Petar II Petrović-Njegoš
Petar II Petrović Njegoš (Cyrillic: Петар II Петровић Његош) (November 1 1813 - October 10 1851) was one of the greatest Serbian and Montenegrin poets, ruler of Montenegro and a Serbian Orthodox Bishop (Владика in Serbian) of the autochephalous Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate (Bishopric) of Montenegro.
Petar II Petrović Njegoš
Born in Njeguši, educated in the monastery of Cetinje, he became the bishop and sovereign ruler of Montenegro at the age of 17. Seeing the necessity for Montenegro to become a modern state, he reconciled quarrelling Serb tribes, established a Senate, the executive branch of government, courts, started collecting taxes, strengthened the borders of Montenegro, and built roads, as well as the first school and a printing press. And while doing that, he wrote his poems; The Mountain Wreath is the most famous of them. It described the will of the Serbian people to fight for freedom and indepence.
In 1836 he published The ABC of the Serbian language and in 1838 The Serbian Grammar. He re-printed the school textbooks orinally printed by his father Petar I The Serbian elementary reading book. On the 11 June 1842, the Prince of Serbia Mihailo Obrenović and the Serbian Literature Society elected him as an Honorable Member as a reward for his merits in literature and educationo of the Serb people.
In 1848, the Princely Government of Serbia sent him the proposal of unification of Serbs, Croats and Bulgarians. Petar agreed but said: "The Serbdom has to unite first. I will, then, to my patriatchate of Peć and Serbian Prince to Prizren. Spiritual Authority to me and secular to him, over the nation free and united."
He died in Cetinje of tuberculosis; he was buried in a small chapel on top of Mount Lovćen where his mausoleum was built contrary to his will and testament, after the annexation of Montenegro by Serbia in the aftermath of World War I.
Major works
- Hermit of Cetinje (1834)
- Light of Microcosm (1845)
- The Mountain Wreath (English translation) (1847)
- Stephen the Little (Šćepan Mali), the tsar-pretender (1851)
Quotes (English)
- Blessed is he whose name lives forever,
- A good reason had he to be alive!
- When my wife asks where I have been today,
- I will tell her that I've been sowing salt.
- And woe to her if she disbelieves me!
- What is man? (And it's his fate to be man!)
- A small creature deceived oft by the earth,
- Yet he sees that the earth is not for him.
- Is not the real more puzzling than the dream?
- Blessed is one who abandons his wits early,
- The whole his life is a fun for him!
- A woman is a funny thing.
Quotes (Serbian)
- Благо оном чије име довијека живи,
- Имао се зашта и родити!
- Кад ме жена пита ђе сам био данас,
- Рећи ћу јој да сам сијао со.
- И тешко њојзи ако ми не повјерује!
- Благо оном ко рано полуди,
- Цијели му живот у весељу прође!
- Ћуд је женска смијешна работа.