Časlav of Serbia
Tzeésthlabos (Greek: Τζεέσθλαβος), usually transliterated as Časlav (Serbian Cyrillic: Часлав) or Chaslav and Tzeeslav,[a] was Prince of the Serbs from c. 933 until his death in c.
Initially an ally of the Bulgarians, Časlav successfully came to the throne of Serbia in a very chaotic period of history, managing to reorganize and repopulate the country after Bulgarian–Serbian wars of 917–924.
A possible identification with a same-named person from the Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja reveals that he presumably fought off the Magyars, but eventually dying in combat with them.
In the 880s, Mutimir seized the throne for himself, exiling his brothers and Klonimir, who was Strojimir's son, to the First Bulgarian Empire, to the court of Boris I.
[8][10] Bulgaria considerably expanded its borders to the west, now neighbouring its powerful ally Michael of Zahumlje and Croatia, where Zaharija was exiled and soon died.
[12][13] He immediately submitted to the overlordship of Byzantine emperor Romanos I Lekapenos and gained financial and diplomatic support for his efforts.
[11] As he lived in Bulgaria having close spiritual ties with the Bulgarian Church, were introduced in Serbia the Byzantine-Slavic culture and literature envisioned by Cyril and Methodius.
[18] While others consider that he also expanded into Travunia,[21] Kanalites and Pagania,[22] and Rascia,[17] there is no evidence,[20] and it is improbable because all these polities are mentioned as separate from Serbia when DAI was written roughly around 959.
[20][17][23] Francis Dvornik argued that Časlav's presumed expansion into Bosnia would have been impossible in the first decade of reign, and only after "he had re-populated and re-established his country", with the best fit being in 949 when Croatian power temporarily declined.
[19] Relja Novaković doubts that Časlav's state included Bosnia, saying that there is no evidence in DAI and other sources that the Serbian state at the time had significant territorial gains, and that caution is needed when showing Serbian territorial borders in the mid-10th century, adding "we could almost say with certainty that the extent of Serbia at that time was not of the scale shown on the maps".
[17][24] Tibor Živković also emphasized that "it is important to notice that the DAI I, 32.141 – 145, does not speak about any of presumed Časlav's military campaigns, but only that he became a ruler recognized in Constantinople".
[33] The Magyars, led by Kisa, invaded Bosnia, and Časlav hurried and encountered them at the banks of river Drina around the place called Civelino.
[45] Byzantine military presence ended soon thereafter with the wars with Bulgaria, and was re-established only c. 1018 with the short-lived Theme of Sirmium, which, however, did not extend much into Rascia proper.
