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Stefan Dečanski

King of Serbia from 1322 to 1331

Correspondence, annotated notebooks and portrait silhouettes prepared for research
People and ideasInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ314346
Source-derived summary

Stefan Uroš III (c. 1276 – 11 November 1331), was King of Serbia from 6 January 1322 to 8 September 1331. Dečanski was the son of King Stefan Milutin (d. 1321). He defeated two other contenders to the Serbian throne. Stefan is known as Dečanski after the great monastery of Visoki Dečani he built.

Early life

Stefan Uroš III was the son of King Stefan Uroš II Milutin and his first wife Jelena, a Serbian noblewoman. He was born before his father took the throne in 1282. While still a youth, he was sent (c. 1293-1294) by his father as a hostage with his entourage to Nogai Khan of the Golden Horde, to maintain the peace between the Serbs and Tatars. He stayed at Nogai's court until c. 1297.

Editorial summary

“Stefan Dečanski” enters the record as king of Serbia from 1322 to 1331. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Stefan, Dečanski and King can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA useful biographical orientation record, particularly for establishing names, roles and a first chronology. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1276, 1331, 1322, 1321—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1276. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Stefan, Dečanski and King.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Stefan Dečanski” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Stefan, Dečanski and King provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q314346. VIAF identifies the subject as 764144647702102560692. The Library of Congress control number is n81019621. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1276, 1331, 1322 and 1321.

Critical limits

A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.

Best used for
  • Establishing names and roles
  • Building a first chronology
  • Locating cited institutions
Verify next

Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Stefan Dečanski”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Stefan Dečanski primary sources, Stefan Dečanski archive and Stefan research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Stefan Dečanski”?
  2. Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
  3. How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Stefan Dečanski” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.