| Prince of Sorbia (ἄρχων Σερβλίας) | |
| Succession: | Prince of Sorbia |
| Reign: | 626–50 |
| House: | Vlastimirović (progenitor) |
| House-Type: | Dynasty |
| Birth Date: | late 6th century |
| Birth Place: | White Serbia |
| Death Date: | before 680 |
| Death Place: | Serbia |
| Religion: | Slavic pagan |
The term Unknown Archon, Unknown Prince,[1] or Unnamed Serbian Archon (Serbian: Непознати архонт / непознати кнез / неименовани српски архонт, Nepoznati arhont / nepoznati knez / neimenovani srpski arhont) refers to a prince of the Sorbs of the first half of the 7th century who supposedly led his people from their original homeland in White Serbia to settle in the Balkans during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (610–641), as mentioned in Emperor Constantine VII's work De Administrando Imperio (written in 950s). The work does not record his name, but states that he was the progenitor of the first Serbian dynasty (known in historiography as the Vlastimirović dynasty), and that he died before the arrival of the Bulgars on the Balkans (680), succeeded by his son, and then grandson.[2] [3]
According to the accounts in DAI the first Christianization of the Serbs should be dated to 632–638; this could be interpreted at first glance as Porphyrogenitus' invention, or might have actually taken place, encompassing a limited group of chiefs and then very poorly received by the wider layers of the tribe. In early historical assessment like that of 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.[4] This theory was supported by Miloš Milojević (1872),[5] while Francis Dvornik (1962) and Relja Novaković (1977) argued the possibility that they were brothers or other relatives.[6] [7] [8]
In contemporary historiography and archaeology, the narratives of De Administrando Imperio have been reassessed as they contain anachronisms and factual mistakes. The account in DAI about the Serbs mentions that they requested from the Byzantine commander of present-day Belgrade to settle in the theme of Thessalonica, which was formed ca. 150 years after the reign of Heraclius which was in the 7th century. For the purposes of its narrative, the DAI formulates a mistaken etymology of the Serbian ethnonym which it derives from Latin servi (serfs).
As the Byzantine Empire sought to establish its hegemony towards the Serbs, the narrative of the DAI sought to establish a historical hegemony over the Serbs by claiming that their arrival, settlement and conversion to Christianity was the direct result of the Byzantine interference in the centuries which preceded the writing of DAI. D. Dzino (2010) considers that the story of the migration from White Serbia after the invitation of Heraclius as a means of explanation of the settlement of the Serbs is a form of rationalization of the social and cultural change which the Balkans had undergone via the misinterpretation of historical events placed in late antiquity.
. Moravcsik. Gyula. Gyula Moravcsik. Constantine Porphyregonitus . Constantine VII. R.J.H. Jenkins transl.. 1967. 1949. 2nd revised. Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies. De Administrando Imperio. Washington D.C.. 9780884020219.