Why Did Stephen Nemanjić Ask for the Royal Crown in 1217? Or a new interpretation of Serbian-Hungarian relations in the second and third decades of the 13th century
Why Did Stephen Nemanjić Ask for the Royal Crown in 1217? Or a new interpretation of Serbian-Hungarian relations in the second and third decades of the 13th century

Summary/Abstract: The paper is focused on a question that has not been separately researched in historiography so far, i.e. why Stephen Nemanjić asked for the royal crown to be sent just in 1217. The detailed analysis of the events in the Balkans presented in the paper, with particular reference to Serbian-Hungarian relations from the beginning of the 13th century, leads to a rejection of the answers previously given and the formulation of a completely new one. The analysis suggests that Stephen Nemanjić recognized the suzerainty of Andrew II in either 1215 or 1216. The vassalage helped to obtain the Hungarian monarch’s consent to the coronation in 1217. It seems that the refusal of the next ruler of Serbia Stephen Radoslav to renew this relationship could have been the cause of the Hungarian invasion described by Domentijan and Theodosios of Chilandar, which is problematic for historians.

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