After the death of his father Mutimir, his elder brother Prvoslav took the Serbian crown, but was after a year deposed by their cousin Petar Gojniković and fled with Bran and Stefan to Croatia.
As having origin in the Proto-Slavs, the two were pagan (Slavic religion) until forming of Christianity as state-religion; 867–886 in Serbia with the baptism of Mutimir (possibly by Eastern Christian Cyril and Methodius), and 966 in Poland with the baptism of Mieszko I (by Western Christian Jordan).