Radonja Petrović

Radonja Petrović (Serbian Cyrillic: Радоња Петровић; Kosor, Kuči, 1670– Jelica mountain, Stari Vlah, 1737),^[1] known as Vojvoda Radonja (војвода Радоња) was the vojvoda (duke) of the Kuči tribe. Radonja's father Petar was a middle child of Vojvoda Iliko Lalev and held the title until his death when it was passed to his brother priest Mirčeta. Radonja, thus, succeeded his uncle Mirčeta as the duke of Kuči, being the great-great-grandson of Drekale, eponymous founder of Drekalovići. He came to be the leader of a group of tribes in what is today eastern Montenegro (known as Brda, "the Hills") that together with Habsburg Serbian troops fought against the Ottomans, and was granted the title Guvernadur of all the Hills by Venetians, for whom he managed the postal traffic with the Ottomans. Prince-bishop Vasilije in his "History of Montenegro" mentions him as one of the Montenegrin commanders who rose to arms under the influence of Prince-bishop Danilo in 1711.^[2] In the talks with Austrian representatives in the village of Tešići near Niš, held on 24 July 1737, Radonja and Patriarch Šakabenta promised field marshal Seckendorff that they would mobilise the Highlanders.^[3] The Kuči would ready 500 armed men, vojvoda Vuksan Vojvodić of Vasojevići 200, vojvoda Toško of Piperi 200, etc.^[4] The Serbian Patriarch and Radonja called on Metropolitan Sava to join the war against the Ottomans, but he was under the influence of the Republic of Venice, and stayed inactive during the war.^[5] Radonja requested from the Austrian feltmarschal that in case the rebels won, they would continue in his service. When talks were underway, an uprising broke out in Montenegro.^[6] Radonja's rebels and Serbian troops, and an auxiliary force of Staniša Marković-Mlatišuma, attacked the local Muslims.^[7] According to Serbia's plan, they were to take over Novi Pazar, Rožaje, Bijelo Polje and Peć.^[7] A Serbian detachment attacked Bihor, and penetrated to Godijevo, where they set up a headquarters in the house of Mustafa Sijarić.^[7] Radonja heard that the Ottomans would in their future actions first attack Župljani, which had already crossed to the Venetian side.^[8] At the same time, Radonja informed Cattaro intendant Jerolim Buća that was ordered to turn with his army from the Sanjak of Herzegovina towards Knin, which they were to attack; and that vezir-Mustafa-paša with the armies of other sanjaks and 4,000 Tatars, as was planned, turn in the direction of Zadar.^[8] That information was likely exaggerated.^[8] Radonja died on the Jelica mountain in 1737 and was buried there. In 1766, his son Grigorije, who became the arhimandrite of Niš, transported his remains and reburied them in the village of Bošnjace near Leskovac. In 2014 he was exhumed yet again and buried in his birth village of Kosor.^[9] After his death, his uncle Mirčeta's grandson Martin Popović was elected as Vojvoda. Radonja's siblings and their descendants continued to bear the surname of Petrović, whilst his offspring adopted the surname Radonjić.

There are epic poems about him, such as Ustanak sedmoro Brda i Arbanasa ( The uprising of the seven Hills and the Albanians)^[3][10]

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