In April 1403, the seventeen-year-old Balša became the ruler of
Zeta when his father
Đurađ II died as a result of the injuries he had suffered at the
Battle of Tripolje. As he was young and inexperienced, his main advisor was his mother, Jelena, a sister of the ruler of
Serbia at the time,
Stefan Lazarević. Under the influence of his mother, Balša reverted the order of the state religion, passing a law declaring
Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the official confession of the state, while
Roman Catholicism became a tolerated confession. . Balša waged the
First Scutari War, a 10-year war, against Venice. In 1405,
Ulcinj,
Bar and
Budva were seized by the Venetians. Balša then became a vassal to the Ottoman Turks. In 1409, however, Venice had purchased the rights to Dalmatia from King
Ladislaus of Naples and began fighting for control of Dalmatian cities. After a huge effort, Balša seized Bar from the Venetians in 1412. Venice, pressed with difficulties, had no choice but to agree to return territories it had previously seized. In 1413 he built a church dedicated to
Saint Nicholas at the
Praskvica Monastery. According to a chapter Balša issued in 1417, he was probably a
ktitor of the
Moračnik Monastery. Balša had waged a new war against Venice, which was connected to the war with the Hungarians and the Turks. In 1418, he conquered
Shkodër from the
Venetians, but lost
Budva and Luštica with its salt works. In 1419, he made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Budva. He went to
Belgrade to ask for aid from
Stefan Lazarević, but never returned to Zeta. In 1421, before his death and under the influence of his mother, he passed the rule of Zeta to his uncle, Despot
Stefan Lazarević. == Marriage and issue ==