inaccurately represented that Montenegro was singular in
being ruled by her Bishop. In this respect Montenegro in no way
differed from other Christian districts ruled by the Turks who, with
a tolerance at that date rare, recognized everywhere the religion of
the country and entrusted all the affairs of the Christians to their
own ecclesiastics. To the Turks, the Montenegrin tribes and the
Albanian tribes of the mountains--who had also their own Bishops
--were but insubordinate tribes against whom they sent punitive
expeditions when taxes were in arrears and raids became intolerable.
The Montenegrins descended from their natural fortress and plundered
the fat flocks of the plain lands. They existed mainly by brigandage
as their sheep-stealing ballads tell, and the history of raid and
punitive expedition is much like that of our Indian frontier.

Till 1696 the Vladikas were chosen according to the usual methods of
the Orthodox Church. After that date they were, with one exception,
members of the Petrovitch family. This has been vaguely accounted
for by saying that to prevent quarrels the Montenegrins decided to
make the post hereditary in the Petrovitch family. As the Vladika
was celibate, his successor had to be chosen from among members of
his family. Later events, however, throw much light on this alleged
interference with the rules of the Orthodox Church.

In June, 1696, Danilo Petrovitch, of Nyegushi, who, be it noted, was
already in holy orders, was chosen as Vladika. A man of well-known
courage such as the country needed, he accepted office, but was not
consecrated till 1700. Till then the Vladikas of Montenegro had been
consecrated by the Serb Patriarch at Ipek. But in 1680 Arsenius the
Patriarch had decided to accept the protection of Austria and
emigrated to Karlovatz with most of his flock. The turns of
fortune's wheel are odd. The Serbs have more than once owed almost
their existence to Austrian intervention. The Turks permitted the
appointment of another Serb Patriarch, but Serb influence in the
district waned rapidly and the Albanians rapidly resettled the lands
from which their forefathers had been evicted. In 1769 the
Phanariotes suppressed the Serb Patriarchate altogether, for the
Greek was ever greedy of spreading over the whole peninsula, and the
Vladika of Montenegro was thus the only head of a Serb Church in the
Balkans and gained much in importance.

Danilo was a born ruler. He soon absorbed all t