Stefan Uroš IV Dušan - The Mighty King of Serbia and Tsar of the Balkans

Stefan Uroš IV Dušan, also known as Dušan the Mighty, was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Greeks (or Romans), Albanians, and Bulgarians from 16 April 1346 until his death in 1355. He conquered a large part of Southeast Europe, becoming one of the most powerful monarchs of the era. Under his rule, Serbia was the most powerful state in Southeast Europe, one of the most powerful European states, and an Eastern Orthodox multi-ethnic and multi-lingual empire that stretched from the Danube in the north to the Gulf of Corinth in the south, with its capital in Skopje.

Dušan's Code, the constitution of the Serbian Empire, was perhaps the most important literary work of medieval Serbia. It codified the existing laws, customs, and privileges of the various peoples and regions within the empire, creating a unified legal system. Dušan also promoted the Serbian Church from an archbishopric to a patriarchate, finished the construction of the Visoki Dečani Monastery (now a UNESCO site), and founded the monastery of the Holy Archangels, among others. Under his rule, Serbia reached its territorial, political, economic, and cultural peak.

Despite his achievements, the empire began to weaken after Dušan's sudden death in 1355. With the death of his successor, Emperor Stefan Uroš V, the Serbian Empire was definitively divided into a large number of independent Serbian states. Among these, the Serbian Despotate stood out as the most prominent under the rule of the Lazarević dynasty.

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