Časlav () was the ruler of Serbia from 927/928 to possibly 943/944. Časlav belonged to an exiled branch of the Serbian dynasty and was brought up in Bulgaria as a political hostage. Following years of Bulgarian-Serbian conflict, he was sent with the Bulgarian army against Serbian ruler Zaharija in 924 or 925/926, and was to be instated as the Serbian ruler when Zaharija fled the country. On the premise of accepting Časlav as the new ruler, the Bulgars assembled Serbian župani (counts) and then tricked them and had them captured with Časlav and imprisoned in Bulgaria. After the death of powerful Bulgarian emperor Simeon in 927, Časlav escaped captivity and returned to Serbia, where he consolidated power with the help of Byzantine emperor Romanos Lekapenos ( 920–944). Časlav was active during the threat of the Magyars (Hungary) and is mentioned in a later legendary account as having been captured and drowned in the Sava river.
Background and early life The history of the Serbian principalities and the Vlastimirović dynasty is known from the De Administrando Imperio () compiled by Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus ( 913–959) between 948 and 952. Part of the data collected by Constantine VII came from the Serbs themselves, and it is likely Časlav's diplomatic envoy informed the Byzantine court of Romanos and Constantine VII on Serbian affairs. Serbia and Bulgaria came into contact in the mid-9th century, and Bulgaria had up until then expanded their territory in the Balkan interior by taking Byzantine territory. Byzantium and Bulgaria also had a rivalry regarding influence on the peoples in the central Balkans. The DAI speaks of changing outcomes in 9th-century Bulgar–Serb conflicts, which themselves were a consequence and reflection of the Byzantine–Bulgarian wars. When Serbian ruler Vlastimir died, the rule of Serbia was divided among his sons Mutimir, Strojimir and Gojnik., The division of land shows patrimonialism in the ruling family, also found among some other early medieval peoples; while the territory of each brother is unknown, Mutimir, as the oldest, would have primacy among the three.
Some time after the Bulgar–Serb war, the three sons of Vlastimir came into conflict and Mutimir captured his two brothers and expelled them to Bulgaria. Strojimir and Gojnik were thus stripped of their rule and sent as political hostages, and this is dated to 855/856 or the 860s. The golden seal of Strojimir has survived, and it features a cross and the Greek inscription of his name. Strojimir's son, Klonimir (born 850), wed a Bulgarian noblewoman, the marriage initiated by the Bulgar khan Boris, as to connect the Serbian dynasty to the Bulgarian court. It is possible that the noblewoman belonged to the family of Bulgarian boyar Časlav () who received Methodios' disciples that were expelled from Moravia following his death (885).
Časlav was born before 889, according to T. Živković in the 870s, likely at the Bulgarian capital Pliska where political hostages were supervised near the court. When Simeon I succeeded the throne in 893 and transferred the capital to Preslav, most likely Časlav also moved there. His father Klonimir tried to take the Serbian throne from his cousin Petar Gojniković, and managed to take the city of Destinikon, but failed and was killed in 897., Petar ruled Serbia with friendly relations to both Bulgaria and Byzantium, and Časlav did not yet have the opportunity to wrest the throne, although he could at any time be used by the Bulgars to claim it.
In 921, Byzantine emperor Romanos Lekapenos ( 920–944) sent Zaharija to take the Serbian throne from Pavle, but he failed, and then succeeded with the help of the Bulgars, whom he then turned against., Some time between 921 and 923, Zaharija fought off a Bulgarian invasion and sent the heads and weapons of two slain commanders to the Byzantine emperor. In 925/926 Simeon sent a large army against Serbia under the command of Bulgar boyars with the ranks of kavkhan, minik and ichirgu-boila (as he had done against Constantinople in 923), which Časlav, and this campaign would have a decisive outcome for Serbia and its role in the Byzantine–Bulgarian war. Fearing the larger Bulgarian army, considerably larger than the previous one, Zaharija fled to Croatia.
It was a punitive expedition meant to destroy the Serbian state administration. After Zaharija's flight, the Bulgars called on the Serbian župani to accept Časlav as the archon (). This shows the political organization as the archon (or in Serbian, knez) had župani under him that needed to accept and recognize him, and perhaps took an oath of allegiance. The Bulgars however had no intention to appoint a new Serbian ruler, and used Časlav as a lure to capture the župani and Časlav and sent them to captivity in Bulgaria. Serbia was devastated and part of the people were enslaved and sent to Bulgaria, and some found refuge in Croatia., Serbia came under nominal Bulgarian rule, and was not integrated into the territorial system nor militarily or administratively occupied. As Simeon's policy in supporting candidates in Serbia had failed previously, he simply subjected Serbia without appointing Časlav, perhaps partially motivated by the strained relations with Croatia. The Bulgar cause of next attacking Croatia was possibly due to it being the safe haven of the exiled Serbian ruler and part of the population, and also as a counter-measure to a potential Byzantine–Croatian alliance. It perhaps simply was meant to pursue Zaharija and the remnant of his army. In 926 or 927, the Bulgarian army invaded and was completely destroyed in Croatia.
Reign
Časlav fled Bulgaria with "four followers", likely Serbian župani captured in the earlier Bulgar devastation, and took the Serbian throne without the consent of the Bulgar ruler (suggesting participation in the anti-Bulgarian camp), and was helped by Byzantine emperor Romanos who also collected Serbian refugees and transferred them to Serbia., Časlav sent letters to Romanos, portraying Serbia as devastated, and asking for support and swearing loyalty, as his predecessors. Časlav recognized the supreme rule of Romanos and was recognized as archon of Serbia ()., As such, he held the precedence in all of the Serbian principalities. Časlav thus returned to his fatherland where he had not lived, except for a short stay during the campaign against Zaharije. The DAI tells that Časlav "organized and settled the country", thanks to his wise politics and help from Romanos. Romanos is described as making "numerous good deeds" to Časlav, most likely meaning that there were many letters and decisions between them, and that it lasted a certain time. As Serbia had been simply devastated by the Bulgars, and not occupied, Časlav's initial tasks were to settle in as ruler and populate it.
The dating of Časlav's accession has been variously interpreted, but is most recently concluded to have been in 927/928. Beginning his rule in 927/928, following the death of Simeon (27 May 927), meant he used that as an opportunity and it goes in line with the events. Other sources record that "after learning of Simeon's death, the surrounding peoples, Croats, Turks [Magyars] and others () decided to war against the Bulgars", and Bulgaria was caught in a great famine and various plagues struck. Simeon's successor Peter I ( 927–969) was thus forced to sign peace with Romanos, and on 10 October 927 it was finalized with the marriage of Peter I with Romanos' granddaughter. The Byzantine–Bulgarian peace of 927 gave way to strengthening of Byzantine influence in the Central Balkans, which is evident also from archaeological material, and it is in these circumstances that Časlav found himself. One of the results of the peace certainly was the establishment of relations between Časlav and Romanos. During the reign of Peter I, Byzantine–Bulgarian relations were positive, and Peter I was recognized by Byzantium; T. Živković positioned Časlav's accession as a possible joint Byzantine–Bulgarian political decision, with the agreement to not enthrone any other candidate. The support for Časlav from Romanos points to an Imperial plan to elevate and strengthen Serbia, as a result of the threats north of the Danube and Sava from the warlike Magyars.
In light of the Magyar threat to Byzantium and Bulgaria, Časlav as a Byzantine ally would have the role of defending the area south of the Sava and Danube, and he might also have fallen in battle; in fighting the Magyars, Časlav would have been supported by both Byzantium and Bulgaria., It is known that the Magyars raided Byzantine territory in 933 and again in 943., For a decade, the Magyars did not raid south of the Danube and Sava, and perhaps, Časlav was the cause of stopping those operations. T. Živković (who dated Časlav accession to 933/934), puts his reign in the context of the Magyar raids on Byzantium, and believed Časlav was chosen to deal with them on the initiative of Byzantium. Časlav could have been alive during the 943 Magyar incursion, and failed to stop it.
All the data on Časlav are connected to the reign of Romanos, and as such, in all probability, were recorded prior to Romanos' ousting in December 944. T. Živković deemed it certain that Časlav was deceased in 944, when Constantine VII succeeded as senior emperor, as he did not mention Časlav as his contemporary or benefactor. The DAI mentions Časlav as obeying Romanos, and make no explicit mention of this regarding Constantine VII who compiled the DAI itself and succeeded the throne in January 945. Časlav is taken either to have died in 943/944, or at an unknown date.
Legendary Magyar-Serbian conflict
There is a legend in the later Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja () regarding a Magyar-Serbian conflict in which a Serbian ruler named Časlav participated., The LPD is deemed an unreliable source for the early Middle ages, with accounts based on folklore, and with gross chronological and genealogical inconsistencies, the personal names, however, tend to be true. It mentions the ruler Časlav, portrayed as a very significant ruler, who together with "his father king Radoslav" (found in the DAI as an earlier ruler) successfully fought with "White Croatia" (that is, west Croatia) and then ousted his father.; Next, Magyar chieftain Kys () raided and devastated Bosnia (which was an integral part of Serbia) and clashed with Časlav in the Drina župa (county), next to the river, at the location of Civedino (identified as Cvilin in the upper Drina near Foča) where Kys fell.; For distinction, Časlav gave Tihomil, who slew Kys, the administration of Drina and wed him with the daughter of the ban of "Raška".; Kys' widow was then given troops by the Magyar king to avenge him, and entered Syrmia (identified as Mačva) where Časlav was captured and thrown bound by the hands and feet into the Sava river.; Historiography mostly agrees that DAI's Časlav and LPD's Časlav are one and the same,, and analysis of the events point to the mid-10th century.
In the Gesta Hungarorum, there is a story that the Hungarians subjugated the land of Raška (Serbia) at the time of Árpád ( 895–907), and for long held the Serbian ruler imprisoned in chains (); while this points to the Serbian ruler Petar ( 892–917/918), the author's tendency to attribute Pannonian operations to Árpád's time and the fact that Petar had friendly relations with the Magyars, it is more likely that the ruler in question is Časlav, who is also similarly described in LPD (). This shows there was a tradition of a Magyar-Serbian conflict, which received literary expression following two centuries.
Polity