Nemanjić dynasty
| Nemanjić dynasty | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Country | |
| Parent house | Vukanović dynasty |
| Titles |
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| Founded | 1166 |
| Founder | Stefan Nemanja |
| Final ruler | Stefan Uroš V of Serbia |
| Current head | Prince Antonije Zoupanos, Grand Duke of Serbia |
| Dissolution | 1371 (see fall of the Serbian Empire) |
| Cadet branches |
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The Nemanjić (pronounced [nɛ̌maɲitɕ], Serbian: pl. Немањићи, Nemanjići) was the most important dynasty of Serbia in the Middle Ages, and one of the most important in Southeastern Europe. The royal house produced eleven Serbian monarchs between 1166 and 1371. Its progenitor was Stefan Nemanja, who descended from a cadet line of the Vukanović dynasty (1101–1166). After Nemanja, all monarchs used Stefan as a personal name, a tradition adopted for the royal pretensions. The monarchs began as Grand Princes, and with the crowning of Stefan Nemanjić in 1217, the realm was promoted to a Kingdom, and the Serbian Church was established. In 1346, Stefan Dušan was crowned Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, and the Archbishopric of Serbia was elevated to a Patriarchate. In 1371, with the death of child-less Uroš the Weak (r. 1355–1371), the fall of the Serbian Empire was ensured; provincial lords obtained the rule of the past provinces, and the Nemanjić survived only through maternal lines in several Serbian houses.
The Serbs, as Slavs in the vicinity of the Byzantine Empire, lived in so-called Sklavinia ("Slav lands"), territories initially out of Byzantine control and independent. In the 8th century, the Vlastimirović Dynasty established the Serbian Principality. In 822, Serbia "stretched over the greater part of Dalmatia", and Christianity was adopted as state-religion in circa 870. In the mid-10th century the state had emerged into a tribal confederation that stretched to the shores of the Adriatic Sea by the Neretva, the Sava, the Morava, and Skadar. The state disintegrated after the death of the last known Vlastimirid ruler – the Byzantines annexed the region and held it for a century, until 1040 when the Serbs under the Vojislavljević Dynasty revolted in Duklja (Pomorje). In 1091, the Vukanović Dynasty established the Serbian Grand Principality, based in Rascia (Zagorje). The two halves were reunited in 1142.
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