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How a fake Russian emperor became ruler of… Montenegro

On July 9, 1762, Peter III was overthrown in Russia and his wife, Catherine, ascended the throne. Eight days later, the new authorities announced that the deposed monarch had died suddenly from an "attack of hemorrhoidal colic".

The emperor's strange death sparked much speculation. Some believed Peter had been murdered on Catherine's orders, while others believed the tsar had fled and would soon return to reclaim his rightful place.

Naturally, impostors exploited this, all claiming to be the "miraculously saved Emperor Peter Feodorovich". The most famous was Don Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, who unleashed a full-scale peasant war and ended his life on the scaffold.

Šćepan Mali (Stephen the Little), another impostor who appeared in Montenegro in 1766, was much more fortunate. He was believed to be of Bosnian Serb descent, well-educated and bore a strong physical resemblance to Peter III.

The impostor made it clear to the highlanders that he had resigned himself to the loss of the Russian throne and now intended to bring prosperity to them. "I did not come here of my own accord, but was sent by God," he declared.

The local population greeted him with joy. Montenegro was torn by endless bloody feuds between clans and the people there longed for peace, a strong government and unity in the face of threats from the Turks, Austrians and Venetians.

And, on October 17, 1767, at the General Assembly of Montenegrins, Stephen the Little was proclaimed tsar. He proved an excellent ruler: he ended the unrest, separated church and state, implemented judicial reform, began building roads and conducted the first census.

Even Russia began to view him favorably, once they realized that the "tsar" of the highlanders had no actual claim to the Russian throne.

However, his neighbors had no need for a united and strong Montenegro. In 1773, Mali was stabbed to death by an assassin sent by the Turks.

Credit: Public domain

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Credits: Legion Media

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