Principality of Zeta

Principality of Zeta at the end of the 14th century

The Principality of Zeta (Montenegrin and Template:Lang-sr) is a historiographical name for a late medieval South Slavic principality located in the southern parts of modern Montenegro and northern parts of modern Albania, around the Lake of Skadar. It was ruled by the Serbian families of Balšić, Lazarević, Branković and Crnojević in succession from the second half of the 14th century until Ottoman conquest at the very end of the 15th century. Previously, the same region of Zeta was a Serbian crown land, that had become independent after the fall of the Serbian Empire, when the Balšić family created a regional principality, sometime after 1360.

Zeta under the Balšići

Main article: Zeta under the Balšići

• Balša I (1356–1362)
• Đurađ I (1362–1378)
• Balša II (1378–1385)
• Đurađ II (1385–1403)
• Balša III (1403–1421)

Zeta under the Serbian Despotate

Main article: Serbian Despotate

• Despot Stefan Lazarević (1421–1427)
• Despot Đurađ Branković (1427–1451)

Zeta under the Crnojevići

Main article: Zeta under the Crnojevići

• Stefan I Crnojević (1451–1465)
• Ivan Crnojević (1465–1490)
• Đurađ Crnojević (1490–1496)
• Stefan II Crnojević (1496–1499)

See also

• Zeta (crown land)
• First Scutari War
• Second Scutari War
• History of Montenegro
• Venetian Albania

Sources

• Bataković, Dušan T., ed. (2005). Histoire du peuple serbe [History of the Serbian People] (in French). Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme.
• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.
• Fine, John V. A. Jr. (1994) [1987]. The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
• Ivić, Pavle, ed. (1995). The History of Serbian Culture. Edgware: Porthill Publishers.
• Orbini, Mauro (1601). Il Regno de gli Slavi hoggi corrottamente detti Schiavoni. Pesaro: Apresso Girolamo Concordia.
• Орбин, Мавро (1968). Краљевство Словена. Београд: Српска књижевна задруга.
• Samardžić, Radovan; Duškov, Milan, eds. (1993). Serbs in European Civilization. Belgrade: Nova, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for Balkan Studies.