[3] The war banners were consecrated by Patriarch Jovan Kantul,[4] and the uprising was aided by Serbian Orthodox metropolitans Rufim Njeguš of Cetinje and Visarion of Trebinje (s.

[3] The Ottomans publicly incinerated the relics of Saint Sava on a pyre atop the Vračar plateau on 27 April 1595 and had the ashes scattered.

The Uskoks, irregular soldiers in Habsburg Croatia, supported Austria, being scattered over the whole area between Senj and Ragusa (modern-day Dubrovnik).

At one point, Austrian officials considered taking military action in Bosnia, where Dalmatian-born Maltese knight Franjo Brtučević was in their service.

[7] A Ragusan document from the beginning of 1596 claimed that the metropolitan and many Herzegovinian chieftains gathered in the Trebinje Monastery where they swore oath "to give up and donate 20,000 heroes to the [Austrian] emperors' light.

[10] Patriarch Jovan assured the pope of his "loyalty and obedience" to the Church of Rome, and sought help "to liberate the Serb people from the Ottomans".

[10] The monks made an exhibition to the papal curia on Serbian history and, among other things, petitioned the pope to send an army to Herceg Novi, which would aid vojvoda Grdan on the land;[6] the tribes of Zupci, Nikšić, Piva, Banjani, Drobnjaci, and Gacko would rise up in arms.

[6] The Serb uprising had no better luck; the Herzegovinian tribes, Drobnjaci, Nikšić, and Piva began fighting, but were defeated at the field of Gacko (Gatačko Polje) by Dervish Bey[6] sometime in 1597.

[b] According to the Venetian Lazzaro Soranzo (1599), the Piperi, Kuči, Klimenti, Bjelopavlići, and others tried to liberate themselves from Ottoman tyranny, and upon hearing the false claim[11] that Sultan Mehmed III lost the battle and his life at the Siege of Eger, "they all rose up under the command of vojvoda Grdan and there was a great slaughter of Turks who were on their land.

As I tried to find out more, I heard the contrary, that they unhappily withdrew into their mountains";[12][13] Montenegrin historian Gligor Stanojević, based on Soranzo's account, which he described as "the most interesting and most contradicting note on the movement of the Brda and Herzegovina tribes in this time", believed that the rebellion did not have the scale of a national uprising.

At this time, none of the prominent leaders in the Ottoman Serb regions were hurt.After the failure of the uprising, many Herzegovinians moved to the Bay of Kotor and Dalmatia.

[19] From the assembly in Kosijerevo monastery, on 18 February 1608, Serb leaders urged the Spanish and Neapolitan court for final energetic action.

Finally, on 13 December 1608, Patriarch Jovan Kantul organized an assembly in Morača Monastery, gathering all the rebel leaders of Montenegro and Herzegovina.

The assembly officially negotiated with Emmanuel I to send a force for the liberation of the Balkans, in exchange for "the Crown of Macedonia", at the same time requesting that Pope Paul grant the Serbian Orthodox Church special privileges.