Ravanica . MileÅ¡eva . Manasija . Studenica . GraÄanica . St. Peter's Church . Pillars of St. George . Sopoćani
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Stefan Dusan (pr. DOO-shan) can be considered the most
important conqueror and statesman in Serbian medieval history, but his
character, due to limited evidence, is still relatively unknown for reign
of a quarter-century and such stature. The medieval Serbian state reached
its zenith during his rule. Oddly, although his military prowess was well-known from
the battle of Velbuzd where he skillfully commanded mercenary archers
instrumental to the victory of his father's army, his vast expansion at
the Byzantine expense was accomplished without major warfare or open-field
battles; rather, it appears more as an opportunistic - or wise - exploitation
of circumstances that were in his favor. However, once in charge of these
new territories, Dusan acted with a sense of responsibility and organization;
this ambitious undertaking was ultimately undermined by his premature
death. Responding to wishes of the restless feudal lords, the
young king undertook several successive attacks on Byzantine territories
(1334, 1341-1345, 1347-1348). These Serbian victories helped fan a new
Byzantine civil war. During the conflict between the minor emperor John
V and his regent, John Cantacuzenus, old rivals Venice and Genoa interfered
as allies on both sides. Furthermore, supporting Cantacuzenus, the Ottoman
Turks saw their first European action and plundered Byzantine dominions.
Dusan took the remaining Macedonian towns, with the exception of Thessaloniki,
and all of Albania with the exception of Durazzo (Drac). Finally, he entered
the important city of Serres, and obtained extensive parts of Greece -
Epirus and Thessaly - as far as the Gulf of Corinth. The Serbian state
attained its greatest expansion, reaching the Adriatic, Ionian and Aegean
seas. The conquests assuaged the appetites of the lords, and Dusan began
thinking along the lines of restoring the glory of the largely defunct
empire under his rule. As soon as he had taken possession of Serres, the
Serbian king styled himself the "master of Romania" (Byzantium), and by
the end of 1345, had proclaimed himself Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks
("Romans" - as the Byzantine state was still nominally the Eastern Roman
empire). With the approval of the patriarch of Trnovo (Bulgaria) and the
(Byzantine) archbishop of Ohrid, he elevated the archbishop of Pec to
the rank of patriarch and - with them performing the ceremony of investiture
- had himself crowned emperor in a solemn ceremony, at a synod in Skoplje
on Easter of 1346. Although the imperial title no longer reflected the
desire for universal power, it did reveal the plans of the Serbian ruler
to impose his mastery on the empire. After fresh victories and territorial
expansion, Dusan appealed to the Venetians for help to conquer Constantinople
by sea, but these went unanswered. The Western states were in no mood
to sustain his program, and they continued to call him king rather than
emperor. Dusan's plan to form a coalition against the Turks and his negotiations
with the Pope at Avignon to get himself appointed "captain" of the Crusaders
also bore no fruit, although - in a move so typical of medieval East-West
political maneuvering - he did promise a union of churches in the process.
The Hungarian king was the first to offer resistance. And when Dusan's
achievements were interrupted by his untimely and mysterious death, there
still remained the anathema pronounced by the Byzantine patriarch against
the new emperor, patriarch and the new church functionaries - meaning
the very people who were the standard-bearers of Serbian state ideology.
Dusan, for his part, did behave like a Byzantine emperor.
State synods, attended by eminent lords, no longer discussed sacred and
secular affairs as they had previously, but simply acclaimed the emperor's
proposals and laws. At the state synod in Skoplje, in 1349, the Code of
Laws was published, and was supplemented later by new provisions in 1354.
Dusan's aim was to unify legal practice and to buttress the positions
acquired by the Church and the lords. The decree demonstrates that the
lords and state functionaries frequently abused their rights to the detriment
of imperial authority and stable feudal order. New provisions were needed
to prevent the uncontrolled movement of dependent people on the one hand,
and on the other to put an end to the lawlessness of the arrogant lords
and the abuses of unconscientious judges and state functionaries. As a
result, Dusan's state was to an extent a dual monarchy - a kingdom for
the Serbian lands and an empire for the Greek lands - each with its own
admistrative system, though both with unified institutions at the top
level. Notably, there were even two chancelleries, each under its own
logothete (chancellor), one each for Slavic and Greek documents. Apart from having completed the Visoki
Decani monastery of his father, Dusan left numerous endowments, the
main one being the Monastery of the Holy Archangels in Prizren, where
his earthly remains rest to date. Several of his portraits have survived
in good shape, and they reveal - particularly the famous ones from Lesnovo
and Decani - a forceful and energetic gaze, ever so slightly tempered
by a melancholic note of the spiritual. And although slightly tainted
by the fact of its rather quick disintegration, the empire of Stefan Dusan
remains the apogee of the medieval Serbian state, and his endeavors a
source of inspiration for many generations since.
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