International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Elena Gkartzonika
University of Ioannina, Ioannina, Greece; 
[e-mail]
The Fourteenth-Century Serbian Elites at the Turning Point: 
Mrnjavčevići’s Purse and Life
Emerged both as contenders and immediate successors of the relatively centralized Serbian 
power, the late-14
th
-c. short-lived family of Mrnjavčevići can serve as an eloquent example of the 
translocations and the internal adjustments of the Serbian ruling elite during the Ottoman conquest. 
At the same time, their case can provide an opportunity for a multidimensional historical approach, 
aiming to facilitate the comprehension of the emergence of decentralized powers and, especially, their 
particular, often aristocratic, characteristics. The latter were initially acknowledged in connection to the 
preserved ancestral local administrative structures of župas but, at the same time, they were partially 
modified due to the Nemanjid dynasty’s external influences. Given the above, the said characteristics 
can reveal the reasoning of the strategic decisions made locally, after the death of the Mighty Stefan 
Uroš IV Dušan and the ongoing Ottoman expansion in his orthodox lands.
Mrnjavčevići in particular, having a prior claim on the leadership of a larger administrative 
region and being fully embedded in the political and ecclesiastical structures introduced or 
preserved by Nemanjići seem to have taken advantage of the mobility observed along the constantly 
redefined trade side-routes. Due to their mediating economic activity, their stature increased and, 
consequently, they gradually managed to consolidate themselves in the administrative hierarchy 
of the Nemanjid court. Having emerged as middlemen in the service of the aforementioned ruling 
dynasty and, being in good terms with Mt. Athos monasteries as neighbors and contributors, 
they succeeded to emerge as strategic and military actors on the western coasts of the gradually 
fragmented Serbian lands and, likewise, in the campaigns against the Ottomans.
Beside the political and military aspect of the aforementioned decentralization and the 
resulting fragmentation, the service provided by Mrnjavčevići to the ruling dynasty will also be 
explored from its financial and fiscal aspect. From these points of view, we will be able to better 
comprehend the conditions of the new era, which the Balkan population(s) will live through.

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