Serbian king from 1321 to 1331 and Saint. Son of King Stefan Uros Milutin II. A tragic but significant figure of the Nemanjic dynasty. Sent at an early age by his father as a hostage ensuring Tatar neutrality, he managed an escape much later and was granted a traditional appanage in Zeta. Despite his father Milutin's long reign, succession issues were left murky for a long time, exacerbated by the fact that Milutin himself was technically perhaps just a regent for his elder brother, and had at least two male heirs from his four wives. Forced to rebel against his father by an aggressive nobility in 1314, Stefan was defeated, blinded and exiled, to be pardoned and returned only towards the end of Milutin's rule, in 1320. His father's sudden illness and death the next year triggered the predictable dynastic struggle. But Stefan - his eyesight having been restored, tradition has it, by the miraculous intervention of St. Nicholas - came out assertive and victorious, after a three-year fight. In terms of foreign policy, notable are Stefan's dealings on the southwestern, Adriatic front, where dynastic struggles and disloyalty of peripheral nobles were opportunistically exploited by the Bosnian ban Stjepan - who annexed the Hum area - as well as the Dubrovnik Republic. Ensuing warfare and diplomacy regained some stability and territory for Stefan in 1328. However, by this time and continuing, the major theater of international affairs for the Nemanjic monarchy lied towards the south and east - facing Bulgaria and Byzantium. Despite his glory, Stefan was to bask in it not for long. Differences between him and his son Dusan came to the fore shortly - whether based on the latter's ambition, succession worries, or perhaps the frustrated war party supporting and prodding him. After a short conflagration, the son was victorious and crowned King. The deposed Stefan was imprisoned and shortly thereafter died under mysterious circumstances. Stefan's pious demeanor and life of considerable hardship made him a martyr in the eyes of the Church, and he was later canonized
Serbian king from 1321 to 1331 and Saint. Son of King Stefan Uros Milutin II. A tragic but significant figure of the Nemanjic dynasty. Sent at an early age by his father as a hostage ensuring Tatar neutrality, he managed an escape much later and was granted a traditional appanage in Zeta. Despite his father Milutin's long reign, succession issues were left murky for a long time, exacerbated by the fact that Milutin himself was technically perhaps just a regent for his elder brother, and had at least two male heirs from his four wives. Forced to rebel against his father by an aggressive nobility in 1314, Stefan was defeated, blinded and exiled, to be pardoned and returned only towards the end of Milutin's rule, in 1320. His father's sudden illness and death the next year triggered the predictable dynastic struggle. But Stefan - his eyesight having been restored, tradition has it, by the miraculous intervention of St. Nicholas - came out assertive and victorious, after a three-year fight. In terms of foreign policy, notable are Stefan's dealings on the southwestern, Adriatic front, where dynastic struggles and disloyalty of peripheral nobles were opportunistically exploited by the Bosnian ban Stjepan - who annexed the Hum area - as well as the Dubrovnik Republic. Ensuing warfare and diplomacy regained some stability and territory for Stefan in 1328. However, by this time and continuing, the major theater of international affairs for the Nemanjic monarchy lied towards the south and east - facing Bulgaria and Byzantium. Despite his glory, Stefan was to bask in it not for long. Differences between him and his son Dusan came to the fore shortly - whether based on the latter's ambition, succession worries, or perhaps the frustrated war party supporting and prodding him. After a short conflagration, the son was victorious and crowned King. The deposed Stefan was imprisoned and shortly thereafter died under mysterious circumstances. Stefan's pious demeanor and life of considerable hardship made him a martyr in the eyes of the Church, and he was later canonized
Bio by: Jelena
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