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Zachlumia or Zachumlia (Захумље, ), also Hum, was a medieval principality located in the modern-day regions of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia (today parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia, respectively). In some periods it was a fully independent or semi-independent South Slavs principality. It maintained relations with various foreign and neighbouring powers (Byzantine Empire, First Bulgarian Empire, Kingdom of Croatia, Principality of Serbia) and later was subjected (temporarily or for a longer period) to Kingdom of Hungary, Kingdom of Serbia, Kingdom of Bosnia, and at the end to the Ottoman Empire.
The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja (14th or 16th century) described the geography under the rule of the South Slavic ("Red Croatia") rulers, Hum had two major cities: Bona and Hum. The main settlements in Zachlumia were Ston, Ošlje, Dobar, the towns of Duboko Mokro and Glumine. The principality sprang from Dalmatia (Croatia) to the northwest and Pagania to the west; to the mountain of Kalinovik and the Gatačko polje, where it bordered Travunia. The eastern border of Zahumlje went along the line Popovo-Ljubinje-Dabar and met with the Travunian border at the city of Dubrovnik. Zachlumia was split on 9 zhupanates: Ston, Popovo, Dubrava, Luka, Dabar, Žapska, Gorička and Večenik around Neretva. Zahumlje had access to the Adriatic Sea with the Pelješac peninsula and faced Serbia northwards.
Around 630, during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, Serbs and Croats (Slavic tribes) led by their respective aristocracies entered the western Balkans from the north, which was approved by the emperor. They inhabited areas that had been devastated by the Avars, where Byzantium (East Roman Empire) had generally been reduced to only nominal rule. According to DAI, Zahumlje was one of the regions settled by the Serbs from an area near Thessaloniki who previously arrived there from White Serbia, but a closer reading of the source suggests that the Constantine VII's consideration about the population's ethnic identity is based on Serbian political rule and influence during the time of Časlav of Serbia and does not indicate ethnic origin.: He probably saw that in his time all these tribes were in the Serb sphere of influence, and therefore called them Serbs, thus ante-dating by three centuries the state of affairs in his day... It is obvious that the small retinue of the Serbian prince could not have populated Serbia, Zachlumia, Terbounia and Narenta. According to Noel Malcolm, today's western Serbia was area where Serbs settled in 7th century and from there they expanded their rule on territory of Zachlumia. According to Tibor Živković the area of the Vistula where the Lendians ancestors of Michael of Zahumlje originate was the place where White Croats would be expected and not White Serbs, and it's unclear whether the Zachlumians "in the migration period to the Balkans really were Serbs or Croats or Slavic tribes which in alliance with Serbs or Croats arrived in the Balkans". According to Francis Dvornik the Zachlumians "had a closer bond of interest with the Croats than with the Serbs, since they seem to have migrated to their new home not with the Serbs, but with the Croats".: Even if we reject Gruber's theory, supported by Manojlović (ibid., XLIX), that Zachlumje actually became a part of Croatia, it should be emphasized that the Zachlumians had a closer bond of interest with the Croats than with the Serbs, since they seem to have migrated to their new home not, as C. says (33/8-9), with the Serbs, but with the Croats; see below, on 33/18-19 ... If this is so, we must regard the dynasty of Zachlumje and at any rate part of its people as neither Croat nor Serb, It seems more probable that Michael’s ancestor, together with his tribe, joined the Croats when they moved south; and settled on the Adriatic coast and the Narenta, leaving the Croats to push on into Dalmatia proper. Michael's tribal origin is related to the oral tradition from Historia Salonitana by Thomas the Archdeacon about seven or eight tribes of nobles called Lingones who arrived from Poland and settled in Croatia. Much of Dalmatia was sometime earlier settled by the Croats, and Zahumlje bordered their territory on the north. According to Thomas the Archdeacon, when describing the reign of Croatian king Stephen Držislav in the late 10th century, notes that Duchy of Hum (Zachlumia or Chulmie) was a part of the Kingdom of Croatia, before and after Stjepan Držislav:
In 866, a major Arab people raid along Dalmatia struck Budva and Kotor, and then laid siege to Dubrovnik in 867. The city of Dubrovnik appealed to Byzantine Emperor Basil I, who responded by sending over one hundred ships. Finally, the 866–867 Saracens' siege of Dubrovnik, which lasted fifteen months, was raised due to the intervention of Basil I, who sent a fleet under the command of Niketas Oryphas in relief of the city. After this successful intervention, the Byzantine navy sailed along the coast collecting promises of loyalty to the empire from the Dalmatian cities. At this moment the local Slavic tribes (in Zahumlje, Travunija, and Konavle), who had aided the intervention, also accepted Byzantine suzerainty. Afterwards, the Slavs of Dalmatia and Zahumlje took part in the Byzantine military actions against the Arabs in Bari in 870–871. The Roman cities in Dalmatia had long been pillaged by the Slavic tribes in the mountaines around them. Basil I allowed the towns to pay tribute to the Slavic tribes to reduce the Slavs raiding. Presumably a large portion of this tribute went to the prince of Dalmatian Croatia. In late 870s, the theme of Dalmatia ("thema Dalmatias") was established, but with no real Byzantine authority. These small cities in the region (also Dyrrachium) did not stretch into the hinterlands, and had none military capacity, thus Basil I paid a tax of '72 gold coins' to the princes of Zahumlje and Travunia.
In 879, the Pope asked for help from duke Zdeslav Trpimirović for an armed escort for his delegates across southern Dalmatia and Zahumlje. Later in 880, the Pope ask the same from Zdeslav's successor, prince Branimir.
Michael have come into territorial conflict with the neighbouring prince Peter Gojniković, the ruler of inner Serbia, who was extending his power westwards. To eliminate that threat and as a close ally of Bulgaria, Michael warned the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I about the alliance between Peter and Symeon's enemy, the Byzantine Empire. In 912 Michael kidnapped the Venetian Doge's son Peter Badoari that was returning to Venice from Constantinople and sent him to Czar Simeon as a sign of loyalty. Symeon attacked inner Serbia and captured Peter, who later died in prison, and Michael was able to restore the majority of control.
The Historia Salonitana maior, whose composition may have begun in the late 13th century,: "John the Deacon ... makes no mention of either council", "manuscript from the 16th century Historia Salonitana maior has long descriptions of the two councils" and "the labels of identity ... represent views from no earlier than the late 13th century, and possibly the 14th, 15th and 16th" cites a letter of Pope John X to Tomislav, "king ( rex) of the Croats", in which he refers to the first council in some detail. If the letter is authentic, it shows that the council was attended not only by the bishops of Croatian and Byzantine Dalmatia, but also by Tomislav, whose territory also included the Byzantine cities of Dalmatia, and by a number of Michael's representatives. Zahumlje may have been under Croatian influence, but remained a separate political entity. Both Zahumlje and Croatia were under the religious jurisdiction of the Archbishopric of Split. In this letter, John describes Michael as "the most excellent leader of the Zachlumi" ( excellentissimus dux Chulmorum), and is mentioned the Ston bishopric ( ecclesia Stagnensis) which jurisdiction remained under Split until 1022. It is uncertain whether the inscription and depiction of a Slavic ruler in the Church of St. Michael in Ston is a reference to Michael of Zahumlje, the 11th century Mihailo I of Duklja or St. Michael himself.
After the Italian city of Siponto () was heavily jeopardized by the raiding Arabs and Langobards, Mihailo won a magnificent military victory by taking the city upon the recommendations from Constantinople and orders from his ally, King Tomislav Trpimirovic, but didn't keep it permanently. Mihailo Višević entered into closer relations with the Byzantine Empire, after the death of Bulgaria's Tsar Simeon. He gained the grand titles of the Byzantine court as anthypatos and patrician ( patrikios). He remained as ruler of Zahumlje into the 940s, while maintaining good relations with the Pope.
In the late 990s, Bulgarian Tsar Samuel made client states out of most of the Balkans, including Duklja and Zahumlje. In 998, Samuel launched a major campaign against Jovan Vladimir to prevent a Byzantine-Serbian alliance, resulting in a surrender. The Bulgarian troops proceeded to pass through Dalmatia, taking control of Kotor and journeying to Dubrovnik. Although they failed to take Dubrovnik, they devastated the surrounding villages. The Bulgarian army then attacked Croatia in support of the rebel princes Krešimir III and Gojslav and advanced northwest as far as Split, Trogir and Zadar, then northeast through Bosnia and Raška and returned to Bulgaria.
In a charter dated July 1039, Ljutovid of Zahumlje who was an independent South Slavs ruler of Zahumlje, styled himself "Ljutovit, protospatharios epi tou Chrysotriklinou, hypatos, strategos" of Serbia and Zahumlje. According to historian Paul Stephenson, it "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.
According to historical sources, the Serbian lands were under Byzantine control or vassalage until 1040s, but not under a direct control. Vojislav of Duklja (fl. 1018–1043) soon took Zahumlje from the Byzantines. During the rule of Constantine Bodin (r. 1081–1101), neither Bosnia, Serbia nor Zahumlje was ever integrated into Doclea, each retained its own nobility and institutions and simply acquired a Vojislavljević to head the local structure as Prince or Duke. Zahumlje subsequently became part of the Grand Principality of Serbia.
About 1150, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos displeased with king Radoslav of Duklja, divided up his lands between princes of the old Serbian family of Zavida, and Stefan Nemanja secured the land of Hum. After 1168 when Nemanja was raised to the Serbian throne with Manuel's favor, Hum passed to his brother Miroslav. He married a sister of Ban Kulin, who in meantime acquired the throne of Bosnia. The subjects of Miroslav and Kulin included both Catholic and Orthodox. Prince Miroslav himself was Orthodox. In meantime, both Bosnia and Hum had been fought between Kingdom of Hungary and Byzantine Empire. The Catholics supported the former and the Orthodox the latter. A support of the growing heresy seemed the best solution for both Kulin and Miroslav.
Following the death of Emperor Manuel in 1180 Miroslav started ecclesiastical superior of Hum. He refused to allow Rainer, Latin Archbishop of Spalato (Split) whom he considered to be an agent of Hungarian king, to consecrate a bishop for the town of Ston. In addition, Miroslav confiscated the Archbishop's money. Rainer complained to the Pope Alexander III, who sent Teobald to report on the matter. The Pope's nuncio Teobald found Miroslav as a patron of heretics. After this, the Pope wrote to king Béla III of Hungary who was overlord of Hum (which Miroslav did not recognize), telling him to see that Miroslav performed his duty, but Miroslav remained as Prince of Hum. In 1190–1192, Stefan Nemanja briefly assigned the rule of Hum to his son Rastko Nemanjić, while Miroslav held the Lim river with Bijelo Polje. Rastko however took monastic vows and Miroslav continued ruling Hum after 1192.
Latin vengeance came in March 1198, when Andrew II of Hungary become the prince of Dalmatia, Croatia and Hum, while Miroslav died a year after and his wife was living in exile. The Miroslav Gospels are the oldest surviving documents written in Serbian recension of Old Church Slavonic, very likely produced for the Church of St Peter in Lima, commissioned by prince Miroslav.
Andrija Mirosavljević is entitled the rule of Hum, but the Hum nobility chose his brother Petar. Andrija is exiled to Rascia, to the court of his cousin Grand Prince Stefan Nemanjić. In the meantime, Petar fought successfully with neighbouring Bosnia and Croatia. Stefan Nemanjić sided with Andrija and went to war and secured Hum and Popovo field for Andrija sometime after his accession. Petar was defeated and crossed the Neretva, continuing to rule the west and north of the Neretva, which had around 1205 been briefly occupied by Andrew II of Hungary. Toljen II, the son of Toljen Mirosavljević, succeeded as prince, ruling 1227–1237. Andrija's sons Bogdan, Radoslav and George succeed as princes of Hum in 1249, Radoslav held the supreme rule. During the war against Ragusa, he aided his kinsman Stephen Uroš I of Serbia, at the same time swearing allegiance to Béla IV of Hungary. Following an earthquake in the Hum capital of Ston, the Serbian Orthodox bishop of Hum moved to the church of St Peter and St Paul built on the Lim River near the Serbian border in the 1250s.
Radoslav of Zahumlje was from 1254 a vassal of Hungary, but probably afterwards his land were absorbed into Serbia. However, he was at war with Serbia in 1268, while still under Hungarian suzerainty. But seeking to centralize his realm, Stephen Uroš I of Serbia tried to stamp out regional differences by dropping references to Zahumlje (Hum), Trebinje and Duklja (Zeta), and called himself "King of all Serbian land and the Coast". Miroslav's descendants dropped to the level of other local nobles.
By 1325, the Branivojević family had emerged as strongest in Hum. Probably at their highest point they ruled from Cetina River to the town of Kotor. Though nominal vassals of Serbia, the Branivojević family attacked Serbian interests and other local nobles of Hum, who in 1326 turned against Serbia and Branivojević family. The Hum nobles approached to Stjepan Kotromanić II, the ban of Bosnia, who then annexed most of Hum. The Draživojevići of Nevesinje as vassals of Bosnian Ban, become the leading family of Hum in the 1330s. Because of the war in 1327-1328 between Serbia and Dubrovnik, Bosnian lordship of inner Hum and the war in Macedonia, Stephen Uroš IV Dušan sold Ston and Pelješac to Dubrovnik, and turned to the east to acquire all of Macedonia.
The region was overwhelmed by the House of Kotromanić from Bosnia in 1322–1326. By the mid-14th century, Bosnia apparently reached a peak under Ban Tvrtko I who came into power in 1353.
The territory on the right bank of the Lower Neretva was at the time controlled by Kosača vassals, a local clan and magnates of Radivojević–Jurjević–Vlatković.
Bosnian regional lord Stjepan Vukčić Kosača ruled over Zahumlje, or Humska zemlja as it was called at this point. In 1448 he assumed the title herzog and styled himself Herzog of Hum and the Coast, Grand Duke of Bosnia, Knyaz of Drina, and the rest, and since 1450, Herzog of Saint Sava, Lord of Hum, Grand Duke of Bosnia, Knyaz of Drina, and the rest. This "Saint Sava" part of the title had considerable public relations value, because Saint Sava relics were consider miracle-working by people of all Christian faiths. Stjepan's title will prompt the Ottoman Empire to start calling Humska zemlja by using the possessive form of the noun Herceg, Herceg's land(s) (Herzegovina), which remains a long-lasting legacy in the name of Bosnia and Herzegovina to this day.: "Tako se pojam Humska zemlja postepeno gubi da ustupi mjesto novom imenu zemlje hercega Stjepana — Hercegovini."
In 1451 he attacked Dubrovnik, and laid siege to the city.Viator (1978), pp. 388–389. He had earlier been made a Ragusan nobleman and, consequently, the Ragusan government now proclaimed him a traitor. A reward of 15,000 , a palace in Dubrovnik worth 2,000 ducats, and an annual income of 300 ducats was offered to anyone who would kill him, along with the promise of hereditary Ragusan nobility which also helped hold this promise to whoever did the deed. Stjepan was so scared by the threat that he finally raised the siege.
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