25 Facts About Bajo Pivljanin

Bajo Pivljanin, born Dragojlo Nikolic, was a Serbian hajduk commander mostly active in the Ottoman territories of Herzegovina and southern Dalmatia.

Bajo Pivljanin remained a low-rank hajduk for the following decade, participating in some notable operations such as the raid on Trebinje.

Dragojlo Nikolic, nicknamed Bajo Pivljanin, was born around 1630 in Piva, at that time part of the Ottoman Sanjak of Herzegovina.

Bajo Pivljanin was an oxen trader, a common occupation in the 17th and 18th centuries, and often exported through Risan market, becoming quite wealthy.

Folk tradition has it that Bajo Pivljanin first left Piva for Drobnjaci, and eventually Drobnjaci for Moraca.

Bajo Pivljanin was originally engaged to Milica, daughter of a local knez Bogdan Papovic from Kazanci.

Bajo Pivljanin, who prepared himself for the wedding, came to the meeting, and after questioning the girl about her choice, asked for his ring back.

Milica handed it to him, at which moment Bajo Pivljanin killed her as well as Pasha and two of his bodyguards.

Knez Bogdan took shelter in his house, which Bajo Pivljanin burned, together with a mosque Pasha erected not long ago, killing with his kinsmen and grooms all the Ottomans who served the Pasha in the process.

Bajo Pivljanin was among these people, and he broke his mowing blade one day while working.

Bajo Pivljanin then decapitated him with his fixed blade, took his horse and weapons and ran to Moraca, which at the time was hajduk's nest and the most defiant of all the Montenegrin Highland tribes towards the Ottomans.

Bajo Pivljanin lived in Moraca for several years, his exploits from this period are preserved in collective memory of the population of North Montenegro.

Moraca was razed by the Ottomans sometime in the late 1640s, after which Bajo Pivljanin took shelter in Venetian controlled territories.

Bajo Pivljanin was first mentioned in 1654 as one of 1,500 hajduks operating from Venetian territory.

Bajo Pivljanin was a close friend and favourite of Serbian Orthodox metropolitan Vasilije Jovanovic during the war.

Bajo Pivljanin's tactics included quick raids and destroying bridges as he retreated.

In 1664, Bajo Pivljanin is mentioned as a hajduk commander active in the Republic of Ragusa.

The Ragusans claimed that at the time of the raid, Bajo Pivljanin had shouted that the provveditore of Venetian Dalmatia had given him the order to take all that he came across, both on the sea and the land.

Five days later, Bajo Pivljanin raided a large and unusually rich caravan carrying Venetian merchandise through Ottoman territory.

When hostilities began, Bajo Pivljanin was again in active Venetian service, finally returning to the Bay of Kotor.

Historiography is divided as to whether the Montenegrins really betrayed the hajduks in the ensuing battle; some believe that in order to avoid retaliation, the Montenegrins promised the head of Bajo Pivljanin, then betrayed the hajduks on the battlefield.

The hajduks were defeated by the Ottomans, and Bajo Pivljanin was killed in battle.

Suleyman had Bajo Pivljanin's head sent to the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed IV, as a great war trophy.

The request highlighted that Bajo Pivljanin had left his home in Herzegovina to fight for the Republic of Venice, to whom he had great value as a fighter.

The village of Bajovo Polje was named after Bajo Pivljanin, it is said, after he killed his first Turk at the field.