Vladislav, King of Syrmia

Vladislav (Serbian Cyrillic: Владислав; 1280–1326) was the King of Syrmia from 1316 to 1325, and claimant to the Serbian Kingdom.

He was the son of Stefan Dragutin, who had ruled Serbia until 1282, when he became ill and abdicated, giving the superior rule to his younger brother Stefan Milutin. Dragutin continued to rule the royal domain of Syrmia, which was later inherited by Vladislav.

Vladislav was son of Serbian king Stefan Dragutin and Hungarian princess Catherine.

During the Hungarian throne fight between the Árpád (Andrew III) and Anjou in 1290–91, Dragutin and his son Vladislav joined Charles Martel of Anjou, who was the titular Hungarian king since 1292. That year Vladislav, for faithful service to Anjou, was given the Banate of Slavonia, except estates held by the Frankopan and Babonić families. However, support to Charles Martel ended in 1293 after Vladislav married Costanza Morisini, the niece of Andrew III. Andrew III died in 1301 and was succeeded by Charles Robert, however, the Hungarian throne fight continued.

After King Dragutin died in 1316, Vladislav succeeded him as ruler of the Kingdom of Syrmia, but the king of Serbia, Stefan Milutin, his uncle, defeated him and imprisoned him.

The image of Vladislav on a coin.

When Milutin died in 1321, the newly freed Vladislav got to rule the lands of his father, with the help of the Hungarians, the Bulgarians, the Bosnian Ban and the Šubić family. The rule, according to law, was to be given to Vladislav.

Tsar Michael Asen III of Bulgaria, newly in conflict with Vladislav's cousin Stefan Dečanski, the successor of Milutin, started to support Vladislav as the rightful monarch of whole Serbia, but this support showed insufficient. After having been beaten again by supporters of Stefan Dečanski, he retreated to the Kingdom of Hungary in 1324. Vladislav's sororal nephew Stephen II, Ban of Bosnia, then started to rule Vladislav's lands in Bosnia (Soli and Usora), and around Lower Syrmia where long battles between Serbs and Hungarians were frequent.

Vladislav was married to Constanza Morosini, niece of Andrew III of Hungary.