The Life of the Holy and Right-Believing Stefan the Tall, Despot of Serbia

when Stefan saw that the number of his army was dwindling, he turned back (lest he too be taken captive). For what could he do among so many thousands and tens of thousands without the will of God? And the greatness of his victory at that time was retold by all and became quite famous. And he turned back (with his army), since the barbarians had spread out and poured forth everywhere ahead. Going thus back (toward Constantinople), he defeated his pursuers one by one, and his right hand was covered with blood. And who can tell all the many things that happened then on that hard road?" This unconquered state of Stefan and the deliverance of him and his army from Tatar captivity was a gift of God's liberation to Stefan and to his Serbian land. For it was something more than an ordinary military victory: it was the hour of liberation from the bondage of vassalage and subjection to Bayezid. For Bayezid's defeat at Angora cut short all of Stefan's obligations toward the sultan, and he suddenly found himself free. Therefore he at once hastened with his army toward Constantinople and toward his own land, for the Turkish ruler no longer existed, and the Tatar khan Tamerlane did not even think of crossing into Europe. (He soon set out toward the east to conquer China, and there he afterwards died.) Stefan, however, at that moment did not forget the liberation of his sister Olivera, who as Bayezid's wife was now in captivity to Tamerlane. He at once sent his faithful diplomat Ajdin (Radoslav) to the camp of Tamerlane himself, with a petition that he free his sister Olivera. And this mighty Tatar khan, since he had marveled at Stefan's heroism on the battlefield, at once granted Olivera her freedom, and she soon returned to her brother Stefan and came to his court in Belgrade. But in the meantime Stefan was crossing with his army to free Constantinople, paying no small sums of money to Genoese ships to carry him across the Bosporus to the glorious city of Constantine. Having thus passed "through fire and water," Stefan arrived in the glorious Orthodox Greek capital, which he now saw and came to know for the first time. In the imperial city he was received with great honor and love by Emperor John VII Palaiologos,16 who then bestowed on him the crown and the dignity of despot, as the biographer Constantine tells of it: "The pious Prince Stefan, having arrived in the reigning city together with his brother Vuk, heard kindly voices from all, and all thought they were looking as upon some sun. And then he also received the despotic dignity from the pious Emperor John. For Emperor kyr Manuel had left this nephew of his in his place, being hard pressed by the aforementioned Bayezid, and had gone to the Romans of old Rome, for the union of the Church, and to obtain an army for retribution and deliverance. For already for many years the reigning city had been besieged, perishing from hunger. And this pious John had had no small conflicts with the inhabitants of Galata (i.e. with the Genoese), and when he saw Stefan in the reigning city, he joyfully received him as a friend into the imperial palace and gave him the crown of the despotic dignity, which the latter had woven for himself by his brave deeds and his labors nobly endured." The receiving of the despot's crown from the Byzantine emperor, heir of the Holy and Great Constantine, was a great joy for Stefan, not because of worldly glory and pride, for he