…that of Serbia. Stefan Lazarević, the son…
1404 CE
…that of Serbia.
Stefan Lazarević, the son and successor of the slain prince Lazar, had participated in the Battle of Angora in 1402 when the Ottomans were defeated and sultan Bayezid was captured.
On his return to Serbia, Stefan had visited Constantinople where emperor Manuel II Palaiologos had granted him the title of despot.
In previous years, the title would mean that the despot would rule some vassal state, but as the Roman Empire is too weak to assert such a rule and Serbia is not its, Stefan takes this title as the personal style of the Serbian monarchs.
Thus has the shattered Principality of Serbia been revived as the Serbian Despotate.
Counting on the unrest in the Ottoman empire, in early 1404 Stefan accepts vassalage to the Hungarian king Sigismund, who awards him with Belgrade, until this time in Hungarian possession.
As all the former capitals of Serbia (Skopje, Priština, Prilep and Kruševac) had already been taken by the Ottomans, Belgrade becomes the capital of Serbia for the first time in history; it remains so today.
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