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

honored and esteemed for his many virtues and his sovereign wisdom and justice. At this time the Despot’s rule extended also to the Serbian lands of Zeta and the Littoral, where the son of his sister Jelena, Balša III, ruled. And this came about thus. To the Despot’s court in Belgrade there came on a visit to the Despot this nephew of his, Balša. And this was by the Providence of God, for Balša, long ill, foreseeing his death, came to his uncle and died in his holy arms. His land he left to his uncle as an inheritance, together with the care of his three young daughters. The Despot with every sorrow and fitting honor buried the body of his nephew and informed of everything his mother Jelena, his sister, who at that time had remarried to the Bosnian magnate Sandalj Hranić. After this, seizing a fitting time, the Despot set out with his army and his nephew Đurađ into the lands of Zeta to take up the inheritance and the rule over that land. On the way through Zeta and the Littoral the people joyfully welcomed him and greeted him as their lord, “knowing his mighty and greatly generous right hand.” Since the Venetians had done the Serbs much harm in those regions, the Despot with his army besieged the city of Scutari (Skadar) on the Bojana, which they held, and the Venetians were forced to conclude peace with the Despot (in August 1423). By that peace they kept the city of Scutari, and he received the cities of Drivast, Bar, and Budva, as well as the clans of the Crnojevići and the Paštrovići. In this way the whole Littoral, from the Bay of Kotor to the mouth of the Bojana, belonged to Despot Stefan, where there were many monasteries and churches, such as: the monastery of the Holy Archangel at Prevlaka in the Gulf of Tivat, the monastery of Praskvica with the churches of the Holy Trinity and St. Nicholas, the monastery of the Mother of God, Podlastva, in Grbalj, the old monastery of St. Sergius on the Bojana and of St. Nicholas at its mouth, and many others. While the holy Despot was staying in Zeta, at his court in Belgrade the last Bulgarian tsar Constantine, who lived as an exile with the Despot, fell ill and died. The pious Stefan loved him greatly and therefore “mourned him as a close brother, and distributed many alms for his soul.” For the holy servant of God knew that we are all wayfarers and exiles on the earth. Somewhere again at this time the Turkish sultan Mehmed I, with whom the Despot was at peace, died suddenly in Adrianople. To the Turkish throne after him ascended his young son Murad II (1421–1451). Some, however, had proclaimed in his place as sultan a certain Mustafa. This Mustafa sent an embassy to Despot Stefan, ostensibly “that he might be his comrade,” but the wise and experienced Despot would pay no heed to this, for his pure character and seriousness did not permit him comradeship with such men. He therefore sent Mustafa’s envoys straight to Sultan Murad. The latter thanked him greatly for this, and repaid him with rich gifts. Not long after this Sultan Murad was besieging Constantinople (in 1423). Gravely ill and already on his deathbed, the Greek emperor Manuel II sent his son John VIII (who then reigned from 1425 to 1448) to Europe to seek help from the Westerners. To this the Westerners remained indifferent and calmly watched how Byzantium struggled like a martyr to withstand the Turkish sieges and conquest. And it so happened that the pious Despot met this John in Buda, where he had gone on some business. Stefan and John were also distant kinsmen, through their mothers, descended from the Nemanjići. But Stefan was by then already ill in his legs and could not help his kinsman and brother in the Orthodox faith. He sensed that his end was drawing near, and not only his, but the end of the free states of Serbia and Greece as well. This