Figure 1.--This fresco shows Prince Nikola going to school. We are not yet sure where this fresco originated. Nor do we know yet how Prince Nikloa fits into the Serbian royal line. Source: Serbian Education Museum.

The Serbs by the second half of the 9th century had been converted to the Orthodox Christianity. Serb Zupans gradually achieved increasing levels of authorities within the Empire. A descendent, Stefan II, became King of Serbia in 1217 and was ancestor of Stefan Dushan (Urosh IV), who proclaimed himself Emperor of the Greeks and Serbs in 1346 (d 1355), father of the last male of this line, Stefan Urosh V, murdered in 1367. Stefan II also left an illegitimate son, Vuk, Prince of Zeta, whose great-great-granddaughter Milica mairred Lazar Grebelyanovich, who deposed Stefan Urosh V and was killed at the Battle of Kosovo Polje when the Serbs suffered a disatrous defeat at the hands of Turkish Sultan Murat I (1389).

Created: 2:55 AM 3/1/20088
Last updated: 2:56 AM 3/1/2008