of
Serbia, from the late 9th century with a delegation of Serbs. is considered as one of the most influential events in the history of the Serbs.
Slavs settled in the
Balkans during the 6th and 7th centuries, where they encountered and partially absorbed the remaining local population (
Illyrians,
Thracians,
Dacians,
Celts,
Scythians). One of those
early Slavic peoples were Serbs. According to
De Administrando Imperio, a historiographical work compiled by the Byzantine emperor
Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (d. 959), migration of Serbs from
White Serbia to Balkans occurred sometime during the reign of emperor
Heraclius I (610-641) when they arrived in
an area near Thessaloniki, but shortly afterwards they left that area and settled lands between the
Sava and the
Dinaric Alps. By the time of the first reign of emperor
Justinian II (685-695), who resettled several
South Slavic groups from Balkans to
Asia Minor, a group of Serbian settlers in the region of
Bithynia were already
christianized. Their settlement, the city of
Gordoserba (), had its bishop, who participated at the
Council of Trullo (691-691). In contemporary historiography and archaeology, the narratives of
De Administrando Imperio have been reassessed as they contain anachronisms and factual mistakes. The account in
DAI about the Serbs mentions that they requested from the Byzantine commander of present-day Belgrade to settle in the
theme of Thessalonica, which was formed ca. 150 years after the reign of Heraclius which was in the 7th century. For the purposes of its narrative, the DAI formulates a mistaken etymology of the Serbian ethnonym which it derives from Latin
servi (serfs). As the Byzantine Empire sought to establish its hegemony towards the Serbs, the narrative of the
DAI sought to establish a historical hegemony over the Serbs by claiming that their arrival, settlement and conversion to Christianity was the direct result of the Byzantine interference in the centuries which preceded the writing of
DAI. Historian Danijel Dzino considers that the story of the migration from
White Serbia after the invitation of Heraclius as a means of explanation of the settlement of the Serbs is a form of rationalization of the social and cultural change which the Balkans had undergone via the misinterpretation of historical events placed in late antiquity. After their initial settlement in the western regions of the Balkans, Serbs created their first state, the early medieval
Principality of Serbia, that was ruled by the first Serbian dynasty, known in historiography as the
Vlastimirović dynasty. During their reigh,
christianization of the Serbs was undergoing, as a gradual process, that was finalized by the middle of the 9th century. Serbs also created local states in regions of
Neretvanija,
Zahumlje,
Travunija and
Duklja. Some scholars, like
Tibor Živković and Neven Budak, doubt their Serbian identity in 7th century and suppose that sources like
De Administrando Imperio are based on data related to Serbian rule and identity in 10th century when Serbian ethnogenesis was finalized. Early medieval Serbian areal was also attested by the
Royal Frankish Annals, that note, under the entry for 822, that prince
Ljudevit left his seat at
Sisak and went to the Serbs. According to Živković, the usage of the term Dalmatia in the document to refer both to the land where Serbs ruled as well as to the lands under the rule of Croat duke, was likely a reflection of the Franks' territorial aspirations towards the entire area of the former Roman Province of Dalmatia. The same entry mentions "the Serbs, who are said to hold a great/large part of
Dalmatia" (
ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur), but according to
John (Jr.) Fine, it was hard to find Serbs in this area since the Byzantine sources were limited to the southern coast, also it is possible that among other tribes exists tribe or group of small tribes of Serbs. However, the mentioning of "Dalmatia" in 822 and 833 as an old geographical term by the authors of Frankish Annals was
Pars pro toto with a vague perception of what this geographical term actually referred to. During the 11th and 12th centuries,
Grand Principality of Serbia was ruled by the
Vukanović dynasty. During that period, Serbs frequently fought against the neighbouring
Byzantine Empire. Between 1166 and 1371, Serbs were ruled by the
Nemanjić dynasty, founded by grand prince
Stefan Nemanja (1166-1196), who conquered several neighbouring territories, including Kosovo, Duklja, Travunija and Zahumlje. Serbian state was elevated to a
kingdom in 1217, during the reign of Nemanja's son,
Stefan Nemanjić. In the same time,
Serbian Orthodox Church was organized as an
autocephalous archbishopric in 1219, through the efforts of
Sava, who became the patron saint of Serbs. Over the next 140 years, Serbia expanded its borders. Its cultural model remained Byzantine, despite political ambitions directed against the empire. The medieval power and influence of Serbia culminated in the reign of
Stefan Dušan, who ruled the state from 1331 until his death in 1355. and an
empire In 1346, he was crowned as emperor, thus creating the
Serbian Empire. In the same time,
Serbian Orthodox Church was raised to the
Patriarchate (1346). Territory of the Empire included
Macedonia, northern Greece, Montenegro, and almost all of Albania. When Dušan died, his son
Stephen Uroš V became Emperor. With
Turkish invaders beginning their conquest of the Balkans in the 1350s, a major conflict ensued between them and the Serbs, the first major battle was the
Battle of Maritsa (1371), in which the Serbs were defeated. With the death of two important Serb leaders in the battle, and with the death of Stephen Uroš that same year, the
Serbian Empire broke up into several small Serbian domains. These states were ruled by feudal lords, with
Zeta controlled by the Balšić family, Raška,
Kosovo and Metohija and northern Macedonia held by the
Branković family and
Lazar Hrebeljanović holding today's
Central Serbia and a portion of Kosovo. Hrebeljanović was subsequently accepted as the titular leader of the Serbs because he was married to a member of the Nemanjić dynasty. In 1389, the Serbs faced the Ottomans at the
Battle of Kosovo on the plain of
Kosovo Polje, near the town of
Pristina. Both Lazar and
Sultan Murad I were killed in the fighting. The battle most likely ended in a stalemate, and Serbia did not fall to the Turks until 1459. There exists 30
Serbian chronicles from the period between 1390 and 1526. ==Early modern period==