Saint Stephen Vladislav I of Serbia

Stefan Vladislav was the King of Serbia from 1234 to 1243. He was the middle son of Stefan the First-Crowned of the Nemanjić dynasty, who ruled Serbia from 1196 to 1228. Radoslav, the eldest son of Stefan the First-Crowned, was ousted by the Serbian nobility due to increasing Epirote influence through his marriage alliance to Theodore Komnenos Doukas; thus Vladislav became his successor. He is celebrated as Saint Vladislav by the Serbian Orthodox Church on September 24 [O.S. October 7]. During Vladislav's reign, his uncle Archbishop Sava went on a pilgrimage and died in Bulgaria while on his way home. Vladislav obtained the remains and buried them in the Mileševa monastery, which he had built intended to be his burial place. Serbia was politically aligned with Bulgaria at the time, since Vladislav was married to Beloslava, the daughter of Ivan Asen II. Vladislav secured Hum, a maritime province under attack by Hungarian crusaders. After the death of Ivan Asen II, there was unrest in Serbia. The Mongols, led by Kadan, invaded Hungary and devastated the Balkans, at which time the Serbian nobility rose up against Vladislav. In 1243, he abdicated in favour of his younger brother, but remained the governor of Zeta. Vladislav was born around 1198. His parents were King Stefan the First-Crowned and Queen Eudokia. He had two full brothers, Stefan Radoslav (b. 1192) and Predislav (b. 1201), and a younger agnate half-brother, Stefan Uroš I (b. 1223). He also had two sisters, Komnena being the only one whose name is known. King Stefan the First-Crowned, who had become ill, took monastic vows and died in 1227, and Radoslav, the eldest son, became king; he was crowned at Žiča by his uncle, Archbishop Sava. Radoslav's younger brothers, Vladislav and Uroš I, received appanages. Sava II (Predislav) was appointed Bishop of Hum shortly thereafter, later serving as Archbishop of Serbia from 1263 to 1270.