Petar II Petrović-Njegoš
Petar II Petrović-Njegoš was born Radivoje "Rade" Petrović on in the mountain village of Njeguši, near Cetinje. His father, Tomislav "Tomo" Petrović (b. 1762–63), was a member of the Petrović clan of the Njeguši tribe of Katuni "nahiya". Njegoš's mother, Ivana Proroković, hailed from the hamlet of Mali Zalaz and was the daughter of Njeguši captain Lazo Proroković. There is no reliable information about her exact year of birth, but it is believed that she was about ten years younger than her husband. Tomo and Ivana had five children; their eldest son was Petar ("Pero"), Rade was their middle son and Jovan ("Joko") was their youngest. The couple's daughters were named Marija and Stana; Marija was married to a Montenegrin chieftain named Andrija Perović, the "serdar" (count) of Cuce, while Stana was married to Filip Đurašković, the "serdar" of Rijeka Crnojevića.
Petar II Petrović-Njegoš
A severe drought struck Montenegro in late 1846, followed by a catastrophic famine in 1847. Osman Pasha took advantage of Montenegro's misfortune and promised some of the Montenegrin chieftains large amounts of wheat if they rose up against the Petrovićes. Njegoš was caught off-guard, having spent much of late 1846 in Vienna overseeing the publication of his epic poem, "Gorski vijenac" (The Mountain Wreath). The leaders of the rebellion were Markiša Plamenac, a captain with the "Perjanici" in Crmnica, and Todor Božović, a senator from the Piperi tribe. Plamenac had been one of Njegoš's close confidants. According to legend, he planned to become a member of the Petrović clan by marrying the daughter of Njegoš's brother Pero, thus increasing his own power and standing. When Pero married his daughter off to Plamenac's cousin, the son of reverend Jovan Plamenac, the once-loyal captain switched sides and became an agent of Osman Pasha. On , Plamenac led a band of rebels in an assault against lower Crmnica alongside the Turks. Fortunately for Njegoš, some members of the Plamenac tribe had remained loyal to the Petrovićes. About two weeks later, a force of about 2,000 Petrovićes, Katuni and Plamenac tribesmen forced the Turks out of Crmnica. Plamenac fled Montenegro and sought refuge with the "vizier", persuading him to erect an Ottoman fortification on the island of Grmožur to keep Njegoš's forces at bay. Njegoš countered by building a defensive tower overlooking Lake Scutari.