Town · Grand principality of Serbia (Raška) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Ras

Ras is the seat of the Serbian state, but not yet a town: archaeology finds no real urban settlement there before the 14th century.

It is a cluster of sites some 10 km west of the later Novi Pazar: the princes' fortress on the hill of Gradina above the Raska, renovated by the Serbs in the later 12th century after Manuel I destroyed it in 1149, with a suburb and the cave hermitage of St Michael below it; the old bishop's church of Saints Peter and Paul, near which Nemanja held the assembly of 1196; and Nemanja's monastery of St George (Djurdjevi Stupovi) on the ridge. The market of Trgovisce below the fortress is a 14th-century growth.

Who holds it

Name
Stefan Nemanjic
Title
Grand zupan of Serbia
Since
1196
Family
Nemanjic
Confidence
high

See Stefan.

Lord in 1200

Stefan Nemanjic, grand zupan, in person; the Orthodox bishop of Ras (Kalinik attested in 1196; the bishop of 1200 not pinned) under the archbishop of Ohrid.

Allies and rivals

See Stefan.

How things stand that morning

The grand zupan's seat, quiet that winter.

Wealth

Market dues and tolls on the coast road.

Threats

  • The brothers' quarrel (Vukan takes Ras in 1202).

Charter

None: a princely seat, not a commune.

Council

The grand zupan's assembly (sabor) of kin, zupans and churchmen met here in 1196.

Communities

Serbs; Orthodox clergy under Ohrid; passing Ragusan and Kotoran traders.

Fairs and markets

None recorded for 1200.

Militia

The grand zupan's men in the fortress.

Walls and castle

The fortress on Gradina (Ras proper) with its suburb (podgradje).

Trade and crafts

A stage on the road from Kotor and Ragusa to the Morava and Constantinople; no market town yet.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 1202Vukan occupies Ras when he drives Stefan out.Depends on: Vukan's coup with Hungarian help. Stopped by: A settlement between the brothers.

Places of note

  • Church of Saints Peter and Paul: Bishop's church of Ras.
  • Djurdjevi Stupovi: Nemanja's monastery of St George.

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Ras as the seat and the 1196 assembly are well attested; its form in 1200 is known from archaeology (English Wikipedia, Ras (fortress)).

On the map: The modern Novi Pazar unit stands for the Ras district.

Primary sources for Serbia

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • The Chronicle of the Priest of Dioclea, Anonymous (the priest of Dioclea; Rudger, archbishop of Bar, by Zivkovic's attribution) (disputed: the 12th century on the older view, about 1295 to 1301 on the current one). The chronicle ends before 1200 and gives no event of that year. Read online
  • History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
  • History of the bishops of Salona and Split, by Thomas the Archdeacon, Thomas of Split (about 1266). Written two generations later by a Split churchman born about 1200. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III (pontifical years 1 to 3, 1198 to 1201), Innocent III (Lotario dei Conti di Segni) and the papal chancery (1198 onwards, year by year). The register for the second and third pontifical years (February 1199 to February 1201) holds the letters that set the eastern stage for 1200: the exchange with Kaloyan of Bulgaria opened in December 1199 and continued through 1200 over union with Rome and a crown, letters to Vukan of Zeta and to Stefan of Serbia, letters to Alexios III and the patriarch John Kamateros pressing for church union and help for the crusade, the preaching commissions and the legation of Peter Capuano, the Antioch succession quarrel between Bohemond and Leo of Armenia, letters to Aimery of Cyprus and Jerusalem, and the French interdict over Ingeborg. Read online
  • The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
  • The Lives of St Simeon (Stefan Nemanja) by Sava and by Stefan the First-Crowned, Sava of Serbia (Rastko Nemanjic) and Stefan the First-Crowned (Sava's Life 1208, as the preface to the Studenica typikon (a short Life stands in the Hilandar typikon of 1199); Stefan's Life 1216). The two sons' lives of Stefan Nemanja are the Serbian witness to the situation of 1200: Nemanja's abdication at Ras in 1196 in favour of Stefan, his monastic years at Studenica and on Mount Athos, the founding of Hilandar (1198) and his death there on 13 February 1199, and, in Stefan's version written after the event, the war with the elder brother Vukan of Zeta, who seized the throne with Hungarian help in 1202. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. Stefan the First-Crowned (English Wikipedia)
  2. Stefan Nemanja (English Wikipedia)
  3. Eparchy of Raska and Prizren (English Wikipedia)
  4. Ras (fortress) (English Wikipedia)
  5. Stari Ras (English Wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.