Zeta (Southeast Europe)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Zeta (after the river of the same name ) or until the end of the 10th century Diocletia or Dioclitia ( Greek Διοκλεία Diokleia , Latin D (i) oclea , Slavic Duklja or Dioklitija ) was a medieval South Slavic principality . It was first mentioned in the 11th century and existed until the conquest by the Ottomans in the 15th century .

Approximate spatial extent of Zeta in the 1370s

geography

The Zeta covered most of today's Montenegro and at times also the north of today's Albania . A distinction was made between the Upper Zeta (the mountain range north of Podgorica ) and the Lower Zeta (the sea coast and the area around Lake Skadar ).

history

Zeta was a principality (Duklja or Dioclitia) in the 10th century under the rule of the Vojisavljević dynasty . From 1077 it was a kingdom under Constantine Bodin , and in the 12th century it was again a principality under the Nemanjids . First under Bulgarian , then Byzantine influence, Zeta gained a certain degree of independence under Konstantin Bodin, but was united with Raszien by Nemanja in 1185 . From 1280 to 1314, Hélène d'Anjou ruled Zeta. From 1360 to 1421, after the fall of the Serbian Empire, Zeta was ruled by the local princes Balšić , and the capital was moved to Shkodra . In the 15th century, Serbian, Venetian and Ottoman rulers competed for the Zeta, with the participation of the local dynasties Balšić and Crnojević . In 1499 the area was annexed by the Ottomans .

Ruler

The rulers from before 989 are not fully known. Because of the poor source situation, errors or gaps cannot be ruled out for the time afterwards. The list is based on the work of Truhart for the period up to 1421; the Hélène d'Anjou mentioned above is missing from this list.

Later use of the term

The name Zeta also referred to one of the administrative areas established in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1929, the Banschaft Zeta (Zetska banovina) . Today the landscape around the place Golubovci ( Montenegro ) is called Zeta .

See also

literature