Administrative divisions of medieval Serbia refer to regional administrative divisions of Medieval Serbia, from the 7th to the 15 the century.
The Byzantine Empire called the lands of the South Slavs "Sclaviniaes" (from the Sclaveni, the Southwestern branch), and they were initially outside Imperial control. By the second half of the 7th century, most of the Slavs in proximity to Byzantium had recognized the Emperor's supreme rule.
The unnamed 7th-century Serbian ruler (prince, archon) who led the Serbs to the Balkans and received the protection of Heraclius (r. 610âÂÂ641) was an ancestor of the Vlastimiroviàdynasty. The Serbs at that time were organized into à ¾upe, a confederation of village communities (roughly the equivalent of a county), headed by a local à ¾upan (a magistrate or governor). According to Fine, the governorship was hereditary, and the à ¾upan reported to the Serbian prince, whom they were obliged to aid in war. Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus (r. 913âÂÂ959) mentions that the Serbian throne is inherited by the son, i.e. the first-born, though in one occasion there is a triumvirate in his enumeration of monarchs.
According to the Royal Frankish Annals, written in 822, Ljudevit went from his seat at Sisak to the Serbs somewhere in Western Balkans, "who are said to hold a great/large part of Dalmatia" (ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur). According to the DAI, "baptized Serbia" included the "inhabited cities" (kastra oikoumena) of Destinikon, Tzernabouskeï, Megyretous, Dresneïk, Lesnik and Salines, while the "small land" (chorion) of Bosnia, reportedly part of Serbia, had the cities of Katera and Desnik. Accordingly, Serbia included lands around rivers Lim, Tara, Piva, Ibar, West Morava, Upper Drina and Upper Bosna.