The knežina (, from knez) was a rural self-governing institution among Serbs in the Belgrade Pashalik (now central Serbia) of the Ottoman Empire in the 18th century. As a Christian (rayah) institution supervised by the Ottoman nahiye officials, it had very limited authority and rights. Two organs constituted the knežina, the assembly as per customary law, which cared for important local issues, such as judicial disputes, monasteries and roads, and the obor-knez (), a representative of a group of villages and intermediary between these and the government, who had basic tasks as collecting taxes and maintaining peace and order. The knežina became instrumental in the onset of the First Serbian Uprising as an organization for uprising and maintaining it. In Revolutionary Serbia (1804–13) it became an official administrative unit that also had a military function. Following the successful Second Serbian Uprising (1815) and establishment of the Principality of Serbia, it was an administrative unit with altered function. It was finally removed from the apparatus in the 1830s, replaced by the srez.

History 1739–1788 The Sanjak of Smederevo (known as the "Belgrade Pashalik") was an Ottoman administrative unit (sanjak) further divided into the nahiya, the smallest administrative-territorial unit. The positions of Ottoman authority was the kadi (judges) and musellim (commanders and administrative officials), stationed in the nahiya fortress towns (varoš) and small towns (palanka). Popular assemblies were held in the nahiya mostly regarding taxation.

The Ottoman system returned to central Serbia in 1739, after decades of Habsburg rule. In the knežina and villages, the local self-governing continuously developed and affirmed itself during the second half of the 18th century, when the Ottoman system was weakened with anarchy in administration and economy. The knežina and villages became more important in the survival of the Serb people. All villages had a village knez (), kmetovi (serfs) and village zbor (meetings). The village knez was chosen only to collect taxes and had no power or influence, while the serfs constituted the real village chiefs (starešina), and attained their status through honesty, intelligence and eloquence, according to philologist Vuk Karadžić. The serfs mainly performed the village police function and judged in minor disputes. Groups of villages were organized into knežina, where an obor-knez was elected for both state- and local self-governing functions.

There were two organs of popular self-government in the knežina, that of the knežina assembly and the knez of the knežina (obor-knez):

knežina assembly (), as per customary law, the highest organ of popular self-government, held regularly at a designated place, with members being village serfs (kmet) and other notables. Taxes were distributed according to local tradition and geo-economical circumstances. An obor-knez was elected in this context if he was held wise and favorable to their interests. The assembly cared for monasteries and churches, roads, judicial disputes and other important local issues. The assembly did not enjoy complete independence as it was supervised by the nahiya authorities, although it strove to maintain non-interference from the "Turks".

knez of the knežina (, known as ), was used for the elected chiefs, commonly villagers who worked in agriculture or less commonly sold cattle, that were seated in their own villages and paid the same taxes as all rayah and had no extra pay for their title. They were elected at the knežina assembly and then sanctioned by the Ottoman authorities through berat (decree). They were mostly elected from the same family, the title thus becoming hereditary (primogeniture). Their main tasks were to distribute and collect taxes in their nahiya and act as delegates of Ottoman authority and then to resolve issues not regulated by Ottoman law. They thus had both a state- and local self-governing function. They were the intermediary between the commoners and Ottoman government, and were responsible for maintaining order and peace, judging in minor offenses and discussing in peasant disputes, although their decisions were not binding.

The Ottoman Empire saw growing political and economical crisis from the mid-18th century onwards; the European-Ottoman wars and new economic relations broke the Ottoman feudal system and effected the emancipation of Christians in the empire, especially in the Balkans. The sipahi were entrusted to restore Ottoman rule to the sanjak and relied on the small and still recovering Muslim population, and as a result, the Ottoman state lacked the strength and authority to counter the Janissaries' oppression and implementation of forced labour (known as chiflik) and extraordinary taxes. This led to deterioration of status and disruption of local self-government, which is why the Serbs under their obor-knezes sided with Austria in the coming war (1788).,

The 1741 defter bears witness to the depopulation of the knežine throughout the Sanjak of Smederevo, especially along the highways in the central nahiyas, such as Levač, Rudnik and Lepenica. There were an estimated 7–15 villages in each knežina, while the area of the smaller nahiyas such as Braničevo, Kolubara and Železnik coincided with the territory of knežina. There were at least 33 knezes (as listed in the defter).

Austro-Turkish War and the Janissaries

As the Serbs were subject to forced labour, and had endured terror from authorities, forced migration, epidemics and starvation, they were eager to form alliances with Christian states in order to liberate themselves. The Ottoman-Russian war broke out in 1787 and Austria joined in February 1788. In 1787 the Serbs were violently disarmed by the Ottoman authorities during the Austrian war preparations, with terror carried out by military and bashi-bazouk irregular units leading to people fleeing across the Sava and Danube to Austrian territory and forming the Serbian Free Corps. Serb volunteers actively engaged Ottoman troops and liberated many towns in central Serbia, however, much needed aid and equipment was denied. Successful Ottoman counter-operations and terror upon the Serb population led to further refugees to Austria, numbering 50,000 by the end of June 1788. A truce was signed that lasted to the summer of 1789 when the Austrians conquered Belgrade and advanced in the interior, however, the Austrian court increasingly sought to end the conflict and peace was signed in August 1791.

The Porte gave amnesty to participants on the Austrian side and banned the Janissaries from the Pashalik. The Janissaries had earlier been part of the backbone of Ottoman military power but had lost their importance in the 18th century, becoming a source of disorder, due to lack of discipline and bad morals. The Janissaries revolted in 1793 and raided the lands, and briefly occupied Belgrade. In order to rid the threat of the Janissaries, a Serb militia in Ottoman service was established, numbering some 15,000, many of whom had gained military training and experience in the last war. The militia was led by the knezes and the supreme commander Stanko Arambašić. The Janissaries were decisively defeated by the militia in another attempt to occupy the Pashalik, which showed the militia was well-organized, disciplined and trained. As a reward, the Porte had issued firmans (decrees) which acknowledged Serb self-governing privileges, better socio-economic status, the right to renew and build churches, and to lead security detachments for maintaining road safety and apprehending robbers. Muslim retaliation and entry to Serb villages was forbidden, as to not make way for conflict.

The tenure of Hadji Mustafa Pasha () as Vizier of Belgrade is remembered positively among the Serbs for the improved situation in the Pashalik through reforms, essentially for the return of their self-governing rights and having given over all matters regarding the rayah to the Serb chiefs. The kadi and pasha himself were only authorizing the control of the knezes regarding financial matters. Mustafa Pasha did not decide in any matters regarding the rayah without discussing with the knezes. Instances of abuse were investigated and when they were right, Mustafa Pasha acted; as an example, the knez of Tamnava knežina and Free Corps veteran Aleksa Nenadović had 18 evil musellim and kadi replaced.

The borders of a knežina changed as per the villagers wishes, for instance, the Podgor knežina was left without a knez following the war and asked knez Aleksa Nenadović to be put under his supervision, and to appoint a lesser knez. Nenadović could not take responsibility for that knežina, even though he had been an arbitrator there for years, and asked them to choose one from their midst. They couldn't decide and asked him to let Joko from Rabas, in Nenadović's knežina, be their knez. Nenadović thus decided that Rabas be joined into Podgor and Joko became its knez.

During Ottoman rule, there were the following knežina in the Sanjak of Smederevo: Šabac nahiya: Mačva, Pocerina, Tamnava, Posavina. Valjevo nahiya: Valjevska Tamnava–Posavina, Jadar, Ljig/Podgor. Užice nahiya: Užička Crna Gora, Rujno. Požega nahiya: Dragačevo, Podibar, Čačanska Morava. Rudnik nahiya: Rudnička Morava, Crna Gora–Podgora. Kragujevac nahiya: Lower Gruža, Upper Gruža, Lepenica, Jasenica. Jagodina nahiya: Levač, Temnić. Požarevac nahiya: Braničevo, Mlava, Stig, Pek, Rečka, Zvižd, Omolje. Ćuprija nahiya: Resava (whole of Ćuprija nahiya). Belgrade, Soko, Grocka, Smederevo, Poreč nahiyas were as the Ćuprija nahiya made up of knežina that included all of the nahiya.

In the Sanjak of Zvornik, there were Jadar and Rađevina (located on the right, Serbian side of the Drina). In the Sanjak of Vidin, there was Crna Reka.

This significant improvement to the Serbs' status did not last long, as new conflicts with Janissaries arose and the threat of the French in Egypt made the Porte allow for the return of Janissaries in early 1799. The Janissaries renewed terror, captured Belgrade and Hadji Mustafa Pasha in July 1801, murdered him in December, then ruled the Pashalik. The leading Janissaries, called the Dahije, abolished the Serbs' firmans, banished unsupportive sipahi and invited Muslims from neighbouring sanjaks which they used to control the Serbs. The Dahije broke the system and ruled in all spheres, appointing their own Muslim soubashi in every village. The banished sipahi and loyal Muslims organized a rebellion against the Janissaries with Serb support in mid-1802, but it failed, resulting in further oppression. The Dahije learnt of a conspiracy between the Serbs and Mustafa Pasha's associates (who wanted revenge) to rise against the Dahije, forged in 1803, as well as a letter to the Austrian military in Zemun. Aleksa Nenadović in Valjevo and Karađorđe in Šumadija, both Free Corps and militia veterans, planned an uprising.

The Dahije began to monitor Serbs after learning of the conspiracy. After learning of further talks between Serbian knezovi and imperial Turks in Šumadija at the beginning of 1804, and perhaps receiving threats from the Porte, the Dahije decided to kill Serb leaders in order to thwart a rebellion against them. The victims were obor-knezes, knezes, buljubašas and other chosen people. While murders began in December, most leaders were killed between 23–29 January. The "Slaughter of the Knezes" led to the uprising against the Dahije in 1804 and the start of the Serbian Revolution.

Serbian Revolution