[A] The monarchs began as Grand Princes, and with the crowning of Stefan Nemanjić in 1217, the realm was promoted to a Kingdom, and the Serbian Orthodox Church was established in 1219.

[6] The state disintegrated after the death of the last known Vlastimirid ruler Časlav of Serbia around 940/960s and the Byzantines annexed the region and held it for a century, until 1040 when the Serbs under the Vojislavljević Dynasty revolted in Duklja (Pomorje).

[8][9] In 1166, Stefan Nemanja took the throne, marking the beginning of Serbia, henceforth under the rule of the Nemanjići (Vukanović branch).

During Dušan's rule, Serbia reached its territorial, political, and economical peak,[12] proclaiming itself as the successor of the Byzantine Empire, and was the most powerful Balkan state of that time.

[13] Stefan Dušan attempted to organize a Crusade with the Pope against the threatening Turks,[14] but he died suddenly in December 1355.

[15] He was succeeded by his son Uroš, called the Weak, a term that might also apply to the state of the empire, which slowly slid into a feudal fragmentation.

[3] This was a period marked by the rise of a new threat: the Ottoman Turk sultanate, which spread from Asia to Europe conquering Byzantium and then the other states in the Balkans.