From the end of the 11th century, the name began to be used to refer to the whole of Duklja, at first in Kekaumenos's military manual, written in the 1080s.
In 1190, Grand Župan of Rascia and Stefan Nemanja's son, Vukan II, asserted his right over Zeta.
Žarko held the Lower Zeta region: he is mentioned in records from 1356, when he raided some traders from Dubrovnik, not far from Sveti Srđ at Lake Skadar.
The next year, in June, Žarko becomes a citizen of the Republic of Venice, where he was known as "baron lord of the Serbian King, with holdings in the Zeta region and Bojana of the maritime".
The Lordship was reunified with the Serbian crown in 1421, when Balša III abdicated and passed the rule to his uncle, Despot Stefan Lazarević.