Of literary production it is as yet too early to speak, for Ragusan literature only begins with the Renaissance. CHAPTER III VENETIAN SUPREMACY I.—THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAWS, 1204-1276. During the next hundred and fifty years, save for two or three short interruptions between 1221 and 1233, Ragusa is admittedly a vassal state of the Venetian Republic, ruled by Venetian counts appointed by the Doge. Venice was, however, the protectress rather than the absolute mistress of the Dalmatian townships, which continued to enjoy a considerable measure of self-government. Venetian influence was useful to them as a protection both against the pirates which infested the Adriatic and the turbulence of the Slavonic princes, although as regards her relations with the latter, Ragusa, at all events, was free to manage even her foreign policy to a great extent. It will be well to examine the conditions of the Slavonic hinterland at this period. [Illustration: RAGUSA FROM THE EAST] During the twelfth century the Slave lands were beginning to assume a semblance of order, and early in the thirteenth century, out of the chaos of barbarous and more or less independent tribes, four principal states had taken shape. They were Servia or Rascia, Bosnia, Hlum or Hum, and Doclea. The most important of these was Servia, welded into a kingdom by the Nemanja dynasty, who had extended their frontiers southwards and eastwards at the expense of the Eastern Roman Empire. It included, besides modern Servia, as far as the Ibar and the Servian Morava, a part of Bosnia to the east of the watershed between the rivers Bosna and Drina, the district of Novibazar and Old Servia, and a part of Albania.[97] It had no regular capital in the modern sense, but the Kings resided usually at Prizren, at Scutari,[98] or at Skopje (Üsküb). It touched the sea-coast at the Bocche di Cattaro and in Albania; and the town of Cattaro was sometimes under Servian protection. The importance of the country does not begin until the reign of Stephen Nemanja (1143 or 1159). He extended his territory so as to include Bosnia in 1169, and reduced all the semi-independent župans (feudal lords) to subjection. He was still under Byzantine suzerainty, but after the death of Manuel Comnenus in 1180 he refused to pay tribute to his successor, conquered Niš, and made Priština[99] his capital. In 1185 he shook off all allegiance to the Greeks, and assumed the title of King of Servia, but was not crowned. In 1195 he abdicated in favour of his son, Stephen Uroš, who was crowned by his younger brother, St. Sava, the first archbishop of Servia. Stephen Uroš’s reign was peaceful, and Servia flourished under him. His brother, Vukan, had inherited the Zeta and part of Hlum from his father, but owed allegiance to Stephen Uroš. When the Latin Empire of Constantinople was established in 1205, Baldwin recognised him as independent King of Servia, Bosnia, and Dalmatia. Uroš died in 1224.