Even today, historians do not agree on who he was or where he came from Today, Tsar Jovan Nenad is more a part of legend than history. They say that he was born in the "year of the beast" and that he had a huge black scar that stretched all over his right side of the body. And yet, maybe he was just black-faced, so he got a nickname for it. However, as strange as it may sound, his empire was real - it stretched in the area of ​​today's Backa, parts of Srem and Banat or in the area we know today as Vojvodina.

The last Serbian emperor died on June 26, 1527, not far from Senta, from a wound received in an ambush attack. His name was neither Dusan nor Uros! His name was Jovan Nenad and he ruled a small, self-proclaimed state that stretched on the territory of today's Vojvodina with its center in Subotica.

The army of Suleiman the Magnificent defeated the Hungarian army in the famous battle on the Mohács field in 1526. After that, the territory was divided between the Turkish Empire and the Hazburg monarchy, and the surviving nobles joined two leaders - King Ivan Zapolje and King Ferdinand.

It was at that time that Jovan Nenad, the mysterious and today almost fairy-tale leader of the Serbs, entered the scene.

Today, historians do not agree on who Jovan Nenad was or where he came from. He claimed to be a descendant of Serbian rulers, even Byzantine emperors, but there were also those who considered him to be of low birth.

In any case, Jovan Nenad proved to be a very good commander, who, with a company of Serbs, immediately after the Battle of Mohács, expelled the Turks from Bačka and took control of this area as well as parts of Banat and Srem.

Small among the great powers, it seems that he did not lack megalomaniacal dreams - he proclaimed his independent state the Serbian Empire, and himself the emperor. He chose Subotica as the seat of his "empire".

• And at that time, the new ruler was a mysterious man. His subjects called him Tsar Jovan Nenad, and outside Serbian circles he was most often mentioned as a "Black Man" because of the black stripe in the width of one finger that stretched from his right temple to his feet - points out historian Dobrica Jovicic and adds that the only document who is left behind by this unusual man, he signed as "John the King sent by God".

This was not the only oddity of the new ruler. Jovan Nenad lived ascetically - the story says that he slept only two hours, and that he spent an hour in prayer. He preached and prophesied and many came to him as a holy man. According to the testimony of one of his contemporaries, "Serbs rushed to him like a new saint and a prophet himself."

- Few of his prophecies have survived to this day, but the most famous is certainly that the Turks will perish. Jovan Nenad wanted to present himself as a weapon of God and, in an atmosphere of collapse and despair, to impose the fight against the Turks as the only option - Jovicic explains.

Folk legends and faith in the new great man were fueled by the legend that he was born in the "year of the beast" - in 1492, when the end of the world could come at any moment.

The people loved him, but not other military leaders

Other Serbian nobles and despots generally did not want to have any connections with Jovan Nenad, and it is interesting that there is no mention of this man in the chronicles from that time.

- It was the time when a large number of despots fought for supremacy. Most of them were completely unimportant. The Hungarians used them for their personal benefit, and they only cared about their personal benefit. The appearance of Jovan Nenad therefore bothered some of them more than the enemies, because in a situation where everyone cared only for themselves, a man suddenly appeared who spoke of joint resistance and unification - Jovicic believes and adds that there are indications that Jovan Nenad took the title, the emperor just to be different from those other, greedy despots.

Jovan Nenad proved to be a good military leader. He oscillated between Zapolje and Fendinand and used them at least as much as they used him - in the fight against stronger Turks, to whom his "empire" was first under attack.

From the moment when Jovan Nenad left Ferdinand, Zapolje sent one army after another, but the "emperor" defeated them all, true with great losses.

On the way to Ferdinand, with whose army he was supposed to unite, Jovan Nenad was mortally wounded by a Zapolje supporter. This was also the end of his small country, and for many years he also dreamed of liberating Serbs from Turkish rule.

The "father" of modern Vojvodina

Today, Tsar Jovan Nenad is more a part of legend than history. However, there are those who consider his "Serbian empire" to be the beginning of what we know today as Vojvodina.

- Calling Jovan Nenad the "father of Vojvodina" is certainly a bit exaggerated, but it is true that his country spread precisely in the area of ​​this Serbian province. He was the first to come up with the idea to create a separate Slavic state in southern Hungary. This idea will later be taken over by all Serbian champions from Vojvodina, although none of them will mention Jovan Nenad as a forerunner - the historian concludes.

To testify and remind of this unusual historical figure, a monument to Jovan Nenad was erected in Subotica on two occasions - the first was demolished by the Hungarian occupiers in 1941, and the second, erected in 1991, still stands on the town square today. It says, "Your thought has won."