Serbian Monarchs

Principality of Serbia

In the 8th century, the principality of Serbia was organized into counties called zupe (singular form is zupa), headed by a zupan. The Byzantine Empire was suzerain.

In 805, the Bulgarian Empire began a series of campaigns into Serbia. Vlastimir consolidated the principality, organized a counter attack to the 839 invasion, and went on to conquer Bosnia.

Simeon I conquered the principality in 917 and installed Pavle Branovic as a vassal prince; this led the Byzantines to begin a slow conquest of both Serbia and Bulgaria, completing finally under Basil II ("the Bulgar Slayer").

The Byzantine Empire then divided and thoroughly reorganized the Serbian realm.

Principality of Duklja

Within the Byzantine Empire, much of the Serbian lands were led by Jovan Vladimir, archon of Duklja. In 997, Samuel conquered the region and raised Jovan to a vassal prince.

The Byzantines quickly retook the lands. With some reorganization (as Travunia and Zachlumia), the principality was retained.

Kingdom of the Slavs

Mihailo I rebelled against the Byzantine Empire and vassalized himself instead to Pope Gregory VII, who by 1077 had named him King of the Slavs.

Grand Principality and Kingdom of Serbia

Amidst a renewed Byzantine invasion and a succession war, Vukan I established an independent grand principality of Serbia. Duklja became a princely zupan, led by a knez.

The Byzantines re-asserted suzerainity by 1114.

Under Stefan Nemanja (canonized as Saint Simeon the Myrrh-streaming), the capital was moved to Ras. For this reason, the principality (and then kingdom) were sometimes referred to as Rascia.

The Fourth Crusade in 1204 dealt a final blow to the Byzantine Empire. Stefan I, son of Stefan Nemanja, was made king in 1217.

Kings of Serbia would attach Stefan to their names upon coronation.

Konstantin conquered the kingdom of Syrmia, though most of the land was reconquered by Hungary shortly thereafter.

Decanski (also known as Uros III), Konstantin's brother, conquered and vassalized Bulgaria.

Kingdom of Syrmia

Following an injury, Dragutin handed the kingdom of Serbia to his brother Milutin in 1282. He kept two northern zupe. In 1284 he was granted the banates of So, Ozora, Macso, as well as the city of Belgrade, as a vassal of Ladislaus IV. He quickly established an independent kingdom of Syrmia. Syrmia is sometimes called Serm. Belgrade was made the capital city.

Following Dragutin's death, his son Vladislav II would inherit Syrmia. Milutin and his son Konstantin would quickly conquer the kingdom. Vladislav II fled to the kingdom of Hungary, which eventually reclaimed its banates.

Serbian Empire

Dusan (also known as Uros IV), son of Decanski, conquered much of the Byzantine Empire. Albania, Macedonia, most of the Dalmatian coast (excepting the city states), and most of Greece (down to Athens and apart from Thessalonica) were conquered. He was crowned in Skopje as "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks".

This empire amounted to little for the conquered lands. They were forced to submit to despotates.

Following Dusan's death, his son Uros V failed to keep the empire from disintegrating.

Fall of the Empire and Kingdom

Marko became an Ottoman vassal in 1371, but by 1377 most of the realm had rebelled. As an example, Moravian Serbia rose as the most significant claimant to a Serbian crown.

Moravian Serbia and the Despotate of Serbia

As the empire and kingdom of Serbia disintegrated under Uros V, Lazar took the title knez and established a significant Serbian principality. This realm is known as the historical Moravian Serbia.

Moravian Serbia fell to the Ottomans in 1389. Lazarevic, son of Lazar, accepted vassalization under the Ottomans.

After the Ottomans were repelled from the Byzantine Empire in 1402, Lazarevic was granted the title despot. By 1404 he accepted vassalization under Sigismund, which came with the gift of Belgrade. In 1410, Sigimund conquered Bosnia and gifted Srebrenica to Lazarevic.

From 1439 until 1443, Serbia was occupied by the Ottomans. It was recaptured by a coalition including Lazarevic's son Durad and John Hunyadi.

With the Ottomans pressing from the south and the Bosnians under Tomas pressing from the west, Serbia was conquered and divided. The Ottomans captured Bosnian Serbia in 1459 from Tomas's son Tomasevic (and would then capture Bosnia itself from Tomasevic in 1463). Hungarian monarchs continued to appoint despots in exile for another century, to maintain a claim on Serbia.

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