| SERBIAN NATIONAL DEFENSE |
HISTORY - RESOURCES
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THE ROOTS ENCYCLOPEDIA AMERICANA about the Serbian origin. Reference: Edition 1993, vol 24, pages 571, 572. QUOTE: The exact etymology of the word Serb is obscure, but the theory is that it comes from Caucasian SER meaning "man" with a plural suffix of bi from that language added. The name Serb was first mentioned in the 6th century A.D. by geografer Vibius Sequestrus. The first Serbs in Gemany appeared in the beginning of the 6th century in the Magdeburg and Anhalt regions. The German city of Zerbst (serbis"te in Slavic) is a remainder of the early invasion. Serbs in the Balkan peninsula are first mentioned in 822 by Einhard of Charlemagne's court, but the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus writing in the 10th century, refers to Serbs as already being in Illiric province by the middle of the 7th century. Serbs were one of the peoples of the Caucasus and lived on the Eastern shores of Azov sea. At the time of the barbarian invasion, they began to move with other Slavs toword the west, a progres that began as early as the 4th century... (End quote) ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA about the Serbian settlement in the Balkan. Reference: EB, Edition 1943, Vol 20, page 341. Entry: Serbia History. QUOTE: According to the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus the emperor Heraclius (610-640) INVITED THE SERBS TO SETTLE in the devastated north-western provinces of the Byzantian Empire and to DEFEND them AGAINST the INCURSIONS of the AVARS. (End quote) ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA about the Serbians accepting Christianity. Reference: EB, Edition 1986, Macromedia, Vol 29, page 1069. Entry: Yugoslavia, Serbia, History. QUOTE: House of Visheslav. The first "zhupan", a political and military leader of a geographical region zhupaniya, whose name was recorded as Visheslav, was living c. AD 780. His great-great-grandson Mutimir accepted Orthodox Christianity, c.879 and work of evangelisation was carried forward. (end quote) ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA about the Medieval Serbian lands. Reference: EB, Edition 1943, Vol 20, page 341. Entry: Serbia, History. The first kingdom. QUOTE: Toward the end of 9th century, the political center of Serbs was transferred to ZETA (or ZENTA se Montenegro) and the "primorye" (seacoast). The Prince, sometimes called King, of ZETA Yovan Vladimir.. ...Vladimir married Kossara a daughter of the Bulgarian Tzar Samuel... ...Vladimir who seems to have been a noble minded man, was murdered by Samuel's successors... ...About 1042, Prince Voislav of Travuniya (today Trebinje) united under his own rule Travuniya, Zahumlje (Herzegovina) and Zeta. His son Michael Voislavich annexed the important Zhupaniya of Rashka (Rascia or Rassia) and in 1077 was addressed as a King (rex) in a letter from Pope Gregory VII. His son Bodin enlarged the first Serb Kingdom by annexing territories... (End quote) ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA about the Serbian culture. Reference: EB, edition 1943, Vol 20, p 341, 342. Entry: Serbia History. QUOTE: The Nemanyich Dynasty and the Serb Impire... ...Stephan Nemanya became the Grand Zhupan of Rashka in 1159. He succeeded in uniting all the Serb countries except Bosnia under his rule, and though he never took a title of a King, he was a real founder of the Serb Kingdom and the Royal dynasty of Nemanyich, which reigned for nearly 200 years. His youngest son Prince Rastko went to a convent in mount Ahtos, become a monk and afterwards, under the name Sava, the first Archbishop of Serbia... ... he encouraged learning and is regarded as the great patron of education among the Serbs, as a Saint and one of the greatest statesman... ...Stephen Dushan (Nemanyich), reigned 1331-1355 was a great soldier and statesman. Seeing the danger which menaced the disorganized Byzantine empire from the Turks, he tried to prevent the Turkish invasion of Balkan peninsula by replacing that empire by a Serb-Greek empire... ...Towards the end of 1345 he proclaimed himself "emperor of the Serbs and the Greeks" and was solemnly crowned in Skoplje (recently the capital of socialist Makedonia) on Easter day in 1346. At the same time he raised the Archbishop of Ipek (Petch, Kosovo) the primate of Serbia, to the dignity of Patriarch. Tree years leather in 1349, he convoked sabor (parliament) at Skoplje to begin a codification of the laws and legal usages. The result was a publication, in 1349 of the "Zakonik Cara Dushana" (Tsar Dushan´s book of Law), a code of great historical interest which proves that Serbia was not much behind the foremost European states in civilization. In 1355 Dushan began a new campaign, the object of which was to unite Greeks, Serbs and Bulgars and prevent the Turkish power taking root on European ground... ... He died suddenly on dec. 20th in 1355. (End quote)
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