G
Gast829627
Guest
Members of the Serbian national dynasties were ruling over Serbia for almost 300 years, from 1168 to 1459. Since the very beginning they have accepted the Byzantine rulers ideology, according to which the social order on Earth should be the ideal copy of that in Heavens. Following analogy, the Byzantine emperor is God’s regent on Earth, and father of all people who surround him as members of an ideal political family. In accordance with the same classification, Serbian rulers were granted the title of Grand Zhupan, and later that of King. Therefore promotion of Serbia into empire at the time of Stefan Urosh IV Dushan Nemanyich was later interpreted as an anti-natural act, which provoked the punishment in terms of fall of the Serbian state. After the decline of the Serbian Empire, the later rulers bore only titles of princes and despots.
From 1168 to 1371 Serbia was ruled by founders of its political independence - the Nemanyich dynasty.
Since 1365 to 1395, a part of Serbia was ruled by the Mrnyavchevich Family.
From 1375 to 1427 the ruling dynasty was the Lazarevich family.
In 1427 the power to rule over Serbia came into hands of the members of the Brankovich family, who ruled until 1459.
In the year 1459, for less than three months, Serbia was ruled by Stefan
Tomashevich of the Bosnian dynasty Kotromanich.
THE NEMANYICH DYNASTY
The dynasty took its name after its founder Stefan Nemanya, the first independent Serbian ruler and the first Serbian saint. He was the youngest son of the Rashka Grand Zhupan Zavida. In the 60s of the 12th century he managed to push his brothers Tihomir, Stracimir and Miroslav into peripheral areas of the Rashka state, and take over his father’s title. Nemanya’s middle son and successor Stefan, the first Serbian crowned king, continued his father’s internal policy, never letting the descendants of other family branches get independence in the regions under their administration. Strong economic progress, in the first place in mining and trade, was characteristic for the reign of Stefan Urosh I. Strong cental administrative power is also characteristic for the reign of his successor Stefan Urosh II Milutin. In his time not only the ruler but his feudal lords as well showed tendencies toward conquering other territories. These tendencies were particularly distinct during the reign of Stefan Dushan who crowned his conquests by proclaiming the Patriarchate in 1345, and himself an emperor in 1346. During his reign the Statute Book was proclaimed, the codification of which was based on the codes of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Dushan’s successor Urosh did not have the political talent of his predecessors. In the course of his reign many regions united by Emperor Dushan seceded. It resulted in decline of the Serbian Empire, and various powerful local rulers tried to establish their own dynasties. Deeply religious and devoted to Orthodoxy, all rulers of the Nemanyich dynasty were great donors, and erected all over Serbia many impressive monasteries and churches, such as Studenica, Djurdjevi Stupovi, Zhicha, Dechani, Grachanica, Milesheva, Sopochani . . . as well as the only Serbian monastery on Mount Athos - Chilandar. 8)
