Principality of Zeta

The Principality of Zeta (Serbian: Кнежевина Зета) is a historiographical name for a late medieval 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 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 self-governing after the fall of the Serbian Empire, when the Balšić family created a regional principality, sometime after 1360.[1]

Principality of Zeta at the end of the 14th century

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 (1496–1498)

See also

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

References

1. Ćirković 2004, p. 77.

Sources

• Bataković, Dušan T., ed. (2005). Histoire du peuple serbe [History of the Serbian People] (in French). Lausanne: L’Age d’Homme.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Ćirković, Sima (2004). The Serbs. Malden: Blackwell Publishing.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Fine, John Van Antwerp (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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Orbini, Mauro (1601). Il Regno de gli Slavi hoggi corrottamente detti Schiavoni. Pesaro: Apresso Girolamo Concordia.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Орбин, Мавро (1968). Краљевство Словена. Београд: Српска књижевна задруга.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Samardžić, Radovan; Duškov, Milan, eds. (1993). Serbs in European Civilization. Belgrade: Nova, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Institute for Balkan Studies.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)