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 noted as pirates on the Adriatic Sea in the 9th and 10th centuries. They occupied an area of southern Dalmatia centered at the river Neretva (Narenta). Named Narentani in Venetian sources, they were called Paganoi, "pagans", by the Greeks, as they were still pagan after the Christianization of the neighbouring tribes. They were fierce enemies of the Republic of Venice, attacking Venetian merchants and clergy traveling through the Adriatic, and even raiding close to Venice itself and defeating 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.