Stephen Vladislav I of Serbia

Stephen Vladislav I Of Serbia

Stefan Vladislav (Serbian Cyrillic: Стефан Владислав; died after 1264) was the King of Serbia from 1233/4 to 1243. He was a member of the Nemanjić dynasty, the son of Stefan the First-Crowned.

Vladislav was the younger son of King Stefan the First-Crowned and Queen Eudokia and a grandson of Grand Prince Stefan Nemanja and Anna. His older brother was Radoslav, king 1228 to 1233.

After Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Asen II defeated Theodore Komnenos Doukas of Epirus in Klokotnitsa in 1230, Stefan Radoslav lost the support of the Serbian nobility. In 1234, King Radoslav was deposed in favor of Vladislav. King Vladislav married Beloslava, a daughter of Emperor Ivan Asen II. Earlier Epirote influence in Serbia was then replaced with Bulgarian. Archbishop Sava was not happy with the quarrels and decided to go on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He died on hiw way home at Tărnovo. Vladislav went to his father-in-law, Ivan Asen II, to ask for his uncle's body. After negotiations the body was returned to Serbia, and Vladislav buried it in Mileševa, a monastery he had founded.

During the reign of Vladislav, there was a great Mongol invasion. Mongols conquered Bulgaria and Serbia briefly in 1242, after the death of Emperor Ivan Asen II on June 1241. When Bulgaria became a Mongol vassal, the reputation of Vladislav decreased, and the Serbian nobles once again began to protest. King Vladislav was removed from the throne on 1243 with the support of the nobility, which was inherited by his half brother Uroš I. The new king may have allowed Vladislav to rule Zeta as governor, but in any case did not remove him from an active role in government.

Vladislav died in 1269 and was buried in Mileševa.