Stefan II of Serbia

Stefan Uroš II (Serbian: Стефан Урош II, born c. 1240) was the last king of Serbia, having reigned from 1268 to 1312. 
The first years of his long reign were marked by economic prosperity and the rebuilding of Serbia from the previous Mongol incursions and internal dynastic strife. In particular, hemp production flourished in the late 1270's, as Stefan invited Italian merchants and producers to establish hemp plantations in Serbia. By 1278, the royal revenues from hemp became the most important source of income of the Serbian monarchy.
Throughout his reign, Stefan II was a rival to the Byzantine emperors in Constantinople and sought to distance Serbia from Byzantine influence. Early in his life, he had been unsuccessfully promoted as a claimant to the imperial title during the Scythian Wars by his predecessor on the Serbian throne, Stefan I. In the Great Latin War, Stefan II allied himself with the Latin Empire against the Byzantines and invaded Albania, successfully occupying the city of Dyrrachium. Following the Battle of Seleucia, Stefan II was forced to negotiate a peace agreement with the new Byzantine emperor, Romanos V, which saw him vacate his conquests and a return to the status quo. In order to protect his independence against both the Byzantines and the Austrian Premyslids, who both had entered an alliance with the marriage of Romanos V to Irene of Bohemia, Stefan II placed Serbia as a tributary state to the Jochid khan in Kiev. He sought an alliance with the Kings of Sicily, in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the Pope to call a Crusade against the Byzantines.
Towards the end of his reign, when his advanced age kept him from adequate ruling, Serbia was invaded by the |Venetian republic and the Teutonic Order. The war quickly involved the other regional powers in the Balkans, and after Byzantine and Austrian intervention the kingdom was divided into four principalities and the Serbian monarchy was dissolved. Stefan II and his children sought exile at the court of Wenceslaus II, at Vienna.
Category:Rulers