Vukan, Grand Prince of Serbia

Vukan I (Вукан, ; c. 1050 – 1112) was the Grand Prince of Serbia from 1083 until he died in 1112. During their first years he ruled together with his brother Marko. With the death of his uncle, King Constantine Bodin of Duklja in 1101, he became the most powerful ruler among Serbian princes. He defeated the Byzantines several times, conquering parts of northern Macedonia. He is the eponymous founder of the Vukanović dynasty.

Biography
Vukan was the first-born of Petrislav, the son of King Mihailo I and his second Greek wife. He and his brother Marko swore an oath of loyalty to Constantine Bodin and took power as his vassals in Serbia in 1083 or 1084. Marko later disappears from sources. Neither Bosnia, Zachlumia, nor Raška (i.e. Serbia) were ever permanently integrated into the Kingdom of Duklja. Each region had its nobility and institutions and acquired a Vojislavljević to head as Župan.

In 1089, Bodin managed to raise the bishopric of Bar to an Archbishopric, by supporting the pope against an antipope. The suffragan bishops were to be: Kotor, Ulcinj, Svac, Skadar, Drivast, Pula, Ras, Bosnia, and Trebinje. In obtaining its promotion, it acquired a much larger diocese, including territory that earlier had not been under the pope – territories of the metropolitan of Durazzo and Archbishop of Ochrid, two sees that recognized the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Bar Archbishopric's new territory was merely theoretical – the pope's edict could only affect the churches that recognized Rome. Making Serbia a suffragan to Bar had little meaning, as most of its churches were under Constantinople, and there is no evidence of Vukan changing adherence to Rome. Durazzo and Ochrid may have suffered minimal territorial losses along the coast, Duklja was briefly a subject to Rome, however inland Duklja was not affected, and along with much of Duklja's coast (like most of Kotor) was to retain its loyalty to Orthodoxy.

A Byzantine campaign was launched against Duklja between 1089 and 1091, possibly managing to take Bodin captive for a second time. Civil war broke out in the realm among Bodin's relatives, greatly weakening Duklja, and giving the chance for inner Serbia to assert itself and break away. Vukan asserts independence, as well as Bosnia and Zahumlje. Up to this point, Duklja had been the center of the Serbian realm, as well as the main resistance to Byzantium in the Balkans. Inner Serbia became the most powerful of Serbian states, remaining so throughout the Middle Ages. Inner Serbia gradually replaced Duklja as the main opponent of Byzantine rule in the 12th century. Bodin's heirs were forced to recognize Byzantine overlordship, and had now only the small territory of Duklja and Travunia.

In 1091 or 1092, Vukan became independent, taking the title of Grand Prince (Veliki Župan). Subordinate to him were local dukes (Župan, holding a territory equivalent of a county), who seem to have been more or less autonomous in the internal affairs of their counties, but who were obliged to be loyal to Vukan, and supporting him in battle. It seems that the dukes were hereditary holders of their counties, holding their land before Duklja annexed inner Serbia.

In about 1090, Vukan began raiding Byzantine territory, first in the vicinity of Kosovo. Initially the Byzantines were unable to take steps against Vukan, as they faced a serious threat in the invading Pechenegs. On 29 April 1091, the Byzantines destroyed the Pecheneg force. With the defeat of the Pechenegs, Alexios I Komnenos could now turn to the Serbs.

Alexios I first sent an army with the strategos of Durazzo, which was defeated by Vukan in 1092. The Emperor now mobilized a much larger army, led by himself, marching onto inner Serbia. Vukan sends envoys, seeking peace which Alexios I quickly accepted, as a new problem had arisen at home in the Cumans who plundered the lands as far as Adrianople. Immediately after the Emperor's departure, Vukan breaks the treaty, and began to expand along the Vardar, obtaining much booty and taking the cities of Vranje, Skopje and Tetovo. In 1094 or 1095, Alexios I marched out to meet the Serbs. Vukan and his dukes arrive at the Emperor's tent and offer peace, with his own son Uroš I as hostage (throughout the 12th century it was usual for relatives of the Grand Prince to stay at the imperial court as hostages of peace).

At this time, Serbian principality was independent – Vukan acted entirely on his own, no longer a vassal of Duklja. Duklja, because of its civil war, did not involve itself in the Serbian-Byzantine wars.

Vukan again marched south, into Macedonia. Alexios could not do anything about him as the Crusade took place. In 1106 Vukan submitted to Alexios.

<!-- CLEANUP He began raiding Byzantine controlled border areas alongside Constantine Bodin in the vicinity of Kosovo in 1090. By 1091, however, Bodin was captured in one of the battles, which, surprisingly, did not intimidate Vukan. After the defeat of the Pechenegs at the Battle of Levounion in 1091, Byzantine sources mentioned the fear of Bodin and the Dalmatians (i.e. Serbs) planning on violating agreements and turning against their territories. Vukan was also mentioned as Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos received news of his forthcoming attacks, for which Alexios considered reinforcing his borders with Serbia. Vukan was very aggressive in his conflicts with the Byzantine Empire, so much so, that Alexios I had to personally visit border fortifications to ensure an organized defense against Vukan.

In 1092, he defeated an army sent by Alexios led by the strategos of Durrazzo. Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos mobilized a larger army and while en route for Serbia, they were stopped by envoys sent by Vukan to propitiate. Alexios accepted peace and returned to tackle the plundering Cumans. Vukan immediately violated, and thus annulled the treaty by launching an expansion toward the Vardar region, overtaking the cities of Vranje, Skopje and Tetovo, with much loot. Knowing Byzantine retaliation was imminent, Vukan retreated to Zvečan. In an effort to avoid Byzantine retaliation, he sent messengers to the emperor in Skopje, attempting to justify his actions as a necessary consequence of a cruel and unjust Byzantine administration. Alexios I accepted the notion as a means to gain peace, as witnessed by the old borders, in return for Serbian hostages. Alexios I returned to Constantinople, allotting responsibility of repairing damaged structures on the Byzantine-Serbian border to the local governors, as well as the handling of Vukan's hostages to the Byzantines. In the following months, however, Vukan delayed sending hostages, to which Alexios I repeatedly requested them again via letters.

Tired of waiting, in 1093, Alexios I sent John Komnenos, his nephew and commander of Dyrrhachium, and his troops against Vukan. The Byzantine forces crossed the Sitnica near Lipljan and established an encampment with palisades opposite the Serbian fortification at Zvečan. Vukan sent messengers to the Byzantine commander, pleading for peace and promising to send the hostages, only to be simultaneously preparing an attack against them. A monk had warned John of Vukan's plans, but John refused to believe him, accusing him of being a liar and a swindler. Immediately following was Vukan's surprise night attack on the Byzantine encampment. The majority of Byzantine soldiers were either killed in their sleep, died fighting or drowned in the Sitnica while a small number of soldiers, including John, withdrew to Lipljan, and then to Constantinople. After this, Vukan sent his army plundering through Byzantine territories in modern-day northern Republic of Macedonia, looting Skopje, Gornji Polog and Donji Polog, then ravaging Vranje and finally returning to Serbia. Emperor Alexios I sent a new army against Serbia, entering Lipljan without resistance. In Lipljan, he welcomed Vukan's messengers whom through Vukan offered the establishment of peace and the previously promised hostages to the Byzantine emperor. With his convoy, Vukan entered Lipljan in 1094 and concluded a peace agreement to which he surrendered twenty hostages, including his nephews Uroš and Stefan Vukan, to the Byzantines.

--> Following Bodin's death in 1101, Bodin's half-brother Dobroslav II succeeded him as king of Duklja. Kočopar Branislavljević, Bodin's first cousin once removed, travelled from Dyrrhachium to Serbia, forging an alliance with Vukan. This alliance would prove worthy in their successful invasion of Duklja in 1102. The battle that ensued at the Morača led to the overthrow of Dobroslav II and the coronation of Kočopar to the throne. Dobroslav was subsequently banished to Serbia. However, Kočopar's reign was short-lived as well as Vukan had been planning to install Bodin's nephew, Vladimir to the throne of Duklja. Kočopar, having lost influence among the Zachlumoi, married the daughter of a Zachlumian (Bosnian) prince (knez). However, in the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, the chronicler specifically mentioned that at the time, Zachlumia was ruled by a ban, not a knez. Kočopar later died in battle against the Zachlumoi. Upon his death, Vukan installed Bodin's nephew Vladimir as planned, to whom he gave his daughter as a wife and so strengthened ties between Serbia and Duklja. A mere pawn in dynastic conflicts, Vladimir was poisoned in 1118 under orders from Queen Jaquinta, widow of his late uncle, Constantine Bodin. Jaquinta then appointed her son, George, to the throne of Duklja.

Upon spreading his influence in Duklja, Vukan invaded Byzantium once more in the spring of 1106. He was probably attempting to take advantage of the Norman campaign against the Byzantines (see Byzantine–Norman wars). In a battle, he defeated John Komnenos again. The war was concluded by November of that year, with Vukan being forced to send hostages once again to emperor Alexios I in return for peace. There is no written record of Vukan after this war.

Scholars believe Vukan died after 1112. Vukan's successor was Uroš I his nephew through Marko.