Prologue

The history of Slavs in general, and their southern branch in partucular, is largely clouded in mystery until the dawn of the Middle Ages - specifically, the early 6th century A.D. - and partially obscure for yet some centuries thereafter. Incidentally, it was the Slavic tribes later labeled as Southern - and presumably the ancestors of today's Serbs and Croats - that have, by leaving an earlier collective homeland (generally assumed to be somewhere between today's southwest Ukraine and eastern Poland), actually precipitated this change. By moving south, during the great Eurasian peoples migrations, over the Carpathian mountain range and into the lower Danube region, they finally came into direct contact with the Greco-Roman Christian Empire - the leading Euromediterranean civilization of its day, which left us numerous lasting records of these historical events.

Continue with prologue

  Vlastimir (840s - ca. 860)
  Mutimir (ca. 860 - 891), initially with brothers Strojimir and Gojnik
  Pribislav Mutimirovic (891 - 892)
  Petar Gojnikovic (892 - 917)
  Zaharije Pribisavljevic (921 - 924)
   {Bulgarian occupation} (924 - 927)
  Caslav Klonimirovic (927 - ca. 960)

  Jovan Vladimir (ca. 990 - 1016)
  Stefan Vojislav (1035 - 1051)
  Mihailo (1051 - 1081), initially with four brothers; assumes title of King
  Konstantin Bodin (1081 - ca. 1101)
  Mihailo i Dobroslav (ca. 1101 - 1102)
  Kocapar (ca. 1102 - 1103)
  Vladimir (ca. 1103 - 1118)
  Juraj (ca. 1118)
  Grubesa (ca. 1118 - 1125)
  Juraj (ca. 1125 - 1127), second reign
  Gradinja (ca. 1127 - 1146)
  Radoslav (1146 - ?)

  Vukan (ca. 1083 - 1122)
  Uros I (ca. 1122 - early 1140s)
  Uros II (early 1140s - 1155)
  Desa (1155)
  Uros II (1155 - early 1160s), second reign
  Primislav (1162 ?)
  Belos (1162 ?)
  Desa (1162 - 1166), second reign
  Stefan Tihomir (1166 - ca. 1168), eldest brother of Stefan Nemanja

  Stefan Nemanja, Grand Zupan of Raska, (1168 - 1196), first with brothers Miroslav and Stracimir
  Stefan Prvovencani (The First-Crowned) (1196 - 1227), assumes title King in 1217
  Stefan Radoslav (1227 - 1234)
  Stefan Vladislav I (1234 - 1243)
  Stefan Uros I (1243 - 1276)
  Stefan Dragutin (1276 - 1282), after abdication King of Northern Serbia and Srem to 1316
  Stefan Uros II Milutin (1282 - 1321)
  Stefan Uros III Decanski (1321 - 1331)
  Stefan Uros IV Dusan (1331 - 1355), assumes title Emperor (Czar) in 1346
  Stefan Uros V (1355 - 1371)

  Kulin, with title of Ban (ca. 1180 - ca. 1204)
  Ninoslav (ca. 1232 - ca. 1250)
  Prijezda I Kotromanic (ca. 1250 - ca. 1278)
  Prijezda II (ca. 1287 - 1290)
  Stjepan I (1290 - 1310)
  Pavao, Mladen I and Mladen II Bribirski (1299 - 1322)
  Stjepan II Kotromanic (1314 - 1353)
  Tvrtko I (1353 - 1391), assumes title King Stefan in 1391
  Stefan Dabisa (1391 - 1395)
  Jelena Gruba, Queen (1395 - 1398)
  Stefan Ostoja (1398 - 1404)
  Stefan Tvrtko II Tvrtkovic (1404 - 1409)
  Stefan Ostoja (1409 - 1418), second reign
  Stefan Ostojic (1418 - 1421)
  Stefan Tvrtko II Tvrtkovic (1421 - 1443), second reign
  Stefan Tomas (1443 - 1461)
  Stefan Tomasevic (1461 - 1463)

  Vlatko Vukovic (? - 1392), with title of Vojvoda
  Sandalj Hranic Kosaca (1392 - 1435)
  Stefan Vukcic (1435 - 1466), assumes title "Herceg of St. Sava" in 1448
  Vlatko (1466 - 1481)

Macedonia

  Vukasin Mrnjavcevic (1366 - 1371), with title of King
  Marko Kraljevic (1371 - 1395)

Zeta

  Balsa I (ca. 1360)
  Djuradj I Balsic (1360 - 1378), initially with brothers Stracimir and Balsa II
  Balsa II Balsic (1378 - 1385)
  Djuradj II Stracimirovic Balsic (1385 - 1403)
  Balsa III Balsic (1403 - 1421)

Kosovo

  Vuk Brankovic (ca. 1371 - 1397)
  Widow Mara Brankovic with sons (1397 - 1412)

Pomoravlje (river Morava basin)

  Lazar Hrebeljanovic, Prince (1371 - 1389), assumes royal name Stefan
  Stefan Lazarevic, Prince (1389 - 1402), assumes title Despot

  Stefan Lazarevic (1402 - 1427)
  Djuradj Brankovic (1427 - 1456)
  Lazar Brankovic (1456 - 1458)
  Stefan Brankovic and Helen Palaiologos, Regency (1458 - 1459)
  Stefan Tomasevic (1459)

Post-despotate Zeta/Montenegro

  Stefan Crnojevic (1455 - 1465)
  Ivan Crnojevic (1465 - 1490)
  Djuradj Crnojevic (1490 - 1496)

Epilogue

Placed appropriately at the very twilight of the official Middle Ages, the Zeta/Montenegro of the last Crnojevic dynasts is also the final chapter of medieval Serbian statehood. As was the case with other Balkan Christian nations to varying extents, the Serbian state (along with its offshoots) was unable to maintain a continuity of its institutions, and consequently the viability, necessary to physically resist the onslaught of an organized and vibrant invader. It did, however, manage in many ways to sow the seeds of genuine national continuity and resilience that were eventually to bear fruit. In the centuries to come, some of the finest epic poetry and purest tradition were preserved in the isolated mountains of Montenegro, and invaluable Serbian literacy and historiography was cherished in the hybrid city-state of Dubrovnik. Still, the main activity in preserving ethnic identity and continuing the liberation struggle was to take place in Hungary (later Austro-Hungary) and the central Ottoman-occupied Serbian provinces, straddling and often right at the turbulent military frontier of the two empires, and leading eventually to the beginnings of modern Serbian statehood at the dawn of the 19th century.