PROUD PEOPLE: THE SERBS

THE ROOTS

• Encyclopedia Americana about the Serbian origin
  Reference: Encyclopedia Americana, Edition 1993, Vol 24, pages 571, 572
  Quote:

  The exact etymology of the word Serb is obscure, but one theory is that it comes from the Caucasian ser, meaning "man", with a plural suffix of bi from that language added. The name Serb was first mentioned in the 6th century A.D. by geographer Vibius Sequestrus. The first Serbs in Germany appeared at the beginning of the 6th century in the Magdeburg and Anhalt regions. The German city of Zerbst (Serbis"te in Slavic) is a remainder of the early invasion. Serbs in the Balkan Penninsula are first mentioned in 822 by Einhard, of Charlemagne's court, but the Byzanthine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, writing in the 10th century, refers to Serbs as already being in Illiric province by the middle of the 7th century.

Serbs were one of the peoples of the Caucasus and lived on the Eastern shores of Sea of Azov. At the time of the barbarian invasions, they began to move with other Slavs toward the west, a progress that began as early as the 4th century... (End quote)

---

• Encyclopedia Britannica about the Serbian settlement in the Balkans
  Reference: EB, Edition 1943, Vol 20, Page 341
  Entry: Serbia, History
  Quote:

  According to the emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the emperor Heraclius (610-640) INVITED THE SERBS TO SETTLE in the devastated north-western provinces of the Byzantine empire and TO DEFEND them AGAINST THE INCURSIONS OF THE AVARS.

  (End quote)

---

• Encyclopedia Britannica about the Serbs accepting Christianity
  Reference: EB, Edition 1986, Macromedia, Vol 29, Page 1069
  Entry: Yugoslavia, Serbia, history
  Quote:

  House of Vis"eslav [Visheslav]. The first z"upan [the political and military leader of geographical region (Zhupaniya)] whose name is recorded as Vis"eslav (Visheslav), who was living c. AD 780. His great-great-grandson Mutimir accepted Orthodox Christianity (c.879) and work of evangelization was carried forward.

---

• Excerpts from Encyclopedia Britannica about the MEDIEVAL SERBIAN LANDS
  Reference: EB, Edition 1943, Vol 20, Page 341
  Entry: Serbia, History, The Princes of Zeta and the First Serb Kingdom
  Quote:

  Toward the end of 9th century the political centre of the Serbs was transfered to ZETA (or: Zenta: see MONTENEGRO) and the PRIMORYE (SEA-COAST). The prince (sometimes called king) of the Zeta, Yovan Vladimir... ...Vladimir married Kossara, the daughter of Samuel [Bulgarian Tsar]... ...Vladimir who seems to have been a noble-minded man, was murdered by Samuel's successor... About 1042,... Prince Voislav of TRAVUNIYA (today: Trebinje) ...united under his own rule Travuniya, ZAHUMLYE (the modern HERZEGOVINA) and Zeta. His son Michael Voislavich annexed the important Zhupania of RASHKA (Rascia or Rassia), and in 1077 was addressed as king (rex) in a letter from Pope Gregory VII. His son Bodin enlarged the first Serb kingdom by annexing territories...

  (End quote)

Note: EB, Edition 1971, Vol 3, p 983, entry: Bosnia-Herzegovina clearly adds (quote):

King Bodin (1081-1101) united BOSNIA with the other two Serbian principalities - RASHKA and ZETA, the prince Stephen ruling on Bodin's behalf.

(End second quote).

---

• Excerpts from Encyclopedia Britannica about the SERBIAN CULTURE
  Reference: EB, Edition 1943, Vol 20, Pages 341, 342
  Entry: Serbia, History
  Quote:

  The Nemanyich Dynasty and the Serb Empire:... ...Stephen Nemanya became the Grand Zhupan of Rashka in 1159. He succeded in uniting all the Serb countries except Bosnia under his rule, and though he never took title of a king, he was the real founder of the Serb kingdom and of the royal dynasty of Nemanyich, which reigned for nearly 200 years. His youngest son, Prince Rastko... went to a convent in Mount Athos... became a monk, and afterwards, under the name Sava, the first archbishop of Serbia... he... encouraged learning [and] is regarded as the great patron of education among the Serbs, as a saint, and one of the greatest statesmen...

...[Nemanyich] Stephen Dushan [reigned 1331-1355] was a great soldier and statesman. Seing the danger which menaced the disorganized Byzantine empire from the Turks, he tried to prevent the Turkish invasion of the Balkan Peninsula by replacing that empire by a Serbo-Greek empire... Towards the end of 1345 he proclaimed himself "emperor of the Serbs and the Greeks," and was solemnly crowned in Skoplje [recently - the captal of Socialist Macedonia] on Easter day in 1346. At the same time he raised the archbishop of Ipek (Petch) [Kosovo], the primate of Serbia, to the dignity of Patriarch. Three years later [in 1349] he convoked Sabor (PARLIAMENT ) at Skopje to begin a codification of the laws and legal usages. The result was a publication, in 1349, of the Zakonik Tsara Dusana (Tsar Dusan's Book of Law), a code of great historical interest which proves that Serbia was NOT much behind the foremost European states in civilization.

In 1355 Dusan began a new campaign... the object of which was to unite Greeks, Serbs and Bulgars and prevent the Turkish power taking root on European ground. ... He died suddenly on Dec. 20, 1355. End quote.

Note: The last sentence just shows that, very early, the Serbs could master enough tolerance to try to unite different Christian nations in defense against Islamic onslaught on Europe.

---

• Encyclopedia Americana about the Serbian culture
  Reference: Encyclopedia Americana, Edition 1993, Vol 24, page 572
  Quote:

  [During Stephen Dushan's reign] the Serbian empire stretched from the Danube to the Gulf of Corinth and from the Aegean to the Adriatic.

The economic and cultural progress of Serbia at this period was above the average European level. Many monasteries of Serbian-Byzantine architectural style - including Studenitca, Decani and Grac"anica - founded by several kings, bear withnesss to this highly developed Serbian culture. Dusan's code of laws (Zakonik), formulated in 1349-1354, shows the advanced social structure of the Serbian state. (End quote)

Note: Tsar Dushan's Boook of Law proclaimed, for the first time in the history of the Western civilizations that everyone is treated equaly in front of the law. The same law applies to both noble and the peasant. (This medieval Serbian ideal - as we saw in the recent O.J. Simpson case - is not yet reached in today's America).

RELATED TOPICS:

Serbian myths
Kosovo battle and Turkish occupation of the Serbian lands. Serbian tireless fight for freedom.

Serbs of Bosnia
Centuries of suffering of Christian Serbs at hand of Turkish Moslems.

Serbs of Krajina
Serbs form a front line that defended (for few centuries) the core of Europen Christian lands against Islamic onslaught.