Stefan Crnojević
Serbian Lord of Zeta
1400 CE to 1465 CE
Stefan Crnojević, known as Stefanica (fl.
1426–died 1465) is the Serbian Lord of Zeta between 1451 and 1465.
Until 1441, he is one of many governors in Zeta, which at this time is a province of the Serbian Despotate.
He then aligns with Stefan Vukčić Kosača and remains his vassal until 1444, when he accepts Venetian suzerainty.
In Venetian–held Lezhë, on March 2, 1444, Stefan and his sons forge an alliance with several noblemen from Albania, led by Skanderbeg, known as the League of Lezhë.
In 1448, he returns to the suzerainty of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković.
In 1451, Stefan assumes the leadership of the Crnojevići and becomes the ruler of a large part of Zeta.
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The Đurašević family is a branch of the Kalođurđević family, whose members had held the most distinct positions in the court of Balša III.
Đurađ Đurašević and his brother Aleksa (Lješ) are lords of the territory of Paštrovići (Luštica and the hills above Kotor and Budva).
Đurađ is one of the witnesses listed in the charter issued by Balša III in 1413 when he founded a church of the Praskvica Monastery.
Đurađ's son and Aleksa Paštrović, an envoy of Sandalj Hranić, were also present.
The Venetians on March 10, 1420, had promised to appoint Đurađ and his brother as governors of Budva, but after the death of Balša III they had refused Venetian invitations to switch sides and to accept Venetian suzerainty, remaining loyal to new lord of Zeta, Serbian Despot Stefan Lazarević.
The Đurašević brothers, who control ten salt ponds in the Grbalj valley near Kotor, build the Kom Monastery in the period between 1415 and 1427, when Upper Zeta is held by the Crnojevići.
The most powerful Zetan family, the Balšićs, had became sovereigns of Zeta after the collapse of the Serbian Empire in the second half of the fourteenth century.
The province had been annexed to the Serbian Despotate after the death of Balša III in 1421, but after 1455 another noble family from Zeta, the Crnojevićs, become sovereign rulers of the country.
After the disappearance of Gojčin Crnojević from political life in 1451, his brother Stefan had taken over the leadership of the house of Crnojević and become the ruler of a large part of Zeta.
To strengthen his position, he decided to immediately seek foreign protection.
Allying himself with Venice and recognizing its authority over the region, he had subsequently been entitled Duke of Upper Zeta in 1452.
The reasons for the alliance are related to Stefan’s anticipation of the downfall of the Serbian Despot.
Venetan doge Francesco Foscari writes a letter to Stefan in 1455 asking him to return to Budva its territory he had captured.
The near-simultaneous Ottoman invasion of Serbia and conquest of all of its territories south of the Western Morava river completely cuts Zeta off from the core of the Despotate.
Therefore, Duke Stefan Crnojević, together with representatives from all fifty-one municipalities from Upper Zeta, sign an agreement the same year with the Venetians in Vranjina, by which Upper Zeta accepts Venetian rule.
Venice will rule only the cities, while all internal affairs are left to duke Stefan.
The Republic of Venice also binds itself not to meddle in any way with the ecclesiastical authority of the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitan of Zeta.