Краљ у Душановом законику
The King in Dušan's Code

Summary/Abstract: In the relation to the emperor's Code (1349, 1354), the king was mentioned only on a few occasions (out of the total of 201 such terms). However, in Dušan's charter to Dubrovnik (1349) we find much more frequent reference to the emperor's and the king's land, the king being mentioned together with the emperor. This discrepancy can be explained by the need to emphasize the Serbian state's continuity with the reality of the treaty. Besides, other sources from the period of Dušan's imperial reign have also been analyzed. In time when Dušan's attraction to the Byzantine Empire changed the course of time, just as his predecessors had, so he opened to recognize the Byzantine Emperor's suzerainty (1336, 1342). In the period 1343-45, he got proclaimed as the Emperor, then he had the "partners" (без грко̑м) he caused he vassal imperial territory (his son Uroš was the king) and the rule of Byzantine territories in Macedonia and Albania. Once on the imperial throne, Byzantines kept the title of the Serbian king (imperator Romaniae et Rasciae), and at the coronation ceremony he vested his son Uroš, who, upon that time, was the "young" king (rex iunior). He allowed the Athos monks to mention the name of the Byzantine emperor before his own in their prayers. At the beginning of 1347 John Kantakouzenos seized power in Constantinople and forced himself to the position of co-ruler, with the result that Dušan and the Byzantine court lived more or informally. Every attempt coming to terms in which John V was followed by the recognition of the Byzantine emperor's suzerainty and the forms tore new with their ties of kingship. There was a tension between Dušan as emperor and Uroš as king existed only on paper. It was Dušan who ruled in practice, cherishing the traditions of the Nemanjić empire emphasizing the family origin of the Helenists. The co-existence of emperor and king disappeared with Dušan's death. Uroš was only emperor until 1365, when he appointed Vukašin as co-ruler. The final section of the paper discusses the references to the queen and the king in the Rakovac manuscript of Dušan's legal code.

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