Narentines

Pagania of the Narentines
9th century–11th century
Narentine State or Pagania in the 9th century, according to De Administrando Imperio.
Common languages	Slavic
Religion	Slavic paganism
Government	Chiefdom
Prince
History
• Formed	9th century
• Conquered by Venetians	11th century
Succeeded by Republic of Venice
Today part of	Croatia

The Narentines were a South Slavic^[1] tribe that occupied an area of southern Dalmatia centered at the river Neretva (Narenta), active in the 9th and 10th centuries, noted as pirates on the Adriatic. Named Narentani in Venetian sources, Greek sources call them Paganoi, "pagans", as they were for long pagan, in a time when neighbouring tribes were Christianized. The tribe were fierce enemies of the Republic of Venice, having attacked Venetian merchants and clergy passing on the Adriatic, and even raided close to Venice itself, as well as defeated the doge several times. Venetian–Narentine peace treaties did not last long, as the Narentines quickly returned to piracy. They were finally defeated in a Venetian crackdown at the turn of the 10th century and disappeared from sources by the 11th century.