Emperor Dusan

Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Emperor Dusan shopping experience:

1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Emperor Dusan offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Emperor Dusan at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Emperor Dusan? Wrong! If the Emperor Dusan is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.

4. Questions - Got a question about Emperor Dusan then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Emperor Dusan? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Emperor Dusan and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.

6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Emperor Dusan wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Emperor Dusan then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Emperor Dusan site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Emperor Dusan, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Emperor Dusan, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

{{Infobox Emperor| name = Stefan Uroš IV Dušan Silni| title = King of Serbia,Emperor of the Serbs and the Greeks| image = of Stefan Uroš IV Dušan| full name = Stefan Uroš IV Dušan| imperial name =| reign = king (September 8, 1331 – April 16, 1346)
emperor (tsar) (April 16, 1346 – December 20, 1355).]| consort =Helena of Bulgaria| father =[Stefan Decanski| mother =Theodora of Bulgaria| place of birth =| date of death =[20 December, 1355|-->

[stefan (title) Uroš IV Dušan Silni ("the Mighty") (Serbian language: Стефан Урош IV Душан Силни, Greek language: Στέφανος Ντουσάν, in English language also Stephen Dushan)(c. 1308 – December 20 1355) was monarch of Serbia (September 8 1331 – April 16 1346) and emperor (tsar) of the Serbs and the Greeks (April 16 1346 – December 20 1355).

Perhaps the greatest of all Serbian leaders, Dušan, along with his son Stefan Uroš V of Serbia, was one of only two true emperors (tsars) of Serbia. Under his rule Serbia reached its territory (country subdivision) peak and, as the Serbian Empire was one of the larger states in Europe at the time. Apart from significant territorial gains, in 1349 and 1354 he made and enforced Dusan's Code, a universal system of laws. He is also the only ruler from the House of Nemanjic who may not have been canonization as a saint soon after his death. Dušan was also noted as a man of gigantic proportions, and according to Papal ambassadors he was the tallest man of his time, estimated at close to seven feet tall.

Biography , 1346He was the eldest son of Stefan Decanski and Theodora of Bulgaria, the daughter of emperor Smilets of Bulgaria. Early in his life he visited Constantinople, where his father had been exiled, and he spent around seven years there (1314–1320). There he learned Greek language, gained an understanding of Byzantine life and culture, and got a clear sense of the Byzantine Empire. He himself was more a soldier than a diplomat. In his youth he fought exceptionally in two battles; in 1329 he defeated the Bosnia and Herzegovinan ban (title) Stephen Kotromanic, and in 1330 the Bulgarian emperor Michael Shishman in the Battle of Velbužd.

In part because his father hadn't significantly expanded Serbia after the Battle of Velbužd, he rebelled and overthrew him with the support of the nobility, crowning himself king on September 8 1331. In 1332 he married Helena of Bulgaria, the sister of the new Bulgarian emperor Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria, a woman of strong will, who had a large influence on him and bore him a son, Stefan Uroš V, and two daughters, who died young.

In the first years of his reign, Dušan started to fight against the Byzantine Empire (1334), and warfare continued with interruptions of various duration until his death in 1355. Twice he became involved in larger conflicts with the Hungarians, but these battles were mostly defensive. Both times he defeated the Hungarians. He was at peace with the Bulgarians, who even helped him on several occasions, and he is said to have visited Ivan Alexander at his capital. Dušan exploited the civil war in the Byzantine Empire between the regents for the minor Emperor John V Palaiologos and his father's general John VI Kantakouzenos. Dušan and Ivan Alexander picked opposite sides in the conflict but remained at peace with each other, taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war to secure gains for themselves. Dušan's systematic offensive began in 1342 and in the end he conquered all Byzantine territories in the western Balkan peninsula as far as Kavala, except for the Peloponnesus and Thessaloniki, which he could not conquer because he had no fleet. There has been speculation that Dušan's ultimate goal was no less than to conquer Constantinople and replace the declining Byzantine Empire with a Greco-Serbian Empire under his control.Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453, page 121: "The resulting assimilation of Byzantine culture by the Serbians helped to fortify the ideal of a Slavo-Byzantine Empire, which came to dominate the mind of Milutin's grandson, Stephen Dusan, later in the fourteenth century".Radoman Stankovic, "The Code of Serbian Tsar Stephan Dushan", Serbian Culture of the 14th Century. Volume I: "Powerful Byzantium started to decline, and young Serbian King Stephan Dushan, Stephan of Dechani’s son, wanted, by getting crowned in 1331, to replace weakened Byzantium with the powerful Serbian-Greek Empire. By proclaiming himself emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, Dushan showed that he aspired to a legitimate rule over the subjects of the Byzantine Empire".

on the occasion of his coronation. (Photo courtesy of the National Bank of Serbia )After these successes he proclaimed himself in 1345 emperor (tsar) in Serres, Greece and was solemnly crowned in Skopje on April 16 1346 as "Tsar and autocrat of Serbs and Greeks" by the newly created Serbian Orthodox Church Joanikie II with the help of the Bulgarian Patriarchate Simeon and the Archbishop of Ohrid, Nicholas. He had previously raised the Serbian Orthodox Church from an autocephalous archbishopric to a patriarchate, and he took over sovereignty on Mount Athos and the Greek archbishoprics under the rule of the Patriarch of Constantinople (The Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid remained autocephalous). For those acts he was anathematized by the Church of Greece.Faced with Dušan's aggression, the Byzantines sought allies in the Ottoman Empire whom they brought into Europe for the first time. The first conflict between the Serbs and the Turks on Balkan soil, at Stefaniana in 1345, ended unfavourably for the Serbs. In 1348 Dušan conquered Thessaly and Epirus (region). Dušan eventually saw the danger posed by the Turkish presence in the Balkans and searched for ways to push them back but was interrupted by Hungarians, who attacked Serbia. He heavily defeated the Hungarians and their king Charles I of Hungary, who was wounded by an arrow. Dušan didn't want to organize revenge attacks in Hungary, because he wanted Papal support for his fight against the Ottomans. After, he fought with the Hungarian protégé ban Stjepan II in Bosnia in 1350, wishing to regain formerly lost Zahumlje.

Dušan had grand intentions but they were all cut short by his premature death on December 20 1355, possibly from poisoning by Hungarians who were alarmed at the expansion and rising power of Stefan's Serbia. He was buried in his foundation (architecture), the Monastery of the Holy Archangels near Prizren. Today his remains are in the Saint Mark's Church in Belgrade. He was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V, who had been associated in power as king since 1346.

Military Tactics Dusan's military tactics consisted of wedge shaped heavy cavalry attacks with horse archers on the flanks. Many foreign mercenaries were in the Serbian army. Mostly Germans as cavalry and Spaniards as infantry. He also had personal mercenary guards, mainly Germans knights. A knight named Palman was the commander of this unit and was the leader of all German mercenaries.

Dušan was the most powerful medieval Serbian ruler and "perhaps the most powerful ruler in Europe" during the 14th centurySteven Runciman, Byzantine Civilization. Cited in Radoman Stankovic, "The Code of Serbian Tsar Stephan Dushan", Serbian Culture of the 14th Century. Volume I, and remains a symbol to many. His state was a rival to regional powers Byzantium, Bulgaria and Hungary, and encompassed great territory, but it is that same greatness that was his empire's greatest weakness. Serbia was enlarged too quickly for new territorial gains to be incorporated into the original Serb regions. Dušan also conquered many purely Greek, Albanian and Bulgarian lands and their inhabitants, who already had a distinct national consciousness. By nature a soldier and a conqueror, Dušan did not make any systematic efforts to stabilize or administer his gains. Consequently, his empire could not survive his death, and began to dissolve soon after the loss of his forceful personality.

Family By his first wife, Helena of Bulgaria, Stefan Uroš IV had two children:

Stefan Uroš V, who succeeded as king
Irina

See also

List of Serbian monarchs
History of Serbia

Footnotes

References

John V.A. Fine, Jr., The Late Medieval Balkans, Ann Arbor, 1987.
George C. Soulis, The Serbs and Byzantium during the reign of Tsar Stephen Dusan (1331-1355) and his successors, Athens, 1995. ISBN 0884021378

Further reading Alexander Soloviev (Historian)

"Selected Monuments of Serbian Law from the 12th century to 15th century centuries" (1926)
"Legislation of Stefan Dušan, emperor of Serbs and Greeks" (1928)
"Dusan's Code in 1349 and 1354" (1929)
"Greek charters of Serbian rulers" Soloviev and Makin {1936}

Sources

Translated with small changes from small encyclopedia Sveznanje published by Narodno delo, Belgrade, in 1937, which is now in the public domain. This article is therefore written from the point of view of that place and time and may not reflect modern opinions or recent discoveries.

{{succession box one to one|before=[Stefan Dečanski| title=[List of Serbian monarchs| years=–| after=[Stefan Uroš V| -->{{succession box one to one|before=new title| title=[List of Serbian monarchs| years=–| after=[Stefan Uroš V| -->

{{Infobox Emperor| name = Stefan Uroš IV Dušan Silni| title = King of Serbia,Emperor of the Serbs and the Greeks| image = of Stefan Uroš IV Dušan| full name = Stefan Uroš IV Dušan| imperial name =| reign = king (September 8, 1331 – April 16, 1346)
emperor (tsar) (April 16, 1346 – December 20, 1355).]| consort =Helena of Bulgaria| father =[Stefan Decanski| mother =Theodora of Bulgaria| place of birth =| date of death =[20 December, 1355|-->

[stefan (title) Uroš IV Dušan Silni ("the Mighty") (Serbian language: Стефан Урош IV Душан Силни, Greek language: Στέφανος Ντουσάν, in English language also Stephen Dushan)(c. 1308 – December 20 1355) was monarch of Serbia (September 8 1331 – April 16 1346) and emperor (tsar) of the Serbs and the Greeks (April 16 1346 – December 20 1355).

Perhaps the greatest of all Serbian leaders, Dušan, along with his son Stefan Uroš V of Serbia, was one of only two true emperors (tsars) of Serbia. Under his rule Serbia reached its territory (country subdivision) peak and, as the Serbian Empire was one of the larger states in Europe at the time. Apart from significant territorial gains, in 1349 and 1354 he made and enforced Dusan's Code, a universal system of laws. He is also the only ruler from the House of Nemanjic who may not have been canonization as a saint soon after his death. Dušan was also noted as a man of gigantic proportions, and according to Papal ambassadors he was the tallest man of his time, estimated at close to seven feet tall.

Biography , 1346He was the eldest son of Stefan Decanski and Theodora of Bulgaria, the daughter of emperor Smilets of Bulgaria. Early in his life he visited Constantinople, where his father had been exiled, and he spent around seven years there (1314–1320). There he learned Greek language, gained an understanding of Byzantine life and culture, and got a clear sense of the Byzantine Empire. He himself was more a soldier than a diplomat. In his youth he fought exceptionally in two battles; in 1329 he defeated the Bosnia and Herzegovinan ban (title) Stephen Kotromanic, and in 1330 the Bulgarian emperor Michael Shishman in the Battle of Velbužd.

In part because his father hadn't significantly expanded Serbia after the Battle of Velbužd, he rebelled and overthrew him with the support of the nobility, crowning himself king on September 8 1331. In 1332 he married Helena of Bulgaria, the sister of the new Bulgarian emperor Ivan Alexander of Bulgaria, a woman of strong will, who had a large influence on him and bore him a son, Stefan Uroš V, and two daughters, who died young.

In the first years of his reign, Dušan started to fight against the Byzantine Empire (1334), and warfare continued with interruptions of various duration until his death in 1355. Twice he became involved in larger conflicts with the Hungarians, but these battles were mostly defensive. Both times he defeated the Hungarians. He was at peace with the Bulgarians, who even helped him on several occasions, and he is said to have visited Ivan Alexander at his capital. Dušan exploited the civil war in the Byzantine Empire between the regents for the minor Emperor John V Palaiologos and his father's general John VI Kantakouzenos. Dušan and Ivan Alexander picked opposite sides in the conflict but remained at peace with each other, taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war to secure gains for themselves. Dušan's systematic offensive began in 1342 and in the end he conquered all Byzantine territories in the western Balkan peninsula as far as Kavala, except for the Peloponnesus and Thessaloniki, which he could not conquer because he had no fleet. There has been speculation that Dušan's ultimate goal was no less than to conquer Constantinople and replace the declining Byzantine Empire with a Greco-Serbian Empire under his control.Donald M. Nicol, The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453, page 121: "The resulting assimilation of Byzantine culture by the Serbians helped to fortify the ideal of a Slavo-Byzantine Empire, which came to dominate the mind of Milutin's grandson, Stephen Dusan, later in the fourteenth century".Radoman Stankovic, "The Code of Serbian Tsar Stephan Dushan", Serbian Culture of the 14th Century. Volume I: "Powerful Byzantium started to decline, and young Serbian King Stephan Dushan, Stephan of Dechani’s son, wanted, by getting crowned in 1331, to replace weakened Byzantium with the powerful Serbian-Greek Empire. By proclaiming himself emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, Dushan showed that he aspired to a legitimate rule over the subjects of the Byzantine Empire".

on the occasion of his coronation. (Photo courtesy of the National Bank of Serbia )After these successes he proclaimed himself in 1345 emperor (tsar) in Serres, Greece and was solemnly crowned in Skopje on April 16 1346 as "Tsar and autocrat of Serbs and Greeks" by the newly created Serbian Orthodox Church Joanikie II with the help of the Bulgarian Patriarchate Simeon and the Archbishop of Ohrid, Nicholas. He had previously raised the Serbian Orthodox Church from an autocephalous archbishopric to a patriarchate, and he took over sovereignty on Mount Athos and the Greek archbishoprics under the rule of the Patriarch of Constantinople (The Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid remained autocephalous). For those acts he was anathematized by the Church of Greece.Faced with Dušan's aggression, the Byzantines sought allies in the Ottoman Empire whom they brought into Europe for the first time. The first conflict between the Serbs and the Turks on Balkan soil, at Stefaniana in 1345, ended unfavourably for the Serbs. In 1348 Dušan conquered Thessaly and Epirus (region). Dušan eventually saw the danger posed by the Turkish presence in the Balkans and searched for ways to push them back but was interrupted by Hungarians, who attacked Serbia. He heavily defeated the Hungarians and their king Charles I of Hungary, who was wounded by an arrow. Dušan didn't want to organize revenge attacks in Hungary, because he wanted Papal support for his fight against the Ottomans. After, he fought with the Hungarian protégé ban Stjepan II in Bosnia in 1350, wishing to regain formerly lost Zahumlje.

Dušan had grand intentions but they were all cut short by his premature death on December 20 1355, possibly from poisoning by Hungarians who were alarmed at the expansion and rising power of Stefan's Serbia. He was buried in his foundation (architecture), the Monastery of the Holy Archangels near Prizren. Today his remains are in the Saint Mark's Church in Belgrade. He was succeeded by his son Stefan Uroš V, who had been associated in power as king since 1346.

Military Tactics Dusan's military tactics consisted of wedge shaped heavy cavalry attacks with horse archers on the flanks. Many foreign mercenaries were in the Serbian army. Mostly Germans as cavalry and Spaniards as infantry. He also had personal mercenary guards, mainly Germans knights. A knight named Palman was the commander of this unit and was the leader of all German mercenaries.

Dušan was the most powerful medieval Serbian ruler and "perhaps the most powerful ruler in Europe" during the 14th centurySteven Runciman, Byzantine Civilization. Cited in Radoman Stankovic, "The Code of Serbian Tsar Stephan Dushan", Serbian Culture of the 14th Century. Volume I, and remains a symbol to many. His state was a rival to regional powers Byzantium, Bulgaria and Hungary, and encompassed great territory, but it is that same greatness that was his empire's greatest weakness. Serbia was enlarged too quickly for new territorial gains to be incorporated into the original Serb regions. Dušan also conquered many purely Greek, Albanian and Bulgarian lands and their inhabitants, who already had a distinct national consciousness. By nature a soldier and a conqueror, Dušan did not make any systematic efforts to stabilize or administer his gains. Consequently, his empire could not survive his death, and began to dissolve soon after the loss of his forceful personality.

Family By his first wife, Helena of Bulgaria, Stefan Uroš IV had two children:

Stefan Uroš V, who succeeded as king
Irina