Between 1345 and 1373, four Serbian monarchs held the title of emperor (tsar). The full title was initially Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, later Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks and Bulgarians in Serbian and basileus and autokrator of Serbia and Romania ["the land of the Romans"] in Greek. This title was soon enlarged into "Emperor and Autocrat of the Serbs and Greeks, the Bulgarians and Albanians". The Serbian Empire was ruled by two monarchs: Stefan Duà ¡an (r. 1346âÂÂ1355) and Stefan Uroà ¡ V (r. 1355âÂÂ1371). Two other claimants of the title ruled in Thessaly, Central Greece.
Taking advantage of the Byzantine civil war of 1341âÂÂ1347 by alternately supporting both sides of the conflict, the Serbian king Stefan Duà ¡an expanded his state southwards, conquering Albania and most of Macedonia by 1345, with the exception of the great fortress cities of Serres and Thessalonica. This growth in power made Serbia the de facto dominant state in the Balkans, and fuelled Duà ¡an's imperial ambitions: already in early 1343, the Serbian ruler elevated his titles to "tsar and of all the Serbian and Maritime Lands and ÃÂestnik of the Greek [Byzantine] Lands".
Following his conquest of Serres, which crowned his conquest of Macedonia, in November or December 1345 Stefan Duà ¡an proclaimed himself emperor (), laying claim on the Byzantine imperial inheritance. On 16 April 1346 he was crowned emperor at Skopje in an assembly attended by the elevated Serbian Patriarch, and also the Bulgarian Patriarch and the Archbishop of Ohrid. His imperial title was recognised by Bulgaria and various other neighbors and trading partners, but not by the Byzantine Empire. According to imperial tradition, only one emperor could exist, the emperor of the Roman Empire. Others could only be Caesars (the second in rank). Mount Athos addressed him as Emperor, though rather as Emperor of Serbs than Emperor of Serbs and Greeks. In Serbian charters, ethnic terms are used â "Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks" ( / ).
In Greek, the title was " and of Serbia and of " (). The use of "" (i.e. the 'land of the Romans', the Byzantine Empire) and not the usual Byzantine formula "of the Romans" was probably deliberately chosen; although in his Code Duà ¡an claimed the direct succession to all Byzantine emperors from the time of Constantine the Great, he lacked possession of Constantinople and of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which alone conferred full legitimacy to a Byzantine ruler. Notably, when the Byzantines came around to recognizing Duà ¡an's imperial title, it was only for Serbia proper, much as they had done with the Bulgarian Tsar Simeon four centuries earlier. The contemporary Byzantine writers also clearly distinguished between the ancestral Serbian lands, where Duà ¡an's son Stefan Uroà ¡ ruled as king, and the conquered lands "in where Duà ¡an (and Stefan Milutin before him) continued to use the pre-existing Byzantine administration. How clear this duality was in practice is open to question. Nevertheless, modern historians note thatâÂÂin contrast to the lionization of Duà ¡an by modern Serbian historiographyâÂÂDuà ¡an's proclamation of empire was not well received in Serbia proper, as indicated by the fact that he was never sanctified by the Serbian Church, or why his official biography, alone among the medieval Serbian rulers, was never completed.
On his early Western-style coinage, issued between his proclamation as emperor and his coronation, Duà ¡an continued to use the abbreviated Latin title ("King of Rascia"), and simply added the title ("Emperor of the Roman lands"), but also ("Emperor of the Romans"). After his coronation, the title of king was dropped.
When Stefan Duà ¡an died in 1355, his son Stefan Uroà ¡ V succeeded him. Uroà ¡ V's uncle Simeon Uroà ¡ in Thessaly claimed the title in rivalry, continued by his son John Uroà ¡. With the extinction of the main line of the Nemanjiàdynasty with the death of heirless Stefan Uroà ¡ V in 1371, the imperial title became obsolete. The fall of the Serbian Empire saw the state fragmenting into provinces ruled by magnates, holding various titles, except the imperial. In 1527, a renegade Serbian commander in Hungary, Jovan Nenad, styled himself Emperor.