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Moravian Serbia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moravian Serbia (Serbian: Moravska Srbija, Моравска Србија) was the most important of the Serbian states that emerged from the collapse of the Serbian Empire in the 14th century. Creation of this state is connected with prince Lazar Hrebeljanović who later fought and perished at the Battle of Kosovo.
Lazar Hrebeljanović left Prizren in the early 1370s, and devoted himself to the consolidation of his power in the northern Serbian regions around his court in Kruševac. Although a pledged vassal to Stefan Uroš, in 1371 he refused to participate in the Battle of Marica, at which the bulk of the imperial Serbian army was destroyed by an Ottoman force. Soon afterwards, Stefan Uroš died. He had been the last of the Nemanjić emperors. Through a combination of diplomacy, military action, and family alliances, Lazar emerged from the resulting power vacuum as the most powerful Serbian noble not in the Ottomans' service. He acquired dynastic legitimacy by marrying Milica Nemanjić, and despite retaining only the minor title of knez ("prince"), he nevertheless used the imperial name of 'Stefan' as well as the designation "autocrator".
Lazar was killed during the 1389 Battle of Kosovo along with much of Serbia's political elite. After his death, his son Stefan Lazarević became a prince of Moravian Serbia in 1389, and participated as an Ottoman vassal in the Battle of Karanovasa in 1394, the Battle of Rovine in 1395, the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, and in the Battle of Angora in 1402. He became Despot of Serbia in 1402 and in 1403 proclaimed Belgrade the capital of his new state known as the Serbian Despotate.
- Lazar Hrebeljanović (1371-1389)
- Stefan Lazarević (1389-1402)