Stefan Uros Milutin Nemanjic II

Serbian king from 1282 to 1321 and Saint. The "Holy King Uros" marked the elevation of Serbia to a dominant Balkan position, and saw cultural and economic prosperity and advances along many lines. The first 17 years or so of the new king's rule witnessed considerable international activity - through much warfare and some diplomacy most of it south and east against the ailing Byzantine state, some against decentralized Bulgarian interests in the northeast. Much of that was brought to a close with the Serbo-Byzantine peace treaty of 1299, which recognized the new realities of Serb expansion into the mostly South Slavic ethnic space in Macedonia. The agreement was sealed by a high-level royal marriage between the king and emperor Andronikos' minor daughter Simonida and assured a generally cordial relationship between the two courts for the rest of Milutin's reign. Milutin's generosity was legendary, as he erected several dozen monasteries, churches and hospitals and endowed many more. Much of this legacy is still visible today. In Serbia, the most notable examples include Gracanica monastery near Pristina, King's Church in Studenica, Bogorodica (Virgin) Ljeviska in Prizren, Banjska and Staro Nagoricino. However, these efforts did not stop at national borders, and his generous foundations and donations can still be witnessed in a wide area ranging from Italy, via Thessalonika and Mt. Athos, to Constantinople and the Holy Land.