Battle of Bar

Battle of Tuđemili
Date 7 October 1042 Location Tuđemili, near Bar, Doclea Result Decisive Doclean victory; Stefan Vojislav asserts his state's independence from Byzantium
Belligerents
Doclea	Byzantine Empire
Commanders and leaders
Stefan Vojislav	Michaelus Anastasii
Strength
low, vastly lower than the Byzantine force	40,000 men
Casualties and losses
low	2/3 of the Byzantine army killed, 7 strategos's killed, 50 captured

Battle of Bar (also known as Battle of Sutorman or Battle of Tuđemili) most probably took place on 7 October 1042, just after midnight, between the detachment of Duklja led by Stefan Vojislav and Byzantine forces led by Michaelus Anastasii. The battle was actually a sudden attack of Doclean detachment on the Byzantine camp in the mountain gorge, which ended in the utter defeat of the Byzantine forces and the deaths of 7 of their commanders (strategos). Following the defeat and retreat of the Byzantines, Vojislav ensured a future for Duklja without imperial authority,^[1] and Duklja would soon emerge as the most significant Serb state.^[2] In memory of this victory, in Montenegro, 7 October is commemorated as the day of the Military of Montenegro.

Background

Prior to the war, Duklja was subordinated to the suzerainty of the Byzantine Empire. However, around the start of the 11th century, Stefan Vojislav waged a series of successful attacks aimed at independence.

The Byzantine army, led by the dux Michael, moved towards Duklja in order to suppress the revolts, and they set up camp in the area near Bar. Byzantine historian John Skylitzes described their invasion of Duklja (in Latin translation by Immanuel Bekker):^[3][4]

Servis, ut fertur, dedita opera cedentibus ac intrare eum sinentibus, neque de reditu solicitum neque iusto praesidio angustias occupantem. ita ingressus campestria direptionibus incendiisque vastabat. at Servi fauces itinerum ac praerupta insidere et reditum eius praestolari.

It is said that the Serbs had deliberately let them enter [Duklja], while he [Michael] took no care about their return, nor did he leave sufficiently strong guard in the gorges. After the incursion, he plundered and burned plains, while the Serbs took and kept the gorges and steep places along the road and waited for the return [of the Byzantine army].

Battle

The battle took place on the mountainous area between Bar and Crmnica after midnight, on October 7 in 1042. Prior to the battle a man from Bar entered the Byzantine camp and spread false information about huge army causing panic among the Byzantines. Stefan Vojislav, along with three of his sons, led the Docleans into battle. Their army slowly moved down the hills along with shouting and blowing horns and trumpets to exaggerate their size. The Byzantines, trapped into the mountainous area, were caught unprepared and after heavy fighting were routed. Some historical records claim that two thirds of the Byzantine army had been killed. Byzantine historian John Skylitzes (1040–1101) claimed that 60,000 Byzantines participated in the battle, but these records are considered inaccurate. Most historians agree that there were about 40,000 Byzantines. Numbers of the Doclean army are unknown, but are considered to be largely inferior to the Byzantines. Vojislav dispatched 50 Greeks to tell the rest about it. Byzantine author Kekaumenos described the outcome of the battle:^[3][5]

ὁποῖον ἐποίησεν ὁ Τριβούνιος ὁ Σέρβος τῷ κατεπάνω Δυρραχίου Μιχαὴλ τῷ τοῦ λογοθέτου υἱῷ εἰς Διοκλείαν καὶ ἀπώλεσε τὸν λαὸν αὐτοῦ ἐπέκεινα τῶν τεσσαράκοντα χιλιαδῶν ὄντα.

Thus the Travunian Serb [Vojislav] did in Duklja to the katepano of Dyrrhachium, Michael, son of logothete, and he destroyed his army that numbered more than 40,000.

References

1. Cedrenus II, col. 275,
2. John Van Antwerp Fine (1991). The Early Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Sixth to the Late Twelfth Century. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. p. 207. ISBN 0-472-08149-7.
3. George Ostrogorsky; Franjo Barišić, eds. (1966). Византијски извори за историју народа Југославије [Byzantine Sources for the History of the Peoples of Yugoslavia] 3. Belgrade: Institute for Byzantine Studies of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. pp. 160–61, 210–11.
4. Immanuel Bekker, ed. (1839). Georgius Cedrenus Ioannis Scylitze Ope 2. Bonn: Impensis ed. Weberi. p. 544.
5. Basil Wasilewski; Viktor Jernstedt, eds. (1896). Cecaumeni Strategicon et incerti scriptoris de officiis regiis libellus. Saint Petersburg: Typis Academiae Caesareae Scientiarum. p. 25.