Rascie

Rascie , into Serb Cyrillic Рашка or Serb transliterated Raška, was with the Moyen-âge the center of the medieval Serbia. It is named thus according to a river which crosses it, the Rascie. First Serb State, it was also that of the dynasty of the Nemanjić, which unified the Serb territories. Rascie had like capital the town of Ras, located close to the current city of Novi Pazar. Today, Rascie became the district of Raška, which corresponds only at one small portion of what was Rascie medieval. The Musulmans of the south-west of Serbia name Sandjak the area where they are slightly majority, of the name of an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Sandjak corresponds roughly to Rascie medieval.

History

Invited by the Byzantine Emperor Héraclius, the Serbes populated several Balkan territories as of the 7th century, of which Rascie. This one, organized in autonomous State under Byzantine sovereignty, was directed at the beginning by the unknown archonte which had carried out the Serb tribes in Balkans, then, although one does not have an information on this subject, probably by its descendants. The first Serb leader which one knows the name was Višeslav (undoubtedly going down from the unknown archonte), contemporary of Charlemagne, which reigned in Rascie at the end of the 8th century. Its descendants had difficulties in preserve the autonomy of Rascie, because of the wars between Byzance and the Bulgares. At the 9th century, the back grandson of Višeslav, Vlastimir, founded the dynasty of the Vlastimirović, which was to reign until in 950. It is under the reign of Mutimir, wire of Vlastimir, that the Serbes of Rascie were christianized by Byzantine emissary, although paganism perdurât still a long time, until the advent of Holy Sava. In 924, the Bulgarian emperor Siméon annexed Rascie temporarily, but from its death in 927, a descendant of Vlastimir, Časlav Klonimirović, escaped from the Bulgarian prisons and restored the State de Rascie. Supported by Byzance and the emperor Constantin VII Porphyrogénète, it benefitted from it to conquer the Serb territories close to Bosnia, Travounie and Paganie. He pushed back several times the Hungarian, but after its death during a battle in 950, the Serbia was divided by Byzance and Rascie incorporated in the topic of Serbia ( thema servia ).

During more than one century, Rascie occupied a secondary importance among the Serb States. Directed by a Byzantine Strategist, it was to find its glare only at the end of the 11th century. Meanwhile, it was released in first half of the 11th century by Stefan Vojislav, prince of Dioclée, which drove out the last Byzantine Stratège, Theophilos Erotikos. Following the decline of the Dioclée, Rascie became again the Serb State prominent at the end of the 11th century, under the reign of the joupan Vukan, former courtier and combined of king Bodin of Dioclée. After several victories over Byzance, Vukan managed to increase Rascie towards the south, including part of the current province of the Kosovo. Rascie extended then, in south-east, to the line Short-nap cloth-Zvečan-Peć. Vukan did not manage however to go beyond the hurdy-gurdy imperial city of Lipljan, which it had to give up after having conquered it, following the presence of a strong Byzantine quota.

After the death of Vukan, Rascie was found taken by the Byzantine emperor Jean II Comnène at the beginning of its reign, and was seen forced to recognize the authority of this last, in spite of a short release of the town of Short-nap cloth of 1127 with 1129. During conflicts between Byzance and the Hungary, the joupans of Rascie took party for the latter, and Rascie was many times the prey of destruction and plunderings. In their efforts to release itself from Byzantine suzerainty, large the joupans of Rascie managed however to increase the borders of their territory. Rascie extended then to the east from the Kopaonik mount, recovering the valley of Toplica and extending to left bank from the Western Morava, in the south to the Zvečan-Peć line and north to the Jastrebac mount. But following the victory of the emperor Manual Ier Comnène over the Hungarian, it was found completely subjected, and the emperor named large the joupans with his liking, of 1155 with 1163.

In 1163, the emperor entrusted the stronghold of Dubočica to Stefan Nemanja, lord of a princely field of Rascie Eastern, surroundings of the valley of Toplica. It granted occasion consequently to him the right to reign like joupan. That conferred to him an unquestionable advantage compared to his/her three brothers, all lords of other fields of the Serb territories. After political upheavals, large the joupan of Rascie, Desa, was driven out in 1165, and it was Tihomir, brother of Nemanja, which succeeded to him. However, the autonomy of the territories of Nemanja to him been worth the opposition of his/her brothers, who captured it. Having succeeded in fleeing, Nemanja gathered its partisans and drove out his/her brothers in 1166, proclaiming large joupan of Rascie. Helped by Byzance, Tihomir tried to reconquer Rascie, but failed and perishes in 1168 during a battle. Nemanja then tried to be freed from the Byzantine domination, but private of the assistance of the Hungary, it had to await the death of Manuel Ier, in 1180, for gradually releasing Rascie and gathering the other Serb territories, in particular the Dalmatie and the Dioclée. At the end of the 12th century, Byzance was obliged to recognize the independence of Serbia in 1185.

As from this period, the history of Rascie is confused with that of the medieval Serbia (see the article: History of Serbia ). Stefan Nemanja was the first of the dynasty of the Nemanjić, which directed the Serbia during more than one century and half. The designation of Rascie consequently hardly was used than to indicate the area of Serbia which corresponded to him. However, one can note that later, at the 14th century, the Kingdom of the Serb prince Lazar Hrebeljanović, known under the name of country of Lazar ( Lazareva zemlja ), was indicated by the Hungarian like Royaume of Rascie .

Internal bond

List of the Serb sovereigns

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