Petar of Serbia Petar Gojniković
Prince / Archont / Knez of Serbs / Serbia
Map of Peter's Serbia
Prince of Serbia
Reign	892–917
Predecessor	Pribislav
Successor	Pavle
Full name
Petar Gojniković Vlastimirović
Dynasty	Vlastimirović
Father	Gojnik
Born	ca. 870 Ras
Died	after August 917
Burial	Church of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul
Religion	Eastern Christianity

Petar Gojniković or Peter of Serbia (Serbian: Петар Гојниковић, Greek: Πέτρος;^[a] ca. 870 – 917) was Prince of the Serbs from 892 to 917. He ruled and expanded the First Serbian Principality (Rascia), and won several wars against other family members that sought the crown. He was the first Serbian monarch with a Christian (non-Slavic) name.

Petar was the son of Gojnik, the youngest son of Vlastimir (r. 831–851) of the first Serbian dynasty (ruling since the early 7th century).

Background[link]

Life[link]

Early[link]

Petar was born between 870 and 874, as the son of the Prince Gojnik, the youngest son of dynastic founding father Vlastimir.^[1] His [Byzantine] Christian name, in relation to the previous generation of pagan names, shows the spread Christianization of Serbs.^[2] At the time of his birth, Serbia was ruled as an Oligarchy by the three brothers (Mutimir, Gojnik and Strojimir^[3]), although Mutimir, the oldest, had supreme rule.^[4]

In the 880s, Mutimir seized the throne, exiling his younger brothers and Klonimir, Strojimir's son to the Bulgar Khanate; the court of Boris I of Bulgaria.^[3] This was most likely due to treachery.^[4] Young Petar was kept at the Serbian court of Mutimir for political reasons^[4], but he soon fled to Branimir of Croatia.^[3]

Civil wars[link]

Mutimir died in 890 or 891, leaving the throne to his oldest son, Pribislav.^[3] Pribislav only ruled for a year when Petar returned in 892, defeating him in battle and seizing the throne, Pribislav fled to Croatia with his brothers Bran and Stefan.^[3] Bran later returned and led an unsuccessful rebellion against Petar in 894.^[5] Bran was defeated, captured and blinded (blinding was a Byzantine tradition that meant to disqualify a person to take the throne^[6]). In 896, Klonimir returns from Bulgaria, backed by Tsar Boris, and invades Serbia, taking the important stronghold Dostinika (Drsnik, in Klina^[7][8]). Klonimir was defeated and killed.^[9]

Bulgarian alliance[link]

After several failures to capture the throne by other Vlastimirovićs, including the one backed by the Bulgars, Symeon I of Bulgaria recognized Petar as ruler.^[3] He was put under the protection of Symeon, resulting in a twenty-year peace and Serbian-Bulgarian alliance (897–917).^[3] Petar was probably not happy with his subordinate position, and may have dreamed of reasserting his independence, his situation and the succession wars of the three branches of Vlastimir's sons was to play a key part in the coming Bulgarian-Byzantine War.^[3]

Christianity presumably was spreading in his time,^[3] also since Serbia bordered Bulgaria, Christian influences and perhaps missionairies came from there. This would increase in the twenty-year peace.^[10]

According to De Administrando Imperio, Constantine VII's own work, Petar ruled under the suzerainty of Leo VI and at peace with Bulgaria for twenty years.^[11]

Bulgarian-Byzantine War, Expansion to the west, and death[link]

Constantine VII and Symeon dining.
(Madrid Skylitzes, fol. 120r)

On May 11th, 912, Byzantine Emperor Leo VI the Wise dies, his brother Alexander III succeeds him.^[10] The unpopular, inexperienced, ill and possibly drunk Emperor Alexander ruled until his death on June 6th, 913. This was ideal to Symeon, who had his troops waiting in Thrace, to attack Byzantium. In August 913, Symeon appeared at the walls of Constantinople, seeking no plundering, only the crown. Symeon had, in contrast to Tsar Boris, been schooled in Constantinople and had the Byzantine ideology, and wanted to rule a joint Greek-Bulgarian Empire as Roman Emperor. Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos recognized Symeon as Emperor of Bulgaria, and married his daughter to Constantine VII. In February 914, Zoe Karbonopsina, the mother of Constantine, quickly ousted Nicholas as regent (although letting him remain the Patriarch), and she, as regent, nullified the title given to Symeon, as well as the marriage plans.^[12] Zoe's acts enraged Symeon, who went on to conquer Thrace.^[12] The Byzantines had no choice but to look for allies; sending envoys to the Magyars, Pechenegs and Serbs.^[12]

As Peter had secured the eastern border, he had turned to the west, where he sought to strengthen his grip of the local Slavic principalities. He defeated Tišemir of Bosnia, annexing the valley of Bosna.^[12] He then expands along the Neretva, annexing the Narentines, where he seems to have come into conflict with Michael Višević, the ruler of Zahumlje (with Trebinje and most of Duklja), who was an important Bulgarian ally.^[13] Petar (since 897 theoretically a Bulgar vassal, though not necessarily a willing one^[12]) met with strategos of Durazzo Leo Rhabduchus in Neretva^[14], where he was offered money and greater independence^[12] in exchange of leading an army (also containing Tourkoi, Magyars^[15]) against Symeon.^[15] It seems that Petar had now agreed to join the Byzantines, but this has not been fully determined.^[12] Michael Višević heard of the possible alliance between Serbia and the Byzantines, and warned Symeon.^[13]

Petar was entombed in the church of Peter and Paul in Stari Ras.

In 917, a Byzantine army led by Leo Phokas invaded Bulgaria, but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Achelous in 20 August 917.^[13] After Achelous,^[5] Symeon sends an army led by Pavle (the son of Bran), to take the Serbian throne, however, unsuccessfully as Petar proved a good opponent.^[14] Symeon sent generals Marmaim and Sigritzes Theodore,^[16][17] persuading Petar (through an oath^[14]) to come out and meet them,^[18] then captured and took him to Bulgaria where he was put in prison, dying within a year.^[5] His remains are entombed in the Church of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul in Stari Ras, the capital.^[19] Symeon put Pavle, the son of Bran, on the Serbian throne.^[5]

References[link]

Sources[link]

• De Administrando Imperio by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, edited by Gy. Moravcsik and translated by R. J. H. Jenkins, Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington D. C., 1993
• J. B. Bury, History of the Eastern Empire from the Fall of Irene to the Accession of Basil: A.D. 802–867. ISBN 1-60520-421-8, ISBN 978-1-60520-421-5. Google Books
• Fine, John Van Antwerp (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08149-7. 
• Curta, Florin (2006). Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500–1250. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-89452-4.
• Ćorović, Vladimir, Istorija srpskog naroda, Book I, (In Serbian) Electric Book, Rastko Electronic Book, Antikvarneknjige (Cyrillic)
  • Drugi Period, IV: Pokrštavanje Južnih Slovena
  • Istorija Srpskog Naroda, Srbi između Vizantije, Hrvatske i Bugarske
  • The Serbs, ISBN 0-631-20471-7, ISBN 978-0-631-20471-8. Wiley-Blackwell, 2004, Google Books.
• Tibor Živković, Portreti srpskih vladara (IX—XII), Beograd, 2006 (ISBN 86-17-13754-1), p. 11
  • Forging Unity The South Slavs between East and West 550–1150
• Ferjančić, B. 1997, "Basile I et la restauration du pouvoir byzantin au IXème siècle", Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta, no. 36, pp. 9–30.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2012)

Petar Grašo (born March 19, 1976) is a Croatian pop singer and songwriter. Born in Zagreb to parents hailing from Dalmatia, he gained prominence when Oliver Dragojević performed one of his first songs "Boginja" ("Goddess") on the Dora contest in 1995. Since then, he has collaborated greatly with Oliver, and has also worked with Doris Dragović, Danijela Martinović, Tonči Huljić,

In 1996, he won the Zadarfest music festival in Zadar with his song "Trebam nekoga" ("I need someone"), which promulgated him to wide fame. He placed second in Dora 1997, Croatia's qualifying competition for Eurovision Song Contest 1997. Today, he is one of the most popular male pop singers in Croatia, and is also well known in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, and Macedonia.

Discography[link]

• 1997 Mjesec iznad oblaka
• 1999 Utorak
• 2003 Šporke riči
• 2007 Best of Petar Graso Uvertira 1995. - 2005.

References[link]

• Biography at Zvijezde.hr

External links[link]

• Official website

For the defunct avant-garde metal band from Kristiansand, Norway, see In the Woods...

In the Woods
Cover of In The Woods
Author(s)	Tana French
Country	Ireland
Language	English
Series	Dublin Murder Squad
Genre(s)	Mystery
Publisher	Viking Adult
Publication date	30 January 2007
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	496
ISBN	978-0-670-03860-2
OCLC Number	191864570
Dewey Decimal	823/.92 22
LC Classification	PR6106.R457 I52 2007
Followed by	The Likeness: A Novel

In the Woods is a 2007 mystery novel by Tana French about a pair of Irish detectives and their investigation of the murder of a twelve year old girl. The novel won several awards such as the 2008 Edgar Award for Best First Novel By An American Author,^[1] the 2008 Barry Award for Best First Novel,^[2] the 2008 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel,^[3] and the 2008 Anthony Award for Best First Novel.^[4]

Plot[link]

Twenty years prior to the novel's events, twelve year-old Adam and his two best friends failed to come home after playing in the familiar woods bordering their Irish housing estate. A search is called by the families, and the police find Adam shivering, clawing the bark of a nearby tree, blood on his shoes and slash marks on his back. He is unable to tell them what happened or where his friends are. His amnesia holds to the present day, where he goes by his middle name, Rob, to avoid the attention of the media to his famous case. His friends were never found.

The plot of the novel circles around the murder of a twelve year old girl, Katy Devlin, whose case Rob and his partner Cassie Maddox are given to investigate. The body is found in the same woods where Rob’s friends disappeared, at an archeological dig site, and the coincidence is enough to make Rob nervous, though he insists to his partner that he is fine.

Cassie and Rob have been partners for a few years and get along famously, teasing one another and completing one another’s thoughts. There are many rumors at the station that they are romantically involved, though both of them scoff at the idea, despite the fact that they live almost like a married couple, spending a lot of time at Cassie’s cooking dinner for one another, drinking wine, and having Rob crash on Cassie’s couch across the room.

Katy’s murder takes the pair along many lines of investigation. Her death might be related to her father’s protests against the new highway meant to go straight through the dig site, or one of the students on the dig might have attacked her. She might have been abused by her father or someone else (her mother, twin sister, or older sister) in the family. She might have been previously poisoned over time. Or it might be related to the disappearance of Rob’s friends, as a hair clip that one of his friends was wearing that day appeared near the crime scene.

These possibilities are investigated, but the detectives come up frustratingly empty-handed at every turn. The case messes with Rob’s psyche as he tries to remember details about the two previous disappearances in case it would help. He tries spending the night in the woods, but freaks out and calls Cassie to pick him up. He’s afraid to sleep again, thinking that he’ll just have nightmares, so Cassie allows him into her bed. Things escalate from there and they end up having sex.

Rob feels immensely awkward after and can’t go back to their normal jokey-insult ways, but also feels that he can’t start a relationship with her. Their partnership deteriorates just as they start to uncover new leads in the case and they are unable to discuss the case and get along the way they used to.

Rob goes back to the dig site alone, where all the students are frantically digging before the site is shut down for the construction of the highway. He comes to a realization and calls in the forensics team again, who discover the location of the murder in a shed to which only three people have the key. After some heavy interrogation, one of the suspects confesses, though his motive is far from clear.

It becomes clearer when the suspect contends that he had been dating Katy’s older sister, Rosalind. When questioned by Cassie, she denies it and any involvement in Katy’s death, but also makes a comment that Cassie is obviously sleeping with Rob. Cassie takes it in stride, but after the interrogation, she has an idea of how to get a confession out of Rosalind: Go to her and admit sleeping with Rob and promise to keep her updated on the case if she promises not to tell.

Rosalind’s psychopathic tendencies get the better of her, and once she knows that she has Cassie in her debt, she brags about the whole thing and how she got the murderer to come up with the idea by telling him that all three girls were being sexually abused by their father, but that Katy liked it and was therefore their father’s favorite. Rosalind also told him that Katy told their father lies to make him beat them and would watch and laugh, that if Katy was gone, then they would be happy. She also admitted to Cassie that Katy was strong-willed and wouldn’t always do as Rosalind told her, so she had poisoned her to make her sick. After this confession, recorded on a wire, Cassie arrests her and takes her in, but because Rosalind was a few months from turning 18 (though she had told Rob previously that she was already 18), the confession is invalid. She is released with a smug smile.

The Police Captain has learned that Rob is actually Adam Ryan and confines him to desk work. He never goes back to Detective work. Cassie starts dating someone else and gets engaged. Rob is heartbroken and calls her, but it’s too late. He goes to the dig site to see the highway construction has begun, and thinks that he’ll never regain his lost memories of that night.

Reception[link]

Thomas Gaughan of Booklist gave In the Woods a starred review and hailed it as “…a superior novel about cops, murder, memory, relationships, and modern Ireland. The characters of Ryan and Maddox, as well as a handful of others, are vividly developed… Equally striking is the picture of contemporary Ireland, booming economically and fixated on the shabbiest aspects of American popular culture. An outstanding debut and a series to watch for procedural fans.” ^[5] Publishers Weekly praised author French, saying she “… expertly walks the line between police procedural and psychological thriller in her debut” and that “Ryan and Maddox are empathetic and flawed heroes, whose partnership and friendship elevate the narrative beyond a gory tale of murdered children and repressed childhood trauma.” ^[5] Kirkus Reviews said of the novel, “When not lengthily bogged down in angst, a readable, non-formulaic police procedural with a twist. It’s ultimately the confession of a damaged man.” ^[6]

Awards and nominations[link]

• Edgar Award for Best First Novel By An American Author, 2008^[1]
• Barry Award for Best First Novel, 2008^[2]
• Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel, 2008^[3]
• Anthony Award for Best First Novel, 2008^[4]

References[link]

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2010)

Tonči Huljić (born 29 October 1961 in Split^[1]) is a Croatian musician, songwriter and music producer from Split.

Huljić made his name in the late 1970s as the founder and key member of pop band Dalmatinski magazin (later renamed into Magazin). The band gradually built a reputation as one of the most popular and most enduring Croatian pop bands, with repertoire and music arrangements influenced by Dalmatian folk music.^[2]

In the 1990s, following the break-up of Yugoslavia, Huljić was among the first Croatian musicians to introduce elements of folk music from other former Yugoslav republics into his repertoire. Although many rock critics did not like that, and accused Huljić of bringing turbo folk to Croatian music, Magazin became arguably the most popular music group in Croatia at that time. Its popularity continued across republics of the former Yugoslavia, just as it had done previously.

At that time, Huljić showed great managerial ability and founded the Tonika record label that is among the most influential in Croatia. Huljić has also written popular pieces for Croatian piano player Maksim Mrvica such as Kolibre and Nostradamus, and Maksim's greatest hit "Croatian Rhapsody".

Bond, an Australian/British string quartet, used some of Huljić’s songs as the base of their hit songs "Explosive", "Victory", "Fuego".

The first solo album is called Waterland.

See also[link]

• The Piano Player (Maksim Mrvica album)

References[link]

External links[link]

• www.toncihuljic.com

This article on a Croatian musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e