(Nemanj a), the later St. Sava (Ras- tsko). [Plate 5]

All the rulers of this dynasty were named Stefan, but is is by their second name that they are generally known under. The medieval kingdom reached its zenith under the rule of Stefan Dushan "the Mighty", who ~lmost fulfilled the centenarian re~l~--becoming Serbian Emperor of Constantinople. The rule of his son, Emperor Uros V "the Weak", was the nadir of the Nemanj ic Dynasty.

This empire which had been built with immense effort but dissolved, unfortunately, into loosely united fiefs, under the potent feudal dynas- ties of Mrnjavcevic, Balsic, Dejano- vic and Hrebeljanovic. After the disastrous battle on the Marstza river in 1371, the Emperor was dead, also killed was his vasal, King Vukasin, father of the legendary hero "Prince Marko". The most powerful baron at this time was (Prince or Count--there is no exact parallel in the western nobility system for the Serbian title "knez") Lazar Hrebel- janovic ; [Plate 6] who became the virtual ruler of Serbia.

The distant regions, Epirus, i

Plate 5

ST. SAVA FRESCO--BOGORODICA LJEVISKA CHURCH AT PRIZREN 14th CENTURY.

Plate 6

PRINCE LAZAR AND PRINCESS MILICA, FRESCO IN THE LJUBOSTINJA MONASTERY, c 1402

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Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Zeta, etc., were either under Turkish vasallage or the sway of local dynasties. Prince Lazar was given the impossible task of defending the.remains of the Empire and to stop the Turkish invasion of Europe. The Prince was a man of the highest moral and ethical qualities. He summoned all the male inhabitants of Serbia and enlisted them in his army-- putting a terrible curse upon any Serbian who would not obey the call to defend his country and his Christian faith.

A battle was fought against the Turks in June of 1389, on the field of Kossovo (the Field of Blackbirds). [Plate 7] The result was a terrible

Plate 7 THE MAID OF KOSSOVO URO~ PEDI~ (1857-1953) NATIONAL MUSUEM-BELGRADE

DEPICTS THE MAID OF KOSSOVO GIVING WATER TO THE DYING LORD PAUL ORLICN AFTER THE BATTLE. THIS SCENE WAS USED FOR RED CROSS MEDALS OF SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO.

massacre, during which one Serbian Knight, Milosch Oblich, killed the Sultan of Turkey. Prince Lazar, the Serbian leader, was decapitated. The Turkish army was decimated but the Serbian army was annihilated; knights and serfs of both armies were killed in great numbers. The only great Serbian baron who survived the battle, Vuk Brankovic, was accused by his people of being a traitor for missing his opportunity to die! For five hundred years it was considered the most terrible insult to be called ’~uk Brankovic."

All of this is told in order to convey the deep and lasting significance which everything connected with the medieval Serbian Kingdom and the Dynasties (from which every single ruler, except Emperor Dusan, was canonised including St. Sava, the Patron Saint of Serbia) was considered.

The memory of the Empire and Saintly Kings was, during five centuries of Turkish Rule, treasured and considered to be a guarantee of Serbian unity and symbolic of a glorious future. After the liberation and the establishment of the Serbian Principality, the rulers of the Obrenovic Dynasty did not, and could not miss the opportunity to connect the new Dynasty and the new State

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with the old one which over the centuries had achieved a legendary position representing the acme of patriotism in the national interest.

Of the five Orders instituted during the reign of the Obrenovic Dynasty, two were named in commemoration of the Dynasty--~the Orders of Milos the Great*l and Cross of Takovo*2--and three wore devoted to the memory of the medieval kingdoms--the Order of the White Eagle, St. Sara*3 and St. Lazarus.*4 Thus, in seeking the significance of the emblems involved in the White Eagle Order we must regress once again to the year 1300. In their work, Les Ordres Serbes, L. Brasier and J. L. Brunet note that the Royal Order of the White Eagle was instituted by King Milan to commemorate the reestablish- ment of the Royal Kingdom of Serbia and in memory of "Douchant le Puissant" (Douchant the Mighty). Here are some facts about him.

Born in 1308 as son of the King Stephan Dechanski (referred to as "Dechanski" because he built a monastery called Dechani). [Plate 8] Stefan

Plate 8 DECANI MONASTERY, BUILT BY STEFAN DECANSKI AND KING DUSAN, 1327-1335

Dushan ascended the throne in 1331 after long and bitter quarrels with his father who tried to disinherit him in favor of his half-brother, Sinisha. In 1332 he eliminated the rebellious nobles in Zeta, and by marriage with the sister of the Bulgarian Emperor Ivan Alexander, he secured the eastern

*i K. G. Kleitmann, Gary C. Krug, "The Royal Order of Milos the ’Great", The Medal Collector, Vol. 12, No. 6, August 1961.

*2 David Edkins~ "Serbian Order of Takowa", The Medal Collector, Vol. 26, No. 7, July 1975.

*3 Karl B. Johnson, "Order of St. Sava", The Medal Collector, Vol. 20 No. 2, February 1969. Phillip M. Weber, "The Order of St. Sava", Midwestern Orders and Medals Society, Chicago, 1971.

*4 Dragomir M. Acovic, "The Royal Order of Prince Laza~r", The Medal Collector, Vol. 28, No. 7, July 1977.

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