fair taxation, as well as a codified set of laws based upon common rights, into their primitive mountain communities.
He holds the position of Prince-Bishop until his death of tuberculosis at the age of 37 in 1851.
Venerated as a poet and philosopher, Njegoš is especially known for writing the epic poem The Mountain Wreath, which is considered to be a masterpiece of Serbian and South Slavic literature.
[ Following his death, he was buried in a small chapel atop Mount Lovćen, which was destroyed by the Austro-Hungarians during World War I.
Afterwards, his remains were moved to the Cetinje Monastery and were then again moved to the rebuilt chapel in 1925.
The chapel was then, somewhat controversially, replaced by Ivan Meštrović's mausoleum in 1974, with the support of Yugoslavia's communist government.
