Stefan Dušan
14th century Serbian king and emperor / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Stefan Uroš IV Dušan (Serbian Cyrillic: Стефан Урош IV Душан), also known as Dušan the Mighty (c. 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians from 16 April 1346 until his death in 1355.[3][4][5] Dušan is considered one of the greatest medieval Balkan conquerors.[6]
Stefan Dušan Стефан Душан | |
---|---|
King of all Serbian and Maritime Lands | |
Reign | 8 September 1331 – 16 April 1346 |
Predecessor | Stefan Uroš III |
Successor | Stefan Uroš V |
Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks[1] | |
Reign | 16 April 1346 – 20 December 1355 |
Coronation | 16 April 1346, Skopje |
Successor | Stefan Uroš V |
Born | c. 1308 |
Died | 20 December 1355(1355-12-20) (aged 46–47) Prizren, Serbian Empire[2] |
Burial | Monastery of the Holy Archangels; after 1927: St. Mark's Church |
Spouse | Helena of Bulgaria |
Issue | Stefan Uroš V Theodora Uroš Irina Uroš (disputed) |
Dynasty | Nemanjić |
Father | Stefan Uroš III |
Mother | Theodora Smilets of Bulgaria |
Religion | Serbian Orthodox Christian |
Dušan conquered a large part of southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs of the era. Under Dušan's rule, Serbia was the most powerful state in Southeast Europe, one of the most powerful European states and an Eastern Orthodox multi-ethnic and multilingual empire that stretched from the Danube in the north to the Gulf of Corinth in the south, with its capital in Skopje.[7] He enacted the constitution of the Serbian Empire, known as Dušan's Code, perhaps the most important literary work of medieval Serbia. Dušan promoted the Serbian Church from an archbishopric to a patriarchate, finished the construction of the Visoki Dečani Monastery (now a UNESCO site), and founded the monastery of the Holy Archangels, among others. Under his rule, Serbia reached its territorial, political, economic, and cultural peak.[8]
After Dušan's sudden death in 1355, the empire began to weaken. With the death of Dušan's successor, emperor Stefan Uroš V, the Serbian Empire was definitively divided into a large number of independent Serbian states, among which the Serbian Despotate will stand out as the most prominent under the rule of Lazarević dynasty.