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
While Njegoš was in Vienna and Russia in 1833, Vukotić took advantage of the "vladika"'s prolonged absence to increase his own power. Njegoš quickly moved to push Vukotić aside, installing his own brother Pero as senate leader and their cousin Đorđije—who had recently returned from Saint Petersburg—as Pero's deputy. Vukotić and Vučićević were exiled to Russia. There, they spread countless rumours about Njegoš in an attempt to tarnish his reputation. While their actions threatened to ruin his image abroad, Njegoš was far more concerned about domestic discontent with his tax policies. He reasoned that his pious and overly superstitious citizens would not protest taxation as fiercely if the Petrovićes boasted a saint who was of the same bloodline. Hence, he arranged for the canonization of the late Petar I on the fourth anniversary of his death, in October 1834. With a saint in his family, Njegoš could now threaten any Montenegrin who challenged his authority with spiritual sanctions. Most Montenegrins were greatly enthusiastic about Petar's canonization, and many flocked to his tomb in Cetinje to celebrate the event. While Njegoš was now in a more stable position than he was two years earlier, he still encountered several challenges to his rule. He was criticized for allegedly misappropriating the funds given to him by the Russians, and a tribal rebellion in Crmnica and Riječka "nahiya" erupted in response to the demands of tax collectors and chronic food shortages. The revolt was crushed by Njegoš's cousins Đorđije and Stanko, but the allegations of fund misappropriation further tarnished his reputation among the Russians.
In early August 1836, the "vizier" of the Herzegovina Eyalet, Ali Pasha Rıdvanoğlu, attacked Grahovo, a town on Montenegro's northern frontier that had long been claimed by the Montenegrins. Its Christian inhabitants, still Ali Pasha's feudatories, had refused to pay the "haraç", an Ottoman poll tax on non-Muslims. Ali Pasha's forces overran the town, burned it to the ground and took countless Christians hostage; the rebels appealed to Njegoš for help. As honour demanded, Njegoš sent a force led by his teenaged brother Joko and his nephew Stevan to rescue the hostages while Ali Pasha was in Gacko waiting for reinforcements to address the Montenegrin advance. The Montenegrins had assembled a force of several hundred warriors led by Joko, Stevan and eight Petrović chiefs. They were initially successful in rescuing one of the imprisoned clan leaders and his followers, but were overwhelmed by the combined forces of Ali Pasha, Trebinje's Osman Pasha-"beg" and the cavalry reinforcements of Smaïl-aga Čengić. The Turks made use of a feigned retreat to lure the Montenegrins into a trap, surrounded them and used reinforcements to cut off their lines of retreat. More than forty of the Montenegrin warriors were hacked to death in the ensuing chaos, including Stevan and all eight Petrović chiefs. Joko was killed by Smaïl-aga himself, and his severed head was impaled on a spike for all to see. Njegoš responded by launching a counter-attack near Grahovo and fought the Ottomans to a standstill. Grahovo's inhabitants fled to the Austrian-held territory on the Adriatic coast, but after being refused sanctuary, they were forced to return to the ruined town, swear an oath of loyalty to the Sultan and beg for forgiveness from the "vizier". Consequently, they refused to avenge the deaths of the Petrovićes for fear of Ottoman retaliation.