Stefan Ier Nemanjić

Stefan Ier Nemanjić , also called Stefan Prvovenčani (Stefan " the First-couronné"), in Serb Cyrillic СтефанПрвовенчани, or sometimes also in French Etienne Nemanjic, was large duke of Serbia of 1196 with 1217 and king of 1217 with 1228. He was the first king of Serbia, sovereign Serb of the dynasty of the Nemanjić.

In Serb, Nemanjić means " wire of Nemanja ". In fact, Stefan the crowned first was the second wire of the Duke Stefan Nemanja and the Anna duchess. It had as younger brother Rastko Nemanjić the founder of the Serb Église autocéphale which was canonized under the name of Saint Sava.

The fight for the capacity

Under the reign of Nemanja, the Serbia covered the territories of the Rascie, the Zachlumie in Herzégovine and of the Dioclée, current the Montenegro. With its death, its grounds were divided between its sons. Stefan accepted in heritage the Rascie, his/her Vukan older brother the Dioclée and Rastko Nemanjić the Zachlumie.

The tension was extreme between Vukan (supported by Rome of Innocent III), the kingdom of Hungary of Emeric and Stefan supported by the Bulgarian Empire. At the time of this conflict, Hungary and Bulgaria hoped well to put the hand on part of the grounds belonging to Serbia.

In 1202, the armies of Vukan and Hungary beat the troops of Stefan. Serbia passed under the total authority of Hungary.

In 1205, after three years of a bloody civil war, the two brothers made peace. Vukan remained Master of Dioclée, which it re-elected Zeta and it recognized the authority of Stefan on all the Serb grounds. Hungary was évincée agreement concluded between the brothers.

Stefan the diplomat, friend of Rome and Venice

In 1204, the Fourth crusade, diverted its main objective, the Holy Land, had led to the catch of Constantinople. A Latin empire was installed on the vestiges of old the Byzantine Empire. The Bulgarian emperor Kalojan, which had offered its assistance to the Croisés was turned over against them. Kalojan found death in unexplained circumstances.

That made it possible Serbia de Stefan Nemanjić to attack Bulgaria. The Serb ones recovered thus the towns of Vranjen, Polog, Prizren and especially the town of Niš which ordered the road leading of the Central Europe and Western Europe until Constantinople.

The fall of the " Ville" , in 1204, had also made it possible stefan to open its diplomatic play. From now on, it controlled the road towards Constantinople. Latin needed him. It negotiated with Rome and the République of Venice with an aim of benefitting from its new conquests. It obtained Doge of Venice, Pietro Ziani, the hand of Anne Dandolo, the grand-daughter of Enrico Dandolo. Like price of its diplomatic efforts in direction of the Papacy, he asked the Sovereign pontiff to allot the royal crown to him.

Stefan the crowned first

In 1217, the Pope Honorius made carry by its emissary the crown of Serbia. It had given its agreement to the crowning of the large Duke of Serbia Stefan Nemanjić. He was King de Serbie. He did not nétait first King Serbe, because the Serb sovereigns of Dioclée had also the title of King, but as now Dioclée was under the authority of the Duke of Rascie, he had required the transfer of the crown of Dioclée of all the territories controlled by its family. The crown was not any more the crown of the kingdom of Dioclée, but of Serbia.

Stefan was King, but owed his crown to the Pope, therefore, with Latin. The Serb ones were of tradition of the orthodoxe Christians. How had they Pu to join the Latin world and to carry a crown given by " Pape". Since the catch and the plundering of Constantinople by IVe crusade, the Byzantine Greeks had lost their capital, " Ville" was with the hand of the Empress yolande who had succeeded Henri of Flanders. the Byzantine Empire had two emperors, one in the west Theodore Doukas and the other, in the east, Theodore Lascaris which town of Nicée in Asia Mineure, had around him the majority of noble, and also the Patriarch of Constantinople. With Nicée, it was obvious that the Empire was to maintain the Serb ones in orthodoxy and to move away them from Catholicism. Serb catholics, therefore Latin, would have been an important obstacle for the emperor of Nicée, to recover Constantinople. All that, Stefan and its brother Saint Sava knew it. Stefan had obtained from Rome the title of King. In 1219 Saint Sava was going to obtain from Byzance, the autochéphalie of the orthodoxe church Christian Serb. In two years, the two brothers had obtained all the attributes of a powerful State, a crown and an independent church. And that, exclusively, thanks to their diplomacy, wedged between the two Christian worlds, the Serb ones had known to benefit from the two giants, with their own advantage.

Sources

Dusan Batkovic, " History of the people serbe" , editions the old one of man
Georges Castellan, History of Balkans, XIVe-XXe century , editions Beech
Donald Mr. Nicol, Last centuries of Byzance, 1261-1453 , editions the Beautiful Letters

External bonds

Vladimir Ćorović: history of Serb into Serb (Latin)
Medieval Serbia, the Order of the Red Dragon (as Serb Latin)
History Illustrated into Serb (Latin)
founders of the city into Serb (Latin)
Serbia Information into Serb (Latin)
Batricevic, Anna, " Legal Transplants and the Code off Serbian Tsar Stephan Dushan: In Comparative Study" (December 22,2006). Available At SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=953277
has off site made one the occasion the 650th anniversary off the promulgation off Dushan' S Code. Contains the full text off the Code in Serbian, Russian and English: http://www.dusanov-zakonik.co.yu/indexe.html

Internal bonds

History of Serbia
List of the sovereigns of Serbia

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