Michael of Zahumlje
[9][10] To eliminate the threat, Michael warned his ally, the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon I, about the alliance between Petar and Symeon's enemy, the Byzantine Empire.
Regardless, Michael, with grand titles of the Byzantine court as anthypatos and patrician (patrikios), remained ruler of Zahumlje through the 940s, while maintaining good relations with the Pope.
[12] Compiled in c. 950, the historical work De administrando imperio, ascribed to Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, notes that Michael was a son of Busebutze (Greek: Bouseboutzis > Visevitz),[13][14] but does not mention that his family descended from the "unbaptized Serbs" or was of Serbian origin like other Zachlumians,[8][15] although a closer reading of the source suggests that Constantine's consideration on the ethnic identity of the principality's population is based on Serbian political rule or influence and does not indicate ethnic origin.
[16][17][18][19][20][21] According to the emperor, or even Michael himself according to the way the subchapter was structured,[15] his family was not of Serbian origin since they belonged to the Litziki (Λιτζίκη), an unbaptized people on the river Vistula in Lesser Poland.
[27] Michael's tribal origin is related to the oral tradition from Historia Salonitana by Thomas the Archdeacon about seven or eight tribes of nobles called Lingones who arrived from Poland and settled in Croatia.
[11] Most scholars prefer to date the war on Serbia to 917, after 20 August, when Simeon had massacred much of the invading Byzantine army at its landing place at Anchialos.
[39][40][41] The Historia Salonitana, whose composition may have begun in the late 13th century, cites a letter of Pope John X to Tomislav, "king (rex) of the Croats", in which he refers to the first council in some detail.
Therefore, it seems certain that in July 926 Michael did not act as an imperial ally in Apulia, nor that his fleet descended upon the shores of the Apennine peninsula as a rescue force against Arabs, Lombards or any other enemy.
[46] Constantine remembers Michael as a prince (archon) of the Zachlumi, but also uses such grand titles of the Byzantine court as anthypatos and patrician (patrikios) to describe his political rank and status.
[8][47][48] These titles have been interpreted as reflecting a more subordinate position after Simeon's death in 927, when Michael lost the Bulgarian support needed for any higher recognition.
[12] Časlav, who became ruler of Serbia after Symeon's death, may have seized some of Michael's territory while securing his conquest of Travunia,[4] but there's no evidence for it and in DAI Zachlumia is clearly stated as a separate polity.
