Unknown Archon | |
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Prince of the Serbs (ἄρχων Σερβλίας) |
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Migration of Serbs from White Serbia
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Prince of the Serbs | |
Reign | fl. 610–41 |
Successor | His son (unknown) |
Born | late 6th century White Serbia |
Died | before 680 Serbia |
Issue | An unnamed son |
Dynasty | Vlastimirović (progenitor) |
Religion | Slavic |
Vlastimirović dynasty | |||
The Unknown Archon (Serbian: непознати архонт/nepoznati arhont, непознати кнез/nepoznati knez),Unnamed Serb Archon (неименовани српски архонт/neimenovani srpski arhont), or simply Serb Archon (архонт Србин/arhont Srbin) refers to the Serbian prince who led the Serbs from their homeland to settle in the Balkans during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610–641), as mentioned in Emperor Constantine VII's De Administrando Imperio (950s). The work states that he was the progenitor of the first Serbian dynasty (known as the Vlastimirović), and that he died before the settlement of the Bulgars (680). Serbian historiography commonly treats him as the first Serbian ruler.
Porphyrogenitus' account on the first Christianization of the Serbs can be dated to 632–638; this might have been Porphyrogenitus' construction, or did really take place, encompassing a limited group of chiefs and then very poorly received by the wider layers of the tribe.
According to German historian Ludwig Albrecht Gebhardi (1735–1802), the Serb archon was a son of Dervan, who was the Duke (dux) of the Surbi, east of the Saale. This theory was supported by Miloš Milojević, and Relja Novaković included the possibility that they were relatives in his work.