At the time, Zeta was the last free territory of the former powerful Serbian state that began to collapse after the Battle of Kosovo in 1389.

In an attempt to defend Zeta from Turkish aspirations to the land, Đurađ Crnojević sought an ally in Venice.

England's early contacts with Serbian and Muscovy merchants meant that books were acquired by English traders and brought home as curiosities.

Their trophies survived undisturbed in libraries, rather than suffering the fate of being handled to destruction by invaders in their native lands.

Serbian-American scientist and inventor Nikola Tesla's most prized possession was Božidar Vuković's 1517 Sluzbenik, an inheritance from his father, a Serbian Orthodox priest.