Grand Principality of Serbia

Background

According to the De Administrando Imperio (DAI), the Serbs settled the Balkans under the protection of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius (r. 610–641) and were ruled by a dynasty known in historiography as the Vlastimirović dynasty. Slavs had begun settling in the region in the early 6th century, after raiding deep into the Empire. They settled "baptized Serbia", which included Bosnia, and the maritime lands (Pomorje) of Travunija, Zahumlje and Paganija, while maritime Duklja was held by the Byzantines, it was presumably settled with Serbs as well. All of the maritime lands bordered "baptized Serbia" to the north. In the mid-9th century, the hitherto peaceful neighbour of Bulgaria invaded but was defeated in war. Serbia was Christianized in ca. 870, although missions had been made during Heraclius' reign. In the following decades, members of the dynasty fought succession wars, and Serbia became a matter of Byzantine-Bulgarian rivalry. The written information regarding the dynasty ends with the DAI and Prince Časlav's death (ca. 950), after which the realm crumbled into pieces. The Byzantines established a short-lived catepanate at Ras, with military governorship ending soon thereafter with the Byzantine conquest of Bulgaria, and was re-established only ca. 1018 with the short-lived Theme of Sirmium.

Meanwhile, Duklja emerged as the dominant Serbian principality, that gradually also included Travunija, Zahumlje, Bosnia and Serbia proper. Initially a vassal of the Byzantine Empire, Stefan Vojislav (fl. 1034–1043) rose and managed to take over the territories of the earlier Serbian principality, founding the Vojislavljević dynasty. Between 1043 and 1080, under Mihailo Vojislavljević (r.  1050–1081), and his son, Constantine Bodin (r. 1081–1101), Duklja saw its apogee. Mihailo was given the nominal title King of Slavs by the Pope after having left the Byzantine camp and supported a Slavic uprising in the Balkans, in which his son Bodin played a central part. Having incorporated the Serbian hinterland and installed vassal rulers there, it emerged as the most powerful Serb polity, seen in the titles used by its rulers ("Prince of Serbia", "of Serbs"). However, its rise was short-lived, as Bodin was defeated by the Byzantines and imprisoned; pushed to the background, his relative and vassal Vukan became independent in Serbia, which continued the fight against the Byzantines while Duklja was struck with civil wars.

History

In 1091 or 1092, Vukan became independent, taking the title of Grand Prince (veliki župan). Subordinate to him were local counts (titled župan), who seem to have been more or less autonomous in the internal affairs of their counties, but who obliged loyalty, and warfare support. It seems that the counts were hereditary holders, holding their land before Duklja annexed Serbia. Vukan began raiding Byzantine territory in the vicinity of Kosovo in ca. 1090, the Byzantines initially being unable to take counter-measures as they faced invading Pechenegs.

After defeating the Pechenegs, Alexios I Komnenos sent an army with the strategos of Dyrrhachium, which was defeated by Vukan in 1092. Alexios then mobilized a much larger army, led by himself, and marched onto Serbia; Vukan sent envoys, seeking peace, which Alexios quickly accepted as problems arose at home with Cumans plundering as far as Adrianople. Immediately after the Emperor's departure, Vukan broke the treaty and began to expand along the Vardar, obtaining much booty and taking the cities of Vranje, Skopje and Tetovo. In 1094 or 1095, Alexios marched out and met Vukan, who offered peace and gave twenty hostages including his cousin Uroš and son Stefan (it was usual for relatives of rulers to stay at the Imperial court as hostages of peace). At this time, Vukan acted entirely on his own, no longer a vassal of Duklja, which because of its civil war did not involve itself in the conflicts.

Following Bodin's death in 1101, Vukan took advantage of the dynastic civil wars in Duklja, and allied with Kočapar, with whom he invaded Duklja in 1102. Kočapar's reign was short-lived, as he fell in battle during a conflict with Zahumlje; Vukan installed another member of the dynasty, Vladimir, to whom he married his daughter. Upon spreading his influence in Duklja, Vukan invaded Byzantium once more in the spring of 1106, taking advantage of the Norman campaign, defeating co-emperor John II Komnenos, but then sent hostages in return for peace in November. There is no written record of Vukan after this war, and he is believed to have died in ca. 1112, succeeded by his cousin Uroš.

In 1113 or 1114, the Byzantine army of Dyrrhachium invaded Duklja and captured its capital of Scutari. They subsequently installed their protégé, while ruler Đorđe took refuge in Serbia under the protection of Uroš and married his relative. The two led an army into Duklja in 1125, successfully retaining most of its territory. After a Byzantine invasion of the maritime, they nominally recognized Gradinja, resulting in a guerrilla war which ended with Đorđe's capture. Gradinja, however, only ruled a small portion of Duklja and subsequently strengthened ties with Serbia. In ca. 1127, a Byzantine–Hungarian war broke out, with the Hungarians taking over Belgrade, then penetrating to Niš, Sofia, and Philippopolis, after which John defeated them with infantry and navy on the Danube. The Serbs, who had in the meantime recognized Byzantine rule, expelled the Byzantine governor at Ras, Kritopl, who fled to Constantinople where he was ridiculed.

Administration

Economy

The important Via de Zenta, a trade route connecting the Adriatic with Serbia started from the mouth of the Bojana, the Shkodër (Skadar) port, (alternatively Bar then Cetinje) along the Drin Valley to Prizren, then to Lipljan, then through Novo Brdo to Vranje and Niš. The Republic of Venice and Ragusa used the road for trade with Serbia and Bulgaria.

John Kinnamos, writing about the Byzantine conquest of Galič near Kosovska Mitrovica in 1149, said that many barbarians were imprisoned "who were partly warriors and partly cattle breeders".

William, the archbishop of Tyre, when crossing Serbia for the Holy Land in 1168, he described the Serbs: "They are rich in herds and flocks and unusually well supplied with milk, cheese, butter, meat, honey and wax".

In the 12th and 13th centuries the Republic of Ragusa benefited greatly by becoming a commercial outpost of the rising and prosperous Serbian state, especially after the signing of a treaty with Stefan the First-Crowned. Later, in 1268, Uroš signed a treaty with Ragusa imposing the, so-called, St. Demetrious Revenue (Svetodimitarski dohodak), by which Ragusans were to pay to Serbian king 2,000 hyperperi a year.

Architecture

Ecclesiastical

Monastery of St. Nicholas, in Kuršumlija

Monastery of the Holy Mother of Christ, between Kosanica and Toplica

Temple of George's Columns (Đurđevi stupovi), in 1171 in Ras

Temple of the Immaculate Holy Virgin the Benefactor (Studenica), in 1190 in Ibar

Church of the Holy Mother of Christ, at the confluence of the Bistrica and the Lim

Monastery of St. Nicholas, in Končulj on the Ibar

Nunnery of the Mother of Christ, in Ras