, 1355 Serbia reached its height of power during the Nemanjić dynasty. The
Serbian Kingdom was proclaimed in 1217, leading to the establishment of the
Serbian Orthodox Church in 1219. In the same year
Saint Sava published the first
constitution in Serbia:
St. Sava's Nomocanon.Tsar
Stefan Dušan proclaimed the
Serbian Empire in 1346. During Dušan's rule, Serbia reached its territorial, political, and economical peak, proclaiming itself as the successor of the
Byzantine Empire, and was the most powerful Balkan state of that time. Dušan enacted an extensive constitution, known as
Dušan's Code, opened new trade routes, strengthened the state's economy, but its society's integration was unfinished and not unified enough until Ottoman invasion. Serbian medieval political identity has been profoundly shaped by the rule of this dynasty and its accomplishments, that were supported and cultivated by the
Serbian Orthodox Church. Stefan Dušan attempted to organize a Crusade with the Pope against the threatening Turks, but he died suddenly in December 1355. He was succeeded by his son
Uroš, called
the Weak, a term that might also apply to the state of the empire, which slowly slid into a feudal fragmentation. This was a period marked by the rise of a new threat: the
Ottoman Turk sultanate, which spread from Asia to Europe conquering Byzantium and then the other states in the
Balkans. ==Members==