In the Medieval Serbian state, a range of court and honorific titles were used.
During the reign of King Stefan Milutin (r. 1282–1321) the Serbian court hierarchy was: stavilac, čelnik, kaznac, tepčija and vojvoda, the supreme title.[1] In the Dečani chrysobulls, King Stefan Dečanski (r. 1321–1331) mentioned that the court dignitaries present at the Dečani assembly were the kaznac, tepčija, vojvoda, sluga and stavilac.[2]
In the periods of the Serbian Kingdom and Serbian Empire, several Byzantine titles and honorifics were adopted, such as sevast, protosevast and sevastokrator.[3] After the crowning of Stefan Dušan as Emperor (1346), there was a further increase in the Byzantinization of the Serbian court, especially in court ceremonies and titles.[4] From his new position, Dušan could grant titles only possible for an emperor to grant, such as despot, sevastokrator, and ćesar.[5] The higher nobility – magnates (pl. velikaši or velmože) were signified with such titles, along the traditional vojvoda, veliki župan, etc.