The formation, defense and definitive consecration of the Serbian state all come from the West and are carried out in the context and with the aid of anti-Byzantine political currents. Nonetheless, Serbia remains a wholly eastern state. To this end, monasticism worked tirelessly throughout the Middle Ages, the only element of superior life, jealous depositary and tenacious defender of the Orthodox spirit, assiduous eraser of all the values ​​that the Serbian soul could remember the merits and make the soul feel. and the life of the Catholic West. The act of the pontiff, who could crack the Orthodox compactness and jeopardize the eminent sovereignty of the rulers, immediately follows the taking of a powerful countermeasure: the foundation of the Serbian autocephalous national church. The patriarch and the imperial court of Nicaea, traditionally anti-Roman, welcome with happy consent the monk Sava, brother of the king, who came to advocate its institution and consecrate in him the first archbishop. The monumental monastery of Žiča is founded, where Sava establishes his residence and in the basilica of which future kings will be anointed. The king of Hungary protested against the royal title, who from 1199 was also entitled king of Serbia, and against the erection of the archbishopric, the archbishop of Ochrida, but the situation did not change. King Stephen held power for another decade, and then retired, like his father, the last days of his life, to a monastery. institution and consecrate in him the first archbishop. The monumental monastery of Žiča is founded, where Sava establishes his residence and in the basilica of which future kings will be anointed. The king of Hungary protested against the royal title, who from 1199 was also entitled king of Serbia, and against the erection of the archbishopric, the archbishop of Ochrida, but the situation did not change. King Stephen held power for another decade, and then retired, like his father, the last days of his life, to a monastery. institution and consecrate in him the first archbishop. The monumental monastery of Žiča is founded, where Sava establishes his residence and in the basilica of which future kings will be anointed. The king of Hungary protested against the royal title, who from 1199 was also entitled king of Serbia, and against the erection of the archbishopric, the archbishop of Ochrida, but the situation did not change. King Stephen held power for another decade, and then retired, like his father, the last days of his life, to a monastery. but the situation did not change. King Stephen held power for another decade, and then retired, like his father, the last days of his life, to a monastery. but the situation did not change. King Stephen held power for another decade, and then retired, like his father, the last days of his life, to a monastery.

Certainly belongs to his time that first refinement of the Serbs, who transformed from primordial shepherds and raiders into nationally and politically conscious individuals. Under him the ancestral arrangement in families, consortiums of families and tribes, and the political partition in giuppanati, had a clearer figure. Real cities did not arise, because the wall was only used for monasteries and for the most important fortification works, while the population lived in huts made of branches, but numerous markets with warehouses and tents erected mainly by Venetians and Ragusei arose who, by frequenting them assiduously, they made people appreciate the benefits of agriculture, trade, industry and mining.

On this foot, Serbian history continued throughout the thirteenth century and for a few decades of the fourteenth century. Stephen was succeeded in 1228 by his eldest son Radoslao, who, weak and far from the spirit of the people, entangled in a family situation that made him the slave of his father-in-law Theodore Angelo, emperor of Epirus, was thrown from the throne in 1234 by his second son Vladislaus. Vladislao, in turn loyal to his father-in-law, the Bulgarian Tsar Asen II, who had helped him in the enterprise, had to give up power to his third son Uroš I in the spring of 1243, still retaining the royal title and some territories of the Marittima. Uroš, son of Dandolo, proved to be a much better sovereign, and, despite being continually pressed by Hungary, skillfully ruled the state until in 1276 he had to definitively cede power to his son Stefano Dragutin, who, having married an Árpád, he was supported by Hungary. Dragutin reigned alone until 1282. In this year, after breaking his leg and becoming unable to undertake war, he took his younger brother Stephen Uroš II Milutin (1282-1321) as corrector. For a longer time Serbia was ruled by two sovereigns with different orientations, activities and spheres of action: Dragutin, aimed at the Catholic powers, particularly the papacy and Hungary, enjoyed their support and sympathies, so that he obtained the banat of Macsó (Mačva) and the Sirmium; Milutin occupied in the Byzantine sector, sometimes as a friend, sometimes as a competitor, managed to penetrate the territory of Skoplje and make his residence there. The duplicity of power and the diversity of orientation gave rise to jealousies and struggles between the brothers, especially over the designation of successors. Died in 1316 Dragutin, Milutin took all power, imprisoning Vladislao, son of Dragutin. In 1321 Milutin also died and, despite his fourfold marriage, his not too moderate life and having made his son blinded out of greed for power, he was, like Nemanja and Stefano Primo Coronato, sanctified by the Serbian national church. Certainly not a consecration of pity, but recognition of having governed in the line desired by orthodoxy. After acute dynastic struggles, Stephen Uroš III prevailed in 1322, miraculously cured of blindness, under which, despite strong internal convulsions, the rise of Serbia towards the empire began. Uroš III takes sides against Byzantium and Bulgaria. In 1330 he beats Tsar Michael in Kyustendil, who, in order to marry the sister of Andronicus III, had repudiated the Serbian Anna. The young corrector Stefano Dušan was particularly distinguished in this enterprise. His success and consequent popularity exalted him so much that the following year he turned against his father, dismissed him, imprisoned him and, perhaps, assassinated him. Stefano Dušan is, after Nemanja, the most marked figure in Serbian history. A good politician and strong temper as a conqueror, he immediately saw which party could be drawn from the incurable agony of the Byzantine Empire. Like all true builders of Serbian power, he moved within the orbit of Venetian oriental politics. In the north it opposed Hungary, in the south it faced Byzantium. There, small and insignificant were the successes, but in the south, particularly after the death of Andronicus III (1341), the Byzantine provinces fell one after the other into his power. In 1345 he dominated Albania with Croia, Berat and Valona, ​​Macedonia with Ochrida and Castoria, and towards the Aegean Serrai, Drama, Philippi and Crisopoli. The reached power led him to conceive the plan of supplanting the Palaeologus from Constantinople and making himself an autocrator.