Prince Jevrem Obrenović | |
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Born |
Gornja Dobrinja near Požega |
March 18, 1790
Died | September 20, 1856 Wallachia |
(aged 66)
Jevrem Teodorović, later known as Jevrem Obrenović, was the youngest brother of Serbian Prince Miloš Obrenović and was also the youngest of his nine siblings.
Jevrem Teodorović's mother Višnja Urošević (d. 1817) was married twice, first to Obren Martinović, with whom she had three children. After the death of Obren, she married a poor widower, Teodor Mihailović, in the village of Dobrinja. Višnja and Teodor had three sons: Miloš, Jovan and Jevrem. Both Višnja and Teodor's ancestors were migrants from Herzegovina, having arrived in the late 17th or early 18th century. Teodor Mihailović died in 1802, leaving the family in poverty. A few years later, the half-brothers by their mother - Jakov and Milan, took their mother, along with Miloš, Jovan and Jevrem to live on their estate.
Milan Obrenović had a great influence on the upbringing and development of his younger brothers, as evidenced by the fact that Miloš, Jovan and Jevrem took their half-brothers surname Obrenović.
Active in the Serbian independence movement from his youth, Jevrem travelled to Ostružnica to sell oxen for weapons and ammunition. He and his brother Miloš joined the First Serbian Uprising (1804–13), led by Karađorđe. Miloš conspired against Karađorđe and was involved in his assassination. During peacetime (1813–15), Jevrem lived for a while in Belgrade.
Miloš led the Second Serbian Uprising that broke out in the beginning of April 1815, and Jevrem again took up arms. Sulejman-paša Skopljak, the Vizier of Belgrade, had Jevrem captured and sentenced to death, but in August 1815 Miloš and the Ottoman governor Ali Pasha agreed to have Jevrem released from prison. In 1816, Miloš made Jevrem governor of the Šabac nahija (district); and in 1817 he was sent to govern Sokol district. In 1817, Miloš concluded peace with the Ottomans and was recognized as the "Prince of Serbia" by the Ottoman Sultan, subject to tribute to the Porte. As such; Jevrem was in line to the succession to the Serbian throne behind his brother Jovan and the sons of Miloš.
In 1819, he was appointed governor of Valjevo. Jevrem ruled autocratically in the districts under his governance, decisions being made only with his consent. The same year he married Tomanija Bogićević, with whom he had eight children - seven daughters (the eldest, Jelena, married Miloš's secretary Konstantin Hadija) and one son.