Petar Mrkonjić
Bornbefore 1645
Imotski, Ottoman Empire (modern Croatia)
Diedafter 1669
Allegiance Republic of Venice
Years of service1669 - 1687
Battles/wars

Petar Mrkonjić (before 1645 – after 1669) was a legendary hajduk from the Imotski region in the Dalmatian Hinterland, in modern-day Croatia, active during the Cretan War (1645–1669) between the Republic of Venice and Ottoman Empire as a guerrilla leader serving Venice.

History

Vuk Stefanović Karadžić had found no historical documents on Petar Mrkonjić.[1] Folklorist Stjepan Grčić did not believe Petar Mrkonjić was a historical figure.[2]

According to Anđelko Mijatović, it is generally believed that the epic personality of Petar Mrkonjić is a historical figure, and that he was born in Imotski; he is possibly the same person as Petar Imoćanin ("Petar from Imotski"), who lived in the mid-17th century and is said to have greatly damaged properties of the Republic of Ragusa, after which the Ragusans urged the Venetians to stop him, as he was a Venetian subject.[3]

Legacy

Mrkonjić has become the subject of poems and Croatian patriotic songs. One of the earliest mentions of Mrkonjić were written by the Venetian-Croatian friar and poet Andrija Kačić Miošić (1704-1760) in Vitezovi Imotske krajine.[4]

Da je komu pogledati bilo

ljutu zmiju Petra Mrkonjića: u njega su oči sokolove, a desnica Miloš Kobilića!

Često ide na Bosnu ponosnu, vodi roblje na skelu makarsku ter prodaje Turke u Latine i lijepe bule i kadune.

Ni to Petru dosta ne bijaše, već junačke glave odsicaše. To svidoče starci od krajine, da bijaše junak od starine,

a najveće pisme i popivke, kojeno se od njega pivaju: junak biše Petre Mrkonjiću,

ognjenoga rata od Kandije.

— Vitezovi Imotske krajine, collected by Andrija Kačić Miošić

In Serbian epic poetry, he has a hero status[5][6] along with other hajduks such as Starac Vujadin, Pecija, Golub, Starina Novak, Bajo Pivljanin, and others. He is also the subject of a poem by Serbian linguist Vuk Stefanović Karadžić (1787-1864) in Jaut-beg i Pero Mrkonjić.

During the Great Eastern Crisis, set off by a Serb uprising against the Ottoman Empire in 1875 in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Herzegovina Uprising (1875–77)), Prince Peter adopted the nom de guerre of hajduk Petar Mrkonjić of Ragusa, and joined the Bosnian Serb insurgents as a leader of a guerilla unit.[7] In 1925 the "Organization of Serbian Chetniks - Petar Mrkonjić" was founded, though it was banned by King Alexander I of Yugoslavia four years later when he instituted a dictatorship. In World War II, there was a Chetnik command named "Petar Mrkonjić", with 700 fighters. Babić formed the paramilitary Petar Mrkonjić-brigade in April 1992. The "Medal of Petar Mrkonjić"[8] was also given by Republika Srpska.

References

  1. ↑ Vuk Stefanović Karadžić. Srpske narodne pjesme, Volume 3. p. 614. Петар Мркоњић, о коме нема историских докуме- ната, опеван је у неколиким песмама (вид. даље бр. 24 и 42) као велики јунак у друштву других харамбаша из XVII века.
  2. ↑ Stjepan Grčić (1930). Narodne pjesme i pričanja: Kotarske narodne pjesme. PETAR MRKONJIC Nije mi Poznato, da jo Petar Mrkonjić koje historičko noz, i ako ga Martić spominje. Pune su nar. pjesme o junaštvu i neu rednim i_Dľcima Petra Mrkonjića. On je sin starca Mrkonjića, koji Od ...
  3. ↑ Uskoci i krajišnici: Narodni junaci u pjesmi i povijesti. p. 99. Općenito se drži da je Petar Mrkonjić povijesna osoba i da je bio rodom od Imotskog. Salko Nažečić (Iz naše narodne epike, Sarajevo, 1959, 147) misli da bi Petar Mrkonjić mogao biti hajduk Petar Imoćanin. Taj hajduk koji je živio sredinom ...
  4. ↑ "Vitezovi Imotske krajine]"., excerpt from Andrija Kačić Miošić. Razgovor ugodni naroda slovinskoga.
  5. ↑ Svetozar Koljević (1998). Postanje epa. Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti, Ogranak u Novom Sadu. p. 234.
  6. ↑ Vinko Vitezica (1937). Antologija narodne poczije: Priredio Vinko Vitezica. Geca Kon A.D. Петар Мркоњић: српски ју- нак из Приморја.
  7. ↑ Franjo Jež (1931). Zbornik Jugoslavije: njenih banovina, gradova, srezova i opština. Matica živih i mrtvih s.h.s. p. 43. опевани приморски ју- нак Петар (или Перо) Мркоњић
  8. ↑ Global war crimes tribunal collection, Volume 2, Part 2. p. 119.
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