Stephen Uroš V of Serbia

Stefan Uroš V. " the weak " (Serbian: свети Стефан Урош V. - нејаки ) (* 1337, † December 1371 ), also known as Uroš the Weak ( Uroš Nejaki ) from the Nemanjić Dynasty was a Serb king ( 1346 - 1355 ) co-regent with his father Tsar Dušan, after Dusan's death, he succeeded him as the second Serbian Tsar ( 1355-1371 ).

Life

Stefan Uroš V was the only son of Stefan Uroš IV Dušan and Helena of Bulgaria, the sister of Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria. He was crowned king in 1346 after his father himself brought to the emperor, and became co-regent with his father. After the death of his father in 1355 he became the sole ruler, but nevertheless remained to a great extent dependent on his mother and the princes.

Unable to rule the great empire of his father, Uroš V. could not even fend off the attacks of the enemies. The Serbian Empire was divided into many principalities, some of which did not accept the rule of Stefan Uroš V.. The first big challenge for Stefan was when his uncle Simeon Uroš Palaiologos attempted to seize the throne. Simeon was defeated in 1356 and moved to Thessaly and Epirus, where he reigned with the title Emperor of the Romans and Serbs. This Stefan Uroš also lost territories in modern Greece, which his father had taken. At the end of his reign his rule was only in the area between the Šar Planina and the Danube, the Serbian princes in Macedonia had declared de facto independence.

Stefan Uroš died childless in December 1371. A great part of the Serbian principalities in the south was conquered by the Ottomans after the battle of the Maritsa in the same year. As a knock-on effect of this defeat showed the dominion of Lazar Hrebeljanović as a new core area of ​​the Serbian state, as Lazar had a large sphere of influence in the north of the country. After the great conquests of his father Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia became a victim of the nobility.

The extraordinary modesty and tolerance of Stefan Uroš was the main reason why he has been described as weak. This was also the reason why he was canonized 211 years after his death by the Serbian Orthodox Church. His body is preserved in Jazak Monastery in Mount Fruska Gora.