Editing Serbia (section)

===Middle Ages===
{{Main|Sorbs (tribe)|Serbia in the Middle Ages}}
[[File:Stephan Dusan Coronation Paja Jovanovic.png|thumb|right|The Coronation of the tsar [[Stefan Dušan]], known as Dušan the Mighty, in Skopje, as [[Emperor of the Serbs|Emperor of Serbs and Greeks]] in 1346]]
White Serbs, an [[Early Slavs|early Slavic]] tribe from White Serbia eventually settled in an area between the [[Sava]] river and the [[Dinaric Alps]].{{sfn|Fine|1991|pp=52–53}}{{sfn|Ivić|1995|p=9}}{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=11}} By the beginning of the 9th century, Serbia achieved a level of statehood.{{sfn|Fine|1991|p=141}} [[Christianization of the Slavs|Christianisation]] of Serbia was a gradual process, finalised by the middle of the 9th century.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|pp=15–17}} In the mid-10th-century, the [[Principality of Serbia (early medieval)|Serbian state]] experienced a fall. During the 11th and 12th century, [[Grand Principality of Serbia|Serbian state]] frequently fought with the neighbouring Byzantine Empire.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|pp=23&ndash;24}} Between 1166 and 1371, Serbia was ruled by the [[Nemanjić dynasty]], under whom the state was elevated to [[Kingdom of Serbia (medieval)|a kingdom]] in 1217,{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=38}} and an [[Serbian Empire|empire]] in 1346,{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=64}} under [[Stefan Dušan]]. The [[Serbian Orthodox Church]] was organised as an [[Autocephaly|autocephalous]] archbishopric in 1219,{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=28}} through the effort of [[Saint Sava|Sava]], the country's patron saint, and in 1346 it was raised to the [[Serbian Patriarchate of Peć|Patriarchate]]. Monuments of the Nemanjić period survive in many [[List of Serbian Orthodox monasteries|monasteries]] (several being [[List of World Heritage Sites in Serbia|World Heritage sites]]) and [[List of fortifications in Serbia|fortifications]].

During these centuries the Serbian state (and influence) expanded significantly. The northern part (modern [[Vojvodina]]), was ruled by the [[Kingdom of Hungary]]. The period after 1371, known as the [[Fall of the Serbian Empire]] saw the once-powerful state fragmented into several principalities, culminating in the [[Battle of Kosovo]] (1389) against the rising [[Ottoman Empire]].{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|pp=84&ndash;85}} By the end of the 14th century, the Turks had conquered and ruled the territories south of the [[Šar Mountains]]. The political stronghold of Serbia shifted northwards, when the capital of the newly established [[Serbian Despotate]] was transferred to Belgrade in 1403,{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=89}} before moving to [[Smederevo]] in 1430.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=90}} The Despotate was then under the double vassalage of Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=101}} The fall of Smederevo on 20 June 1459, which marked the full conquest of the Serbian Despotate by the Ottomans, also symbolically signified the end of the Serbian state.{{sfn|Ćirković|2004|p=108}}