Unknown Archont

Infobox Emperor
name =Unknown Archont
title =Leader of Serbs


caption =
reign =7th century
coronation =
predecessor =
successor =
heir =
consort =
issue =Vladin
royal house =House of Vlastimirović
royal anthem =
father =
mother =
date of birth =6th century
place of birth =White Serbia
date of death =680
place of death =Serbian lands
place of burial=

The Unknown Archont (Serbian: Непознати кнез, "Nepoznati knez") is a conventional name given by historians to the Serbian leader who led the White Serbs from their homeland in north-eastern Central Europe to settle in the Balkans in the early 7th century.

The main record of this person is in the "De Administrando Imperio", a book written in the 950s by Constantine VII "Porphyrogenitos". He is described as having led the Serbs from White Serbia during the reign of Emperor Heraclius (610-641). On their way to the south, they vanquished the Avars and eventually settled in Thessaly, a province which Heraclius granted to them with a view of protecting Byzantium from further Avar incursions.

The Serbs later moved to the area which had been dominated by the Avars prior to their arrival: Rascia, Bosnia, Zachlumi, Trebounia, Pagania, Neretvia and finally Duklja. The Unknown Archont was displaced early after the settlement of the Serbs, as other tribal chiefs vied for power. He died in 680.

The first Serb ruling dynasty, the House of Vlastimirović, is named after the "knez" Vlastimir who was reputedly the great-great-grandson of the Unknown Archont.

From "De Administrando Imperio", 31

:"But when two brothers succeeded their father in the rule of Serbia, one of them, taking a moiety of the folk, claimed the protection of Heraclius, the emperor of the Romans, and the same emperor Heraclius received him and gave him a place in the province of Thessalonica to settle in, namely Serbia, which from that time has acquired this denomination."

: "Now, after some time these same Serbs decided to depart to their own homes, and the emperor sent them off. But when they had crossed the river Danube, they changed their minds and sent a request to the emperor Heraclius, through the military governor then governing Belgrade, that he would grant them other land to settle in."

: "And since what is now Rascia (Serbia) and Pagania and the so-called country of the Zachlumi and Trebounia and the country of the Kanalites were under the dominion of the emperor of the Romans, and since these countries had been made desolate by the Avars (for they had expelled from those parts the Romani who now live in Dalmatia and Dyrrachium), therefore the emperor settled these same Serbs in these countries, and they were subject to the emperor of the Romans; and the emperor brought elders from Rome and baptized them and taught them fairly to perform the works of piety and expounded to them the faith of the Christians."

: "And since Bulgaria was beneath the dominion of the Romans * * * when, therefore, that same Serbian prince died who had claimed the emperor's protection, his son ruled in succession, and thereafter his grandson, and in like manner the succeeding princes from his family."