Marko Miljanov

Marko Miljanov Popović (Марко Миљанов Поповић, ; 25 April 1833 – 2 February 1901) was a Montenegrin general, clan chief and writer. He entered the service of Danilo I, the first Prince of Montenegro, and led his armed Kuči clan against the Ottoman Empire in the wars of 1861-1862 and 1876-1878, distinguishing himself as an able military leader. He had unified his clan with Montenegro in 1874. There was later a rift between Miljanov and Prince Nikola I. He was also an accomplished writer who gained repute for his descriptions of Montenegrin society.

Biography
Marko was born into a distinguished family in the village of Medun of the Kuči clan (in present-day Podgorica municipality, Montenegro), which at the time was independent from the Ottoman Empire as well as the direct rule of Petar II Petrović-Njegoš. He had a Serb, Orthodox Christian father and an Albanian, Roman Catholic mother. Like his fellow highlanders, he took part in hajdučija (guerilla fighting) against the Ottoman Empire in the region.

In 1856, he came to the Montenegrin capital Cetinje and entered the service of Prince Danilo in his guards unit called perjanici. For his bravery and successes in raids on Ottoman territory and as a man of confidence, he was awarded in 1862 the position of judge and head of Bratonožići clan. For his work on unification of Kuči with Montenegro in 1874, he had a price set on his head by the Turks. The same year saw his appointment to the Montenegrin Senate (from 1879 transformed into a State Council). In the 1876-78 war against the Turks, he victoriously commanded Montenegrin forces in the Battle of Fundina. After a fierce disagreement with Prince Nikola in 1882, he had to leave the State Council and decided to retire from public life to his native Medun.

Although he was 50 years old, Marko Miljanov, who was illiterate like the most of his countrymen, decided to learn to write. Though much younger than Petar II Petrović Njegoš, Marko Miljanov was closer to the people by virtue of his lack of learning, and thus he expressed more directly and in less altered form what he found among the people. He states explicitly that man is governed by higher powers of good and evil: This is not permitted by nature, this is not permitted by the blood which contains some divine force which rules over man's good will and bad. Putting quotations aside, Miljanov is lost in admiration for the good, for humanity and reason as the higher imperatives over man.

He explained his urge in a foreword to the lost manuscript of his epic songs with the words: Dear Serb brother, if you had the chance to see the heroes that I have seen, your heart would give you no peace until you have responded to the heroes who die merrily for their own and rights of all of us.

He died at Herceg Novi in 1901.

Works
Marko Miljanov died before any of his works were published. All works were originally published in Serbia, as Marko was a well known dissident to his contemporary Montenegrin king Nicholas.

His most important work is The Examples of Humanity and Bravery (Примјери чојства и јунаштва, Belgrade 1901), a collection of true anecdotes depicting practical examples of achieved ethical ideal Montenegrins of his time strived for. It is a lasting monument to the otherwise unsung heroes of the Montenegrin struggle for independence in the 19th century. The anecdotes describe common and humble people, their language and customs and their deeds that made other Montenegrins and Albanians admire them. Marko's language and phrase is plain and coarse, however, his message is resounding.

His second published book The Kuči Clan in Folk Stories and Poems (Племе Кучи у народној причи и пјесми, Belgrade 1904) is collection of a historical and ethnographical data from folklore.

Marko Miljanov had a high respect for Albanian Catholic tribes that were immediate neighbors of his tribe, Kuči, the Albanians of Koja e Kuçit; therefore his book: Life and the Customs of Albanians (Живот и обичаји Арбанаса, Belgrade 1908), describes and explains their daily life.

Amongst his other epic works are Serbian Haiduks (Српски хајдуци), Something on Bratonožići (Нешто о Братоножићима) and other.

Ethnicity
Miljanov wrote that during an attack by the Montenegrin Prince Danilo on the Kuči clan (Miljanov's clan), the Kuči's shouted: "''Do not attack your Serb brother, o Montenegrins, may your cheek be black, as it is if you act so against your brother!".

Message to the Austrian ambassador to Montenegro: "Tell that Austrian deputy, to tell his Emperor, should God turn him over to good, to then unite the Serbdom: Bosnia and 'Erzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Old Serbia, and to make that the Serb Kingdom."