As the local Slavic ruler of Zahumlje, and recipient of Byzantine ranks and titles, in July 1039 was styled as "protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou,
hypatos,
strategos of
Serbia and
Zahumlje", and claimed supremacy in military ranks not only in his local domain but also to entire Serbia.[1][2] This could suggests Emperor
Michael IV,[3] also granted him nominal right over neighbouring lands, including
Serbia.[1]
Depending on different narratives by 11th century
John Skylitzes and 14th century Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, in 1042 new emperor ordered
Michael the governor of
Dyrrhachium to gather a big army, and were sent piles of imperial gold and silver to the Župan of
Rascia (Serbia[4]), Ban of Bosnia and Ljutovid of Zahumlje to do the same as support to overthrow
Stefan Vojislav of
Duklja.[1][5][6][7] This was because previously Vojislav denounced emperor's authority by stealing gold and attacking lands under Byzantine allies.[8][6][9] In the same year of 1043, Michael, or Curcilius and Ljutovid, led the army of the allied force against Duklja but they were disastrously ambushed in the Triballos mountains (possibly Klobuk hill[10]),[11] with Ljutovid having a duel with Vojislav's son Gojislav.[12][9] Vojislav went on to pursue and annex lands of Zahumlje, Travunia and Dyrrhachium.[13][14]
There exist several documents (possibly forged, but recent research approves their authenticity[15]), one with two variants dated 1039 and 1151, and third a transcript by duke
Desa. In them is confirmed his title as "protospatarius epi to chrusotriclinio, ypatus et strategos Servie et Zachlumie"[16] According to them Ljutovid awarded the monastery on
Lokrum with
Babino Polje on the island of
Mljet (modern Croatia).[15][17] According to it, Protospatar Ljutovit declared that no one, neither Ragusan, nor citizen of Ston, neither Latin, nor Slav, could impede the donation.[17]
References
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abcStephenson 2003, pp. 42-43: "if the idea of developing a thema of Serbia existed briefly, it was swiftly abandoned and the title strategos passed to the local aristocracy. In a charter issued July 1039 the Slavic ruler of Zahumlje styled himself "Ljutovit, protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou,
hypatos,
strategos of
Serbia and
Zahumlje." Ljutovid's claim to be strategos not only of Zahumlje, but all Serbia suggests that he had been courted by the emperor, and awarded nominal rights neighbouring lands, including Duklja, which was at the time at war with the empire. Moreover, if we can trust the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja, our only narrative source, we must conclude that none of the Serbian lands was under direct Byzantine control in 1042. In that year, we are told, the ban of Bosnia, župan of Raška, and Slavic princeps of Zahumlje (Chelmana), Ljutovid, received Byzantine ambassadors offering piles of imperial silver and gold to support imperial efforts against the ruler of neighbouring Duklja, Stefan Vojislav. The use of Latin princeps, rather than iupanus or banus, to describe Ljutovid, supports the notion that he held the supreme authority among the Serbs at the time."
Stojkovski, Boris (2021). "Byzantine military campaigns against Serbian lands and Hungary in the second half of the eleventh century". In Theotokis, Georgios; Meško, Marek (eds.).
War in Eleventh-Century Byzantium. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 145–159.
ISBN9780367192549.