Serbian Empire Српско царство, Srpsko carstvo (Serbian) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1346–1371 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Status | Empire | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Prizren Skopje Serres[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages |
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| Religion | Eastern OrthodoxChristianity (Serbian Orthodoxy) (official) | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Demonyms | Serbian,Serb | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Government | Absolute monarchy | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Emperor (Tsar) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1346–1355 | Stefan Dušan | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• 1355–1371 | Stefan Uroš V | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | ||||||||||||||||||||||
• Coronation ofStefan Dušan | 16 April 1346 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| 31 May 1349 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1369 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 December 1371 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
• Resignation of anti-emperorJohn Uroš | 1373 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Currency | Serbian perper | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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TheSerbian Empire (Serbian:Српско царство /Srpsko carstvo,pronounced[sr̩̂pskoːtsâːrstʋo]) was amedieval Serbian state that emerged from theKingdom of Serbia. It was established in 1346 byDušan the Mighty, who significantly expanded the state.
During Dušan's rule, Serbia was one of the most powerful European states and the most powerful in Southeast Europe.[2] It was anEastern Orthodox multi-ethnic and multi-lingual empire that stretched from theDanube in the north to theGulf of Corinth in the south, with its capital inSkopje.[3] Dušan also promoted theSerbian Archbishopric to theSerbian Patriarchate. In the Serbian Empire, the region ofKosovo was the most prosperous and densely populated area, serving as a key political, religious, and cultural center.[4]
Dušan's son and successor,Uroš the Weak, struggled to maintain his father's vast empire, gradually losing much of the conquered territory - hence his epithet. The Serbian Empire effectively ended with the death of Uroš V in 1371 andthe break-up of the Serbian state. Some successors of Stefan V claimed the title ofEmperor in parts of Serbia until 1402, but the territory in Greece was never recovered.[5][6][7] From the ruins of the Serbian Empire,Moravian Serbia emerged as the largest and most powerful Serbian state under the rule of theLazarević dynasty, later playing the key role in theBattle of Kosovo in 1389 against theOttoman Empire.
Stefan Dušan was the son of the Serbian kingStefan Dečanski (r. 1322–1331). After his father's accession to the throne, Dušan was awarded with the title of "young king". Although this title bore significant power in medieval Serbia, Stefan wanted his younger son,Simeon Uroš, to inherit him instead of Dušan. However, Dušan had significant support from the major part of the Serbian nobility, including the Serbianarchbishop Danilo, and some of the king's most trusted generals, such asJovan Oliver Grčinić. Tensions slowly rose between the king and his son, especially after thebattle of Velbužd, where Dušan showed his military capabilities, and they seem to have culminated when king Stefan raidedZeta, a province in Serbia where Dušan ruled autonomously, being a tradition of Serbian heirs to rule this province. Advised by the nobility, Dušan later marched from Zeta toNerodimlje, where he besieged his father and forced him to surrender the throne. Stefan was later imprisoned in the fortress ofZvečan, where he died.
In 1333,Dušan launched a large attack on theByzantine empire, at the time ruled by the ambitious emperorAndronikos III Palaiologos, with the help of a deserted Byzantine general,Syrgian. Dušan quickly conquered the cities ofOhrid,Prilep andKastoria, and attempted to besiegeThessalonica in 1334, but was prevented conquering the city by the death of Syrgian, who had been assassinated by a Byzantine spy. Syrgian was a key figure in Dušan's army, as he had earned a great reputation in Greece, convincing Greek citizens to surrender cities rather than fight Dušan's armies.
By 1345, Dušanthe Mighty had expanded his state to cover half of the Balkans, more territory than either theByzantine Empire or theSecond Bulgarian Empire in that time. Therefore, in 1345, inSerres, Dušan proclaimed himself "Tsar" ("Caesar").[8] On 16 April 1346, inSkopje (formerBulgarian capital), he had himself crowned "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks", a title signifying a claim to succession of the Byzantine Empire. The ceremony was performed by the newly elevatedSerbian PatriarchJoanikije II, theBulgarian Patriarch Simeon, andNicholas, theArchbishop of Ohrid. At the same time, Dušan had his sonUroš crowned asKing of Serbs and Greeks, giving him nominal rule over theSerbian lands, although Dušan was governing the whole state, with special responsibility for the newly acquired Roman (Byzantine) lands. These actions, which the Byzantines received with indignation, appear to have been supported by theBulgarian Empire andtsarIvan Alexander, as thePatriarch of Bulgaria Simeon had participated in both the creation of aSerbian Patriarchate of Peć and the imperial coronation of Stefan Uroš IV Dušan.[9] Dushan made marriage alliance withBulgarian tsarIvan Alexander, marrying his sisterHelena.[10][8]
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Tsar Dušan doubled the size of Serbian state, seizing territories in all directions, especially south and southeast. Serbia held parts of modernBosnia and Herzegovina, Moravian Serbia,Kosovo, Zeta, modernNorth Macedonia, modernAlbania, and half of modernGreece. He did not fight a single field battle, instead winning his empire by besieging cities. Dušan undertook a campaign against the Byzantine Empire, which was attempting to avert a deteriorating situation after the destruction caused by theFourth Crusade. Dušan swiftly seizedThessaly, Albania, Epirus, and most ofMacedonia.
After besieging the emperor atSalonica in 1340, he imposed a treaty assuring Serbia sovereignty over regions extending from theDanube to theGulf of Corinth, from theAdriatic Sea to theMaritsa river, and including parts of southernBulgaria up to the environs ofAdrianople. Bulgaria had never fully recovered since its defeat by the Serbs at theBattle of Velbazhd.[11] The outcome of the battle shaped the balance of power in the Balkans for the next decades to come and although Bulgaria did not lose territory, the Serbs could occupy much ofMacedonia.[12] BulgariantsarIvan Alexander, whose sisterHelena Dušan later married, became his ally between 1332 and 1365.[13] Dušan ruled over major central part of the Balkan peninsula. He gave sanctuary to the former regent of the Byzantine Empire,John VI Kantakouzenos, in revolt against the government, and agreed to an alliance.
In 1349 and 1354, Dušan enacted a set of laws known asDušan's Code. The Code was based onRoman-Byzantine law and the first Serbianconstitution,St. Sava's Nomocanon (1219). It was aCivil andCanon law system, based on theEcumenical Councils, for the functioning of the state and the Serbian Orthodox Church. In 1355, Dušan began military preparations for new campaigns in the south and east, but suddenly died of an unknown illness in December 1355.[14]
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Bordering Serbia to the west was thebanate of Bosnia, ruled byStephen II Kotromanic. During the reign of Dušan's father,Stefan Dečanski, Stephen expanded his rule to the Serbian provinces ofHum andKrajina, which stretched fromDubrovnik on the east to riverCetina on the west, Dušan, being busy with his conquests on the south, tried to solve this territorial dispute with diplomacy, but that did not succeed, asStephen continually refused or ignored Dušan's requests, counting on the help of hisHungarian protector kingLouis I.
However, the situation changed when Louis signed a treaty with Dušan, so he could attack thekingdom of Naples without Dušan attacking him from the south. Stephen, feeling that his position in Hum and Krajina is becoming harder to defend, started building fortresses around riverNeretva, to strengthen his presence and even went as far as to raid the Serbian province ofTravunia, reaching as far asKotor. Dušan could not tolerate this, so he marched with his army westward.
Dušan led 50,000infantry and 30,000cavalry[15] across the Bosnian border. Stephen, knowing he could not face such a force, opted to retreat in front of it in hopes of leading the Serbian army into hard terrain, where he could potentially fight them off. However, this did not work out because Bosnian nobility and even some of Stephen's own soldiers, unhappy with his rule, started defecting to Dušan. Dušan soon reachedBobovac, the capital of Bosnia, to which he laid siege. The Bosnian ban fled to Hungary, and Bosnia was left open for Dušan to conquer.
He left a portion of his army to continue besieging Bobovac; sent another portion to conquer the region of Krajina, while he himself led a third portion to conquer Hum. Then, after conquering Hum, Dušan proceeded to enterDalmatia, in order to secure his sister's domains. His sister,Jelena Nemanjic-Subic, was married to the ban ofCroatia, Mladen Subic, who died of plague in 1348, leaving his lands to his wife. After his death, Hungarians andVenetians both continually tried to take control over these lands, so Dušan entered Dalmatia to protect his sister's legal domains. He was welcomed as a liberator inSibenik andTrogir, but as the Byzantine emperorJohn Kantakouzenos attacked Dušan from the south, capturing the city ofVeria andEdessa, Dušan was forced to retreat and repel him. While he was on his way back, he was welcomed and prepared a great feast in Dubrovnik, where his wife stayed for some time.
It is unclear if Dušan kept control in these lands. Certain historians say Stephen Kotromanic returned and regained control in Bosnia, but the sources do not mention anything about him after Dušan's conquests, until his death in late 1353. Dušan most likely kept control over Dalmatia, since after his conquests, theSerbian Orthodoxmonastery ofKrka was built in that region. Also, he is recorded sending 2 military units under the command of his generalsĐuraš Ilijić andPalman Bracht to protect the Dalmatian cities ofKlis andSkradin in 1355. Djuras Ilijic surrendered Skradin to the Venetians some time after Dušan's death, on 10 January 1356, and Klis was conquered by the Croatian generalNikola Banic for the Hungarian king sometime after 1356, ending Serbian presence in Dalmatia.
Dušan was succeeded by his son,Stefan Uroš V, called "the Weak," a term that also described the empire as it slowly slid into feudal anarchy. The failure to consolidate its holdings after a sudden conquest led to the fragmentation of the empire. The period was marked by the rise of a new threat: theOttoman Turkish sultanate gradually spread fromAsia to Europe and conquered first Byzantine Thrace, and then the otherBalkan states. Too incompetent to sustain the empire created by his father, Stefan V could neither repel attacks of foreign enemies nor combat the independence of his nobility. The Serbian Empire of Stefan V fragmented into a conglomeration of principalities, some of which did not even nominally acknowledge his rule. Stefan Uroš V died childless on 4 December 1371, after much of the Serbian nobility had been killed by the Ottoman Turks during theBattle of Maritsa.
The crumbling Serbian Empire under Uroš the Weak offered little resistance to the powerful Ottomans. In the wake of internal conflicts and decentralization of the state, the Ottomans defeated the Serbs underVukašin at theBattle of Maritsa in 1371, making vassals of the southern governors; soon thereafter, the Emperor died.[16] As Uroš was childless and the nobility could not agree on a rightful heir, the Empire continued to be ruled by semi-independent provincial lords, who often were in feud with each other. The most powerful of these,Lazar Hrebeljanović, a Duke of present-day central Serbia (which had not yet come under Ottoman rule), stood against the Ottomans at theBattle of Kosovo in 1389. The result was indecisive, but it led to the subsequent fall of Serbia.Stefan Lazarević, the son of Lazar, succeeded as ruler, but by 1394 he had become an Ottoman vassal. In 1402 he renounced Ottoman rule and became a Hungarian ally; the following years are characterized by a power struggle between the Ottomans and Hungary over the territory of Serbia. In 1453, the Ottomansconquered Constantinople, and in 1458Athens was taken. In 1459, Serbia was annexed, and then Morea a year later. During the following centuries of Ottoman rule, the legacy of former statehood, embodied in the Serbian Empire, became an integral part ofSerbian national identity.[17]
After finishing most of his conquests, Stefan Dušan dedicated himself to supervising the administration of the empire. One key objective was to create a written legal code, an effort his predecessors had only begun. An assembly of bishops, nobles, and provincial governors was charged with creating a code of laws, bringing together the customs of the Slav countries.
Dušan's Code was enacted in two state assemblies, the first on May 21, 1349, inSkopje, and the second in 1354 inSerres.[18][19] The law regulated all social spheres, thus it is considered a medievalconstitution. The Code included 201 articles, based onRoman-Byzantine law. The legaltransplanting is notable with the articles 172 and 174 of Dušan's Code, which regulated juridical independence. They were taken from the Byzantine codeBasilika (book VII, 1, 16–17). The Code had its roots in the first Serbianconstitution –St. Sava's Nomocanon (Serbian:Zakonopravilo) from 1219, enacted bySaint Sava. St. Sava's Nomocanon was the compilation ofCivil law, based onRoman Law andCanon law, based onEcumenical Councils. Its basic purpose was to organize the functions of the state andSerbian Orthodox Church.[20][21]
The legislation resembled the feudal system then prevalent in Western Europe, with an aristocratic basis and establishing a wide distinction between nobility and peasantry.[22] The monarch had broad powers but was surrounded and advised by a permanent council of magnates and prelates. The court, chancellery and administration were rough copies of those ofConstantinople. The code enumerated the administrative hierarchy as following: "lands, cities,župas and krajištes"; the župas and krajištes were one and the same, where župas on the borders were called krajištes (frontier).[23] The župa consisted of villages, and their status, rights, and obligations were regulated in the constitution. The ruling nobility possessed hereditary allodial estates, which were worked by dependentsebri, the equivalent of Greekparoikoi: peasants owing labour services, formally bound by decree. The earlieržupan title was abolished and replaced with the Greek-derivedkefalija (kephale, "head, master").[24]
The Serbian Empire possessed rich forest resources, especially around the mines in the region of Kosovo. A 15th-century French traveller described the wealth and sophistication of Serbian life, comparing the lifestyle of the upper classes to that ofFrance.[25]
Commerce was another object of Dušan's concern. He gave strict orders to combat piracy and to assure the safety of travelers and foreign merchants. Traditional relations with Venice were resumed, with the port ofRagusa (Dubrovnik) becoming an important transaction point. East-west Roman roads through the empire carried a variety of commodities: wine, manufactures, and luxury goods from the coast; metals, cattle, timber, wool, skins, and leather from the interior. This economic development made possible the creation of the Empire. Important trade routes were the ancient RomanVia Militaris,Via Egnatia,Via de Zenta, and the Kopaonik road, among others. Ragusan merchants in particular had trading privileges throughout the realm. Security of trade and merchants on the roads was a major concern for the state authorities.[26]
Srebrenica, Rudnik, Trepča, Novo Brdo, Kopaonik, Majdanpek, Brskovo, and Samokov were the main centers for mining iron, copper, and lead ores, and silver and gold placers.[27] The silver mines provided much of the royal income, and were worked by slave-labour, managed bySaxons.[28][29] A colony of Saxons worked the Novo Brdo mines and traded charcoal burners. The silver mines processed an annual 0.5 million dollars (1919 comparation).[30]
The currency used was calleddinars; an alternative name wasperper, derived from the Byzantinehyperpyron. Thegolden dinar was the largest unit, and the imperialtax was one dinar coin, per house, annually.[31]
Serbian military tactics consisted of wedge-shaped heavy cavalry attacks with horse archers on the flanks. Many foreign mercenaries were in the Serbian army, mostlyGermans as cavalry andSpaniards as infantry. The army also had personalmercenary guards for the emperor, mainly Germanknights. A German nobleman,Palman, became the commander of the Serbian "Alemannic Guard" in 1331 upon crossing Serbia on the way toJerusalem; he became leader of all mercenaries in theSerbian Army. The main strength of the Serbian army were the heavily armoured knights feared for their ferocious charge and fighting skills, as well ashussars, versatile light cavalry formations armed mainly with spears and crossbows, ideal for scouting, raiding and skirmishing.
The 1339 map byAngelino Dulcert depicts a number of flags, and Serbia is represented by a flag placed aboveSkoplje (Skopi) with the name Serbia near thehoist, which was characteristic for capital cities at the time the drawing was produced. The flag, depicting a reddouble-headed eagle, represented the realm of Stefan Dušan.[32][33] A flag inHilandar, seen by Dimitrije Avramović, was alleged by the brotherhood to have been a flag of Emperor Dušan; it was atriband with red at the top and bottom and white in the center.[34] Emperor Dušan also adopted the Imperialdivelion, which was purple and had a golden cross in the center.[35] Another of Dušan's flags was the Imperial cavalry flag, kept at theHilandar monastery onMount Athos; a triangular bicolored flag, of red and yellow.[citation needed]
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Influenced by the clergy, Dušan showed extreme severity towards Roman Catholicism. Those who integrated into theLatin Church were condemned to work in mines, and people who propagated it were threatened with death. The Papacy grew concerned about this and the increasing power of Dušan and aroused the old rivalry of the Catholic Hungarians against the Orthodox Serbs. Once again Dušan overcame his enemies from whom he seized Bosnia and Herzegovina, which marked the height of the Serbian Empire in Middle Ages. However, the most serious menace came from the East, from the Turks. Entrenched on the shores of the Dardanelles, the Turks were the common enemies of Christendom. It was against them that the question of uniting and directing all forces in the Balkans to save Europe from the invasion arose. The Serbian Empire already included most of the region, and to transform the peninsula into a cohesive whole under a rule of a single master required seizure of Constantinople to add to Serbia what remained of the Byzantine Empire. Dušan intended to make himself emperor and defender of Christianity against the Islamic wave.[36]
Education, to whichSt. Sava had given the first impulse, progressed remarkably during Dušan's reign. Schools and monasteries secured royal favor. True seats of culture, they became institutions in perpetuating Serbian national traditions. The fine arts, influenced by Italians, were not neglected. Architectural monuments, frescoes and mosaics testify the artistic level archived during this period.[37][38]
For a list of magnates, feudal lords and officials, seeNobility of the Serbian Empire.
At the time of great rise of the Serbian state in the early 14th century, Kosovo was the richest and most densely populated region, with political, ecclesiastical and cultural centers
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