Stephen Uroš I of Serbia

Stefan Uroš I, also Uroš the Great ( * 1220, † May 1, 1277 in Sopoćani ) was the youngest son of Stefan Nemanjić and Anna Dandolo and from 1243 to 1276 King of Raszien, the coastal countries and all Serbs.

Both his older brothers, Stefan Radoslav and Vladislav Stefan, were deducted from the Serbian national assembly as kings. Uroš showed far more talented than his brothers in governance. Thus he was able in 1254 an alliance between Bulgaria and the Republic of Dubrovnik (Ragusa ) and Hungary made ​​, waged wars against Byzantium and conquered vast territories in Macedonia, was successfully papal interference in the predominantly Roman Catholic coastal areas confront, and worked on the unity of his kingdom, for which he modestly called only Serbian King ( Kralj srpski ). The seed covered up to a third of the silver market in Europe at the time: In his time, the mining engineering, which became the main economic source of income Rasziens developed.

For this company, invited Uroš Saxon miners in his kingdom. The Saxons, who enjoyed many privileges, based in the newly opened mines in and around Novo Brdo (old German Nyenberghe ) in today's Kosovo. Novo Brdo or Nyenberghe was of 40,000 inhabitants one of the largest cities in Europe and has been called the city of silver and gold. The founded by Uroš and with the help of German Saxony Serbian mining engineering was thus one of the foundations of the following display of power of the state in Southeastern Europe.

Uroš was married to Jelena ( Hélène ) of Anjou. On a campaign against Hungary Uroš was beaten and then had to share his throne with his eldest son Stefan Dragutin, who overthrew him at the instigation of his Royal Hungarian kinship 1276. Uroš retired as a monk in the monastery founded by him of Sopoćani, where he died in 1277.

Trivial

Stefan Uroš I. was considered the king among the people Nemanjic. Its popularity among ordinary people contributed to that named most of his descendants after him. Although Raszien experienced a tremendous economic boom under his government, Uroš remained at a modest living. In his modest lifestyle he was supported by his wife Hélène, who had also not much for pomp and luxury. Received in the historical annals is a Byzantine mission, which was to explore the circumstances in Raszien, as negotiations for the marriage of Uroš 's younger son Milutin with the Byzantine princess Eudocia, the daughter of Emperor Michael VIII, were performed. The Byzantine envoy praised this courtly life in Constantinople Opel, whereupon Uroš led them into a small room and give them the Hungarian Princess Katalina, the wife of his elder son Dragutin, showed how these dressed in simple linen sat on a loom. In his words: "And so the princesses live with us," the Byzantine envoys left shocked Uroš ' yard, which also Milutin's marriage did not take place with Eudocia.

Particular effort was Uroš, regional and religious differences in his state to overcome. Again, it was a prop Hélène. He supported the autonomy of the predominantly Roman Catholic coastal towns and preserved the independence of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bar, whose archbishop John Carpini was then, against the ambitions of the Dubrovnik Archdiocese. The latter could count on the support of the Pope. So happened that when two Dubrovnik bishops were hanged by the Benedictines, a papal legation arrived in Kotor, to exhort the Roman Catholics in the coastal cities to obedience. The papal envoys with the words: "Who is the Pope? King Uroš is " chased our Pope!.