DECAY OF THE SERBIAN EMPIRE

Emperor Uros Nemanjic www.casistorije.tk

Serbia, during the time of Emperor Dusan, reached its greatest size and power, but his work was not over. Emperor Dusan wanted to conquer Constantinople, and to oppose the Turks, who were coming from Asia Minor. Sudden death was prevented him, and the tasks had to perform his son Uros. The tasks were not at all naive. Did he succeed in that?
- Emperor Duan was succeeded by his son Uros, who ruled from 1355 to 1371. Uros went all the way, from becoming the Young king, to the title of King, when he was a ruler with Emperor Dusan, to the title of Emperor. Their development was directed only towards making successfull inheritance of his father.

- Folk tradition remembered his nickname The Weak", because he had no strength and determination to preserve the empire that his father left him. This nickname is also given, because during his reign Serbian empire began to fall apart, separating the regional lords of the central imperial power (the state got a form similar to the Holy Empire).
- The first of the regional lords rebelled Dusan's halfbrother Simeon-Sinisa, who proclaimed himself Emperor and virtually ruled independently of the former Byzantine areas Uross state (Epirus and Thessaly). Simeon thought that his inheritance rights stronger than Uross (the cause of the conflict), but the nobility in the central parts of the empire was with Uros.

Matejcha monastery, foundation of the emperor Uros

- Area prefect Vojislav Vojinovic also independently ruled, the territory of the Rudnik mountain to Adriatik sea, but did not openly opposed to Uros.
- Macedonian noblemen, brothers Vukasin and Ugljea Mrnjavcevic have also shown their desire for power and the rule of Serbia, so the Uros had 1365. Vukasin to declare for the king and co-ruler, and Ugljea had to assign the title of despot, and thus made him the third man in his kingdom. Initially, Uros and Vukasin ruled together, but soon, Vukasin begins to separate. - Vukasin Mrnjavcevic proclaimed his son Marko the Young King (later known as Kraljevic Marko), and so emphasized the tendency to Uros's successor should come from his family. Other noblemen (Nikola Altomanovic, Lazar Hrebeljanovic) have begun to work together on separation Emperor Uros from King Vukasin.

King Vukasin Mrnjavcevic, lord of Macedonian territory

- The Serbian Empire, in this period, in a state of decay. Due to this situation and the behavior of lords, the folk tradition remembered Emperor Uros as The Weak, but King Vukasin, as the foremost regional lord who influenced the Empire, remembered as a murderer of Tsar Uros. Although, this is not historically true, because brothers Vukasin and Ugljesa was killed in the Battle of Maritsa river, in 1371., and Uros survived them for several months. Uros is the last emperor of the Nemanjic dynasty.
- You may see a short clip composed from the films about Serbs in the Middle Ages.