Bajo Pivljanin
| Bajo Pivljanin | |
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Detail from Bajo Pivljanin kills a Turk (1878)
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| Birth name | Dragojlo Nikolić |
| Born | c. 1630 Piva, Sanjak of Herzegovina (now Montenegro) |
| Died | May 1685 (aged c. 55) Vrtijeljka, near Cetinje, Montenegro Vilayet (now Montenegro) |
| Allegiance |
 Republic of Venice
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| Years of service | 1656–85 |
| Rank | |
| Battles/wars | |
Bajo Pivljanin (Serbian Cyrillic: Бајо Пивљанин c. 1630 – May 1685) was a hajduk commander mostly active in the Ottoman territories of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia. Born in Piva, at the time part of the Ottoman Empire, he was an oxen trader who allegedly left his village after experiencing Ottoman injustice. Mentioned in 1654 as a brigand during the Venetian–Ottoman war, he entered the service of the Republic of Venice in 1656. The hajduks were used to protect Venetian Dalmatia. He remained a low-rank hajduk for the following decade, participating in some notable operations such as the raid on Trebinje. Between 1665 and 1668 he quickly rose through the ranks to the level of harambaša ("bandit leader"). After the war, which ended unfavourably for the Venetians, the hajduks were moved out of their haven in the Bay of Kotor under Ottoman pressure. Between 1671 and 1684 Pivljanin, along with other hajduks and their families, were refugees in Dalmatia. Upon renewed conflict, he was returned to the Bay of Kotor and placed in charge of defending the frontier; in 1685 he and his band fell in battle against the advancing Ottoman governor of Scutari. Regarded as one of the most distinguished hajduks of his time, he is praised in Serbian epic poetry.
Dragojlo Nikolić, nicknamed Bajo Pivljanin, was born around 1630 in Piva (modern-day northwestern Montenegro), at that time part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Herzegovina. According to oral tradition he was born in the village of Rudinice (in Plužine), while there are two versions as to which family he belonged. According to one tradition, found in Kosta Radović's novel Vrtijeljka (1922), he was born in the village of Rudinice (now in Plužine) in Piva to his father Nikola and his mother Ruža, of the Ruđić brotherhood. Radović claims that he was born on 22 May 1622, while it is estimated that he was born in c. 1630. His godfather, the monk Ivanović, named him Dragojlo, while the nickname Bajo (derived from baja, "snake", a common nickname in Piva which was thought to protect children from evil) was given to him by his grandfather Simo. This version was also mentioned by Blagojević, who stated that Bajo Pivljanin belonged to the Nikolić family in Gornje Rudinice, descending from the old brotherhood of Ruđić. The Ruđić brotherhood from Rudinice, which later dispersed elsewhere, is one of two family trees in Piva from which many Pivan families descend.
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