19th century Balkans featured mainly German Kings arguing with their cousins over the spoils from the falling back into Asia Ottomans. What if an Orthodox, Slav King from Montenegro with a flair for soldiery was empowered. Would the Slav people fall behind him. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
With “Game of Thrones” now over, perhaps an enterprising Montenegrin could concoct a replacement based on the European Balkans of the 19th century. Here we have a bearded Slav, descended from Orthodox monks ready to take up the sword against Turks, Austrians, and occasionally his fellow Slavs to get ahead. In the background are Austrians and Russians handing out just enough arms and treasure to convince that unification will only happen through them. I would watch that.
Todays stamp is issue A1, a 25 Novcic stamp issued by the Bishopric Principality of Montenegro in 1898. This series of stamps was issued for many years with this the later version, Nicholas having ruled from 1860 till the Austrians sent him packing for the French wine country in 1916. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 40 cents. The early printing of the same denomination in lilac is worth $280.
The Royal line of Montenegro took some degree of power from the Ottoman Empire in 1696. The Royal House were monastic monks who did not marry. Thus the line passed from Bishop-Prince to his nephew. Prince Danilo, assassinated in 1860, tried to modernize by not taking the Bishop part of his title and marrying. However his son Prince Mirko refused the throne and so it still went to the nephew Nicholas. Things were still pretty old fashioned. Nicholas studied in Trieste and Paris. His wife Milena to whom he was betrothed when he was 12 and her 6, was uneducated and illiterate. She was from a prominent family but at the time they were just not educating females. Later she was tutored in the Palace in French in time for her elderly French exile years. She was fertile, they had 12 children.
Nicholas inherited the title of Prince but on the 50th anniversary of his rule in 1910, he took the title of King. Nicholas claimed to be a pan Slavist but did nothing to unite with the next door larger Slav country Serbia. Serbia had the complication of two royal families, one pro Austrian and one pro Russia. See https://the-philatelist.com/2018/06/21/serbia-unlike-so-many-places-had-its-own-royal-line-or-more-problimatically-two/ .Montenegro fought on the winning side on the many wars of the time, especially against the Ottomans. Though his military exploits are perhaps better remembered at home, in the west he is remembered for having sold Gatsby a fake bravery medal in F Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby”. During World War I King Nicholas made the mistake of siding too quickly with Serbia only to be quickly defeated with it by Austria. The treaty at the end of WWI saw Montenegro given to the new Yugoslavia under the Serbian King, the pro Russia line. With the Austrians conquering, King Nicholas and Queen Milena left for France never to return.
Montenegro stayed with Serbia initially as Yugoslavia broke apart. Serbia was greatly punished by the wars of the 90s trying to keep Yugoslavia together. In 2006, Montenegro again put pan Slavism aside and broke off from Serbia peacefully. Pretender King Nicholas, the great grandson of King Nicholas, has returned the Royal line to Montenegro. It is not a monarchy but they allow him to use his preferred title Crown Prince, live in the old Palace, and perform some ceremonial functions. Not bad for a French born and raised architect. Nicholas has grandchildren named Nicholas and Milena.
Well my drink is empty and I may have a few more while I ponder the upsides and downsides of pan Slavism. No doubt a common drinking game from Vienna to Moscow. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.