IN the middle of the seventh century, a number of Slavonian tribes stretched themselves along the Sava and the Danube, down to the Black Sea, and founded, at different times, no less than six separate kingdoms, those of Bulgaria, Croatia, Servia, Bosnia, Slavonia, and Dalmatia; under the name _Srb_, the four last of these nations must be considered as comprised. Their earlier history it is not easy to trace. Slavonian writers are disposed to represent the Maestidæ, who made an incursion into Italy during the age of Claudius Tacitus (A.D. 276), as synonymous with the Sarmatæ; and Kopitar (a high authority) has gathered much evidence to prove that the dialect spoken in the district to the east of Sparta is of Slavonic origin. Leake has remarked, that many of the names of places in the Morea are Slavonian,—Kastanika, Sitina, Gorica, and others. In the neighbourhood of Sparta is a town called Σηλαφοχωρὶ, and it is notorious, that the language of several of the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, Hydra for example, is Slavonic. The original meaning of the word _Srb_, it is not easy to fix. Some derive it from _Srp_, a _sickle_, _others from Sibir_, _Sever_, _the north_; others from _Sarmat_, or _Sarmatian_; some from the Latin _Servus_; but Dobrowsky says, “Significatum radicis _Srb_, consultis etiam dialectis omnibus, nondum licuit eruere.” {0a} In the year 640, the Servians built, with the permission of Heraclius, the city of Servica, on the banks of the Danube. Little can be traced of their history till, under Vlastimir, at the end of the ninth century, they were the tributaries of the Greeks. At this period, they appear to have been engaged in wars with the Bulgarians, whom they subdued. At the beginning of the 11th century, Vladimir assumed the title of king of Servia. Afterwards, during the reign of Tzedomil, the Servians acknowledged the Roman authority, and leagued themselves with its emperors against Comnenus the Grecian monarch, in consequence of which Comnenus marched upon Servia (in 1151), subdued its inhabitants, and led their leader Tzedomil into captivity. The submission of the latter obtained his release; but the Servians, impatient of foreign control, made another attempt to free themselves, but were defeated on the banks of the Morava, by Isaac Angelos, in 1192, when Stephen Nemana was proclaimed monarch, with the title of _Despot_. His successor, Stephen Nemanich, was driven from his throne by the Hungarians, and his brother Vuk Nemanich was proclaimed king or _Kral_ of Servia, under Hungarian authority. He reigned for a very short period, and the regal power again reverted to Stephen. At this period, however, separate from, and almost independent of monarchical authority, a number of dukes, princes, and _Bans_, exercised a sway in Servia; Bosnia, then called Rama, South Bosnia or Herzegovina, and Rascia, that part of southern Servia, through which the river Raska flows, were frequently