Reign and Decline of the Empire
Although he was no longer a minor when he became sole ruler in 1355, Stephen Urosh remained heavily dependent on his mother, Helena, and on court figures. Helena came to rule autonomously from the Principality of Serres.
By 1365 the nobleman Vukašin Mrnjavčević had emerged as the most powerful magnate in Serbia and became co-ruler with the title of Serbian King. In 1369, recognizing that Uroš remained childless, Vukašin designated his eldest son, Prince Marko, as heir with the title 'young king,' effectively transferring succession authority away from the Emperor.
The Serbian Empire fragmented under these pressures, and much of the nobility was destroyed at the Battle of Maritsa in 1371. Uroš died childless later that year, an event that marked the effective end of the empire as a unified entity. He is described as a man of exceptional modesty and tolerance.
Character in the Hagiographic Tradition
The synaxarion account preserved by the Orthodox Church in America describes Stephen Urosh as a king who cared for his people: like a father he provided for widows and orphans, pacified quarrels and maintained peace, was charitable to the poor, and defended the downtrodden.
According to the same account he married a daughter of Vlad, Prince of Wallachia; a proposed marriage to a French princess is said to have failed because she would not convert from Catholicism.
Relics & Shrines
Stephen Urosh's relics were initially buried at Gornje Nerodimlje, near present-day Uroševac. From 1690 they were housed in the monasteries of Fruška Gora, and were ultimately transferred to Jazak Monastery on the Fruška Gora mountain in northern Serbia, where they remain.
Jazak Monastery, a Serbian Orthodox monastery in the Vojvodina province, was established in 1736 and restored between 1926 and 1930. It is designated a Monument of Culture of Exceptional Importance and contains a baroque iconostasis with paintings made in 1769 by Dimitrije Bačević.
Miracles & Traditions
Historically Documented: Modern historical scholarship holds that the cause of Stephen Urosh's death is unknown. He was canonized by the Serbian Orthodox Church around 1582, some two centuries after his repose.
Traditional Accounts: The older hagiographic tradition, reflected in the synaxarion account, relates that the king was murdered by the co-ruler Vukašin, who lured him to Skopje under a false pretense of reconciliation; when Stephen bent to drink from a well after hunting, Vukašin is said to have struck him a mortal blow to the head with a mace. Modern scholarship disputes this account, since the evidence indicates that Vukašin died before the Emperor.
