Petar II Petrović Njegoš (sr-cyr: Петар II Петровић Његош) (November 1 1813-October 10 1851) was a Serb poet, ruler of Montenegro (sr-cyr: Црна Гора; sr-lat: Crna Gora) and Serb Orthodox Bishop (sr-cyr: Владика; sr-lat: Vladika) of the Metropolitanate (Bishopric) of Montenegro.

Petar II Petrović Njegoš

Born in Njeguši (sr-cyr: Његуши), educated in the monastery of Cetinje (sr-cyr: Цетиње), he became the bishop and sovereign ruler of Montenegro at the age of 17. Seeing the necessity for Montenegro to become a modern state, he reconciled quarrelling Montenegrin tribes, established a Senate, the executive branch of government, courts, started collecting taxes, strengthened the borders of Montenegro, and built roads, as well as the first school and a printing press. And while doing that, he wrote his poems; The Mountain Wreath (sr-cyr: Горски Вијенац; sr-lat: Gorski Vijenac) is the most famous of them. He died in Cetinje; he was buried in a small chapel on top of Mount Lovćen (sr-cyr: Ловћен ) where, later, his mausoleum was built.

Major works

• Hermit of Cetinje (1834)
• Light of Microcosm (1845)
• The Mountain Wreath (English translation) (1847)
• Stephen the Little (Šćepan Mali), the tsar-pretender (1851)

Quotes

Blessed is he whose name lives forever.

A good reason had he to be alive!

When my wife asks where I have been today,

I will tell her that I've been sowing salt.

And woe to her if she does not believe!

What is man? (And it's his fate to be man!)

A small creature deceived oft by the earth,

Yet he sees that the earth is not for him.

Is not the real more puzzling than the dream?

External links

• Petrovic Njegos Dynasty
• Petar II Petrovic Njegos, 1830-1851
• The Mountain Wreath