MONTENEGRINS (ЦРНОГОРЦИ) Verified listing

The Montenegrins of the “Black Mountain” (Crna Gora, former state of Zeta) are a branch of the Serbs, unified under a single leader at the beginning of the 16th century, who managed to preserve their independence against the Ottomans, turning a nominal vassalage into independence through an armed peace without concessions. Montenegro separated from the Yugoslav Federation in 2006.

The official flag today displays, on a red field bordered with gold, the arms of the country (an azure shield with a gold leopard lion on a green terrace, set upon a silver double-headed eagle crowned in gold), which makes it a banner. Older flags and military ensigns generally bore a white pattée cross on a red field (L. P. Nenadović, O crnogorcima: pisma sa Cetinja 1878. godine, vol. 212, Cigoja reprint 2005, pp. 186–187).

This is the most distinctive and most easily stylized historical emblem.