Klonimir

Klonimir (; ; ) was a Serbian prince of the Vlastimirović dynasty, and pretender to the throne of the Serbian Principality. His father and uncle, co-princes Strojimir and Gojnik, had been exiled to Bulgaria with their families after their eldest brother Mutimir had ousted them and taken the Serbian throne. Klonimir married a Bulgarian noblewoman chosen by Khan Boris I himself. She later gave birth to a son named Časlav. The descendants of the three Vlastimirović branches continued the feud over the Serbian throne which spanned over the century, and Klonimir returned to Serbia in ca. 896 and attempted to take the country from his cousin Petar, who had ruled since 891. He managed to take over the Serbian city of Destinikon, but the much more powerful Petar defeated him, and it is presumed that Klonimir died in battle. His son Časlav later became the most powerful of the Vlastimirović dynasty, as Prince of Serbia from 927 to 960, unifying several tribes in the region.

Life

The history of the early medieval Serbian Principality and the Vlastimirović dynasty (ruled ca. 610–960) is recorded in the work De Administrando Imperio (On the Governance of the Empire), compiled by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r. 913–959). Vlastimir, the eponymous founder of the Vlastimirović dynasty and the ruling Serbian Prince (archon) in the period of ca. 830–851, was a Byzantine ally who had managed to devastate the Bulgars in a three-year war (839–842), and greatly expand the Serbian realm to the west. Upon his death, the rule was inherited by his three sons, Mutimir, Strojimir and Gojnik, though supreme rule was held by the eldest, Mutimir. The three brothers successfully fought off a Bulgarian attack in 853 or 854 (shortly after the death of Vlastimir), when they had managed to capture 12 great boyars and the commander himself, Vladimir, the son of Khan Boris I of Bulgaria (r. 852–889). The Bulgars sought to avenge the defeat of their previous Khan, Presian. The Serbs and Bulgars then made peace, and possibly formed an alliance.

A quarrel eventually broke out between Vlastimir's three sons. According to V. Ćorović, Boris wanted to gain influence on these events in Serbia and sought to help those who could stand on the Bulgarian side instead of the Byzantine, and thus he graciously received the two younger brothers, holding them as weapons for his needs.

After Mutimir's death in 890 or 891, the rule of Serbia was inherited by Mutimir's three sons Pribislav, Bran and Stefan (called the Mutimirović), headed by the eldest son, Pribislav. which shows that Petar had bad relations with Bulgaria. However, Klonimir was unsuccessful, and the powerful Petar slew him.

On July 11, 2006, the Serbian government bought a Byzantine-styled seal in solid gold weighing 15,64 g, most likely belonging to Strojimir (Klonimir's father), at an auction in Munich. It was presumably crafted outside Byzantium, and has a Greek inscription (KE BOIΘ CTPOHMIP, "God Help Strojimir") and a patriarchal cross in the centre. It most likely dates to the second half of the 9th century, between 855/56 and 896, when Klonimir tried to take the Serbian throne.

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