Arsenije III Crnojević

Serbian archbishop

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June 18, 2026

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Arsenije III Crnojević was the Serbian archbishop of Peć who, in 1691, led a significant migration of 30,000 to 40,000 Serbs from "Old Serbia" and southern Bosnia into Habsburg territory. This migration occurred after Serbs rose in support of an Austrian invasion against the Ottomans in 1690. The Habsburgs settled these refugees, forming the basis of the Austrian Military Frontier.12

The patriarchate of Peć, a center of Serbian ecclesiastical authority, was abolished by the Ottoman sultan in 1766, partly due to interactions between Serb clergy and the Ottomans. This led to attempts to place the Serbian church under the Greek patriarch in Constantinople. New monasteries in Srem, under Austrian control, then assumed some of the ecclesiastical functions previously held by Peć, with Sremski Karlovci becoming a key hub for Serbian learning and cultural identity.12

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Serbia
The disintegration of Ottoman rule
In 1691 Archbishop Arsenije III Crnojević of Peć led a migration of 30,000–40,000 Serbs from “Old Serbia” and southern Bosnia across the Danube and Sava. There they were settled and became the basis of the Austrian Militärgrenze, or Military Frontier. (The South Slav translation, Vojna Krajina, was used…
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In 1691 Archbishop Arsenije III Crnojević of Peć led a migration of 30,000–40,000 Serbs from “Old Serbia” and southern Bosnia across the Danube and Sava. There they were settled and became the basis of the Austrian Militärgrenze, or Military Frontier. (The South Slav translation, Vojna Krajina, was used…
Read More