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Despot Stefan Lazarević

The Life and Deeds of the Ever-Remembered Despot Stefan

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is a kinsman of the most pious (and) equal-to-the-apostles Emperor Constantine,39 the vine of his forefathers - the branch was preserved to fulfill the imperial and apostolic work and to accomplish (what had been foreordained) for the chosen one of the most chosen, and the time came for the flock to know its most glorious lord.

14. We pass on to the genealogy. There was Constas the Great, surnamed the Green, father of Constantine the Great, a man meek in all things, who loved piety. Therefore he received the Christians while reigning in Britain, at the time when Diocletian40 and Maximian Herculius41 (who), after slaying many thousands of Christians, renounced the throne and lived as common (men). Maximian held on in the east, and to him, the tormentor, Constantine the Great was a hostage. And Maxentius42 reigned in great Rome itself.

15. The great Constas begot three sons: Constantine and Constantius and Constas, and a daughter Constantia, whom the Great Constantine gave in marriage to Licinius43 (and to him) he assigned the Greek part of the Empire, for he had heard of the terrible destructions and torments. This Licinius was a Dalmatian lord, a Serb by birth; with Constantia he begot a son, Bela Uroš; and Bela Uroš begot Tihomil; Tihomil begot Saint Simeon (Nemanja); Saint Simeon with his wife begot three sons: Stefan, the First-Crowned King, and Vukan, the grand prince, and Rastko, later called Sava, the first Serbian archbishop. He crowned his brother Stefan king. King Stefan begot four sons: Radoslav, Vladislav, Stefan (and) Predislav. Stefan received the surname Uroš, after his great-grandfather, that is, the rough king.44 He begot two sons: Stefan and Milutin, the king of Banjska;45 Milutin begot Constantine and Stefan of Dečani; (Stefan) of Dečani begot two sons: Dušman and Dušan46 (that is, Dušana). This Dušan (Dušana) transgressed the commandments of his fathers and of his own will proclaimed himself emperor. And he begot a son, Uroš; Uroš had no children, and that line remained without offspring.

16. Here is the other branch of the genealogy: Vukan, the second son of Saint Simeon, brother of Saint Sava, the grand prince, begot a son, the župan Dimitrije, in the holy monastic habit David. This

  1. Constantine the Great, ruler of the Empire of the Romans (306–337). At the famous battle of the Milvian Bridge near Rome, from which he emerged victorious, he had a vision in a dream of the cross in the sky with the words "By this thou shalt conquer!" In all likelihood this moved him to accept the Christian faith. He convened the First Ecumenical Council at Nicaea in 325 against the heresy of Arius. He was the builder of the new capital of the Empire - Constantinople /Tsarigrad/. He is rightly regarded as the founder of the Christian Byzantine Empire.
  2. Diocletian, Roman emperor (284–305). He divided the empire into four parts. At the beginning of the 4th century he undertook a great persecution of the Christians. He died in the year 313.
  3. Maximian Herculius, a Roman military commander and, from 286, Roman emperor, a great persecutor of the Christians.
  4. Maxentius, son of Maximian Herculius, Roman emperor (from 303). He waged war against Constantine the Great, was defeated and drowned in the Tiber. He too was a persecutor of the Christians.
  5. Licinius, Roman emperor; he ruled the western part of the Empire (307–323). Despite the Edict of Milan, he inclined toward the pagan faith and persecuted the Christians. He began a war with Constantine the Great, who in 323 defeated him and deprived him of the throne. Soon afterward soldiers killed him in Thessalonica. The Serbian chronicles regard him as a Serb.
  6. The rough king - thus the sources call Stefan Uroš I, Serbian king (1243–1276), probably because of his pockmarked face, which remained so after some illness he had suffered (and perhaps because of his voice?).
  7. The king of Banjska - thus Constantine the Philosopher calls King Stefan Uroš II (Milutin) (1282–1321), founder (ktitor) of the Banjska Monastery in Kosovo.
  8. In Constantine the Philosopher the name Dušan (the reference is to Emperor Dušan) appears in the form: Dušana.