History of Otok Mljet

Constantine VII Porphyrogenitos in his Of Ruling an Empire as one of the islands held by the Narentines. The island was often a controversy of ownership between them and Zachlumia until the stronger unifications of the Serbian realm in the 12th century.

Mljet has been regarded as the "Melita" on which Saint Paul was shipwrecked (Acts of the Apostles 27:39–28:11), this view being first expounded in the 10th century, by Eastern Roman Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Saint Paul's shipwreck is generally placed on the Mediterranean island of Malta. Mljet and Malta had the same name in the Greek and Roman sources; the mention of a viper in Acts 28:3–5 was thought to be in favour of Mljet (but there are snakes on both Mljet and Malta). A harbour named after the Saint exists on both islands.

The Benedictines from Pulsano in Apulia became the feudal lords of the island in 1151, having come from Monte Gargano in Italy. They came ashore in the Sutmiholjska cove and in 1187–1198 the Serbian Prince Desa of the House of Vojislavljević built and donated to them the Church and Monastery of Saint Mary on the islet in the Big Lake (Veliko Jezero) towards the north-west end of the island. Pope Innocent III issued a document consecrating the church in 1198.

The Benedictines renounced their rule over Mljet in 1345, keeping only a third of the land. The island got a statute and a municipality in Babino Polje. It was formally annexed by the Republic of Ragusa in 1410. According to the Contract with the Benedictines, the municipality had to pay 300 perpers each year.

In the 16th century, the monastery was the center of the Mljet Congregation (Congregatio Melitensis or Melitana), gathering all the monasteries of Benedictine monks in the area of