The grand zupan Tihomir’s youngest brother, Stefan Nemanja, rebelled against him in 1166 or 1168 and pushed his older brothers out of the country, later defeating at Pantin in Kosovo the Byzantine army led by his brothers, who subsequently recognized him as the ruler. Over the next three decades, Nemanja waged successful wars against Byzantium in which he significantly expanded his lands. The gains included the Neretva region, Zahumlje, Travunia, the Littoral and parts of Kosovo and Metohija. Nemanja briefly conquered Nis, where he met the Holy Roman Emperor and the leader of the 3rd Crusade Frederick Barbarossa, who proposed an alliance against Byzantium.
In agreement with the Byzantine emperor, Nemanja was succeeded by his middle son Stefan, who was opposed by his older brother Vukan, but eventually succeeded in remaining in power. Taking advantage of the political situation in the Balkans after the sack of Constantinople in 1204, he continued the expansion of his state conquering Prizren, Vranje and Nis. On 4 January 1217 he received a royal crown from Pope Honorius III, elevating Serbia to kingdom. Two years later, his younger brother Sava obtained permission from the Ecumenical Patriarch in Nicaea to elevate the diocese of Raska to the level of the archbishopric of which he became the first archbishop, thereby acquiring the Serbian Church’s autocephaly and laying the foundations of today’s Serbian Orthodox Church.
Stefan was succeeded by his sons Radoslav (1223-1234) and Vladislav (1234-1242) who ruled under the influence of their powerful father-in-laws, despot of Epirus and Bulgarian emperor, after which the youngest Stefan’s son Uros I (1242-1276) came to power. Although he failed to expand his lands, Uros managed to economically strengthen the state by bringing in Saxon miners from Transylvania, who began the exploitation of mines in Serbia, which provided Uros’ heirs with a stable financial base for further conquests. Uros I was married to Helen of Anjou, who played a significant role in the then Serbia. His endowment, the Sopocani monastery, is a designated World Heritage Site.
Due to unsuccessful wars and discontent in the country, Uros I was deposed in 1276 by his eldest son Dragutin (King of Serbia 1276-1282, King of Srem 1282-1316), who, just a few years later in 1282, transferred power to his younger son Milutin (1282-1321), who was one of the most important Serbian rulers. Over the next few years, Milutin will expand Serbia to the south, conquering much of present-day Northern Macedonia with Skopje becoming the capital of Serbia and northern parts of Albania, briefly holding Durres. He would later conquer Branicevo, which he handed over to Dragutin, who was assigned by the Hungarian king and his father-in-law the administrator of Macva, Belgrade and northern Bosnia. Milutin himself concluded peace with Byzantium in 1299, according to which Emperor Andronicus II (1282-1328) recognized his conquests and gave him the hand of his daughter Simonida.
The beginning of the 14th century was marked by a civil war between the brothers over the right to succeed the throne, which ended with returning to the Dezeva Agreement, by which Dragutin surrendered power to Milutin in 1282 and according to which Dragutin’s son Vladislav should succeed him. In 1314, Milutin’s son Stefan (1322-1331) attempted to oust his father, but was captured, blinded and sent into exile in Constantinople.
After Dragutin’s death in 1316, Milutin captured his son and heir Vladislav and occupied his lands, after which he waged a three-year war against King of Hungary Charles Robert (1310-1342), in which he lost Belgrade but retained Macva and Branicevo. After Milutin’s death in 1321, the state was engulfed by a civil war between his sons Konstantin and Stefan, which included Vladislav after Konstantin’s death, but Stefan defeated him, too.
Stefan Decanski continued to expand his state southward at the expense of Byzantium, but failed to reclaim the Adriatic coast from Cetina to Dubrovnik, which split off after Milutin’s death and was subsequently conquered by the Ban of Bosnia Stefan II Kotromanic (1322-1353).
Defeating heavily the Bulgars in the Battle of Velbuzhd in 1330, Stefan Decanski destroyed the alliance of Byzantium and Bulgaria that had been created against him. Just a year later, his son Dusan (King 1331-1346, Emperor 1346-1355) took advantage of the noblemen’s discontent and captured his father in Nerodimlje. Stefan Decanski died in prison in Zvecan the same year, and Dusan became the new king.
In the following decades Dusan fought the Byzantine Empire, taking advantage of the Byzantine civil wars. After conquering Albania, Macedonia and much of Greece, he was crowned Emperor in 1346, after having elevated the Serbian archbishopric into a patriarchate. He had his son crowned King, giving him nominal rule over the “Serbian lands”, and although Dusan was governing the whole state, he had special responsibility for the “Roman” (Byzantine) lands.
The Imperial constitution, Dusan’s Code, was enacted in 1349 and amended in 1354. Dusan sought to conquer Constantinople and become the new Byzantine emperor, however, he suddenly died in 1355 at the age of 47. His son and successor, Serbian Emperor Stefan Uros V (1355-1371) did not inherit his father’s ruling abilities, and by 1365 Serbian lords appointed him a co-ruler, King Vukasin, who fell in Battle of Maritsa, fighting against Ottoman Turks.
The death of Emperor Stefan Uros V in 1371 marked the end of the Nemanjic dynasty in Serbia. The empire in disintegration was left without an heir and regional lords finally obtained the absolute rule over their provinces, completing the process of feudal fragmentation. They continued to govern as independent rulers, with titles such as lord and despot, given to them during the Empire.
Serbian lands were thus divided between the regional lords: King Marko, the son of King Vukasin of Serbia, claimed the royal title and seized southwestern regions, while the Dejanovic brothers, nephews of the late Emperor Dusan, ruled the southeastern provinces. Other lords were Djuradj I Balsic, Vuk Brankovic, Nikola Altomanovic, and Lazar Hrebeljanovic, who ruled most of what is today Central Serbia (known as Moravian Serbia). He was unable to unite the Serbian lords, as they were too powerful and pursued their own interests, fighting each other. On the other side, Tvrtko I of Bosnia annexed several western regions, and claimed, since he was descended through his paternal grandmother from the Nemanjic dynasty, that he was the rightful heir to Serbian throne. In 1377, he came to his newly acquired provinces in western Serbia and was crowned in Mileseva Monastery as the King of the Serbs and Bosnia.
The period after the Battle of Maritsa (1371) saw the rise of a new threat, the Ottoman Turks. They began raiding Moravian Serbia in 1381, though the actual invasion came later. In 1386, Lazar’s knights beat the Ottoman army near Plocnik, in what is today southern Serbia. Another invasion by the Ottomans came in the summer of 1389, this time aiming towards Kosovo.
On 28 June 1389 the two armies met at Kosovo, in a battle that ended in a draw, decimating both armies (both Lazar and Murad I fell). The battle is particularly important to Serbian history, tradition, and national identity. By now, the Balkans was unable to halt the advancing Ottomans. Eventually, Serbian nobility became Ottoman vassals.
Serbia managed to recuperate under Despot Stefan Lazarevic, surviving for 70 more years, experiencing a cultural and political renaissance, but after Stefan Lazarevic’s death, his successors from the Brankovic dynasty did not manage to stop the Ottoman advance. Serbia finally fell under the Ottomans in 1459, and remained under their occupation for another four centuries.