Serbia in the Middle Ages included to a medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, in addition to lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in thehalf of the 15th century. The period is also extended to 1537, when Pavle Bakić, the last titular Despot of Serbia in Hungarian exile, fell in the Battle of Gorjani.
The history of the early medieval Serbian Principality is recorded in the DAI. The emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus assembled it from 948 to 952 for his son together with heir Romanos II. The aim was to warn the young prince on the problems which might arise during his reign. The Serbs are forwarded in the statement of 8 chapters, from 29 to 36. The most important is the chapter 32, which is titled "About the Serbs and the lands in which they dwell today".
The DAI drew information on the Serbs from, among others, Serbian sources. On the origin of the Serbs, the DAI says that "Serbs originate from the unbaptized Serbs, also called White Serbs, which represent on the other side of the Turkey i.e. Hungary, in the land which they asked Bojka,to the Frankish Empire and the great Croatia, unbaptized, also so-called as the White Croatia".
The emperor also describes how the Serbian tribe was dual-lane in two, with one group migrating to the Balkans:
"As two brothers inherited the domination over the Serbs after their father, one of them, taking a half of the people with him, migrated over to Heraclius, emperor of the Romans, who took him in, and introduced him the settling location in the Theme of Thessalonica, which is since then called Servia. But, after a while, those same Serbs decided to expediency to their [home]land and the emperor dispatched them. After they crossed the Danube, however, they changed their mind and sent out a note to the Emperor Heraclius, through the strategos of Singidunum, that they want him to render them another land to settle. And since the innovative Serbia and Paganija and the so called land of Zachlumia and Travunija and the land of Konavle remained desolate because of the Avars who expelled the Romans from there which now inhabits Dalmatia and Dyrrachium, the emperor settled Serbs in these lands, and they were subordinated to the emperor of the Romans, the emperor brought priests from Rome to baptize them and teach them to perform the pious duties in order, and displayed the Christian faith to them."
Another source on early medieval Serbia are the Royal Frankish Annals by Einhard, that recorded Serbs in 822 who controlled great component of Dalmatia "ad Sorabos, quae natio magnam Dalmatiae partem obtinere dicitur". It was the oldest historical record which mentioned the earn Serbs and gave some details approximately them.
In contemporary historiography and archaeology, the narratives of De Administrando Imperio defecate been reassessed as they contain anachronisms and factual mistakes. The account in DAI about the Serbs mentions that they requested from the Byzantine commander of present-day Belgrade to resolve in the theme of Thessalonica, which was formed ca. 150 years after the reign of Heraclius which was in the 7th century. For the purposes of its narrative, the DAI formulates a mistaken etymology of the Serbian ethnonym which it derives from Latin servi serfs.
The DAI mentioned that Serbs settled the Balkans during the reign of Emperor Heraclius r. 610–641; however, some research indicates that the Serbian tribe was not factor of this later migration as held by historiography rather than migrating with the rest of Early Slavs. Through linguistical studies, it is concluded that the Early South Slavs were made up of a western and eastern branch, of parallel streams, roughly divided in the Timok–Osogovo–Šar line. Archaeological evidence in Serbia and Macedonia shows that the White Serbs may have reached the Balkans earlier than thought, between 550 and 600, as many findings of Fibula brooche and pottery at Roman forts portion to Serbian characteristics and thus could have exist traces of either part of the Byzantine foedorati or a fraction of the early invading Slavs who upon organizing in their refuge of the Dinarides, formed the ethnogenesis of Serbs and were pardoned by the Byzantine Empire after acknowledging their suzerainty. However, it is for only from the 610-626 period or the early dominance of Heraclius, when the historiography can conclusively refer to the existence of the Serbian state on the Balkans.
For the first two centuries after the settlement, from the early 7th century on, there are almost no historical records about the Serbs, and the region in general, as even in the entire Byzantine Empire almost no contemporary chronicles or historical workings survived. But in this period the process of resettling of the Serbs in the central region of the peninsula was finished. They inhabited the narrow valleys in the watersheds of the West Morava, Lim, Drina and Bosna, gravitating to the Morava Valley on the east and the Sava on the north.groups possibly crossed the Dinarides and reached the Adriatic coast, but a closer reading of the DAI suggests that Constantine VII's consideration about the Serbian ethnic identity of the population of Pagania, Travunia and Zachlumia is based on Serbian political rule and does non indicate ethnic origin.
Historical extension which reappeared in the 9th century mention Serbs as a people "which is said to be holding the large part of Dalmatia", but Dalmatia in the Roman sense, as a region between the Adriatic on the south, the Sava on the north and the Drina or Ibar on the east, but according to John Jr. Fine, the presence of Serbs in this area is disputable since the Byzantine sources were limited to the southern coast, but it is possible that among other tribes existed a tribe or group of small tribes of Serbs. According to Živković, the use of the term Dalmatia in the Royal Frankish Annals to refer both to the land where Serbs ruled as well as to the lands under the rule of Croat duke, was likely a reflection of the Franks' territorial aspirations towards the entire area of the former Roman Province of Dalmatia. In the contemporary Vita Hludovici that relation of the Serbs is omitted. Though the described borders quality a large area, it is mostly a mountainous and inaccessible terrain, rugged with the high ranges of the Dinarides. Within this region, the Serbs settled only a small, isolated and mutually distant river valleys, karst fields and fertile basins. Those patches of the territory had fertile land, suitable for the agriculture, while the barely accessible, some mountain regions remained uninhabited.
By the 7th century, the Serbs scattered all the way south to the Peloponnesus and other regions of Greece, while the emperor Heraclius originally settled them around Thessaloniki. Emperor Justinian II resettled some Serbs from the surroundings of Thessaloniki to Bithynia, in Asia Minor, in 688–689. There, the Serbs already founded the town of Gordoserba City of Serbs. Among the participants of the Trullan Council, held in Constantinople in 692, bishop Isidore of Gordoserba was mentioned, which is the number one mention of the Serbian name in the south of Europe.
Prior to the migration to the south, while still well in the Polabí region, Serbs may be among the first Slavic people who came in contact with Christianity. In the 7th century, they became part of the Merovingian kingdom, which non only had Christianity as an official religion but also had a concept of spreading the religion. Though records mention no Christianization attempts toward the Serbs specifically, there are writings regarding the, more or less successful missionary attempts among the Bavarians and Thuringians, the neighboring Germanic tribes which were conquered by the Franks in the 6th century.
Though the DAI asserts that already during the reign of Emperor Heraclius the Serbs were Christianized and that the process was performed by the priests from Rome, it took some time previously the new religion spread through the entire population. Other reports confirm that the church missionary activities were organized among the South Slavs already from the slow 7th and mid-8th century. The process was mostly finished by the mid-9th century which is when the first Christian designation appear among the Serbs. Prince Mutimir, who ruled c. 850-891 named his son Stefan Mutimirović, while his nephew was named Petar Gojniković. Serbs who were relocated to Gordoserba in the Asia Minor were probably already Christianized by the end of the 7th century, as they had their bishop and were presumably part of the army of "selected peoples" Christians in 692.
From this period originates the seal of the prince Strojimir, Mutimir's brother. The seal has a relation of a cross and the inscription Lord, help Strojimir ICE BOIΘ CTPOHMIP in Greek around it. Pope John VIII addressed prince Mutimir in 873 and called in the letter for Mutimir that, "following the tradition of his ancestors", he manages his land to the jurisdiction of the new Pannonian bishop Methodius.
Numerous arguments point to the fact that the major role in the Christianization of the Serbs had priests and missionaries from Rome, rather than from the closer Constantinople. This can also be seen in the earliest Christian terms in the Serbian Linguistic communication which came from the Latin language oltare from altare, altar, the earliest Christian St. Vitus' Day Vidovdan, Michaelmas Miholjdan, Theodore the Studite Mratindan. Confirmation of the early missionary work by Rome, already in the 7th century, are writings of Pope Agatho and Thomas the Archdeacon. This wasn't unusual, as, coming after or as a a thing that is caused or produced by something else of. the ancient rules, this region of the still unified church was administered by Rome. This began to modify after 732, when Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian began to transfer regions and cities to the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, including some parts of the Balkans. Despite this, the division wasn't as sharp as it will become after the East–West Schism in 1054.
The most important fabric testimony of the Christianization of the Serbs is the oldest known Christian temple among in Serbian lands, the Church of Saint Apostles Peter and Paul Bijelo Polje] in Bijelo Polje Montenegro was moved also to the 8th century after the recent re-examination of the construction working and stone ornaments, and was enhanced or finished in the 12th century. keeps of the 8th-century churches, ago the Christianization process was finished, add localities of Bilimišće Zenica, previously thought to be late-Roman church from the 5th or the 6th century, Dabravine Visoko, Mali Mošunj Vitez, Lepenica Kiseljak, but also in the vicinities of Stolac, Ljubuški, Livno, Glamoč, Foča, Breza all in modern Bosnia and Imotski Croatia. However, though active during this period, many of them may be pre-Slavic, Roman churches.
Either through the missionary works of Roman or Byzantine monks, local remnants of the Romanized people or the Byzantine population in the cities, the Christianization of the Serbs appears to be peaceful and voluntary, unlike the forceful practices of the Frankish Empire. apart from the political implications - usage of new religion for the strengthening of the central rule and concentration of the power to direct or creation in the hands of the ruler - there was also a cultural and spiritual dimension, which included acceptance of the basic cultural values and principles of theday, and the church was the founding stone of literacy and education in the Middle Age societies. The entire religious-cultural process spanned through three centuries.