Ravanica . MileÅ¡eva . Manasija . Studenica . GraÄanica . St. Peter's Church . Pillars of St. George . Sopoćani
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Squeezed between the long reigns of his father and
son is the important 10-year rule of Stefan Decanski (pr. DE-chan-ski) -
a tragic but significant figure of the Nemanjic dynasty. Sent at an early
age by his father as a hostage ensuring Tatar neutrality, he managed an
escape much later and was granted a traditional appanage in Zeta. Despite
his father Milutin's long reign, succession issues were left murky for a
long time, exacerbated by the fact that Milutin
himself was technically perhaps just a regent for his elder brother, and
had at least two male heirs from his four wives. Forced to rebel against
his father by an aggressive nobility in 1314, Stefan was defeated, blinded
and exiled, to be pardoned and returned only towards the end of Milutin's
rule, in 1320. His father's sudden illness and death the next year triggerred
the predictable dynastic struggle. But Stefan - his eyesight having been
restored, tradition has it, by the miraculous intervention of St. Nicholas
- came out assertive and victorious, after a three-year fight.
In terms of foreign policy, notable are Stefan's dealings on the southwestern, Adriatic front, where dynastic
struggles and disloyalty of peripheral nobles
were opportunistically exploited by the Bosnian ban Stjepan - who annexed the Hum area -
as well as the Dubrovnik Republic. Ensuing warfare and diplomacy regained some stability and territory for Stefan
in 1328. However, by this time and continuing, the major theater of international affairs for the Nemanjic monarchy lied towards
the south and east - facing Bulgaria and Byzantium.
Byzantine internal warfare between the old Andronikos
II and his grandson Andronikos III precipitated complicated moves and
shifting alliances between the three Balkan players in the late 1320s;
the end result was a serious military showdown between Serbia and Bulgaria
at the battle of Velbuzd (modern-day Kjustendil) in 1330 - with Byzantium
this time wisely on the sidelines. It ended in major defeat for Bulgarians,
their armies and nobility in disarray and czar Michael II Sisman killed.
This effectively ended any larger importance of the Second Bulgarian Empire
that had been revived in 1186; for several decades thereafter it remained
a loyal Serbian ally, eventually succumbing to the early wave of Ottoman
Turk European penetration. Despite the glory of this victory which echoed considerably
in the contemporaneous chronicles, Stefan was to bask in it not for long.
Differences between him and his son Dusan
came to the fore shortly - whether based on the latter's ambition, succesion
worries, or perhaps the frustrated war party supporting and prodding him.
After a short conflagration, the son was victorious and crowned King;
the deposed Stefan was imprisoned and shortly thereafter died under mysterious
circumstances. Stefan's pious demeanor and life of considerable hardship
made him a martyr in the eyes of the Church, and he was later canonized;
his feast day is Nov. 24 (11 by Julian calendar), and in the gallery of
patron saints of Serbian families (Krsna slava) he is also represented.
His main endowment is the famous monastery of Visoki
Decani, in western Kosovo, dedicated to Ascension of our Lord (completed
later by his son Dusan), after which he has been referred to as Decanski.
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