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.
Metropolitanate of Montenegro and the Littoral
The destruction of the old Cetinje Monastery perpetrated by the Venetians and the Turks in 1692, together with the emergence of the Petrović-Njegoš family on the historical scene (1697), marked the beginning of a new phase in Montenegrin history. Montenegro, led by Metropolitan Bishop Danilo I Petrović-Njegoš, turned completely towards the Russian Empire, which, through its power and authority, strengthened the institution of etnarchy, under which the Metropolitans were at once both Heads of the Church and rulers of the state. The metropolitans and later princes from Petrović-Njegoš dynasty ruled Montenegro for 220 years, from 1697 to 1918.