Serbian Culture

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RISES AND FALLS IN SERBIAN STATEHOOD IN THE MIDDLE AGES

The preconditions for the creation of the Serbian nation came about in the seventh century when part of the Serbian tribes settled in the Roman province of Dalmatia, along with some of the other groups of Slavs. It is not known what differentiated those groups at that time or what the basis was for their individuality. Narratives about their origins played a role in distinguishing them. Among the Balkan Serbs the tradition was long held that they came from the north, from "White" Serbia, whence also came the oldest ruling family.The Slavs spread out widely across the Balkan peninsula, forming a large number of small principalities. Byzantine writers of the day took notice of their number, and described them with the characteristic name "Sklavinija". Members of the Serbian tribes participated in the development of several principalities. Apart from Serbia which (in the ninth century)stretched from the Sava to the Dinaric massif, approximately from Ibar in the East to Vrbas in the West, they settled in mountainous regions and karst areas which would give the inhabitants special names: the Tribes of Neretva - those who settled between the Cetina and the Neretva and on the islands of Brac, Hvar, and Korcula; the Tribes of the Zahumlje region - those who settled between the Neretva and the hinterlands of Dubrovnik; the Tribes of Travunija and Konavli - those who settled between Dubrovnik and Boka Kotorska. In the eleventh century, one of the centres of Serb political life was the Principality of Duklja, which spread around Lake Scutari and the valley of the River Zeta. A Votive Carriage from Dupljaja, near Vrsac, 1500-1200 years B.C.Along with the other territories occupied by Slavonic tribes, the Serbian tribes were exposed to the attempts of their neighbours to rule them. In the seventh and eighth centuries, the Avars of Pannonia tried to dominate them, while the Byzantine Empire had aspirations for all the lands which had once belonged to the Roman Empire. After 680 A.D., the Slavonic tribes between the Danube and mountains of the Balkans were ruled by the Proto-Bulgars who created a state which would rapidly expand, absorbing all the Slavonic tribal principalities. From the middle of the ninth century onward, Serbia found itself in the path of the Bulgar expansion, and it became the scene of rivalry between the Byzantine Empire and Bulgaria. Pretexts for foreign intervention were given by numerous conflicts in the ruling dynasty, as the descendants of Prince Viseslav were struggling for power and frequently replacing each other on the throne.The Byzantine Empire achieved a great success in 870 when it managed to baptize the Serbian rulers, thus opening the way to the mass conversion of the Serbs to Christianity, accompanied by strong political and cultural influences from the Empire. The Serbian principalities were subordinated to the ecclesiastical metropolises in Split and Syrmium. With Christianization, some of the differences among the tribes were pushed into the background, especially those which were rooted in pagan beliefs, and the path to unification was opened up on the basis of a common Christian culture. A significant role in that was played by the translation of biblical and liturgical texts, and by the alphabets which were adapted to the specificities of Slavonic languages, first Glagolitic and then Cyrillic. However, Christianity also caused the appearance of some new differences among the Slavs as a result of the disparate influences of the ecclesiastical centres under whose jurisdiction they found themselves. The church's attitude toward the use of Slavonic in the liturgy had deep roots and far-reaching consequences. It placed the Serbs in a position where they could maintain, develop and further adapt their literacy.Resistance to the Bulgarian expansion stopped in 924, when Serbia was conquered; the occupation lasted only for a short time, because Prince Caslav (927-ca.950) managed to revive the Serbian state immediately after the death of Tsar Simeon. Caslav expanded the borders to the coastline, and he repelled the attack of the Magyars who had settled in Pannonia at the end of the ninth century, imposing their rule over the predominantly Slavonic population they found in the area. In the subsequent period, the Serbs very strongly felt the consequences of the Byzantine conquests. The battles to subordinate Bulgaria lasted for four decades, for Bulgaria was the greatest of the Byzantine opponents in the battle for rule over the Balkan Slavs. By the time those battles had finished in 1018, the boundaries of the Byzantine Empire had reached the Danube and Sava. Gamzigrad (Felix Romuliana) near Zajecar, the remains of the imperial palace and its bulwalks, end of the third and beginning of the fourth centuries A.D.At that time, the territories settled by the Serbs cut across the borders which separated the regions under direct Byzantine rule, east of the line from Syrmium (Sremska Mitrovica) - Ras (Novi Pazar) - Prizren, and west of that line was a region under native rulers, with a traditional structure grownout of its Slavonic background. Those territories subordinated to the Byzantine Empire belonged to the archbishopric in Ohrid, so that the Serbian lands were split by the boundary between the jurisdictions of Rome and Constantinople even before the Great Schism in the church (1054).In the territories under direct Byzantine rule, ancient cities were revived such as Syrmium, Belgrade, Branicevo, and Nis as they became the sees of ecclesiastical and secular rule, and which constantly had an influence on the surrounding population for over two centuries. North of the Danube and Sava in the Hungarian Kingdom, sparsely populated, ethnically heterogenous territories were given townships, fortresses, organized government (districts) and bishoprics.After the subordination of Bulgaria, pressure came only from the Byzantine Empire, especially from its bastions in Dubrovnik and Drac, and the centres of Serbian resistance were formed in the vicinity of those towns. In Duklja (Zeta) and in Zahumlje, Prince Stefan Vojislav (1037-1051) managed to overthrow the Byzantine rule, and his descendants Mihailo (ca.1055-ca. 1082) and Bodin (ca. 1082-1101) expanded and stabilized the state through reconciliation with the supremacy of the emperors, and by temporarily subordinating themselves to them. After the end of the eleventh century, a greater role was played by the regions in the interior, the centres being in Bosnia and in the fortress of Ras.After the beginning of the twelfth century, the Hungarian Kingdom conquered Croatia and began to rule over the Byzantine towns in Dalmatia, and thus began the long-lasting battle between the Byzantine Empire and Hungary for dominance in the Balkans. The Serbs found themselves caught between two powerful opponents, so that those in Bosnia under rulers who carried the title of "ban" were subordinated to the Hungarian kings. Meanwhile, those in the eastern territories under the rule of the "great Zupans" (regional rulers), were wards of the Byzantine emperors. In battle they would sometimes desert and join the opposing forces. Closer ties were formed between the Hungarian and Serbian ruling dynasties during this period. A Sculpture from Lepenski Vir,ca. 6000 years B.C.The final triumph of the Byzantine Empire during the rule of Emmanuel Comnen (1143-1180), when Hungary and the surrounding Serbian territories were subdued, was paid for by greatly sapping the empire's strength, so that after the death of the militant emperor there was a long period of crisis. The great Serb leader of that time, Stefan Nemanja (1166-1196), took advantage of the weaknesses of the Byzantine Empire as it struggled through hard times and extended his authority to the South Morava and Great Morava, then into the territory of what is now Kosovo, and also to the plains around Lake Scutari and to the coastal towns from Kotor to Scutari. The territories which had once belonged to the principalities of Zahumlje and Travunija fell under the rule of Nemanja's brothers and sons, so that the Serbian state stretched from the River Neretva to South Morava, and from Mt. Rudnik down to the Adriatic. Stefan Nemanja abdicated the throne, appointing his middle son, Stefan, to replace him; Stefan was the son-in-law of the Byzantine imperial family. Nemanja became a monk at the monastery of Studenica (built under his own patronage), and soon after joined his youngest son Sava (who was also a monk) in Athos. Together they built the monastery of Hilandar for Serbian monks. This monastery would play an important role in the development of the Serbian church and of Serbian culture.

AMONG THE BALKAN STATES

As the son-in-law of the emperor and bearer of the title "Sevastokrator" ("Sublime Ruler"), Stefan Nemanjic (1196-1227) enjoyed the support of the Byzantine Empire and managed to maintain the heritage left him by Nemanja. Yet, when the situation changed from the ground up, since the western crusaders led by the Venetians conquered Constantinople and over threw the Byzantine Empire, Stefan turned to the West. Through clever political maneuvering he managed to remove all the dangers threatening from Hungary, from the Latin Empire, from the revived Bulgaria and from the newly independent rulers in the Byzantine provinces. In this period of turbulence and violent change, he managed to keep his own state intact. He improved its reputation and rank by receiving a royal crown from the pope (1217), which among his descendants and heirs brought him the title of "first-crowned king" - Stefan Prvovencani. The Nemanjic Family Tree, a fresco in the narthex of the Patriarchate of Pec, ca. 1330Due to the activities of the king's brother, Sava, the position of the church changed significantly within the Serbian state, having a bifurcated tradition: it was Roman Catholic in the towns on the Adriatic coast and in their vicinity, and it was Byzantine-Orthodox in the territory of the archbishopric of Ohrid. The Catholic territories were under the jurisdiction of the archbishoprics of Bar and Dubrovnik, while in the Orthodox territories the churches were under the bishoprics in Ras, Lipljan and Prizren. Attempting to obtain a unified ecclesiastical framework within his kingdom, under local leadership, the king supported the Orthodox tradition of the regions in the interior in spite of his relationship to the Catholic Holy See.In Nicaea a, the centre for Greeks in Asia Minor who safe-guarded the tradition of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and attempted to revive the Byzantine Empire, Sava Nemanjic obtained agreement from the emperor and patriarch to form a separate archbishopric. Sava was appointed archbishop in 1219 in Nicaea, while it was foreseen that his successors would be chosen and appointed in Serbia. The boundaries of the Orthodox territories were moved to the west and the south all the way to the coastline, not including the ancient coastal cities and their districts. New bishoprics were founded, with their see sin the monasteries where the priests were educated, and the books necessary for the life of the church were copied. Sava I provided for a translation of the Byzantine code of church laws and rules for the use of the clergy, named Nomokanon (Krmcija, Svetosavska krmcija). Saint Sava, the first Serbian archbishop, a fresco at Mileseva, done before 1228The Serbian kingdom and autocephalous church were a framework in which renewed cultural activity developed specific traits. This can be seen in the churches and other ecclesiastical buildings of the Raska School of architecture (Studenica, Zica, Mileseva, Sopocani, Gradac, Arilje, and elsewhere), and also in the great strides made in scribal and literary activities. The inherited language of literary expression began to take on traits of the vernacular, while the corpus of translated and copied works and genres began to include works written by the Serbs themselves. As in the construction and furnishing of the monasteries and churches, the members of the ruling dynasty stood out here as well: Stefan Prvovencani and Sava I both wrote vitae of St. Simeon (Stefan Nemanja), their father and the founder of the dynasty. These vitae played an important part in the founding of the cult, which later included St. Sava and some of the other rulers who were revered as saints in the Serbian autocephalous church. The cult of holy rulers raised the authority of the dynasty and made it possible for a distinctive Serbian tradition to arise with the further development of Christianity, under the protection of the church.Along with developing specific cultural values, the territories in the Serbian archbishopric expanded toward those who had remained outside of their boundaries, most of all toward the citizens of coastal towns and the subjects of the Bosnian bans. Having arisen from the foundations of Serbian tribes, the Bosnian state developed separately and expanded to include parts of the neighbouring Croatian and Serbian territories. Its distinctiveness was evidenced by the "Bosnian Church" which was judged to be heretical by those in both the Catholic and Orthodox churches. The confessional difference sand occasional conflicts of the bans with the Serbian kings led to divisions among the population. Only did the expansion of Bosnia into the territories of the Nemanjic state make it possible for Bosnia to play a significant role in the safeguarding and development of the Serbian tradition in the second half of the fourteenth century.After Stefan Prvovencani, his sons Stefan Radoslav (1227-1234) and Stefan Vladislav (1234-1243) played a subordinated role in the complexities of Balkan politics, but they managed to preserve their state intact. Their youngest brother, Stefan Uros I (1243-1276) attempted to expand the territories he had inherited northwards (the banate of Macva) and to the south(Skopje). He achieved more long- lasting results in stimulating mining operations, in the coining of silver coins, in the strengthening of mercantile trade, and in the unification of the different parts of the state.It was actually Uros's sons, Stefan Dragutin (1276-1282, died 1316) and Stefan Uros II Milutin (1282-1321), who achieved greater success in the expansion of the Serbian state. Milutin conquered northern and central Macedonia (up to the town of Prosek, today known as Demir Kapija), while Dragutin was given the banate of Macva and Belgrade with its environs because he was the son-in-law and vassal of the Hungarian king. Together the brothers conquered the territories of what is now northeastern Serbia from the local Bulgarian magnates, territories which were known as Branicevo and Kucevo at that time. The Serbian state thus temporarily expanded to the Sava and Danube, thereby creating the conditions necessary for better settlement and ties with the central regions of Serbia. The ground was prepared for the later movement of the centre of political and cultural life to the north. A Silver Coin minted by king Milutin (1282-1321)The beginning of the fourteenth century was shaken by the long years of struggle between Milutin and Dragutin, brought about as both of them tried to secure the Serbian throne for their heirs. This dynastic struggle caused the state to weaken and some territories were lost upon the succession of Milutin's son Stefan Uros III Decanski (1321- 1331). The policy of conquering was not taken up again until the succession of his son Stefan Dusan (1331-1355), who took advantage of the militancy of the feudal lords and the internal disintegration and troubles within the Byzantine Empire. In several vanquishing waves southward, toward the wealthy and urbanized regions of the Byzantine Empire, Dusan's territorial authority extended even further: from Macedonia and Albania (1334, 1342-1345) to Epirus and Thessaly (1347- 1348).In April of 1346, Dusan was crowned the "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks", after having elevated the Serbian archbishopric to the level of a Patriarchate. This change clearly expressed the newly-found status of the Serbian state, which had become the leading power of the Balkan peninsula. Through expansion, this state grew distant from its primary nucleus, aspiring toward Constantinople, and also from its ancient tradition, identifying itself with a universal Orthodox empire. The enormous state, which spread from the Sava and Danube down to the Gulf of Corinth, was constantly defending itself, both on the battlefield and in the perfection of its organization and legislation.The political expansion which was characteristic of Dusan's time made stable internal growth possible, above all in the flourishing of the economy, which also added to the wealth of the rulers. Due to the interest in the products of the Serbian mines, especially in silver, Serbia took part in the economic development of the Mediterranean through the mediation of merchants on the coast. From the mines opened up till this time, urban centres for trade and business, were developed. This was especially the case with the opening of a large number of mines at the end of the fourteenth and in the fifteenth centuries.From the time of Milutin onward, Serbia had been open to the influences of the Byzantine Empire in the construction of a system of government, in the creation of institutions, and in the establishment of law and order. As emperor, Dusan conscientiously and consistently transplanted the models of the Byzantine empire onto Serbian soil, especially in the organization of the royal court and its appointments, the system of ranks and titles, and the work of the offices. As head of the state he spread a system of government which was founded on "kefalija", governmental appointees in the towns and regions.Dusan's kingdom was made up of a wide range of territories. Some of them had Byzantine law and governmental structure, others had never been under direct Byzantine rule. Some lived under Byzantine law, and others under the law of custom. The emperor's legislative activity, the main product of which was Dusan's Code (1349, 1354), was intended to enhance the unification of government and perfection of the functioning of governmental authority. The two hundred articles of the Code regulated a wide range of legal issues of the time, and it acted as a bridge between the imported laws of the Byzantine Empire and the Serbian law of custom. The law-maker accepted the great inequality in society as a starting point, in which a widespread and heterogeneous peasant class stood opposite to the nobles; he ensured the role of the government in establishing law and order and in uprooting crime, but he had to accept the jurisdiction of the aristocracy, of the autonomous districts and of groups with special rights. Dushan's Code, established in 1349 and 1354; this is a page from a copy made in the fourteenth centuryThe cultural trends of this period indicate the long-lasting consequences of the previous conquests. From the time of Milutin, emulation of the models of Constantinople were prominent in architecture and art, which led to the creation of a distinct Serbian- Byzantine style. In scribal, translation and literary undertakings the number of genres increased, including translations of Byzantine world chronicles and legal manuals which served as a popularization of the ideology of the Empire.The policy of conquest was interrupted after Dusan's unexpected death (1355). During the time of Dusan's successor, Stefan Uros (1355-1371), noblemen who were appointed to certain regions grew more powerful and gradually became independent lords. The development of the state was reversed, so that the first parts to break off were those which had last been conquered. Dusan's half-brother Simeon Uros Paleologos pro- claimed himself emperor and founded a separate state in Thessaly which was maintained until the end of the fourteenth century. Dusan's appointees became the basis for the establishment of dynasties of local lords in Epirus and southern Albania. However, they were not related to the Serbian state.

IN THE BATTLE FOR SURVIVA

This development had even greater consequences because somewhat earlier the Turks had established footholds on European soil. In opposition to them stood disunited, quarrelling local lords instead of the powerful, united empire of Dusan. The first to face the Turkish expansion was the lord of the town of Ser and its surroundings, Despot Jovan Ugljesa. His brother, Vukasin, who was the lord of the territories in western Macedonia, had become co-emperor with Uros, with the ancient royal title of the Serbs. The brothers tried to repulse the Turks, but they were defeated and killed at the Battle on the Maritsa River (September 26, 1371). The Turks grew stronger. The regions of their vassals extended to Macedonia where Vukasin's sons were, and to the borderlands between Serbia and Bulgaria, where Dusan's nephews of the Dejanovic family (the Dragasi) had their own territory.The lords of the central regions grew stronger and continued to quarrel over territory. Prince Lazar Hrebeljanovic(1362-1389) became more and more renowned. As the lord of the territory from Novo Brdo to Krusevac, he gradually extended his authority all the way to the Sava and Danube. His neighbour, Nikola Altomanovic (1363-1373) gained a stronghold over the regions united earlier by Vojislav Vojinovic, taking control over the regions from western Serbia down to the coastline and threatening his neighbour regions. Due to the older and newer conquests, starting from the Neretva valley and extending toward the East, the Bosnian ban Tvrtko began to play an increasingly important role. He was a cousin of the Nemanjic family and he had claim to the Serbian throne on that basis. Together with Prince Lazar, he defeated Nikola Altomanovic in 1377, and extended his rule to include Polimlje and Boka. That same year he was crowned as the King of the Serbs and of Bosnia. King Stefan Dechanski and Tsar Dushan, a fresco at Dechani, painted between 1346 and 1350The lords in the central regions were also attacked by the Turks. After several local conflicts, Prince Lazar, his son-in-law Vuk Brankovic and King Stefan Tvrtko I (1353-1391), who sent a unit to help, all tried to repulse the Turks. In a bloody battle at Kosovo polje on June 15, 1389, Prince Lazar, the Turkish Sultan Murad, and thousands of warriors on both sides were killed. In later historical tradition, this battle would be remembered as the decisive defeat of the Serbs, the end of the Serbian state.The Turks quickly recovered and imposed their own rule over Lazar's successors, and after 1392 over Vuk Brankovic, who had become a leading figure until the Turks overthrew him and imprisoned him in 1397. In this wave of conquest, the Turks took what had been a vassal state in Macedonia (1395).The reversal did not come about until the Turkish defeat at Angora (1402) at the hands of the Mongols. Internal struggles among the pretenders to the Turkish throne ensued, which allowed the Balkan states a respite of several decades in which they developed independently.The son of Lazar, Stefan Lazarevic (1389-1427) managed to gain a stronghold in the territories he inherited and gradually to gather in the other territories of what had once been the Serbian state. In 1402, he was granted the title of despot by the Byzantine emperor, and Serbian rulers would bear that title till the end of their independent state. He accepted ultimate rule by the Hungarian king, thus obtaining Belgrade and Macva which Serbia and Hungary had been quarrelling over for ages. His position was weakened by conflicts with his brother and with his nephews - the sons of Vuk Brankovic. After a truce in 1411, the regions under their control were unified, and Vuk's son, Djuradj, was appointed to be the successor to his uncle. Stefan's other nephew, Balsa III, thelast of the Balsic family, willed Stefan his lands just before his death. So, Zeta as well (although it was reduced in size because part of it was held by the Venetians) came to be part of the Serbian state, thus ending a long period of fragmentation. The lands of the Serbian despots stretched from the Sava and Danube down to Sar- planina and Lake Scutari, and they were centralized in the north: Belgrade was the capital during the reign of Stefan Lazarevic, and Smederevo during the reign of Djuradj Brankovic (1427-1456).In spite of the difficulties and dual vassal responsibilities to Hungary and Turkey, the despots managed to establish internal stability in the state, along with economic prosperity and the flourishing of culture. Apart from the old-established mines, new ones were opened thus attracting merchants and increasing the rulers' incomes more than ever. Along with their economic and governmental functions, the towns gradually became centres of society and culture. The tradition of the Nemanjic family as founders and builders was taken up by Prince Lazar, and that tradition was continued by his successors and by the noblemen of the time. The artistic monuments of the epoch are grouped in the northern territories, and they bear the common characteristics of the Morava school. In literary and translation work, there was special interest in historical themes. Holy Warriors, a fresco in the monastery of Manasija, ca. 1418 The short-lived prosperity of the era of the despots was built on a weak foundation because Serbia did not have the strength to defend its independence at that time. Caught between Hungary and Turkey, Serbia depended on the relations between those two states. In one period of enmity, the Turks conquered Serbia (1439), but Serbia was revived in the war of 1443 and the truce of 1444. However, the last era of independence did not last long. Under the rule of Mohammed II (1451- 1481), the Turks began to conquer the vassal states systematically and Serbia found itself under attack every year (1451-1459). In those assaults, the territory of Serbia grew ever smaller, until Smederevo finally fell on June 20, 1459. Soon after that the Serbian territories in Bosnia also fell (1463-1465). The mountain areas of Zeta held out the longest, up until 1496. Then under the rule of the local dynasty of the Crnojevic family, which safeguarded the old traditions and symbols, Zeta was known as Crna Gora (Montenegro) from that time forward. The printing shop at the monastery at Cetinje, which published in Cyrillic, was a unique cultural achievement of the time (1493-1496).The Turkish conquest radically changed the conditions for the development of the Serbian nation. The dynasty and most of the nobility was uprooted. Secular institutions were destroyed, so that only the church carried on the continuity of tradition, because it alone could go on functioning, albeit in poverty and under incomparably more difficult circumstances than previously. Now under the guises of an Islamic theocratic empire, the Serbs (like all other subordinate nations) were placed under constant pressure to adapt themselves to the Moslem social order, including the state and legal apparatus as well. The Ottoman state tolerated those of other faiths, Christian citizens were considered to be wards of the sultan, but the way to social acceptance was open only to those who accepted the religious confession of the conquerors. From the very beginning of the Turkish rule, up till its very end, individuals and groups from various layers of Serbian society accepted Islam, sometimes to make their life easier or to retain their property, sometimes to obtain a place in the military or in the governmental machine. Most often, conversion to Islam was a marginal process, usually accompanied by ostracism of those who accepted Islam from the Serbian milieu. In exceptional cases, compact groups of the Moslem population were formed, separated from their compatriots not only by their faith, but also by the accompanying cultural differences(names, clothing, eating habits, ambience, the rituals and rites which frame life from birth to death, etc.). Even if they remained in the same milieu and retained their language, those who accepted Islam changed their relationship to historical traditions. Their separation was reinforced by their different attitudes toward the Ottoman empire.Immediately after conquest, the lands were divided between the Turkish warriors among whom, for a time some, some were even Christians. Part of the lands was reserved for the sultan and the high dignitaries (especially the mines and merchant centres in the towns). Territories were divided into administrative units known as sanjaks, nahias, and qadis. Their centres were in towns which took on an oriental appearance and Islamic character more quickly than the villages, especially because of the military garrisons, officers and Turkish artisans. Holy Prince Lazar, woodcuting, end of the seventeenth centuryThe Turkish conquests were preceded and followed by great migrations which swept the Serbs far from their homeland of times past. They moved into the neighbouring territories along the Danube, settling in what is now Vojvodina where the state traditions under the despots (the Brankovic family, the Berislavic family and Pavle Bakic) were maintained until the fall of Hungary (1541). Some of the Serbs were forcibly moved and led from the Turkish to the Christian side, where they were made a part of the system of defence (the Military Border)which was formed in the sixteenth century. They spread into Dalmatia, Croatia, Slavonia, parts of Slovenia, distant regions of Hungary, and Transylvania. In some areas, the Serb settlers were small in number and sparsely settled, so that in later times they were assimilated by the more numerous and denser local populations of colonists brought in from abroad.Scattered out over a vast territory, divided between two empires at war, the Serbs were kept together by a strong historical tradition and by the unique framework of the Orthodox church. The patriarchs and council disappeared soon after the Turkish conquest, the metropolitans were chosen by local councils, and titles were obtained from the sultan. The Patriarchate of Pec was not revived until 1557, encompassing an enormous area with more than 40 metropolitans and bishops. Significant juridical responsibilities in terms of marital and inheritance rights also fell to the church. Although the church had lost most of its lands, it still managed to carryout its mission by supporting itself on the small contributions made by a large number of believers. In spite of the official ban on the construction of new Christian places of worship, numerous churches and monasteries were erected in the period of Turkish rule.In architecture and in art the traditions of the Middle Ages were retained, and the old monuments served as models. Despite the unsuitable conditions, scribal and literary activities remained vital, and many important works were saved due to the copies made in the period under the Turks. With the passing of time, the territories with tribal societies in the mountainous areas of what are today Herzegovina and Montenegro became the greatest keepers of the medieval tradition, because they were cut off from direct Turkish interference and pressure. The tribal chiefs and church hierarchy worked together in organizing the battle against the Turkish rule at the end of the sixteenth century, and they were inspired by the idea of a revived Serbian kingdom.The period of peace, after the uprising against the Turks at the end of the sixteenth and beginning of the seventeenth centuries during the time of Patriarch Pajsije (1614-1647) was filled with activity in the realm of culture; the main aim of that activity was to maintain and continue tradition. Old texts were zealously gathered and copied, the Patriarch himself wrote the Vita of Tsar Uros (thereby founding his cult),and churches were renovated and iconography revived. Among the characteristic fruits of this revival there was also a new revision of Dusan's legislation, which was more a memorial to the old Serbian state than a real factor in the every day life of the seventeenth century.

EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURIES

The Turkish conquest of the Balkans and Danube basin were preceded and followed by migrations of the Serbian people. As the Turks penetrated into the land the Serbs withdrew. The Serbs migrated ahead of the invading Turks because they did not want to live under the Turkish rule, and they sought protection in the neighbouring Christian states who welcomed them to settle along the deserted borderlands. Once they subjugated the Serbian state, the Turks moved the Serbs into the abandoned boundary areas of their new state, especially the herdsmen because they migrated the most anyway.The migrations caused by the Turks began in the middle of the fifteenth century and lasted until the beginning of the nineteenth century. They weakened the medieval ethnic nucleus of the Serbs, but they also helped spread it significantly to the north and west, stretching to Timisoara, Arad, the right bank of the Muresul, to Szeged, Buda, Krizevci, Gorski Kotar and Zumberak. The migrations were particularly significant to the territories of southern Hungary (Banat, Backa, Srem and Baranja), Slavonia, especially in western and northwestern Bosnia, in Banija, Kordun, Lika and continental northern Dalmatia. In those territories, the Serbs have remained, while to the north and west they have mostly disappeared. The Migration of the Serbian People, 1690, oil on canvass, painted by Paja Jovanovic. National Museum in Pancevo.During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Serbian population migrated in waves; one such migration is known as the Great Migration (1690). In the living memory of the people, one other migration of such magnitude is recalled, that of 1737, but it was not as intensive as the first. Apart from the fact that they were so massive, these migrations were different from the others in that the people were led by their patriarchs, first Arsenije III and then Arsenije IV.From the fifteenth to the end of the eighteenth centuries, the Turkish wars against Hungary, Austria and the Venetian Republic were quite numerous, and they were most often fought in the areas where the Serbs were living. The rivalry between Austria and Turkey, before Russia drew closer to the Balkans, had a great impact on the Serbs as well. They lived in territories belonging to both kingdoms, as well as in the territories of the other two above mentioned states (Hungary till 1526 and the Venetian Republic till 1797), and the Serbs participated in their wars - in every one of the mentioned armies. In the borderlands between Austria and Turkey, except in the easternmost sector, the Serbs made up the majority of the population and were organized into defense services. In Turkey it was called the serhat, in Austria it was called the Military Border. The Turks paid much less attention to the border troops, while the Austrians made a military institution of them. The Military Border lasted from the sixteenth century to the second half of the nineteenth, and it played a significant role in the history of the western and northern Serbs. The Serbs also lived outside the area of the Military Border, in the so-called Provincial Lands, but their obligations, rights and social status were different. The Serbs living between the rivers Sava and Drava had a kind of self-government, due to the Serbian Statute (Statuta Valachorum, 1630), and in southern Hungary due to a set of privileges they gained in the 1690s.In the great wars - the Long War (1591-1606), the Candian War (1645-1669), the War of Vienna (1683-1699), and in the wars for Serbia (1716-1718, 1737-1739, 1788-1791) - the Serbs ended up killing each other as they fought in the armies of both empires and of the Venetian Republic. The Serbs in the north believed they were fighting to defend Christendom, and that Christendom would help them to revive their state afterwards. The Serbs in the south were forced to fight with the Turkish troops. These wars left barrenness and anarchy in their wake, suitable conditions for the work of the haiduks, whose activity was constant during the entire period of Turkish rule in Serbian territories. There is a partial similarity between the activities of the haiduks and the uskoks living in the coastal lands: the uskoks living in areas under Austrian or Venetian rule would also make attacks into Turkish territory.The conversion to Islam was remarkably slow and was not a massive phenomenon, but it did not cease till the nineteenth century, or the beginning of the twentieth century in the south. In the lands bordering Serbia and Albania, especially after the migration of 1690, this phenomenon was replaced by the assimilation of the Serbs by the Albanians. In the west, especially in Dalmatia and along the coast, the Serbs were catholicized while in the north they were forced to accept ecclesiastical union with Catholics (Marca, Zumberak). In Dalmatia, this process was still going on in the first half of the nineteenth century.With the fall of the medieval Serbian state, the Serbian Orthodox church became the most significant institution of the Serbs. In caring for its people, the church came into conflict with the Turkish Porta. The patriarchs who sought help in the West were killed in Istanbul. Two patriarchs were forced to migrate with their people into the neighbouring Habsburg Empire. Apart from taking care of the religion and the customs of the people, the Serbian church kept the memory of former statehood alive among the people. When the Porta dissolved the Patriarchate of Pec by decree in 1766, church authority was reestablished in the Ecumenical Patriarchate, with the Greek archbishops, except for the Metropolis of Cetinje. In the territory of Austria, the Metropolis of Karlowitz worked under less unfavourable conditions, and it was elevated to the rank of a Patriarchate in 1848. When the Serbian state was revived in modern times, the church shared its international position, becoming autonomous in 1832. The Metropolis of Belgrade became autocephalous in 1879. Only after the unification of the Serbs into a state was completed was it possible for the church to unify into a Serbian patriarchate (1920).Near the end of the War of Vienna, the Montenegrins chose Danilo Petrovic as Bishop in 1697, and he introduced the custom that the bishop names his successor while he is still alive. Thus, the house of Petrovic Njegos was insured the bishop's mitre, and later the titles of prince and king. The bishops of Cetinje also bore the authority of the church, but they were gradually struggling to gain secular authority as well (theocracy), grappling until 1830 with the "governors" (the secular rulers) supported by the Venetians. A long religious tradition, the church's deep roots in the people, the support of Russia and the prestige of the house of Petrovic Njegos all worked in favour of the bishops having precedence over the governors. Yet, in the end it was decided that having a monarch at the head of the state and not churchman was more appropriate.Montenegro was made up of four nahias at that time - Katun, Rijeka, Crmnica, and Ljesanska. Bishop Danilo had to withstand several Turkish attacks, and he sought protection from Russia; this would become a tradition in the foreign policy of Montenegro. In the second half of the eighteenth century, one character of interest made an appearance: Scepan Mali presented himself as the Russian Emperor Peter III, and thus managed to suppress the bishop of Montenegro for a time.The first important steps in founding state institutions, thus fighting against tribal anarchy, were made by Petar I (1784-1830). He tried to make peace among the tribes by forcing them to take oaths. Through a decision made by the Council of Cetinje (1796) known as the "Stega", he unified the tribes in the battle against the Turks. Unified and at peace, they not only offered strong resistance to the vizier of Scutari, Mohammed-pasha Busatlija, they even defeated him at the battles of Martinici and Krusi. Afterward, the Assembly at Stanjevici adopted the The General Code of Montenegro and the Mountains (1798, appended in 1803), and founded the Office of Justice of Montenegro and the Mountains, the so-called Kuluk. Apart from cooperating with Serbian rebels, they also unified for a short time with the people of Boka Kotorska (1814).His successor, Petar II (1830-1851), is more famous as a poet than as the bishop or lord of Montenegro. With the removal of the governors, ambiguity in government was removed. This made it possible for the bishop to found the Administrative Senate of Montenegro and the Mountains, and to establish the armed forces of the government.After the elimination of the Patriarchate of Pec, the pashalik of Belgrade became the centre of all that was Serbian, and Austria and Turkey fought their three last wars around it. In the second half of the eighteenth century, a unique system of local autonomies was created. Although it was founded on the authority of the Porta, it was not uniform at the level of the pashaliks because of the anarchy which raged throughout the land.CONTINUE

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SERBINA MEDIEVAL HISTORY

There were many factors that contributed to the forming of a Serb national identity by the dawn of the nation-building 19th century. These are all largely based on three key legacies that can be traced back to the Middle Ages. * Original Slavic tradition, customs and mindset, as were brought with Serbs from their ancestral homeland. * The Orthodox Christian medieval state, with its splendid spiritual and material monuments. * The Kosovo battle epic and myth, embodied in the vibrant oral tradition of the subsequent centuries of foreign occupation.There is also an organic link between these three factors. The first bridge was largely provided by St. Sava early in the 13th c., when he managed to finally entrench Eastern rite Christianity and its values firmly on the Serbs, Thus, by establishing a nationally integrated Church, they provided a complement to, and a firm foundation for the State that adjoined it. The second bridge was secured by events at the twilight of that state, centered around the Battle of Kosovo, and their moral and spiritual legacy. Rooted in the second phase, these events created a basis for maintaining that legacy in the altered conditions of foreign yoke, while providing a lasting moral value system, and maintaining a note of understated Christian optimism.

SERBIAN RULERS

Portraits Of Medieval Serbian Rulers

DESPOT STEFAN LAZAREVIÄ†

Wall painting (detail) Ravanica church, mid-1380s.Subtle sensibility characterizes this rendition of young Stefan, shown here in a family setting on an important fresco in his father's main endowment. The headband with precious stones he and his brother wear is to underscore their noble roots. Wall painting (detail) Manasija monastery, 1406-1418.In his main endowment, Despot Stefan is depicted as a donor, with an unfolded scroll listing the main privileges granted to the monastery - incidentally, one which was a key center of learning and knowledge dissemination of its time.

DESPOT DURADJ BRANKOVIÄ†

Esphigmenou charter (detail) Esphigmenou (Svimen) monastery, Mt. Athos, 1429.While most lifetime portraits of Byzantine and Serbian medieval rulers are from fresco wall paintings, charter illuminations (illustrations) are an important exception. This one, written and painted on paper and issued in 1429 at Zica monastery, made Despot Djuradj the new patron of Esphigmenou, and gave the impoverished fraternity a yearly endowment of 50 litres of silver from the Novo Brdo mining taxes. The entire ruling family is represented, with the appropriate attire and accessories.

EMPEROR DUÅ AN

Wall painting (detail), Church of the monastery Lesnovo, Kratovo, ca. 1347-8.The best preserved and most famous picture of Dusan, in the endowment of his key nobleman, Despot Jovan Oliver. While probably rooted in his actual features, Dusan's appearance here is largely idealized. With an emphasis on the sublime befitting the newly crowned Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks (Romans), he raises his eyes upward apparently seeking divine guidance, in a manner remincent of Constantine the Great many centuries earlier. Wall painting (detail), Decani monastery, 1335-1350.This strong, if somewhat damaged, lifetime portrait delivers a hint of the powerful ruler at his prime, while lacking the divine overtones of the previous work. Wall painting (detail), Decani monastery, 1340.In the context of a composition of praising the Virgin and flanked by his immediate family (wife and child), Dusan is rendered with a milder, more human and tender expression. "The Nemanjic family tree", wall painting (detail), Decani monastery, ca. 1345.Here, Dusan is shown as the current ruler heading the elaborate dynastic family tree, probably the nicest of several of its kind. "The Crowning of Emperor Dusan" (detail), by Paja Jovanovic, oil, 1931, National Museum, Belgrade.This monumental composition was originally sketched in 1899, by the most famous painter of the academic realism genre and Serbian historical themes. Dusan's features and to some extent iconography appear rather removed from those shown in paintings by his contemporaries, and are more in function of the overall majestic impression of this masterpiece.

PRINCE LAZAR

Wall painting (detail) Ravanica monastery, mid-1380s.Surviving portraits from Prince Lazar's lifetime are vary rare - while his coinage often shows his image, very seldom do these appear to be really modeled after him personally. Here, one cannot but wonder whether the musing gaze does not hint of the fateful choices the man was soon to face - choices that were to underlie his later legend. Wall painting (detail) Ljubostinja monastery, 1402.Although completed eleven years after Lazar's death at a time when he was already a canonized martyr, the rendition here (in his widow's main endowment) is one of a living sovereign at his prime, with almost all imperial insignia - characteristic of a state that was still largely independent. Unfortunately, it is hard to tell to what extent is his physical appearance here (e.g. dark, curly hair) accurate and reliable. "Lazar Kefaloforos" wood-carving, ca. 17th c.Later, during the centuries of Turkish rule, the legendary and spiritual aspects of Lazar's sacrifice were given more emphasis in his artistic representations. "Prince Lazar" by Novak Radonjic, oil, mid-19th c.More recently, in a newly liberated Serbia, the images of Lazar were more romanticized, with less fidelity either in his features or details of attire - as seen in this painting by one of the leading artists of 19th c. romanticism in Serbia.

KING MILUTIN

"The deathbed of Queen Mother Anna Dandolo", wall painting (detail) Sopocani monastery, ca. 1265.Flanked by his elder brother, the future King Dragutin, and accompanied by family, nobility and clergy, Prince Milutin mourns the death of his grandmother. Wall painting (detail) St. Achilleos church, Arilje, 1296.King Milutin in his prime, at the time when a weakened Byzantine court switched its policy to one of cooperation and family ties with their rising Balkan neighbor. Wall painting (detail) Bogorodica Ljeviska church, Prizren, ca. 1309.By the time the church was decorated by master Astrapa, Milutin was already in his mid-to-late fifties - yet this portrait suggests a somewhat younger ruler. Incidentally, the light spots that cover this painting are holes made to carry a coating of plaster that was often used by the Ottoman Turks to cover the frescoes - in another attempt to eliminate the cultural heritage of the native Balkan Christian population.

DESPOT JOVAN OLIVER

Wall painting (detail) Lesnovo monastery, 1347-8.This portrait of the monastery founder is accompanied by a valuable description of state titles and offices at the time, as it lists Oliver's rise through the ranks to the very high post of Despot.

KING STEFAN DEÄŒANSKI

Wall painting (detail), Decani monastery, ca. 1340.Painted several years after his death, during the reign of his son Dusan who completed the work on this monumental monastery, his main endowment that later found reference in his name. "The Nemanjic family tree", wall painting (detail), Decani monastery, ca. 1345.Though Dusan took power from his father in quite a violent manner, he paid due respect to Stefan on the walls of this famous monastery. Wall painting (detail), St. Nicholas church, Chilandar, Mt. Athos, 14th c.A slightly stylized rendition, honoring Stefan as a donor, along with his father Milutin.

KING STEFAN DRAGUTIN

Wall painting (detail) Sopocani monastery, ca. 1265.Part of a larger composition, where the child Prince Dragutin is shown with his father who endowed the monastery, and other family members. "The deathbed of Queen Mother Anna Dandolo", wall painting (detail) Sopocani monastery, ca. 1265.While presumably painted during same period as the previous picture - around the time the monastery was built and decorated - this fresco clearly depicts a later event, as evidenced by the teenage effigy of Prince Dragutin. Wall painting (detail) St. Achilleos church, Arilje, 1296.In a theme common for patronized medieval Orthodox Christian churches and monasteries, King Dragutin is depicted here with a model of his endowment - the church that just recently celebrated its 700th anniversary.

EMPEROR UROÅ

Wall painting (detail) Decani monastery, 1340.Part of a larger composition of praising the Virgin, with his father King Dusan and mother Queen Jelena. "The Nemanjic family tree", wall painting (detail) Decani monastery, ca. 1345.The only other living member of the family tree at the time of its artistic creation, a near-teenage Prince Uros turns his head with almost timid respect toward his mighty father Dusan. Apart from the first two dynasty generations whos faces have been vandalized by the Ottomans, most other members portrayed appear with a differentiated expressiveness in their eyes. Wall painting (detail) St. Nicholas monastery, Psaca near Kriva Palanka, 1365-71.This representation of Uros as a tall and handsome young man confirms the description his contemporaries left us - unfortunately, they also questioned his ability to effectively rule the land.

KING UROÅ

Wall painting (detail) Sopocani monastery, ca. 1265.Like numerous others fresco paintings in Serbian monasteries, this one shows signs of vandalism by the Ottoman Turks: the invading force, in an attempt to erase the native population's cultural heritage, often defaced portraits in a simple and symbolic way: by gouging out their eyes. Many of these paintings have been discovered only in the last several decades, when efforts accelerated to remove the layers of plaster that the Ottomans also frequently used to cover them. "The deathbed of Queen Mother Anna Dandolo", wall painting (detail) Sopocani monastery (detail), ca. 1265.Already with streaks of white in his beard, a bereaved King Uros pays respects to his mother, along with family members and state officials. Wall painting (detail) Sopocani monastery, ca. 1275.This portrait of an aging, white-bearded founder of the famed monastery with its model in hand was probably completed shortly before his death.

KING VLADISLAV II

Silver dinar (detail) early 1320sVladislav's coin portraits (though rare), vary considerably in style, but invariably feature him with royal attributes - an open crown and sceptre. "The Nemanjic family tree", wall painting (detail) Decani monastery, ca. 1345.Though Vladislav's claim to the throne was actually legitimate, he is represented here, some time after his death, in accordance with the official interpretation of events as they developed - as merely a side branch in the royal family tree.

KING VUKAÅ IN MRNJAVÄŒEVIÄ†

Wall painting (detail) St. Nicholas monastery, Psaca near Kriva Palanka, 1365-71.A remarkably preserved painting, where Vukasin is flanking his nominal sovereign, Emperor Uros. The sly, conniving look on his face evokes the similar images of him often generated by the oral tradition.

SERBIAN HISTORY THROUGH COINAGE

Medieval Serbian Coinage

Despite serious research that has been continuously performed on the subject since mid-19th century, Serbian medieval numismatics remains both rather obscure and inconclusive on many issues. There is no concensus, say, on the attributions (to rulers), mint dates or interpretations of various symbols ("mint-marks") for a great many of the coin types, which adds a dose of mystery to the subject.Although it existed for only about 200 years, medieval Serbian coinage shows a remarkable variety, with an estimated 600 types and variants - many of them borrowing from designs existing in other coinages, but also including some original ones. While many millions were minted overall, an estimated 50-60 thousand are in existence today (mostly in museums and a few bigger private collections), a large part of them discovered during the last 150 years. It is believed that the first Serbian (Rascian) coins were issues of St. Sava's elder nephew, king Stefan Radoslav (1227-1234), struck at the capital town of Ras. Few remain today of these coins that closely modeled some earlier Byzantine types (including Greek inscriptions), perhaps reflecting Radoslav's Greek (Dukas family) heritage and aspirations, stemming from his mother's side. However, after his deposition and the destruction of Ras (1233), coins were not struck for several decades.Regular issuance of Serbian coins is considered to have started with king Stefan Uros I (1243-1276), probably late in his reign. The silver dinars closely modeled the Venetian grosso - although with the appropriate title and ruler - which eventually led to the monetary embargo imposed by Venice on Serbian coins in 1282. It is not clear today whether this was in response to apparent debasement (lowered silver content) of these coins or for more sinister reasons, but the whole event was noted in Dante's Divine Comedy (with a probable reference to King Milutin):"And Portugal should be held in blame, with Norway and the Rascian who laid his eyes on Venetian coins and forged his own ill-fame."(Dante Alighieri, Paradise, Canto XIX, Eagle speaking).The earliest mints in Serbia were around the newly discovered silver mines - the first and largest being Brskovo (Montenegro, since ca. 1270), then Rudnik (Sumadija, since the 1290's), Novo Brdo (Metohija, since 1326), and later several others (Srebrenica, Trepca, Prizren, Ohrid, Plana, Skoplje, Rudiste, etc.).

SERBIAN MILITARY UNIFORMS 1808-1918

A uniformed Serbian militia is mentioned at the end of the seventeenth century after the siege of Vienna in 1683, but no details are known of its dress. It can be supposed that it derived from national costumes like the uniform introduced at the end of the first half of the eighteenth century. In the thirties on the initiative of the metropolitan Vikentije Jovanovic, a Serbian Hussar Regiment (1735) was formed which did not survive long. Nevertheless there are references to their dress: sabre, carbine and two pistols with green dolman and red breeches. Frontier regiments were uniformed in 1744 and this uniform had certain Hungarian traits until 1767, when it was tailored in the style of the Austrian infantry. This it retained until the Military frontier was abolished in 1873.During the wars with Turkey, Freycorps (voluntary corps) of Serbian refugees were organised on several occassions. These were Serbo-banat Freycorps, Mihaljevic's Freycorps 1788, and later Wurmzer's Freycorps 1793. The first wore the uniform of the Austrian infantry but with brown tunic and a stove-pipe shako without peak. Mihaljevic's Freycorps had a similar cap, brawn dolman to the waist with red laces and wide blue trousers. The volunteers carried a handjar and pistols as well as gun and sabre. The soldiers of Wurmzer's Freycorps wore national costume as well as a type of blue uniform of national cut with red cuffs and white braid on the back of the trouser-legs. Officers wore shako and jabot and the coat was tucked into the breeches or rather a belt into which a handjar and two pistols were shoved. They carried as well a sabre, carbine and a baton of command.The last Freycorps of Serbian refugees organised in 1813 was known as the Serbisches Frey Bataillon. They wore a red and blue cap, brown dolman with laces and wide Cossack trousers, perhaps inspired by the uniforms of the regular Serbian Army at the time of the Insurrection. The Freycorps uniforms were very modern for this period: short dolman with tails, wide trousers and a handjar, and they derived from the Serbian national costume.This Freycorps is of interest when reconstructing the uniforms from the Serbian Revolution period because Serbian names were used for parts of the dress in the Austrian official nomenclature.There is no doubt that the military organisation with which the Serbs in the Freycorps were familiar, was of great help to the Insurgents when organising their army. On account of this the Austrian influence was strongest in the first moment. In the beginning the Serbian Army had no uniform but wore their own clothing. The French consul David in Travnik gives this description in 1806: ,,The leaders of the rebels wear a magnificent suit and other valuable objects which they took from the Turks. Their cavalry has marvellous horses and the regular soldiers or peasants, dressed in a rough white homespun woolen fabric, fight with bitterness bordering on madness". Another contemporary Petar Jokic says in his memoirs that the Insurgents disguised themselves in Janissary clothing taken from the Turks so.that they would not be recognised.However in the reports of Austrian agents and spies from Serbia there are many references to a uniformed revolutionary army. In 1807 they report that the Serbs wish to form two regiments and to uniform them in the Cossack style, and with time all would be ,,regularised" and dressed in the same fashion. In 1808 there is mention of Russian greatcoats which should arrive for the Serbs. In 1809 a regular unit was founded which wore a shako with a red cockade and long peasant jacket (gunjac). A detailed report follows on this: ,,Continuous exercises are still taking place and every day more soldiers are uniformed. They have dark coffee brown blouses with red facings, dark blue breeches with red stripes, shako with red cockade and yellow upper border, shoes with buckles and laces as is our custom. The pandours (Council guards), of whom there are only four, are dressed in green". Lazar Arsenijevic Bata Laka gives a detailed description of the uniform introduced in 1808: ,,In the regular units officers, drummers and buglers had Russian uniforms. The offficers, cannoneers and drummers of the people's army had the same uniform and regular infantry wore a national style uniform: a black shako with a black belt chin strap, narrow peak and tricolour cockade; in the summer each soldier had a sleeveless embroidered jacket (jelek) of a black coarse fabric and to just below the hips a short waisted peasant jacket with sleeves, a shirt and breeches of strong linen, leggings of white fabric, socks knitted from thick colourfully spun wool and opanci on their feet. In the winter every soldier had breeches of strong black cloth and a peasant coat to the knees, all tailored in the national style. As for arms and other ammunition every soldier had a gun with bayonet. Across the shoulders he had black cross straps, from one hung a cartridge box and from the other a bayonet when it was not on the gun. Apart from the above mentioned each soldier had a string knapsack for the purpose of carrying soldiers' usual requirements." These ,,regulars" were organised by the Russian officer Ilya Novokreshcheny who according to the same author changed his Russian uniform for tight red breeches decorated with gold lace and trimmings, waist coat and dark blue dolman adorned across the breast with lace and braid, while on the belt he hung a sabre without which he was never seen.A French reporter from Bosnia also speaks of Serbian cavalry andinfantry organised in two regiments. The infantry has Russian and the cavalry Cossack uniform. The Cossack uniform consisted of white trousers, a green close fitting blouse and their weapon was a lance. The informers thought that the Serbs wished to deceive the Turks in these uniforms which were however produced at a period when military organisation in Serbia had reached a high standard and its requirements were similar to those of other European armies. There is evidence that Karadorde's bodyguard had a uniform or at least a red cap richly decorated with gold piping and tassels, which came from Russia.Jakov Jaksic, a captain in the Serbian regular army, portrayed on a miniature probably from the period between 1808 and 1810,is represented in an interesting uniform. He has a blue tunic with rose collar and lapels. Double laces for decoration over the lapels fasten with round metal buttons. His epaulette is also made from lace. Over the left shoulder he has a black cross belt. Across his forehead his hair falls in thin locks a la Titus, he wears sideburns and a pigtail whose bow is seen behind. In the right hand he holds a helmet with brown fur crest and black plume. Apart from Bata Laka's there are very few descriptions of offficers' uniforms from that period.After the Second Insurrection in 1815 a long period passed before the army under prince Milos was reuniformed. Joakim Vujic who was in Serbia in 1826 mentions the first uniform. Soldiers wore a green tail coat with red collar and cuffs, red waistcoat and blue trousers with red stripes, while the upper part of the casket on their head looked like a melon cut in slices. Drummers had a tunic decorated with red and green woolen laces on the shoulders and sleeves while corporal's tunic was more richly decorated than the private's. However this uniform did not survive long. These soldiers carried only guns so to prince Milos they seemed poorly armed. Apart from that the uniform reminded him of the Austrian, so he soon withdrew it from use and put it in the store. In 1828 O. Pirch saw the court guards in Kragujevac dressed in peasant costume with peaked fezzes. It seems that officers retained the green tunic with red collar and cuffs. At that time infantry was the only service in the regular army and until 1830 retained peasant clothing. At the period of the reading of Hatti-sherif the army was again in a green uniform ,,that is most suitable for people who live in the forest ' as a contemporary author explains. In 1831 military music was founded which it seems was dressed in a blue uniform with a fur cap. In 1832 a cavalry regiment was formed, ,,dressed similarly to the Cossacks with blue clothing and fur caps".In the course of the thirties the entire regular army was uniformed and all services included. A description of Prince Milos's army from 1838 speaks of Russian influence on uniforms: ,,The regular troops of Prince Milos consist of 500 infantrymen, 250 horsemen and 200 artillerymen. For the most part the artillery is ununiformed and without horses. The infantry uniform is of Russian cut and consists of a grey greatcoat, bluegreen blouse with red piping, green trousers with red stripes, peaked shako, heavy Hungarian boots, cartridge belt and belt for bayonet. The belt is white and the guns are modelled on ours (Austrian). Officers wear gold epaulettes, sword knot and silver sash. The cavalry have grey greatcoats, bluegreen tailcoats with red piping and similar short spencer, green trousers with red stripes, shako like the infantry and Hungarian high boots with spurs. The shabrack is of black lamb skin and belts are white. The cartridge belt and valise for the greatcoat behind the saddle are in Russian style. Their weapons consist of a lance with a red flag, sabre, carbine and four pistols, two of which are carried in holsters and two from the cross belt." Musicians had a tunic with epaulettes and laces for parade and a tunic for service as well as a greatcoat of grey cloth. From archive documents of that period one can see that this cloth was bought in Russia and was of the same quality as for the Russian guard.In 1837 uniforms were introduced for civilian and military officials. The officer's tunic was black with red collar and facings, and skyblue trousers with red stripes two fingers wide. Around the neck was a black scarf and on the head an otter skin or sable cap with a pouch of red velvet and a gold tasse. Epaulettes were yellow and round with fringes for higher officers, while their rank was denoted by stars. Together with this dress a sash and sabre was worn. Vice- uniform was of the same cut: an overcoat to the knees, but without any decoration or fastenings, and a black peaked cap. This uniform was worn until 1841 when according to a new regulation officers got a green uniform with shako.The uniform of the infantry and artillery was of the same cut: spencer with a double row of buttons and red piping, green trousers and a grey greatcoat. According to this regulation the shako should have had yellow trimmings, but by mistake white was again worn as it had been up to then. The drummers' sleeves were decorated with yellow stripes and the drum major's tunic was decorated on the chest and sleeves with braid, while on the head he had a shako with officers' trimmings. Non-commissioned officers wore gold braid around the collar. The cavalry had a dark blue spencer with red lapels while the braids of trumpeters and non- commissioned officers were white. They had grey trousers with leather stitched between the legs for general service and blue trousers like the spencer for parade. They wore a shako with white trimmings. Across the shoulder they had a cross belt with cartridge box and their weapons were lance, sabre and two pistols. Musicians had a tunic with braided decorations on the chest and sleeves. This green uniform, which was certainly modelled on the Russian and maybe also on the uniform from the period of the First Insurrection, survived till 1845 when the Ruling Council (Sovjet) introduced a new blue uniform on the suggestion of Ilija Garasanin because that was ,,the national colour of cloth".The proposed uniform modernised the appearance of the Serbian Army. Infantry and artillery got a tunic with tails and nine buttons, while cavalry retained their former uniform. In the beginning they wore high peakless caps, and after 1847 infantry and artillery got spiked helmets, while cavalry received uhlan helmets with a square plate on the top (,,chapkas)". Pipings remained red for all services, but buttons became yellow, except for the cavalry who had white. This is also so of the braid and trimmings on the helmets. On parade plumes were worn on the helmets: red on the cavalry, white on the infantry, and black on the artillery. The drum major wore a grenadier fur hat (subara) and braid on the breast and sleeves of the tunic.Officers had a slightly longer tunic, gold or silver braid around the collar and round epaulettes. The Prince's adjutants wore embroidered collars like the civilian officials instead of officers' braids and shoulder cords. Apart from this parade tunic officers had a so-called vice-tunic which had two rows of buttons with six in each row, without any braid but with red piping. A peaked cap with white upper and red middle border was worn with this tunic. There were no epaulettes on the officers' greatcoats. Auditors, army doctors and commissaries did not wear epaulettes. In 1855 the cavalry got a tunic of the same cut as the infantry except for shorter tails. Everywhere along the seams on the back and sleeves there was red piping like the uhlans while on the collar they wore silver braid with a button. At the same time plumes on the helmets were changed to white.Serbia introduced this uniform at the height of Romanticism under the influence of Prussia and Russia, when the European countries, except France and Belgium, introduced spiked helmets. Serbia introduced a tunic with long tails relatively early, before many European countries whose armies generally wore a Napoleonic tail-coat. The English who continued to use this tail-coat to the end of the Crimean war are a typical example. Many of our artists, Anastas Jovanovic and Stevan Todorovic in their drawings, and Arsenije Petrovic, Uros Knezevic, Jovan Popovic and others in their portraits represented this uniform which the defenders of the constitution (ustavobranitelji) introduced, sincerely believing that it was more ,,national" than that of the Obrenovic's reign.When in 1850 the Artillery school was foundedï¿½later Military academyï¿½ cadets got this same blue uniform, cap and helmet.On the return of Prince Milos Obrenovic, measures were taken to change this uniform. ()ne of his first orders was to change the military salute; before this soldiers took off their caps to their officers and now they saluted by lifting the hand to the cap. Already in 1859 the flags which had been issued to the regular army in 1845 and 1846 were changed and at the same time the Prince's guard was organised. This uniform consisted of a black fur cap with red pouch, green blouse (atila) with yellow lace, red breeches and boots. The greatcoat was of dark colour and their arms were a Russian sabre and a Belgian type pistol.In 1861 a new uniform was introduced, similar in cut for all services but varied in colour. The tunic had two rows of six buttons. The basic colour of the tunic was green for all services, except for engineers and gendarmes who had dark blue, and for cavalry who had 1ight blue. Generals wore red tunics. All services had long grey trousers which had leather stitched on the inside of the legs in the case of the cavalry. The peaked cap had white upper piping and lower piping in the colour of the service, while with the officers the entire lower part of the cap was in the service colour. On parade the entire army wore French type shakos which narrowed towards the top and were decorated with plumes of various colours. The cavalry had fur caps with the upper square part of cloth. Army chiefs (voivodes) wore tricorns with which Prince Mihailo is frequently depicted. The colour of the cap was appropriate to the tunic, except in the case of the prince's adjutants, the upper parts of whose caps were white. A uniform of the Serbian riflemen was also provided for these regulation: a dark green tunic and cap with light green collar and so-called ,,wings"ï¿½small rolls along the seams of the shoulders and sleeves. The train in 1863 got a grey uniform with light blue collar and piping. They wore fur hats (subara). Officers had soft epaulettes, yellow and white according to the service. These were bordered with a narrow braid in the case of officers of lower rank, while for officers of higher rank they were completely covered with braid. Small stars of the opposite colour to the braid, worn on the collar similar to those in the Austrian army, denoted rank. Military music wore rose collar and cuffs, and epaulettes of Serbian tricolour.In 1863 a new regulation for the clothing and equipping of the people's army was introduced which was without doubt distinguished for its originality. It consisted of two shirts, waistcoat, leggings (tozluci), breeches (for the winter), blouse, cloak (kabanica), shoes (opanci), boots and fur cap. All items of the uniform were bordered with laceï¿½the blouse was somewhat longer than the waistcoat but both had five pairs of laces on the breast. The cloak had a hood decorated with a tassel. It was so wide that a soldier could cover himself and his weapons. The fur cap was of blaclc lamb skin three and half thumbs high and ending in a point which hung down and was decorated with a tassel of wool. The colour of the coarse fabric suit depended on the national costume in individual districts, black, white and brown. Infantry had green laces, cavalry yellow, artillery red and engineers cherry red. Rank signs were worn on the sleeves and collars; these were of wool for non-commissioned officers, and of silver and gold for officers.A new uniform was introduced in 1864 and sanctioned by the regulation of 1870. At that time all services got a dark blue tunic, apart from cadets of the Military Academy who had brown tunics with green collar, cuffs and piping. On parade a dark blue French peaked cap was worn with plumes of various colours: red for cavalry, green for infantry, black for artillery and cherry red for engineers. For general service ,,the frontier cap" (~sajkaca) was introduced and remained in use by the Serbian Army from that time on. The same regulation introduced a uniform for the people's army which consisted of a brown blouse with patch pockets, red petal on the collar, blue breeches with blue leggings and peakless capï¿½sajkaca of the same colour. The collars in the people's army were folded, while for the regular army they were upright. The regular army had the same blouses for general service while the blue tunic was worn only on parade. The Serbian Army fought in this uniform from 1876 to 1878. Stevan Sremac frequently described them in his novels and stories.After the proclamation of Serbia as a kingdom in 1882 new regulations were issued for uniforms. Now a tunic with one row of seven buttons was introduced, bluegrey breeches, boots and a French type cap with a little upright plume. The service colours on the collars and plumes remained the same except that the cavalry had a light blue cap and tunic, and red breeches. The guard batallions had yellow braid on the collar and cuffs, similar to the Russian and Prussian guards. The general service eap was still the sajkaca and the greatcoat was dark blue. Cadets of the Military Academy had green collars and officers wore round epaulettes. In this uniform the Serbs entered the war against Bulgaria in-1885.In 1896 uniforms were designed on the Russian model. There was a blouse without buttons which closed with fasteners on the right side, later popularly known as ,,koporan". With this blouse a low lamb skin cap with the upper part in the colour of the service was worn on parade. Infantry and artillery had dark blue uniforms with red or black collars and piping, engineers dark blue with cherry red collar and piping, and cavalry light blue with dark blue collar and piping and red trousers which they wore already from 1878. General service headgear for officers was a peaked cap, and for parade a fur cap with laces and big white plume. At the beginning of this century an infantry officers' tunic was light grey modelled on the tunic of an Austrian general. Later officers of all services except the cavalry had black tunics with two rows of buttons. General service clothing was a blouse with patch pockets, and collar and piping in the service colours. Generals retained the dark red tunic with light blue collar and piping. During the reign of the Obrenovic dynasty they wore a Prussian helmet with white plume and from 1896 they had white fur caps with plumes.Radical changes took place in 1908 when a greyolivegreen uniform was introduced for all services. In this they followed the example of other European countries who under pressure of improving war technique looked for the least noticeab~e uniform. The cut of the uniform was the same as the existing officers' blouse for all services. Services were distinguished by petals in colour on the front of the collar. Colours remained the same except for howitzers and fortress artillery where a rectangle was divided diagonally into two triangles of black and red colour. Officer's cap was in fact a peaked sajkaca with piping round the upper part and an oval cockade in the colours of the state flag with the ruler's initials. Infantry wore high shoes which were fastened at the side with two straps, while all other services wore boots. In wartime when there was a lack of boots they usually wore opanci as in earlier wars. The greatcoat retained the same cut but petals were added in the service colours. The Serbian Army entered the Balkan wars and First World War in this uniform.After the withdrawal of the Serbian Army through Albania and its reorganisation on the front of Salonica in 1916, Serbs got the uniform of the French African Troups: a simple khaki colour blouse with upright collar, fastened in front with five round buttons, as well as a French helmet with a small crest on the crown to which the Serbian coat of arms was added in front. Officers in many cases retained their old uniforms. Sometimes the blue French uniform was worn and in rarer cases the English. Such was the Serbian Army which entered Belgrade in 1918.

MONASTERY

RAVANICA

uilt during the 1370s, Ravanica is the main endowment of the famous Prince Lazar , where he was buried following his death in the battle of Kosovo. Since then, Ravanica has been a pilgrim's destination and an important center of cultural activities and the Serbian people's assemblies. The monastery has been damaged by the Turks several times, in 1386, 1398, and 1436. In the great war following the second siege of Vienna, a number of monks got killed and the rest of them took the relics of the canonized Prince Lazar and withdrew in face of the Ottoman's offensive in 1690. Only in 1717 was the sole survivor among the monks, teacher Stefan, to come back to Ravanica and find the monastery looted and deserted. With the help of local inhabitants he restored the monastery and built a new narthex. However, the site suffered repeated assaults during the Serbian revolution at the beginning of the XIX c. The new restoration took place in the middle of the XIX c. During World War II, Germans damaged the monastery one more time, and detained, tortured, and killed its archimandrite Makarije on February 24th, 1943.The Ravanica church is the first monument of the Morava School of the Serbian medieval art. Its ground plan has the form of an enlarged trefoil with a nine-sided dome in the middle and four smaller octagonal domes above the corner bays. There are 62 windows. The church was built in alternate courses of single-line stone and three-line brick. Valuable ceramic decoration makes use of geometric patterns, floral motifs, zoomorphic and anthropomorphic shapes.The frescoes were not all painted at the same time and by the same artists, though they are mostly dated between 1385 and 1387. The middle-register frescoes, which are of the highest artistic value, were painted by two artists, one of them known as Constantine, who left his signature on a fresco of a warrior saint. Some of the noteworthy compositions include the Communion of the Apostles and the Adoration of the Lamb in the altar apse, as well as the Festival cycle in the upper registers of the church.

MILESEVA

Monastery MilesevaThe monastery of Mileseva was founded by Vladislav, King of Serbia, son of Stefan the First-Crowned and grandson of Stefan Nemanja, founder of the Serbian medieval dynasty. Ancient Serbian biographers recorded that the erection of Mileseva started immediately after Vladislav's accession to the trone in 1234. However, some specific details of the church frescoes lead to the conclusion that Mileseva might have been constructed some ten years earlier, at the time when Vladislav was a royal prince ruling over the Black Mount (Crna Stena) area in which the monastery was located.After having spent ten years on the trone, Vladislav was to pass the scepter over to his younger brother Uros in 1243. Residing thereafter in the coastal region of Zeta, he died in the eighties of the 13th century and was buried in his royal foundation - Monastery of Mileseva.

MANASIJA

Monastery ManasijaThe Manasija monastery was founded by Despot Stefan Lazarevic; the church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, was erected and painted between 1407 and 1418. The monastery is surrounded by massive walls and towers.Since the end of the XVIIth century Manasija monastery has been assembling educated monks who have fostered literary and copying work, called the Resava School. Already in 1456 Manasija was burnt by the Turks; after 1718, when Austrians took the monastery (and all of northern Serbia), they kept the gunpowder in the narthex, which exploded and blew the ante-church up. A new narthex was built in 1735. At the beginnings of the Serbian revolution, in 1804, the monastery was abandoned and in ruins again. The monastery was partly renewed, between 1807. and 1810, and the restoration works completed in 1845.

STUDENICA

Monastery Studenica These archives are dediced to the first and the most important Serbian monastery. It was founded by the head of the Nemanjic dynasty, Stefan Nemanja, in 1196.

GRACANICA

The Gracanica monastery, near Lipljan in Kosovo, is one of the last monumental foundations of King Milutin Nemanjic. Built on the ruins of the former Church of the Holy Virgin, the monastery, finished in 1321, was dedicated to the Dormition of the Holy Virgin. On the southern wall of the chapel is written the king's charter, including the following words: "I have seen the ruins and the decay of the Holy Virgin's temple of Gracanica, the bishopric of Lipljan, so I have built it from the ground and painted and decorated it both within and without".The narthex and the tower were added a few decades later, in order to protect the frescoes on the west facade. The narthex was heavily damaged by the Turks several times between 1379-1383, when the tower was burned and the fire devoured a rich collection of manuscripts and other precious objects. The narthex was reconstructed in 1383. Again, Gracanica suffered damages at the time of the Kosovo battle (1389).

ST. PETER'S CHURCH

St. Peter's church is one of the oldest churches on the canonical territory of the Serbian Orthodox Church. It is very well known as the earliest spiritual centers in the Ras area where the first Serb state was created under Great Zupan Stephen Nemania in 11th century. It was in this church that Nemania was baptized. Later this first ruler of an organized Serb state become a monk Symeon in Mount Athos where he and his son St. Sava, the first Archbishop of Serbia established the monastery of Hilandar. God glorified Stephen Nemania as a Saint (St. Symeon the Myrrhbearer). His relics remained incorruptible and myrrh-flowing until our days. St. Peter's church is situated at the outskirts of Novi Pazar and is historically linked with the old city of Ras which used to be the first Serbian capital. In the vicinity of St. Peter's Church are two important monasteries: Sopocani and Djurdjevi Stupovi, which played an important role in the spiritual life of the medieaval Serbian kingdom. Historians claim that the first church to be built on this site was an old Christian basilica which was later rebuilt in the shape of today's church, during the early Middle Ages. The church was also important state and political center because synods and meetings were held under its vaults. Today the church is surrounded by the 18-19th century Serbian Orthodox cemetery which is one of the best preserved of this kind in Serbia.CONTINUE

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THE REVIVAL OF THE NATIONAL STATES

Left without the Patriarchate of Pec and the local autonomies, under previously unknown terror imposed by the janissary apostate Turkish governors, the Serbs in the pashalik of Belgrade rebelled in 1804. That uprising marked the beginning of what is also known as the Serbian Revolution.Djordje Petrovic Karadjordje, after a painting by Borovnikovski, a mosaic portrait in the church on Mt. Oplenac.Led by Djordje Petrovic (1762-1817), better known as Karadjordje, the rebels quickly ousted and killed the Turkish governors, janissaries and Turkish landowners, thus liberating the whole pashalik. Up till the liberation of Belgrade (early in 1807), they defeated the janissaries and sultan's army several times - Ivankovac (1805), Misar (1806), Deligrad, Loznica and Varvarin. They organized a system of government and structured it, including a strong military branch. The organization of the state was represented by the leader (Karadjordje), the National Assembly, the Governing Council, and the military and local officers. The legal structure of the state was determined by the constitutional acts of 1805, 1808, and 1811.The Serbs crossed the border of the pashalik of Belgrade with the intention of liberating their brethren in Turkey and of unifying with Old Serbia, Montenegro, Herzegovina and Bosnia. Their goal was to revive the medieval Serbian empire, and they counted on unifying with the Serbs in Austria if the opportunity presented itself. This idea was too far-fetched at the time, and it was only realized a century later. Simultaneously with the efforts to create a state, the rebels were trying to elevate its cultural level. Many educated Serbs from Austria moved into Serbia, among them the famous writer Dositej Obradovic; he helped Ivan Jugovic open the Great School (1808) and took care of the education of Karadjordje's successor, his son Aleksa. The Commander's Standard from the First Serbian Uprising, made in 1811. Military Museum, Belgrade.Russian aid to the rebels was great, and the uprising fell on hard times when Russia, under attack by Napoleon, made peace with Turkey in Bucharest (1812). In 1813, an enormous Turkish army shattered the rebels and set up its own government in the pashalik of Belgrade.Yet the war between Serbia and Turkey did not end there. It flared up again the following year with the unsuccessful rebellion of Hadzi-Prodan, and in 1815 with a new uprising. The latter was led by a new Serbian leader, Milos Obrenovic (1783-1860, prince from 1815 to 1839 and again from 1858 to 1860), who made a peace treaty with Grand Vizier Marashli Ali-pasha, after waging several successful battles. That brought an end to the warring period of the Serbian revolution (1804-1815). In the peacetime period of the revolution, the Serbs finally built and organized a state which attained complete autonomy by the Sultan's edicts of 1830 and 1833, thus entering a dependent relationship to Turkey as a vassal or tributary state. The stamp of the Serbian Governing CouncilThen Prince Milos distributed feudal lands to the peasants (1835), a significant decision for future generations of Serbs because it was pivotal in guiding Serbian society towards democracy. The principality of Serbia took in six so-called nahias in 1831-1832, which had already been liberated by Karadjordje. Thus, Serbia spread over an area of 37,511 square kilometres, Thereafter it obtained the right to have dynastic rulers, and it was organized under a constitution (1835 and 1838).The period from 1835 to 1878 was a time in which the society of Serbian peasants fought for an independent state. At the same time, state management, culture and education became institutionalized, and in economy the beginnings of industrialization and banking began to appear, not to mention trades and handicrafts.Prince Milos Obrenovic, 1824, painted by Pavel Djurkovic, National Museum, Belgrade At the time of the constitutionalist rule, the principality got its Civil Code (1844) and The Plan (1844), the national and state programme which was drawn up by one of the great Serbian statesmen, Ilija Garasanin. The state paid ever greater attention to education, although elementary education did not become obligatory until 1882. In parallel to the elementary and secondary schools, the Lyceum was also founded (1838), which later became the Great School (1863), and finally the University (1905). Apart from several cultural institutions, such as the National Museum, the Serbs also laid the foundations for the future Academy of Arts and Sciences by founding the Serbian Association of Scholars.Serbian statesmen were convinced that they could not easily and quickly overcome the country's backwardness caused by centuries of slavery under the Turks, and from the 1830s onward they regularly sent talented young people to do their studies in famous university centres of Europe. In that way, Serbia, and also Montenegro, got well-versed experts in all fields of science, culture and politics. The very top scholars financed by the state, mostly children from villages, returned to the country with the knowledge and manners of educated Europeans, which became increasingly evident. The Serbian government put great stock in scientific and scholarly advancement, and world class scholars and scientists were spawned in Serbia and later in Yugoslavia; examples include Jovan Cvijic, Milutin Milankovic and Slobodan Jovanovic. Scientists who needed expensive laboratories stayed abroad and made some of the greatest advances in their fields of expertise - Nikola Tesla, Mihailo Pupin and others.Throughout this period, rulers from both the dynasties (from the Obrenovic family and Karadjordjevic family) kept deposing and replacing each other on the throne. During the second rule of Prince Mihailo (1860- 1868), Serbia greatly expanded its influence beyond the area where ethnic Serbs were living, and it became the centre of the First Balkan Union, concluded with Montenegro, Greece, and Rumania; it also included political organizations of the Bulgarians and Croats. Serbia thus gained affirmation as the leader in the struggle against Turkey, becoming a country of high repute among the peoples of the Balkans.The reign of Milan Obrenovic (Prince 1868-1882, King 1882-1889) is the link between this period and the one following (1878-1918), that is, the period of the existence of the independent democratic state which fought for Serbian and Yugoslav unification. The uprising in Bosnia not only drew Serbia and Montenegro into the war with Turkey, it also caused a great crisis in the East; the great powers got involved as a solution was sought for. With the Congress of Berlin, Serbia's independence was recognized along with its territorial expansion in the southeast which included the four districts. The Principality stretched out over 48,303 square kilometres at that time.Disappointed in Russia, Prince Milan turned to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, signing the Secret Convention with them (1881), and the empire was the first to recognize him when he was proclaimed king (1882). During his reign, railway lines through Serbia were laid which connected Austro-Hungary with Turkey, that is Europe with Asia. However, Serbia also got involved in a losing war with Bulgaria (1885). With the formal founding of three political parties (the Radical Party, the Progressive Party, and the Liberal Party), the political life of Serbia was constrained by the Constitution of 1869, so a new constitution was adopted in 1888. It was one of the best in Europe and it made parliamentary rule possible.The reign of King Aleksandar (1889-1903) was accompanied by numerous constitutional and parliamentary crises, as well as crises in the royal court. In the period of transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century, Serbia had just over two million inhabitants, and it recovered militarily and economically. The ruler's autocratic regime, and especially his marriage to Draga Masin, a courtier of his mother (Queen Natalija), resulted in great unpopularity which ended in the murder of the king and queen.Serbian rulers in the last two centuries came to the throne relatively young, except for King Petar Karadjordjevic (1903-1921), who took the crown when he was already advanced in years. He waited abroad for the reinstatement of the Constitution of 1888, with slight changes, and then gave his pledge to it. Throughout his rule he held to its principles. His reign was marked by parliamentary democracy. Having withstood a difficult customs war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which forced it to reorient itself from trading in livestock to meat processing and its export, Serbia once again gathered the Balkan states into an alliance and started a war with Turkey, with the tacit support of Russia. In the First Balkan War (1912), Turkey was defeated by Serbia at Kumanovo and Bitolj. The Montenegrins took Scutari, the Bulgarians Edirne, both with the help of the Serbian army. Serbia liberated the Vardar region of Macedonia from the Turks and annexed it, thus expanding its territories to an area of 87,800 square kilometres. As the accord between Serbia and Bulgaria (as allies and neighbours) was broken by this action, they now went to war with each other. In the Second Balkan War (1913), Serbia defeated Bulgaria, thus causing lasting difficulties in their relations.Montenegro put great effort into creating an organized and orderly state, though it was tiny, sparsely populated, economically under-developed, lacking a system of roads and depending on the trade of livestock as its economic basis. One of the most important factors in its development was the decision of Danilo, the successor to the bishop-poet Njegos, to refuse the bishop's sceptre and proclaim himself to be prince (1852). In place of a bishop and lord, Montenegro got a secular ruler, who reigned for a short time and who endured two wars with Turkey (1852, 1858). In the meantime, he adopted the General Law Code of the Country.The government of Montenegro was finally set up during the reign of Prince and King Nikola (1860-1918). The early period of his reign was more significant in this regard. Montenegro was initially defeated in the war against Turkey in 1862, but it had great success in the war of 1876-1878. The Congress of Berlin recognized its independence, and it was expanded to include significant amounts of territory (Niksic, Kolasin, Zabljak, Spuz, Podgorica, and Bar, while Plav and Gusinje were exchanged for Ulcinj). The absolute rule of Prince and King Nikola was not weakened by the adoption of the General Property Code (1888), or of the Constitution (1905) which introduced a parliamentary government. When political parties began to appear, the ruler responded by proclaiming Montenegro a kingdom (1910). In the First Balkan War, Montenegro extended its territory, which now encompassed 14,443 square kilometres, including the fertile regions of Metohia. In those territories there were about 350,000 inhabitants, mostly of Serbian nationality. Montenegro kept this area during the period of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), with the exception of Metohia.

BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES

When the wars of Austria against Turkey were no longer defensive and became wars of conquest, the role and importance of the Serbs in Austria changed somewhat. Less and less consideration was shown to them, and the rights and privileges they had been given were abated. In addition to the removal of the Tisza-Mures military border in the mid-eighteenth century, two declarations significantly reduced the autonomous rights of the Serbs (the Regulament of 1770, the Deklaratorij of 1779). Their political autonomy was taken away and the Serbs were left with just ecclesiastical and educational autonomy. With the founding of the Matica srpska in 1826, the Serbs in Austria gained their most significant cultural institution, and its work continues even today. When the Matica srpska was moved from Pest to Novi Sad, the town became the centre of Serb culture in southern Hungary. Political and social conditions in Austria, compared to those in Turkey, were much more conducive for the development of the ecclesiastical, cultural and educational institutions of the Serbs. The May Assembly, 1848, in Sremski Karlovci, a painting by Pavle Simic. The Gallery of the Matica srpska.Further activity of the Serbs in the Habsburg monarchy aimed to regain political autonomy for the areas where the Serbs lived in compact groups, especially in the territories of southern Hungary, which later became Vojvodina. Even in this period the Serbs had become a significant political factor in the rivalry between Vienna and Pest. Under those conditions the Serbian Council met in Timisoara (1790), where they elected Stevan Stratimirovic to be the Metropolitan and demanded territorial autonomy. The Serbs in southern Hungary had two other electoral-congressional councils, both held in Sremski Karlovci (Karlowitz), in 1848 (known as the May Assembly) and 1861 (known as the Annunciation Council). Apart from territory - the Vojvodovina Srbska (Serbian Duchy) - they also sought internal self-government and the appropriate authority for it: a patriarch, a duke, a parliament (council), legislation, jurisprudence, a coat of arms, flag and language.Vienna was forced to acquiesce to the Serbs after the struggle with Hungarians in the Revolution of 1848-49 and they proclaimed the Duchy of Serbia under a special decree, along with the Banate of Temis as a territory independent from Hungary. The Duchy, which included parts of Backa, Banat and eastern Srem, was directly subordinated to Vienna. However, it did not last long (1849-1860) nor did it satisfy the demands of the Serbs, especially because it was set up so that they were not a majority in itThe Slavs of Herzegovina, 1867, Jaroslav Cermak.The reconstruction of the Habsburg monarchy along dynastic lines (1867 - Austro-Hungary), which was accompanied by the Croatian- Hungarian Pact (1868), did not even include a solution to the problem of the Croats, much the less to the question of the Serbs or of the Slavs in general. The United Serbian Youth and the Serbian National Liberal party, which were created at that time, kept their distance from the policy of agreement-making, and they cherished the idea of common Serbian interests and unification. The spirit and heart of that movement was Svetozar Miletic. In the 1870s, the Serbs living in Croatia first realized that such a policy was not advantageous, and they accepted the reconstruction of the monarchy and thereafter advancement was made in the fields of politics and economy. Zagreb took over the role of Novi Sad as the centre of Serb politics in Austro-Hungary. The attempt of so-called notable Serbs in southern Hungary to direct Serbian policy towards dualism was not very successful. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Serb and Croatian democratic parties drew closer in their views through the Resolutions of Rijeka and Zadar (1905). Thus, the so-called Serb-Croat coalition was formed. This laid a solid foundation for a Yugoslav ("south Slav") policy, and for the common state they would soon form.Disagreement between the Serbs, Bulgarians and Greeks about Macedonia was at the centre of Balkan politics in the latter half of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although greater care was taken of Christians living in Turkey (Serbia and Montenegro watched after Serbs in Turkey) - a consulate was opened, aid was sent to schools and monasteries and so on - their status did not improve greatly. The migration of Serbs from Old Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbia did not cease. When the Young Turks returned constitutional order to the Empire, the Serbian people began to organize themselves nationally and politically (1908), and they chose Skopje as their hub since it had once been the capital of the Serbian Empire. In order to be active politically, they allowed themselves to be called Ottoman Serbs. To protect the Serb population, besides helping them to have Serbs as their bishops, Serbia had to send armed guerillas and weapons to the population there. This was done to protect the Serbs from the Albanians and from the activities of Bulgarian irregular military formations. Those Serbs were liberated by the Serbian army in 1912, after its victory in the First Balkan War.The conservatism of the Bosnian beys was evident from their constant resistance to reforms which were slowly and reluctantly, carried out by the Turkish Empire. The elimination of the janissaries and of the districts under the rule of local feudal lords left weaker traces than the break up of the beys' power in the mid-ninetenth century, which was done by the Serbian apostate Turk Omer-pasha Latas. However, this did not improve the status of the Christian population, the Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats. Riots and uprisings occurred more often in the nineteenth century and they were led by the Serb population, which was supported by both Serb states. The most important uprising was the one that began in 1875 and lasted up to 1878. The result was most unexpected for the instigators of the uprising, the Serbs; instead of unification with the Serbian principalities, this province of Turkey was placed under Austro-Hungarian rule by the decisions of the Berlin Congress. Austro-Hungary first occupied it (1878) and then annexed it (1908), against the great resistance of the Serb and Moslem population, accompanied by that of the Serbian states. The Serbs, both Orthodox and Moslem, fought long and hard to attain ecclesiastical and educational autonomy which they were only given at the beginning of the twentieth century, after which they started to establish their own national and party organizations. The agrarian question, the source underlying almost all unrest, was not solved by Austro-Hungary either.The victories of the Serbian army in the Balkan Wars aroused the Serbian spirit and pride among their compatriots in the Habsburg monarchy in a way not caused by any event before that. The government in Vienna responded by dissolving the ecclesiastical-educational autonomy of Serbs in southern Hungary. The arrival of the Austro-Hungarian successor to the throne in Sarajevo for maneuvers scheduled on the greatest Serb holy day (St. Vitus' Day) was taken to be a provocative gesture directed at Serbian national interests. Instead of a welcome, the heir to the throne and his wife were met by the bullets of a devoted national fighter, a member of the organization known as Mlada Bosna, Gavrilo Princip (1914). This brought the already tense relationship between the Serbs and Austro-Hungarians into even greater friction. The Austro-Hungarians then placed demands on Serbia which deeply violated its sovereign rights. When they refused, Austro-Hungary declared war on Serbia.The Austro-Hungarian attack was repulsed by the Serbian army which defeated its enemies in several battles, the most significant being those of Cer and Kolubara (1914). When the Austro-Hungarian army was reinforced by German troops, and when Bulgaria attacked Serbia from the East, Serbia and Montenegro buckled under the attacks of their more powerful enemies. Not willing to sign a capitulation, King Petar, the parliament, government, army and some of the population retreated under difficult, even tragic, conditions, over the Albanian mountains to the Adriatic and Ionic seas (1915). King Nikola also left Montenegro which was then forced to capitulate. With the support of the western allies, the Serbian army managed to reorganize itself, to fill its ranks with volunteers and to open up a front at Salonica.

IN THE YUGOSLAV STATE

Through the Declaration of Nis (1914) Serbia proclaimed its war aims - the unification of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes; the details were worked up by the agreement between the Serbian government and the Yugoslav Committee on Corfu in 1917. The breech of the front at Salonica (1918) brought the Serbian army into a campaign of liberation all the way to the Alps. At the same time, Vojvodina (November 25) and Montenegro (November 16) declared unification with Serbia. Unification - the proclamation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, in Belgrade, December 1, 1918.On December 1, 1918, the regent Aleksandar Karadjordjevic ceremonially declared the creation of a new state in the Balkans - the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which was then joined by Serbs, Croats and Slovenes from the territories of what had been the Habsburg monarchy.Serbia came out of the First World War having suffered great losses - about 1,300,000 people, which was 28% of the total population. Serbia was not able to recover properly from such a demographic catastrophe, when the Second World War broke out (1941-1945) and the Serbian nation suffered the same fate, with even greater losses, though the exact numbers are still not known today. This nearly caused a biological catastrophe, one of the consequences for a state and its people who had chosen western democracy and freedom.King Aleksandar (killed in Marseille, 1934), maintained the unity of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which was called Yugoslavia from 1929 onward) with great difficulty, resorting even to dictatorship which lasted for several years. The first Yugoslavia, although it did not last long, adopted two different constitutions, and it reorganized its structure twice, first into regions and then into banovinas. This brought about a gradual abandonment of a centralized structured state, and laid the grounds for federalism. Through the creation of the Banovina of Croatia (1939), two national groups were set apart, the Slovenes and Croats. The break out of World War II obstructed the formation of the third federal unit (the Serbian) from the other territories, which had been strongly supported by the Serbian Cultural Club. The idea for three federal units was based on the concept of unifying one people carrying three different names - the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. In World War II, after occupying Yugoslavia, the Nazis created a puppet state called the Independent State of Croatia which encompassed lands far beyond the "historical" and ethnic borders of Croatia. It quickly turned into a huge graveyard for Serbs in the western territories, as mass genocide was committed against them.Yugoslavia came out of the Second World War with its territory somewhat expanded, and with a completely new societal structure - it first became a "people's republic" and then a "socialist republic". In the entire period of the second Yugoslavia, with constant changes in the constitutional and legal norms which were more suited to the president of the state (Josip Broz Tito) than to the people, the state was characterized by a federal structure with six republics (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia). Except for Slovenia, the Serbs lived in great numbers in all of the other republics and that was one of the strongest links of state unity. In federalizing the state, a further step was taken when two provinces (Kosmet [Kosovo] and Vojvodina) were set up within the Socialist Republic of Serbia. In time, they gained the real status of federal units, although not the legal status of the same. The Serbs were economically, spiritually, nationally and territorially disunited. This policy, supported from abroad, was detrimental to Serb interests, and it artificially maintained the multi-national unity of the state.In the first Yugoslavia there had been no barriers to the cultural activity and integration of the Serb, Croat and Slovene peoples. In the second Yugoslavia, new nations were proclaimed along with the old (Macedonians, Montenegrins, and even Moslems), and they enjoyed all national, cultural and educational rights from the standpoint of communist ideology. The communist regime, especially in the early stages, suppressed freedom in culture, and stimulated ideologically tainted so-called "socialistic realism". Political pressure in the spheres of culture was partially lifted in the 1960s, which was felt immediately in all areas of these activities.When the unified Yugoslav peoples began the process of transforming the federal state into a confederation, which would mean that the autonomous provinces in Serbia would gain the same rights as republics, Serbian politicians (although members of the only political party present - the Communist Party) opposed this process with the support of Serbs in the provinces. Confederation forces, with support from abroad by those who had fought against Serbia and Yugoslavia in both world wars, were stronger and more skilful than those who would have preserved the Yugoslav community but who were overburdened with the already compromised communist ideology. In that way the SFRY began to disintegrate into republics, causing a bloody civil war (1991). When the international community accepted the unjustified principle that the borders of a sovereign state could be changed and that the borders of the parts of that state could not be, the second Yugoslavia was laid to rest. Thus, large parts of the Serb nation were left out of the Serb state union made up of Serbia and Montenegro. There is a long road ahead for the unification of the Serbs once again.

TRADITIONAL ATTIRE

Among the creative aspects of the culture of the Serbian nation, traditional costumes occupy one of the most important places because of their role in everyday life, their significance for ethnic identity, and their value artistically and aesthetically. They are known mostly because of the costumes which have been saved from the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries, characterised by a great diversity in form and decoration. This variety and richness is present in both men's and women's costumes. Each region had its own special form of dress. According to the way a person was dressed, one could distinguish not only where they were from, but also of which nationality they were in multi-ethnic milieus. Various national costumes with manifold significance among the people were exposed to a wide range of influences in the history of their development. Thus, they incorporated a variety of elements from preceding periods, together with the features of the period when they were made and worn. Serbian urban dress, Belgrade, mid-nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.In the wide variety of costumes, apart from the special traits of costumes which varied from village to village, there were also other differences between villagers and urban dwellers in terms of the way they dressed. Urban clothing in most of the Serbian ethnic territories developed under Turkish and oriental influences. Later, as in Pannonia and along the Adriatic, that influence was largely European. Urban costumes in the Balkan-Oriental style, made of expensive cloths and bearing gold and silver embroidery, were of high artisan craftsmanship. Up to the twentieth century, on the other hand, peasant dress was mostly the product of home and other village handwork. They were fashioned by women, though certain parts of the costumes were done by village artisans. Experience and tradition were passed from elder to younger, from generation to generation.The very first glance at the diversity of village dress reveals certain specificities in the combination of the functional, artistic and aesthetic characteristics of the clothes worn in an entire region. Identical or similar economic circumstances, brought on by the geographical setting, by historical, social and cultural development, all influenced the generation of certain elements of clothing in the framework of larger cultural and geographic regions, such as those in the Dinaric, Adriatic, central Balkan and Pannonian regions. In each region a basic type of dress is characteristic, appearing in many different costuming and decorative forms. The differences originated in the variety of materials for making and decorating which the particular region offered, the pattern-forms and decorative means, and the costuming tradition and level of cultural development. Women's village dress, viewed from the back, Imljani, western Bosnia, second half of the nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.The dress of the Dinaric mountain region includes the territories of Serbian Krajina - Kordun, Lika and northern Dalmatia, along with a large part of Bosnia-Herzegovina, the continental part of Montenegro, and the southwestern regions of Serbia. In that vast mountainous region, cattle and sheep breeding was the main source of income, and the entire lifestyle of the people was adapted to that end. Folk dress was mostly made of wool. After weaving, the woollen homespun cloth was taken to special mills (valjavica) which were once in abundance along the smaller rivers. The processed cloth, a rough fabric, was a natural white or brown colour in some areas, while in other regions it was dyed black, dark blue or red. Many items of clothing where made of homespun wool and heavy cloth, in whose strictest forms one can see old Balkan and Turkish-Oriental elements. The basic element of both women's and men's dress was a hemp or linen shirt in the form of a tunic with sleeves, abundantly decorated with embroidery done in yarn. Zubun, a sleeveless dress for women, Janj, western Bosnia, second half of the nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.Indispensable parts in the woman's outfit were a woven woollen belt and apron, harmonious in motif and colour, worn over a long shirt. The most common forms of heavy cloth articles of clothing were the "zubun", "sadak" or "koret" - kinds of long bodices. They were joined by dresses with sleeves, decorated with embroidery and coloured appliquï¿½s done in fabric. Girls' heads were adorned with red caps, and married women covered these caps with scarfs folded in various ways. In men's clothing, narrow trousers were common, and in some areas roomy "pelengirs" with flared legs were characteristic - they are very ancient forms of clothing. They were accompanied by vests with straight and overlapping halves (gunjic, zubun, jecerma, dzemadan) and short overcoats with sleeves (known as gunj, gunja, koporan, aljina). A multi-coloured woven belt was indispensable, as was a red cap, which was wrapped with a woollen scarf in the winter in many areas.Decorations, richly applied to men's and especially women's dress, were characterised by harmony in their ornamentation and colour schemes. The delicate colours of the yarns in weaving, achieved through the traditional process of dying with herbal dyes, contributed greatly to the highly refined harmony in colour. In the ornamentation of the rich multi-coloured embroidery and in the appliques of homespun and other decorations, which cover practically all visible surfaces on articles of clothing, and equally so in woven fabrics, geometric and geometrized vegetative motifs prevailed. In creating decorative and aesthetic elements, various kinds of silver embellishments played an important role in woollen Dinaric clothing. These embellishments amplified the heavy monumental form of the clothing. One of the most significant forms were men's "toke" for the chest, made up of several silver plates or studs, which were often gilded. They were a symbol of heroism, and weapons were worn along with them. The weapons were of high quality craftsmanship, tucked into a special pocket of a wide leather belt. A belt - "cemer", an essential part of women's festive attire, Montenegro, end of the nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.Traditional costumes of the Adriatic regions covered a significantly smaller area when compared to the expanses of the Dinaric massif. The narrow strip along the Montenegrin coastline and Bay of Boka Kotorska developed under the conditions of Mediterranean commerce and culture, while maintaining constant contact with the mountain hinterlands. Thus, Mediterranean and urban European elements in clothing are encountered, mixed together with the Dinaric elements of the mountain hinterlands.Home-made linen fabric was used for making the costumes, along with hemp and cotton. Likewise, woollen fabrics such as homespun and coarse wool were used. Apart from home-made materials, factory made materials were also used (especially for festive attire), including fabrics, velour, brocade and silk. Along with expensive materials, sailors brought various kinds of valuables and fashionable items (parasols, fans, and so on) to their families during the height of maritime activities, especially during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Apart from coloured embroidery and braids, white embroidery and fine lace were also common. Gold and silver jewelry, items of fine workmanship, complemented the refined simplicity of coastal costumes. The visual specificity of those costumes was the colour scheme, set in two or three colours, at times in combinations of several colours.In women's attire, an outer dress in the form of a long faulted skirt with a bodice sewn on was common. Individual variants differed in the kind and colour of the fabric, accompanied by differing names. Over-shirts with lace inserts and skirts ("sarca", "raca", "kamicot"), a woollen or silken belt were worn, and an apron was added. Sleeveless dresses and light overcoats were also worn. The head was wrapped in a scarf, and in some areas flat caps were worn. In men's attire, caps also had thin brims; the caps were made of waterproof cloth and covered with silk. The remaining parts of the costumes were shirts with decorative inserts, wide faulted pants, a belt, a vest ("jecerma"), and overcoats with long sleeves. Some of the most important decorations were braided appliques, and a leather girder (cemer) around the belt, into which two pistols were slipped, made in domestic gunsmith shops. The chest adornment of men's village attire, Kninska krajina, nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.In the coastal oases, the Dinaric touch was seen in the adaptation of traits of hinterland clothing, tamed for the coastal areas.The attire of the central Balkans was found in the southern and central regions of Serbia, with the communications hub in the Morava Valley, and in part of Kosovo and Metohia, as well as in parts of Raska. In this region, the mountains and flatlands alternate, and the costumes are a combination of elements of attire worn by farmers and herdsmen, with traces of the Greek, ancient Balkan, Byzantine and medieval Serbian and Turkish-Oriental elements of dress. Women's village dress, parts of the blouse sleeves, bodice, belt and short "bojce" skirt - Kosovo polje, region of Kosovo-Metohia, nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, Belgrade.In many variants of the basic costume style, especially varied in women's attire, men characteristically wore homespun white and brown jackets. A specific form of decoration were appliquï¿½s of black and dark blue woollen yarn. In women's attire, with numerous characteristics of an elongated visual form, one notices a remarkable wealth of forms, materials, embroideries, appliques with a variety of decorations, and harmoniously composed geometric and vegetational motifs and colours. The frequent usage of red in combinations with other colours, as well as with gold and silver threads, contributed to the great liveliness of these materials. The basic element of attire was the straight cut blouse, with richly embroidered sleeves, breast and bottom hem. The embroidery was done with wool, cotton and sterling silver thread on a hemp, linen or cotton base. The other characteristic piece of clothing was the wool or cotton skirt, open full-length, which had different lengths, decorations, colours and names from region to region. The elegant, single-coloured "bojca" from Kosovo with its dainty embroidery, as well as the fine, multi-coloured "futa", "bokca" and "zaprega" of other regions, with stripes and fine woven geometric designs, all fit in harmoniously with the whiteness of certain kinds of long linen blouses. Likewise, the other pieces, and especially the "zubun" (a long hemp waistcoat with a floral design), represent the accomplishments of folk handicrafts and their high artistic value. Women's village attire, view from the back, Sava river basin near Belgrade, turn of the twentieth century. Ethnographic Museum, BelgradeThe special head-wear of women should be added to these elements. Various kinds of pins were put in the hair, which was then covered with cloths and covers in the form of caps and veils. The embroidery, ornaments and some of the tailoring, along with a variety of fixings - earrings, hairpins, necklaces and rings - are reminiscent of the costumes and jewelry of the Serbian Middle Ages. Embroidery on the sleeve of a woman's blouse, Kosovo polje, Kosovo-Metohia region, nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, BelgradeThe attire of Pannonia, a predominantly lowland region, was found over the central parts of Serbia, in Vojvodina, Baranja, Slavonia, and along the Sava in Bosnia, where a significant portion of the population was Serbian. Along the southern border, elements of central Balkan and Dinaric attire are intermixed, and in the remaining regions one finds central European influences and styles, especially the Baroque. Likewise, from the mid-nineteenth century onward, the urban fashion of western and central Europe was also quite influential. Old Slavonic elements were also quite significant, and they were best preserved in these regions.The Pannonian plain, with its complex cultural interactions, its fertile soil and its abundance of grain and other produce, ensured the inhabitants economic security which was expressed in all areas of life. In attire, that security contributed to the boisterous variety and vividness of the forms, decorations and colours. Finely faulted rough woven attire, worn both summer and winter, is both light and lively. Vegetational motifs are frequent, as is gold embroidery, and the colours are generally bright. A golden cap, part of women's festive attire, Banat, Vojvodina, second half of the nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, BelgradeThe long one-piece roughly woven faulted blouse is prominent in women's attire. It bears woven decoration or embroidery in one or more colours. The two-piece blouse is decorated in a similar way, although the lower part is worn in several layers. Along with linen cloth skirts, woollen skirts were common as well, with wide or narrow faults. A belt and apron were worn over the linen clothing, and in some regions two aprons were worn -- one in front and one in back. Beside the wide use of floral motifs and woven geometric ornamentation, the head-wear was also specific in nature -- specially woven cloths, scarfs folded into caps, and brides and young women wore crowns of flowers and gold embroidered caps. Menswear of linen consisted of "rubine" (shirts and trousers), worn in the Pannonian way (the shirt was not tucked into the trousers). Decoration of the menswear was as prominent as that of the women's attire. Among the various floral designs, the motif of the shock of wheat done in gold embroidery was distinctive as a symbol of fertility.In winter, both women's and men's attire was complemented by articles of clothing made of heavy cloth and fur. On white, dark and brown cloth, motifs took the form of cut shapes of cloth and homespun sewn in, and leather motifs were sewn onto leather. These stitched-in forms in combination with bright-coloured embroidery contributed to the liveliness of vests, peasant jackets, cloaks and sheepskin coats.As a whole, all these types of traditional costume are characterised by uniqueness in creativity and appearance, considering the wide variety of styles in mountainous, coastal, hilly and plains regions, each with its specific conditions for folk life and folk culture. Based on the age-old experience of the people and on their needs and know-how, this tradition was manifested in the visual harmony of basic constructive elements which were created by the harmonious uniformity and placement of the ornamental compositions. In their artistic character and aesthetic value, the traditional costumes of the Serbs in the nineteenth century and early decades of the twentieth century are at the very pinnacle of traditional forms of the collective folk spirit, not only in this milieu but even far beyond it. Kabanica, an outer garment with short, closed sleeves in which shepherds carried food and other things instead of in a bag; Srem, Vojvodina, nineteenth century. Ethnographic Museum, BelgradeFrom the end of the nineteenth century onward, when the traditional means of dress gave up their place to the urban attire of Europe, traditional costumes essentially became a thing of cultural-historical value. Thereafter, they were worn in daily life only on special occasions, in certain closed milieus or on certain festive occasions.

Music:

PATRIARCHATE OF PEC

The Patriarchate of Pec is one of the most important Serbian medieval monasteries in the Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija. The church complex consists of four churches dating back to the 13th and 14th centuries: * The Church of the Holy Apostles was built by the Serbian Archbishop Arsenije in the 13th century and was painted in 1250. At the same time, the seat of the Serbian Church was also transferred to Pec. * The Church of St Demetrios was built around 1320 by Archbishop Nikodim. * The Church of the Virgin Hodegetria was built Archbishop Danilo II some time after 1320. * The Church of St Nicholas was attached to the complex of churches at the same time as the Church of the Virgin Hodegetria was constructed. The complex experienced difficult times during the early Turkish occupation. However, with the restoration of the Serbian Patriarchate of Pec in 1557, the place regained its focal spiritual and political role. In 1565 the narthex was painted and the iconostasis renovated, and frescoes were refreshed in 1620-21. During the time of Patriarch Pajsije, the church of the Holy Apostles was restored, and in 1633-34 the western part was repainted as the old frescoes have been seriously damaged. In the time of Patriarch Maksim, in 1673-74 the church of St. Nicholas was painted. During the war between the Turks and Austrians the Serbs fought on the Christian side and the patriarchate was badly damaged. The monastery's treasury was transported to the Monastery of Gracanica and hidden in one of its domes; however, the Turkish rebel Jeghen Pasa discovered this location and removed the treasure in 1688. In 1690, ahead of the Turkish offensive spearheaded by Tatar and Albanian irregulars, Patriarch Arsenije III Carnojevic was forced to flee to safety in Belgrade. After the Turks took Belgrade in October of 1690, he withdrew to the Hungarian side with about 30,000 Serbian refugees. The Turks and Albanians plundered and desecrated the monastery, as well as many other Serbian sanctuaries. The Patriarchate was abandoned in another war with the Turks, 1737-1739, when Patriarch Arsenije IV Jovanovic and the monks left for Srem, taking with them the remaining valuables. Yet another demolition the monastery suffered by the Aslan Pasa of Bosnia in 1831.

SOPOÄ†ANI

The SopoÄ‡ani Monastery, a foundation of King Urosh I, was built in the second half of the 13th century, near the source of the river RaÅ¡ka in the region of Ras, the centre of the Serbian medieval state. The most certain year of building is 1265. The church is dedicated to the Holy Trinity. The completion of the painting of the main parts of the church can be indirectly dated to between 1263 and 1270. Archbishop Sabbas II, who became the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church in 1263, is represented in the procession of archbishops in the altar of the SopoÄ‡ani church. SopoÄ‡ani frescoes are considered by many experts on Orthodox Christian art as the most beautiful frescoes belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church. In the 16th century the monks had to leave the monastery on several occasions because of the Turkish threat, but they always returned to it. During one of these departures they took the coffin with the body of King Steven the First-Crowned to the Monastery of Crna Reka (Black River) in Kosovo. The church lost its roof, and the outer narthex was partly demolished. The end of the 16th and the beginning of the 17th century was a period of great prosperity for SopoÄ‡ani. All damages were repaired at that time. The Turks burnt and demolished the monastery in 1689 and carried off the lead from the church roof. After this tragedy the monks did not return to it, and it remained deserted for over two hundred years, until the 20th century. The rare travellers who visited it in the 18th and 19th centuries recorded that it lay in ruins. The church slowly decayed: its vaults caved in, its dome fell down, and the remains of the surrounding buildings were covered with rubble and earth. During 20th century monastery is renewed and today is settled by numerous and very active brotherhood of monks. The fact that most of SopoÄ‡ani frescoes many consider as a miracle. The beauty presented in this archive survived more than 2 centuries of extreme metheorological circumstances and despite that conserved all of its glory.

Ostrog monastery

The Monastery of Ostrog is a monastery of the Serb Orthodox Church placed against an almost vertical background, high up in the large rock of OstroÅ¡ka Greda, in Montenegro. It is dedicated to Saint Basil of Ostrog (Sveti Vasilije OstroÅ¡ki).From the monastery, a superb view of the BjelopavliÄ‡i plain can be seen. Ostrog, monastery is the most popular pilgrimage place in Montenegro. The Monastery was founded by Vasilije, the Metropolitan Bishop of Herzegovina in the 17th century. He died there in 1671 and some years later he was glorified. His body is enshrined in a reliquary kept in the cave-church dedicated to the Presentation of the Mother of God to the Temple.The present-day look was given to the Monastery in 1923-1926, after a fire which had destroyed the major part of the complex. Fortunately, the two little cave-churches were spared and they make the essential value of the whole monument. The frescoes in the Church of the Presentation were made towards the end of the 17th century. The other church, dedicated to the Holy Cross, is placed within a cave on the upper level of the monastery and was painted by master Radul, who successfully coped with the natural shapes of the cave and laid the frescoes immediately on the surface of the rock and the south wall. Around the church are the monastic residences, which together with the church building and the beautiful scenery make this monument an agreeable place to stay in.The Orthodox monastery of Ostrog is one of the most frequently visited on the Balkans. It is visited by believers from all parts of the world, either individually or in groups. It represents the meeting place of all confessions: the Orthodox, the Catholics and the Muslims. According to the stories of pilgrims, by praying by his body, many have been cured and helped in lessening the difficulties in their lives.

Hilandar

Hilandar (Serbian: Ð¥Ð¸Ð»Ð°Ð½Ð´Ð°Ñ€; Greek: Î§Î¹Î»Î±Î½Î´Î±ÏÎ¯Î¿Ï…) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery on Mount Athos in Greece. It was founded in 1198 by the Serbian Saint Sava and his father, Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja (who later became a monk there, taking the monastic name of "Simeon") of RaÅ¡ka. Due to the fact that its founders are Serbs and the first monks were of the Serbian Orthodox Church it is also called "The Serbian monastery" and is nowadays the monastery where Serbian Orthodox monks traditionally reside. Today, Hilandar represents one of the greatest shrines for the Serbian people.Two medieval Bulgarian royal charters, the Virgino Charter and the Oryahov Charter, have been found in Hilandar's library.In the 1970s, the Greek government offered power grid installation to all of the monasteries on Mount Athos. The Holy Council of Mount Athos refused, and since then every monastery generates its own power, which is gained mostly from renewable energy sources. During the 1980s, electrification of the monastery of Hilandar took place, generating power mostly for lights and heating.In 2004, an accident happened when one of the heaters was not turned off and the old, dry wood used to build that portion of monastery ignited. The fire significantly damaged Hilandar, and about 40-50% of the monastery burned to the ground. It is currently undergoing restoration.

Å½iÄa

Å½iÄa is a Serb Orthodox monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia. The monastery, together with the Church of the Holy Dormition, was built by the first King of Serbia, Stefan the First-Crowned. It was destroyed by the end of 13th century, but was rebuilt by King Stefan Milutin at the beginning of the 14th century. Å½iÄa was by tradition royal church of Serbian kings, and although king could be crowned in any Serbian church, he was never considered true king until he was anointed in Å½iÄa.

ÄurÄ‘evi stupovi

ÄurÄ‘evi stupovi (Serbian Cyrillic: Ð‚ÑƒÑ€Ñ’ÐµÐ²Ð¸ cÑ‚ÑƒÐ¿Ð¾Ð²Ð¸) (English: The Pillars of Saint George) is a 12th-century Eastern Orthodox monastery located in the vicinity of today's city of Novi Pazar, in the SandÅ¾ak region of Serbia. The church was erected by the Grand Prince of Rascia, Stefan Nemanja, back in 1166, on the spot where the Serbian medieval capital of Ras once stood. It is currently undergoing reconstruction and renovation. ÄurÄ‘evi stupovi have entered a UNESCO list together with the complex of Stari Ras and SopoÄ‡ani.

Visoki DeÄani monastery

Visoki DeÄani is a major Serb Orthodox Christian monastery located in the disputed Serbian province of Kosovo, 12 km south of the town of PeÄ‡. The monastic katholikon is the largest medieval church in the Balkans containing the most extensive preserved fresco decoration.The monastery was established in a chestnut grove by King Stefan DeÄanski in 1327. Its original founding charter is dated to 1330. The following year the king died and was buried at the monastery, which henceforth became his popular shrine. Indeed, the epithet DeÄanski refers to the king's foundation of the monastery. The construction was continued by his son Stefan DuÅ¡an until 1335, but the wall-painting was not completed until 1350.The monastic church, dedicated to Christ Pantocrator and built from blocks of red-purple, light-yellow and onyx marble, was constructed by builders working under a Franciscan monk, Vitus of Kotor. The church is distinguished by its imposing size and Romanesque and Early Gothic structure and design. Apart from the extensive and well preserved fresco cycles the interior features the original 14th-century stone templon, the throne of the hegumen and the carved wooden sarcophagus of the founder King Stefan.In 2004, UNESCO listed the monastery on the World Heritage List, citing its frescoes as "one of the most valued examples of the so-called Palaeologan renaissance in Byzantine painting" and "a valuable record of the life in the 14th century".

Heroes:

VUK STEFANOVIÄ† KARADZIÄ†

Vuk StefanoviÄ‡ KaradÅ¾iÄ‡ (Serbian Cyrillic: Ð’ÑƒÐº Ð¡Ñ‚ÐµÑ„Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ› ÐšÐ°Ñ€Ð°ÑŸÐ¸Ñ›) (November 7, 1787 - February 7, 1864) was a Serbian linguist and major reformer of the Serbian language. He was an honorary Citizen of the Croatian capital, Zagreb.KaradÅ¾iÄ‡ was born in the village of TrÅ¡iÄ‡, near Loznica in Serbia. As one of the leading European philologist of his time, KaradÅ¾iÄ‡ reformed the Serb literary language and standardized the Serbian Cyrillic alphabet by following strict phonemic principles on the German model.KaradÅ¾iÄ‡'s reforms of the Serbian literary language modernized it and distanced it from Serbian and Russian Church Slavonic, instead bringing it close to common folk speech, specifically, to the dialect of Eastern Herzegovina which he spoke. KaradÅ¾iÄ‡ was, together with Äuro DaniÄiÄ‡, the main Serbian signatory to the Vienna Agreement of 1850 which, encouraged by Austrian authorities, laid the foundation for the Serbian language , various forms of which are used in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia today. KaradÅ¾ic translated the New Testament into Serbian, which was published in 1868.In addition to these linguistic reforms, Vuk also made great contributions to folk literature, using peasant culture as the foundation. Because of his peasant upbringing, he closely associated with the peasant's oral literature, compiling it to use in his collection of folk songs, tales, and proverbs. While Vuk hardly considered peasant life romantic, he highly regarded it as an integral part of Serbian culture. He collected several volumes of folk prose and poetry, including a book of over 100 lyrical and epic songs learned as a child and written down from memory. He also published the first dictionary of vernacular Serbian. For his work he received little financial aid, at times living in poverty. He died in Vienna.

NIKOLA TESLA

Nikola Tesla (Serbian Cyrillic: ÐÐ¸ÐºÐ¾Ð»Ð° Ð¢ÐµÑÐ»Ð°) (10 July 1856 â€“ 7 January 1943) was an inventor, physicist, mechanical and electrical engineer. Born in Smiljan, Croatian Krajina, Austrian Empire, he was an ethnic Serb subject of the Austrian Empire and later became an American citizen. An example of Tesla's views regarding his ethnic origin is the quote "I'm equally proud of my Serbian origin and my Croatian homeland." [2] Tesla is best known for his many revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th century. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of modern alternating current electric power (AC) systems, including the polyphase power distribution systems and the AC motor, with which he helped usher in the Second Industrial Revolution.

LAZAR OF SERBIA

Stefan Lazar (Ð¡Ñ‚ÐµÑ„Ð°Ð½ Ð›Ð°Ð·Ð°Ñ€), Tzar Lazar HrebeljanoviÄ‡ (Serbian Cyrillic: ÐšÐ½ÐµÐ· Ð›Ð°Ð·Ð°Ñ€ Ð¥Ñ€ÐµÐ±ÐµÑ™Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ›) or Knez Lazar (1329 â€“ June 23, 1389, Gregorian Calendar), also known as "Tsar Lazar", was a Serbian noble who fought and perished at the Battle of Kosovo, to which his name and life are inextricably tied. He is a heroic figure in Serbia, and a saint of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

SAINT SAVA

Saint Archbishop Sava (or saint Sabbas; Serbian: Ð¡Ð²ÐµÑ‚Ð¸ Ð¡Ð°Ð²Ð°, Sveti Sava) (1175 - January 14, 1235), originally the prince Rastko NemanjiÄ‡ (Serbian: Ð Ð°ÑÑ‚ÐºÐ¾ ÐÐµÐ¼Ð°ÑšÐ¸Ñ›) (son of the Serbian ruler and founder of the Serbian medieval state Stefan Nemanja and brother of Stefan PrvovenÄani, first Serbian king), is the first Archbishop of Serbia (1219-1233), the most important saint in the Serbian Orthodox Church and important cultural and political worker of that time.

KARADJORDJE PETROVIÄ†

KaraÄ‘orÄ‘e PetroviÄ‡ (Serbian Cyrillic: ÐšÐ°Ñ€Ð°Ñ’Ð¾Ñ€Ñ’Ðµ ÐŸÐµÑ‚Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ›; Anglicised: Karageorge Petrovitch Turkish: Kara Yorgi), (November 3, 1768? â€“ July 24, 1817) was the leader of the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire, and the founder of the Serbian House of KaraÄ‘orÄ‘eviÄ‡. He was born as ÄorÄ‘e (George) PetroviÄ‡, and is of Montegerin Serbian origin (VasojeviÄ‡i tribe). Because of his dark complexion, according to some, or because of the troubles he caused to the Turks, according to the others, he was nicknamed "Black George", kara meaning black in Turkish, in Serbian: Crni ÄorÄ‘e.

MIHAJLO IDVORSKI PUPIN

Mihajlo Idvorski Pupin, Ph.D, LL.D. (4 October 1858[1] â€“ 12 March 1935; Serbian Cyrillic: ÐœÐ¸Ñ…Ð°Ñ˜Ð»Ð¾ Ð˜Ð´Ð²Ð¾Ñ€ÑÐºÐ¸ ÐŸÑƒÐ¿Ð¸Ð½), also known as Michael I. Pupin, was a Serbian physicist and physical chemist. Pupin is best known for his landmark theory of modern electrical filters and for his numerous patents, including a means of greatly extending the range of long-distance telephone communication by placing loading coils (of wire) at predetermined intervals along the transmitting wire (known as pupinization).

IVO ANDRIÄ†

Ivo AndriÄ‡ (Cyrillic: Ð˜Ð²Ð¾ ÐÐ½Ð´Ñ€Ð¸Ñ›; October 9, 1892â€”March 13, 1975) was a Serbian novelist, short story writer, and the 1961 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature from Yugoslavia (he was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina, that in the time of his biggest popularity was a part of Yugoslavia). His novels The Bridge on the Drina and Chronicles of Travnik / The Days of the Consuls dealt with life in Bosnia under the Ottoman Empire.

DOSITEJ OBRADOVIÄ†

Dositej (Dositheus) Dimitrije ObradoviÄ‡ (Ð”Ð¾ÑÐ¸Ñ‚ÐµÑ˜ ÐžÐ±Ñ€Ð°Ð´Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ›; February 17, 1742? - 1811) was a Serbian author, philosopher and linguist. As one of the most influential proponents of Serbian national and cultural Renaissance, he was advocating ideas of European Enlightenment and Rationalism.

PETAR PETROVIÄ† NJEGOÅ

Petar II PetroviÄ‡-NjegoÅ¡ (Serbian Cyrillic: ÐŸÐµÑ‚Ð°Ñ€ II ÐŸÐµÑ‚Ñ€Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ›-ÐŠÐµÐ³Ð¾Ñˆ) was a Serbian Orthodox Prince-Bishop (Serbian: Ð’Ð»Ð°Ð´Ð¸ÐºÐ°, Vladika) of Montenegro and a ruler who transformed Montenegro from a theocracy into a secular state. However, he is most famous as a poet and is considered by many to be among the greatest poets of the Serbian language. The first notable writer from Montenegro, his notable works include The Mountain Wreath (Serbian: Ð“Ð¾Ñ€ÑÐºÐ¸ Ð²Ð¸Ñ˜ÐµÐ½Ð°Ñ† or Gorski vijenac), the Light of Microcosm (Ð›ÑƒÑ‡Ð° Ð¼Ð¸ÐºÑ€Ð¾ÐºÐ¾Ð·Ð¼Ð° or LuÄa mikrokozma), the Serbian Mirror (ÐžÐ³Ð»ÐµÐ´Ð°Ð»Ð¾ ÑÑ€Ð¿ÑÐºÐ¾ or Ogledalo srpsko), and False Tsar Stephen the Little (Ð›Ð°Ð¶Ð½Ð¸ Ñ†Ð°Ñ€ Ð¨Ñ›ÐµÐ¿Ð°Ð½ ÐœÐ°Ð»Ð¸).

STEVAN STOJANOVIÄ† MOKRANJAC

Stevan StojanoviÄ‡ Mokranjac (Serbian Cyrillic: Ð¡Ñ‚ÐµÐ²Ð°Ð½ Ð¡Ñ‚Ð¾Ñ˜Ð°Ð½Ð¾Ð²Ð¸Ñ› ÐœÐ¾ÐºÑ€Ð°ÑšÐ°Ñ†) (January 9, 1856 - 1914) is one of the most famous Serbian composers and music educators of the nineteenth century. His work was essential in bringing the spirit of Serbian unwritten folk poems into organized art.

DESANKA MAKSIMOVIÄ†(1898-1993); DJURA JAKÅ IÄ† (1832-1878);

DOBRICA ERIÄ† (1936); JOVAN JOVANOVIÄ† ZMAJ (1833-1904);

LJUBIVOJE RÅ UMOVIÄ† (1939); VOJISLAV ILIÄ† (1862-1894);

MILAN RAKIÄ† (1876-1938); ALEKSA Å ANTIÄ† (1868-1924);

JOVAN DUÄŒIÄ† (1871-1941); BRANA CRNÄŒEVIÄ† (1933);

BORA STANKOVIÄ† (1876-1927); BRANISLAV NUÅ IÄ† (1864-1938);

DANILO KIÅ (1935-1989); MATIJA BEÄ†KOVIÄ†(1939);

IVAN-GORAN KOVAÄŒIÄ† (1913-1943); JANKO VESELINOVIÄ† (1862-1905);

LAZA KOSTIÄ† (1841-1910); LAZA LAZAREVIÄ† (1851-1890);

MILOVAN GLIÅ IÄ† (1847-1908); PETAR KOÄŒIÄ† (1877-1916);

RADOJE DOMANOVIÄ† (1873-1908); VLADISLAV PETKOVIÄ†-DIS (1880-1917);

BRANKO RADIÄŒEVIÄ† (1824-1853); DOBRICA Ä†OSIÄ† (1921);

BRANKO Ä†OPIÄ† (1915-1984); DUÅ KO RADOVIÄ† (1922-1984);

MILOÅ CRNJANSKI (1893-1977); STEVAN SREMAC (1855-1906);

PROTA MATEJA NENADOVIÄ† (1777-1854); SVETOZAR MARKOVIÄ† (1846-1875);

JOVAN STERIJA POPOVIÄ† (1806-1856); SIMO MATAVULJ (1852-1908);

ISIDORA SEKULIÄ† (1877-1958); SIMA PANDUROVIÄ† (1883-1960);

BRANKO MILJKOVIÄ† (1934-1961).

HAJDUK VELJKO PETROVIÄ† (ca.1780-1813); MILOÅ OBRENOVIÄ† I, Prince of Serbia (1780-1860);

VOJVODA Å½IVOJIN MIÅ IÄ† (1855-1921); VOJVODA RADOMIR PUTNIK (1847-1917);

DRAZA MIHAILOVIÄ† (1893-1946); MILOÅ OBILIÄ†

NADEÅ½DA PETROVIÄ† (1873-1915); UROÅ PREDIÄ† (1857-1953);

PAJA JOVANOVIÄ† (1859-1957); MILIÄ† od MAÄŒVE (1934-2000).

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