Caught by surprise near Adrianople, these forces were defeated by the Turks in 1364 on the banks of the Maritsa river. In 1363 the Hungarians and Wallachians were joined by Bosnian and Serbian forces committed to expel the Ottoman Turks from Europe. Vojislav waited until the Hungarians withdrew in 1359 then he attacked Ragusa. The Hungarians penetrated deep into Serbian territory and the Serbian army retreated to avoid battle with the attackers. One of the strongest western nobles was Vojislav VojinoviД‡ and he quarreled with the Republic of Ragusa in the fall of 1358, when the Serbs and the Hungarians clashed along the Danube. The lands that remained Serbian could be divided into three main parts: the western territories, including Zeta, the central Serbian lands of UroЕЎ and the southern lands (including the eastern part of Macedonia with Serres its capital).

Now the lands that remained loyal to UroЕЎ were most of Macedonia, including the land between the Struma and Mesta rivers and the Chalcidice peninsula. The ransom was paid by the Emperor John V Palaiologos and Matthew was allowed to retire to Morea. Meanwhile, in the Serbian, Bulgarian and Byzantine borderlands of western Thrace, Matthew Kantakouzenos, the son of the Byzantine emperor John VI Kantakouzenos made war on the Serbs in 1356-57 but failed to capture Serres with his five-thousand Turks and was soon defeated in battle by Vojvoda Vojin and held for ransom. The forces of Stephen UroЕЎ met the forces of Simeon near Scutari in Zeta and forced them to back down. He marched on Serbia in 1357 after he had himself proclaimed Tsar of the Greeks, Serbs, and Albanians at Kastoria in 1356. Lazar was succeeded by his son, Stefan LazareviД‡, who ruled the rump Serbian Despotate, which finally fell to the Ottomans in 1459, thus marking the end of the medieval Serbian state.Дomain of Simeon UroЕЎ Stefan UroЕЎ V's rule Д®mperor DuЕЎan's son and heir Stefan UroЕЎ V (1356вЂ“71), though by this time twenty years old, was weak, and unable to take forceful action against his nobles' separatist tendencies, hence his sobriquet 'the Weak', as opposed to his father DuЕЎan's, 'the Mighty'.ДuЕЎan's half brother Simeon UroЕЎ was expelled from Epirus and sought to obtain Serbia. By 1395, most of the southern provinces had been conquered and annexed by the Ottomans, and the provinces of modern Central Serbia had accepted nominal Ottoman rule. The rule of Lazar ended with his death in the Battle of Kosovo in 1389, when Serbia stood up against invading Ottomans, an event that is deeply rooted in Serbdom. Lazar ruled the most powerful Serbian principality, Moravian Serbia. The period after the death of UroЕЎ and VukaЕЎin (1371вЂ“89) was marked with the rise and fall of Prince Lazar, and the power struggle of the minor provinces. An assembly was held in 1374 without any success since the nobles were unable to agree on whether Marko or Prince Lazar would head the Serbian confederation as the Serbian king, and the state continued as before, fragmented and without central authority. The lords could not agree on the rightful ruler they dismissed Prince Marko, the son of VukaЕЎin, and conflicts started between the nobles within a year. VukaЕЎin died in the Battle of Maritsa (1371) against the invading Ottoman Empire, and southern Serbian provinces became nominal Ottoman vassals. Before 1371, the nobility were either directly subordinate to Emperor UroЕЎ or to VukaЕЎin. This period is known as the dissolution or the beginning of the fall of the Serbian Empire.Д«etween 13, King VukaЕЎin was the co-ruler of Emperor UroЕЎ, ruling the southern half, thus the Empire may be viewed as a de facto diarchy. Following the death of childless Emperor Stefan UroЕЎ V in 1371, the Empire was left without an heir and the magnates, velikaЕЎi, obtained the rule of its provinces and districts (in so called feudal fragmentation), continuing their offices as independent with titles such as gospodin, and despot, given to them during the Empire.

The fall of the Serbian Empire was a decades-long process in the late 14th century.

Lordships in the Central Balkans that emerged after the dissolution of the Serbian Empire (1373вЂ“1395)

Empire total war serbia