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DOI: 10.34298/9788677431488023

UDC: 911.3:94(497.11)“13/14“

pp. 23–40

language: serbian

Miloš Ivanović

THE ŽUPA (COUNTY) OF MORAVA AND NEIGHBOURING AREAS IN THE LATE MIDDLE AGES

Summary

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the history of today’s Kraljevo region in the late Middle Ages. The focus is placed on the medieval župa (a lower-rank territorial-administrative unit) of Morava and its neighboring areas. This region probably included both banks of the West Morava river, somewhere near today’s Čačak, without its area, to the west towards present-day Kraljevo and the Lower Ibar river in the east. The chronological framework comprises the period from the death of Emperor Stefan Dušan in 1355 to the fall of the Serbian medieval state in 1459.

Powerful nobles began to form their independent regions during the reign of Emperor Uroš (1355–1371), the last ruler of the Nemanjić dynasty. It is unknown which of them held the župa of Morava. Some of the neighboring areas belonged to Prince Vojislav Vojinović, who died in 1363. His widow Goislava was suppressed by his nephew Župan Nikola Altomanović five years later. Prince Lazar and Bosnian Ban Tvrtko defeated Župan Nikola in 1373 and divided his territory. Thanks to this success, Prince Lazar took control of the area in the basin of the three Morava rivers. The Žiča monastery, near today’s Kraljevo, reappeared as the seat of the Serbian Church at the time of his rule. The heirs of Prince Lazar became Ottoman vassals after the Battle of Kosovo. On the other hand, Hungarians threatened the area around Rudnik in the late 14th century.

There is no direct information about the župa of Morava from the reign of Stefan Lazarević as a despot (1402–1427). The charter of new Serbian ruler Đurađ Branković (1427–1456) from 1428/1429, by which he confirmed the patrimonies of a prominent noble, čelnik Radič, provides important information about the župa of Morava. Namely, this source testifies that čelnik Radič held villages around the Upper Morava (Gornja Morava). Most of these settlements were located on the left bank of the West Moravа. It is noteworthy that the župa of Morava became a border region after 1428. The Ottomans occupied the southern part of the Serbian state in 1455, including the Žiča monastery, one of the seats of the Serbian Patriarchate. Тhe left bank of the West Moravа fell under the Turkish rule in 1458 or 1459, together with the remaining parts of the Serbian state.

Keywords: župa of Morava, Ibar river, Žiča monastery, Nikola Altomanović, Prince Lazar, čelnik Radič, villages, Ottomans.