7 Things I Didn't Know About Serbian Monarchies
By Gia Coluccio
Statue of Karadjordje Petrovic in Belgrade.
Photo taken by author, all rights reserved.
Sadly, before this week, I knew very little about the history of Serbia’s monarchies. My knowledge of Serbia’s royal past was limited to what I had learned from my Kuma’s books on Serbian art and culture or tales I had heard of assassinations, battles won, battles lost, and various other fables which I feared I didn’t even have the facts right about.
So this week, I decided to embark on a short research project, learning what I could, in a short amount of time, about Serbian royalty throughout the ages.
Now, I will add that the facts shared below come from Wikipedia—which means they’ll either be great and succinct or completely wrong. So take this with a grain of salt and feel free to do your own research on this subject . . . hey, even share with us what you find! As a Serbian-American, I’m relatively fascinated about the Romantic-feel of the Serbian monarchy, so I hope to dig into this subject further. I look forward to updating this information as I learn more on the subject!
So, whether you’re Serb born-and-bred, Serb-American, Serbo-phile, or simply just interested in this topic, enjoy the list of things below of just a few things I didn’t know about the history of Serbian Monarchies.
1) Serbian Monarchies Date Back to the 7th Century. Yes, that’s the 600’s . . . 626 A.D. to be exact. The Vlastimirovic dynasty is considered the first Serbian royal family and reigned from 626-960 A.D.
2) Back in the day, Serbia=Rascia . . . sounds a little bit like, “Russia,” right? I wonder what the connection is there. The second thing I learned about Serbian royal history: in early historiography, Serbia was known as “Rascia.”
3) Sveti Sava was actually crowned King Stefan the First in 1217 and was the third King in the Namanjic dynasty.
4) King Setfan Uros IV Dusan “The Mighty” (1331-1355) defeated both Bosnia and Bulgaria in battle by the age of 20 and is remembered today for his military genius. He’s also remembered as the establisher of Dusan’s Code, a 14th-Century constitution.
5) The first known flag design of Serbia was found in Setfan Vladislav I’s treasury. King Stefan Vladislav I ruled from 1233-1243.
6) Karadjordje Petrovic established the current recognized Serbian dynasty in 1804 when he led the First Serbian Uprising.
7) The Karadjordjevic dynasty has ruled over four forms of Serbian or Yugoslavian government: the Principality of Serbia; the Kingdom of Serbia; the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Gia Coluccio is a co-founder and project director at Bridges to Serbia
So this week, I decided to embark on a short research project, learning what I could, in a short amount of time, about Serbian royalty throughout the ages.
Now, I will add that the facts shared below come from Wikipedia—which means they’ll either be great and succinct or completely wrong. So take this with a grain of salt and feel free to do your own research on this subject . . . hey, even share with us what you find! As a Serbian-American, I’m relatively fascinated about the Romantic-feel of the Serbian monarchy, so I hope to dig into this subject further. I look forward to updating this information as I learn more on the subject!
So, whether you’re Serb born-and-bred, Serb-American, Serbo-phile, or simply just interested in this topic, enjoy the list of things below of just a few things I didn’t know about the history of Serbian Monarchies.
1) Serbian Monarchies Date Back to the 7th Century. Yes, that’s the 600’s . . . 626 A.D. to be exact. The Vlastimirovic dynasty is considered the first Serbian royal family and reigned from 626-960 A.D.
2) Back in the day, Serbia=Rascia . . . sounds a little bit like, “Russia,” right? I wonder what the connection is there. The second thing I learned about Serbian royal history: in early historiography, Serbia was known as “Rascia.”
3) Sveti Sava was actually crowned King Stefan the First in 1217 and was the third King in the Namanjic dynasty.
4) King Setfan Uros IV Dusan “The Mighty” (1331-1355) defeated both Bosnia and Bulgaria in battle by the age of 20 and is remembered today for his military genius. He’s also remembered as the establisher of Dusan’s Code, a 14th-Century constitution.
5) The first known flag design of Serbia was found in Setfan Vladislav I’s treasury. King Stefan Vladislav I ruled from 1233-1243.
6) Karadjordje Petrovic established the current recognized Serbian dynasty in 1804 when he led the First Serbian Uprising.
7) The Karadjordjevic dynasty has ruled over four forms of Serbian or Yugoslavian government: the Principality of Serbia; the Kingdom of Serbia; the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes; and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia.
Gia Coluccio is a co-founder and project director at Bridges to Serbia
