Zaharija of Serbia
| Zaharija of Serbia | |
|---|---|
| Knez of Serbia | |
| File:.png | |
| Reign | 920-924 |
| Predecessor | Pavle |
| Successor | Časlav |
| House | House of Vlastimirović |
| Father | Prvoslav of Serbia |
| Religion | Christian |
Zaharija of Serbia or Zaharija Pribislavljević/Prvoslavljević (Serbian: Захаријa Прибислављевић/Првослављевић, Greek: Ζαχαρίας, English: Zacharias) was a 10th century Serbian Knez who ruled Serbia from 920 to 924.[1][2]
His father, Prvoslav, was the ruler of Serbia for a year in 892-893 until the son of his younger brother Gojnik, Petar Gojniković defeats him in a battle and rules Serbia from 892 to 917. Prvoslav flees the country with his brother. Zaharije lived in Constantinople.
The Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars made de facto the First Bulgarian Empire the most powerful Empire of Southeastern Europe. The Bulgarians won after invading at the right time, they met little resistance in the north because of the Byzantines fighting the Arabs in Anatolia[3] and after several battle victories Simeon I of Bulgaria ends winning. Petar of Serbia switches sides to the Byzantines and is deposed and sent to Bulgaria, Pavle Branović is instated by the Bulgarians in 917, ruling until 920-921.[1][2]
Zaharije is sent in 920 by the Byzantines to retake the throne but is captured by Pavle and handed over to Simeon, Simeon holds Zaharije for future tactics. In the meantime, Pavle switches to Byzantine support and Simeon now dispatches Zaharije with Bulgarian reinforcements in 920-921 and Zaharije defeats Pavle. Zaharija however, upon taking the throne, immediately betrays Simeon and revowes his alignment with the Byzantines, preferring to be subject of the Byzantine Empire rather than the Bulgarians.[1][2]
Zaharije's Serbian army defeats the Bulgarian army sent by Simeon in 923, and Zaharije is recorded to have sent two heads and weapons of Bulgarian generals as trophies to Constantinople.[4] In 924 a second much larger Bulgarian army is sent together with Časlav Klonimirović, Zaharije's 2nd cousin and also Bulgarian ally, the Bulgarians ravages a good part of Serbia and Zaharije is forced to flee to Croatia. Simeon I brings all the Serbian Župans and instead of instating Časlav, he arrests them all and sends them as captives to Bulgaria and annexes Serbia from 924-927.[1][2]
References
  | This Serbian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |