Šćepan Mali

1780s portrait of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia

The Russian ambassador in Constantinople, Alexis Obreskov, had first learnt of Šćepan while speaking with the Venetian Bailo of Constantinople, Rosini, on 16 November 1767, but had then deemed the matter as being of little importance. On 17 November, the very next day, Obreskov received word from Prince-Bishop Sava, who was unsure whether Šćepan was Peter III or not and feared the wrath of Catherine the Great in either case. Sava implored Obreskov to tell him "whether Peter III is dead or alive, for if he is alive, then he is verily in Montenegro".[16] Obreskov replied the same day, writing: "I reply that the Emperor of All the Russias, Peter III, passed away on July 6, 1762, and was solemnly interred with all honours in the cathedral church of the Monastery of St. Alexander Nevskij by the side of his grandfather, the Emperor Peter the Great of blessed and ever glorious memory".[16] Annoyed with Sava's suggestion that Peter III could be alive in Montenegro, Obreskov added that "I am astonished that Your Eminence has not been informed of this till now, and that you, together with your unenlightened people, could have so fallen into error as to believe this impostor and vagabond".[20] The ambassador advised Sava to immediately expose Šćepan as a fraud and drive him from Montenegro, otherwise the country might lose Russia's favour. As previously described, Sava's attempts to follow this advice only ended with Šćepan's rise to power.[20]

Obreskov reported on Šćepan to the Russian court on 10 December 1767. He implored Empress Catherine to inform him if she received any reports of Šćepan stepping on Ottoman soil, and if this happened, send him instructions to cover such a possibility.[20] Šćepan also decided to inform the Russian court of his existence himself. He probably knew of Sava's correspondence with Obreskov and might have wished to end the Prince-Bishop's attempts at discrediting him. As someone believed to be Peter III, it also increased his prestige to send emissaries to Russia.[20] In December 1767 and January 1768, four emissaries were sent to the Russian Embassy in Vienna. The emissaries were all detained at the Austrian border and the Russian Embassy did not hear from then until February,[20] when desperate letters from two of them, Grigorije Drekalovic and Archimandrite Avakum Milakovic, reached Vienna.[21] The Russian ambassador in Vienna, Prince Dimitrij Golicyn, wrote to Catherine on 20 February, saying: "Not content with his wondrous revelation unto his own unenlightened and stupid people, this Montenegrin messiah, who is known by the name of Peter the Third, has resolved to glorify himself throughout all the universe through his apostles", concluding that the letters sent to him by the Montenegrin emissaries were "worthy of complete contempt".[21]

Catherine herself was alarmed by the news. She immediately sent an order to the commanders of frontier towns along Russia's entire western border, reading: "it is possible that the pretender may send similar emissaries into Russia, and that perhaps he himself may be tempted to enter our borders".[21] Border officials in Smolensk, Riga, Reval, Vyborg, Kiev and Novorossiysk were ordered to detain all suspicious travellers, particularly if these travellers were from Montenegro. The councillor of the Russian Embassy in Vienna, George Merk, was instructed to immediately travel to Montenegro via Venice, with a letter from Catherine to the nobles of Montenegro to prove that Peter III was dead.[21] The letter also threatened that if Šćepan was not exposed and deposed, Russia would end its subsidies to Montenegro and perhaps invade and destroy the country. Merk left Vienna on 2 April 1768, but the Venetians refused to let him travel through their territory, fearing the ire of the Ottomans. After lengthy negotiations, Merk was allowed passage to Kotor but soon found that a Venetian blockade prevented him from crossing into Montenegro, and prevented the nobles of Montenegro from meeting him. He made an attempt to cross into Montenegro through the city of Ragusa, but Ragusa did not let him past the town gate and Merk gave up, returning to Vienna in early August. His failure made Catherine furious, and he was immediately dismissed from his position.[22]

Another attempt was made by sending Avakum Milakovic, one of Šćepan's own emissaries, whom the Russians had convinced of Šćepan's fraud, to the Montenegrins. Having learned of the fraud, Milakovic had agreed on his own accord to return to Montenegro and reveal the truth. Though the Russians asked him, Milakovic could not reveal Šćepan's true identity himself since he did not know it. Disguised as a Greek merchant, Milakovic left Vienna on 13 August 1768 but he too proved unable to get through the Venetian blockade and he learned that Montenegro was at war with the Ottoman Empire. Like Merk before him, Milakovic returned to Vienna unsuccessful.[23]

The false Tsar proved difficult to get rid of. The Venetians had unsuccessfully attempted to poison him as early as 1767.[16] The Ottomans were highly concerned by the developments in Montenegro, believing that Šćepan had been placed in Montenegro by the Russians.[15] In August 1768, they thus prepared to invade Montenegro to put an end to his rule.[16] The Ottomans assembled an army of 50,000 soldiers and invaded Montenegro from three different directions.[15] At the same time, the Montenegrin coast was blockaded by the Venetians, meaning that the country was effectively surrounded by enemies.[16]

Šćepan himself appears to have momentarily fled his responsibilities due to the prospect of the Ottoman invasion.[5] The Montenegrin clans, united due to Šćepan's rule, managed to rally together an army of perhaps as many as 10,000 soldiers to defend their homeland. Miraculously, the outnumbered and quickly assembled Montenegrin force won the initial battle against the Ottoman invaders.[24] Soon afterwards, there was heavy rain, which soaked the gunpowder brought by the Ottomans, weakening the invading forces. Furthermore, Russia had just declared war on the Ottoman Empire, which forced the Ottomans to sign a ceasefire with the Montenegrins.[5]

1780s portrait of Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgorukov

As part of the Russian plan of defeating the Ottomans, Catherine the Great hoped to inspire the Orthodox peoples of the Balkans, particularly the Moreot Greeks and the Montenegrins, to rise up against their Ottoman overlords alongside the Russian invasion forces.[25] On 5 August 1769, Prince Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgorukov was sent from Italy by Alexis Orlov, one of Catherine's most prominent generals, to Montenegro in order to expose Šćepan and prepare the Montenegrins for the arrival of additional Russian forces. Accompanying Dolgorukov were five officers, two noncomissioned officers, one servant and twenty-six Balkan Slavs recruited in Italy.[25] After a difficult journey constantly under the watch of Venetian informants, Dolgorukov and his party arrived in Montenegro a few days later, where they were provided with carrying aid and supplies by the locals. On 13 August, Dolgorukov confronted Šćepan at Donji Brčeli Monastery near Cetinje. Dolgorukov had also issued a written proclamation calling on all Montenegrins to send representatives to Cetinje for a great meeting on 17 August.[25]

Šćepan arrived at the Monastery around nine in the morning on 13 August, escorted by a guard of cavalrymen. Russian sources describe him as young, about thirty years old, with a pale and smooth face, bright black and combed back curly hair, falling loosely behind his ears, and as being of medium height. His voice is described as "thin", like a woman's voice, and he spoke rapidly.[2] The sources immediately thought he looked nothing like a Russian Tsar. They described him as dressed in the "Greek style" – he wore a white silk tunic, a red cap on his head which he never took off and carried a Turkish pipe. From his right side to his left shoulder, Šćepan wore a chain from which a pouch containing an icon hung.[2]

Šćepan and Dolgorukov remained together for eight hours, until five in the afternoon, recorded by an anonymous member of Dolgorukov's entourage as "in obscure and giddy conversation which, apart from its inaneness, allowed one to conclude nothing".[2] The two met again the next day, and though Šćepan was then apparently more humble and respectful than before, the Russian authors were again unsure if anything was achieved by the meeting. The Russian presence in Montenegro inflamed local patriotism and small skirmishes soon broke out along the Ottoman border, with Montenegrins engaging in raids. Fearing a premature uprising, Dolgorukov had to issue a manifesto condemning such activities for the moment.[2] By his mere arrival in the country, Dolgorukov had provoked a volatile situation over which he had limited control.[26]

On 15 August he preceded to Cetinje, intending to remove the only real central authority in Montenegro, Šćepan, from power. The meeting called by Dolgorukov convened outside of the city on 17 August after a church service. Two key figures were notably absent: Prince-Bishop Sava, who faked being ill in order to avoid a potentially harmful situation, and Šćepan, who pondered how to proceed. Šćepan had tried to discredit the Russians by claiming they were impostors sent by the Venetians to divide the Montenegrin people, but these attempts had failed. At Cetinje, the Russians implored the Montenegrins to abandon the impostor Šćepan, who they exposed as a fraud, and instead declare loyalty to the real ruler of Russia, Catherine the Great. A great cry of affirmation rose from the people present and the crowd swore an oath of allegiance to Russia.[26]

Though he believed he had succeeded, Dolgorukov was awakened at five in the morning on the next day by the sound of gunshots.[26] Šcepan and his mounted guards arrived at the monastery where Dolgorukov was staying near the capital. Although the Montenegrins had seen him exposed as an impostor and had formally sworn loyalty to Catherine the Great, they greeted him with joy and followed him. Šcepan would have lost the trust of the Montenegrin people if he had avoided the meeting. He decided to play the hero and returned to assert his rule.[3] Šćepan spent several hours outside the monastery, telling the crowds his own version of his story, and though Dolgorukov repeatedly ordered the Montenegrin nobles to capture him, no one listened. It was not until Dolgorukov ordered his own men to capture Šćepan, or kill him if he resisted, that the Montenegrins calmed down. Despite the orders, Šćepan arrived at the monastery's gate not in chains, but on horseback as the ruler of Montenegro.[3]

Portrait of Sava Petrović, Prince-Bishop of Montenegro 1735–1782

Šćepan was immediately disarmed and soon interrogated. Dolgorukov demanded that the supposed Tsar reveal his true identity, but Šćepan merely replied that he was "a wanderer and the smallest of the small on Earth".[3] Dissatisfied, Dolgorukov asked what had compelled Šćepan to pretend to be Peter III of Russia. To this, Šcepan replied that he personally had never actually claimed to be Peter. Though this was technically true, it was far from an honest answer.[3] Dolgorukov threatened that if Šćepan did not reveal his actual origin and name, he would be tortured, which impelled Šćepan to say that he came from Ioannina in Greece. Since he could not speak Greek, it was obvious that this was a lie.[3] Following further threats of torture, Šćepan said that he was Dalmatian and that his family name was Rajčević. Though there was no proof that this was true, the Russians were satisfied that Šćepan had admitted to being a fraud and had him placed in chains in a guarded cell in the monastery. His admittance of not being Peter III was then read to the crowd of Montenegrins outside the monastery.[3]

According to the Russian sources, the Montenegrins were by now finally convinced and would have killed Šcepan if Dolgorukov's entourage had not intervened. The imprisonment of Šćepan left Dolgorukov, since he was a representative of the respected Russian Empire, as the de facto leader of Montenegro, a role he found himself ill-prepared to perform.[27]

Without Šćepan's leadership, the Montenegrin clans soon began feuding with each other again and raiding each other's lands, despite the Ottomans making threatening military preparations at the country's borders. Dologurkij's orders to maintain stability and wait for further Russian forces were not only ignored, but resented. Dolgorukov also realised that his life was in danger; the Ottomans had placed a prize on his head, which he believed the Montenegrins might find attractive, and there were several Venetian plots to poison him. At one point, the powder magazine in his headquarters was blown up, something he found out had been orchestrated by the Ottomans in an attempt to kill him. As winter was approaching and he had received no word of any further Russian forces yet, Dolgorukov eventually decided to simply leave Montenegro and return to Italy.[27]

After he secured a ship, Dolgorukov decided that he had to move closer to the coast and thus told Prince-Bishop Sava that he intended to winter in Burčele Monastery. Dolgorukov wished to keep his plans secret from the Prince-Bishop since he knew he was in contact with the Venetians. Sava suggested, since he wanted to keep a close eye on the Russians in order to send reports to Venice, that Dolgorukov could instead winter in Sava's own monastery at Stanjevići. Since Stanjevići was also close to the coast, Dolgorukov agreed.[28]

It was agreed that the captured Šćepan be transferred in secret to Stanjevići to avoid causing any problems. On the night of 19 October, he was transferred there and once Dolgorukov and his entourage left Cetinje (and left the cells unguarded), a group of Montenegrins broke in there in an attempt to rescue Šćepan, but found his cell empty. The Russians had agreed to leave on 24 October but the problem of what to do with Šćepan still remained. Dolgorukov summoned Šćepan and informed him that the crime of impersonating Peter III was punishable by death.[28] Despite this, he decided to pardon Šćepan, made him a Russian officer, gave him a Russian officer's uniform and officially designated him as the ruler of Montenegro.[29]

Dolgorukov had perhaps decided to leave Šćepan in command since he did not wish Montenegro to fall into the hands of the incompetent Sava, who was allied to Venice.[29] Dolgorukov had realised that Šćepan had shown competence in governing the country. In return, Šćepan guided the Russians through the rocky and cliffed shore down to the sea in the night. Dolgorukov later recalled in his memoirs that: "I would truly have fallen into the abyss had not Šćepan Mali, who was accustomed to such places, virtually carried me in his arms".[29] At six in the morning the next day, Dolgorukov and his entourage left Montenegro, never to return.[29]

The Donji Brčeli Monastery, where Šćepan held his court and where he was murdered in 1773

Though the imprisonment had somewhat damaged his prestige, Šćepan continued to be widely recognised as an important figure by the Montenegrins.[1] With Dolgorukov gone and the Montenegrins feeling abandoned by the Russians, his return to rule was welcomed by the people, who had grown accustomed to obeying him, and he would reign for another five years, until his death. That he was not Peter III of Russia now seemed a good thing; Catherine the Great no longer had a reason to be angry at the Montenegrins and with Dolgorukov designating him as the ruler of the country, Šćepan now had actual proof that his rule was supported by Russia.[30]

Šćepan made certain preparations for war, but never undertook a full military campaign against the Ottomans.[30] Alexis Orlov, though disappointed in the Montenegrins for their poor reception of Dolgorukov, promised to send aid, but never did, possibly the main reason for the lack of a campaign.[31] In the middle of 1771, Šćepan almost died while personally supervising the construction of a military highway through the mountains. He was demonstrating to one of his soldiers how to lay a land mine, when the charge exploded, leaving him a cripple and blind in one eye. From this incident until the end of his life, Šćepan was carried around in a luxurious sedan chair, donated to him by the Republic of Ragusa. Venetian emissaries observed that he was treated "as if he were a Roman dictator".[31]

Also in 1771, Šćepan ordered the first census in Montenegrin history. The official reason for the census was to equally distribute the stores of powder and lead left by Dolgorukov. At Vir, close to Lake Skadar, Šcepan ordered the construction of a building which was meant to serve as the headquarters of the Russian army, once they arrived to aid them against the Ottomans. The Montenegrins were tiring of Šćepan's promises of Russian aid. A Venetian report from October 1771 read that: "He has been promising them for some time that a Russian fleet would come with soldiers and supplies to support the campaign which he pretends to be preparing against Turkish Albania, but their expectations have thus far been disappointed, and this is perhaps the cause of his not being any longer in the same high repute with them".[32]

Šćepan appeared publicly very little for a year, but his authority was again strengthened in the autumn of 1772. After a series of failed negotiations, war broke out once more between the Ottomans and Russia. Russia again became interested in Montenegro as the sole independent bastion of Orthodoxy in the Balkans. In October, a Montenegrin priest serving the Russians as a sergeant major in the Russian army, Savić Barjanović, arrived in Montenegro and confirmed Russia's belief in Šćepan's leadership and called on the country's people to obey and follow their ruler.[33] Šćepan called a meeting of Montenegrin nobles and people and began taking measures to strengthen his government. Throughout his brief reign, Šćepan called such assemblies twenty-five times. Through these meetings, Šćepan succeeded in making the clans of Montenegro realise their common needs. A total of ninety death sentences to end vendettas are recorded to have been passed by him, alongside the same number of death sentences to punish pillaging.[33] The death penalty had not existed in Montenegro before Šćepan introduced it.[34] To oversee justice, he established a "Court of Twelve" composed of respected clan leaders tasked with touring Montenegro's districts and dealing justice. He even co-operated with his rival, Prince-Bishop Sava, in punishing monks who conspired to reorganise the local church. Šćepan successfully made peace with Venice and succeeded in keeping that peace through brutally punishing those Montenegrins who plundered Venetian lands.[33]

Whether Šćepan eventually intended to wage war on the Ottomans is unknown. In 1773, one of the Ottoman governors in Albania, Kara Mahmud Pasha, decided to rid himself of the threat posed by Montenegro.[33] Kara Mahmud bribed a Greek refugee from the Morea, who had recently entered Šćepan's service as a servant, to kill him. On 22 September 1773, the monks of the monastery where Šćepan held his court,[35] the Donji Brčeli Monastery,[36] discovered him in his bedroom with his throat cut from ear to ear.[35]

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• Herloßsohn, Carl (1853). Der Montenegrinerhäuptling [The Montenegrin Chief] (in German). Verlag J. L. Kober.
• Zannowich, Stefano (1784). Stiepan-Mali c'est-a-dire Etienne-Petit ou Stefano-Piccolo le pseudo Pierre III, empereur de Russie, qui parut dans le grand-duché de Montenegro, situe entre la mer Egee, l'Albanie Turque & le golfe Adriatique, en 1767, 1768 & 69 [Šćepan Mali, that is to say Stephen the Small or Stefano Piccolo, the pseudo-Peter III, Emperor of Russia, who appeared in the Grand Duchy of Montenegro, situated by the Aegean Sea, Turkish Albania and the Adriatic Gulf, in 1767, 1768 and 1769] (in French).