Principality, divided · The Balkans and Byzantium · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Principality of Hum

Hum is the land of the lower Neretva and the coast from the Neretva mouth to the gates of Ragusa, with Ston as its seat and Popovo, Dubrava, Nevesinje and the Neretva valley inland.

It was the share of Nemanja's brother Miroslav from about 1166. In March 1198 Duke Andrew of Hungary, then ruling Croatia and Dalmatia, took the coast between the Cetina and the Neretva and styled himself duke of Hum; Miroslav died the same year. Following Fine, his lands were then divided: his young son Andrija, about ten years old, received the Ston coast and Popovo, while another son, Peter (Petar), withdrew to northern Hum.

Only after the Hungarians left (about 1203) did Peter take western Hum and, with the nobles' backing, drive out Andrija, who went to his cousin Stefan. Their mother, Ban Kulin's sister, is named with Kulin among the 'heretics' in Vukan's letter of September 1199 ('his sister, who was the wife of the late Miroslav of Hum'), which suggests she was already at her brother's court in Bosnia, as FMG and the dal research have it; who governed for the boy Andrija is not known. So on 1 January 1200 Hum is in three pieces: Andrija's coast and Popovo, Peter's north, and the Hungarian-held west.

Hum's church is Latin on the coast (the bishop of Ston under Ragusa), with Orthodox monasteries inland, and Vukan's letter to Rome in 1199 named Miroslav's widow among Kulin's heretic kin by the usual reading.

Who rules

Name
Divided: the boy Andrija (Andrew), Miroslav's son, holds the Ston coast and Popovo; his brother Peter (Petar) holds northern Hum
Title
Prince (knez) of Hum
Since
the division after Miroslav's death in 1198
Born
Andrija about 1187-1189 (inferred)
Family
The Hum branch of the Nemanjici: sons of Nemanja's brother Miroslav and of Ban Kulin's sister
Confidence
low

English Wikipedia (Andrija of Hum and Zachlumia, both citing Fine 1994 pp. 52-54; Cirkovic 2004 p. 37); FMG Serbia (Miroslav died about 1198; his widow alive after 1199); dal research (Cetina to Neretva coast, Bosnia).

Overlord

The grand zupan of Serbia as head of the Nemanjic family (not pinned how far the Hum princes defer to him); King Emeric of Hungary claims Hum, and his brother Andrew took its western coast in 1198.

What the realm holds

  • Ston, Peljesac and the coast to Slano (Andrija)
  • Popovo field (Andrija)
  • the island of Mljet, whose Benedictines hold it under the princes of Hum
  • northern Hum: the Neretva valley round Bisce (Blagaj) and Nevesinje (Peter; limits not pinned)
  • the Neretva delta (holder not pinned)
  • the coast between the Cetina and the Neretva, lost to Hungary in 1198 (dal sheet, drawn contested)

How it was acquired

Miroslav's share in the Nemanjic family division (about 1166); briefly given to Rastko (Sava) in 1190-1192 while Miroslav held the Lim; divided among his sons after his death in 1198.

Allies and rivals

Andrija and Peter are rivals; Stefan later backs Andrija. Ban Kulin of Bosnia is the boys' uncle. Hungary holds the western coast. Ragusa is the neighbour and the head of the coast's church province.

The realm that morning

Divided as above, with no war recorded that winter. Across the borders: Ban Kulin's Bosnia to the north, the Hungarian-held Krajina to the west (dal), Ragusa to the south-east, Vukan's Travunia to the east.

Wealth

Salt of Ston, the Neretva trade, livestock, wine.

Military

The Hum nobles and their men; no figures.

Threats

  • Hungary-Croatia on the Cetina-Neretva coast (Andrew briefly occupies the Neretva region again about 1205).
  • The brothers' quarrel: Peter drives Andrija out after about 1203.
  • Rome's suspicion of heresy.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. about 1203 (later)When the Hungarians leave the west, Peter takes western Hum and, with the nobles' support, expels Andrija, who goes to Stefan's court.Depends on: Hungarian withdrawal and the Hum nobles preferring Peter. Stopped by: Stefan or Kulin intervening for Andrija, or the Hungarians staying.

Where the sources disagree

  • English Wikipedia (Zachlumia) lists Peter as duke of Hum 1196-1216 and Toljen as prince 1192-1196, and the dal research has Peter succeeding in the late 1190s with the widow already at Kulin's court on 1 January 1200. Fine (1994, pp. 52-54, as cited in the English Wikipedia article on Andrija of Hum) puts the division of 1198 first and Peter's seizure of the whole after about 1203, with the widow going to Kulin only then; Vukan's letter of September 1199 (FMG Bosnia) already groups her with Kulin. This file follows Fine for the division and FMG for the widow.
  • Toljen, listed as a son of Miroslav and prince of Hum in 1192-1196, is not placed in 1200 by any source checked.

Evidence: Miroslav's death in 1198 and the 1198 Hungarian conquest are fair; the division among his sons rests on Fine's reading of late sources (Orbini among them).

On the map: Hum's inland limits (Nevesinje, Gacko, the upper Neretva) are drawn by the 13th-century pattern; not pinned for 1200.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, Anonymous (the priest of Dioclea; Rudger, archbishop of Bar, by Zivkovic's attribution) (disputed: the 12th century on the older view, about 1295 to 1301 on the current one). The chronicle ends before 1200 and gives no event of that year. Read online
  • History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
  • Charters of the kingdom of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia, volume 2, 1101 to 1200 (documents of 1101 to 1200, edited 1904). The Croatian and Dalmatian charters to 1200: the acts of Duke Andrew as lord of Croatia and Dalmatia (1197 to 1204), the Hungarian kings' grants, the Templars and the bishops of Zagreb, Split, Zadar and Trogir, the communal statutes of the coastal towns, and the papal letters of 1200 to Emeric about Ban Kulin of Bosnia and heresy. Read online
  • The Lives of St Simeon (Stefan Nemanja) by Sava and by Stefan the First-Crowned, Sava of Serbia (Rastko Nemanjic) and Stefan the First-Crowned (Sava's Life 1208, as the preface to the Studenica typikon (a short Life stands in the Hilandar typikon of 1199); Stefan's Life 1216). The two sons' lives of Stefan Nemanja are the Serbian witness to the situation of 1200: Nemanja's abdication at Ras in 1196 in favour of Stefan, his monastic years at Studenica and on Mount Athos, the founding of Hilandar (1198) and his death there on 13 February 1199, and, in Stefan's version written after the event, the war with the elder brother Vukan of Zeta, who seized the throne with Hungarian help in 1202. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Zachlumia (English Wikipedia)
  2. Andrija of Hum (English Wikipedia)
  3. FMG Medieval Lands: Serbia
  4. FMG Medieval Lands: Bosnia (Vukan's letter of September 1199)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.