Vukašin ruled as co-king alongside the nominal emperor Stefan Uroš V, effectively controlling the western territories of a fragmented Serbian empire following the death of Stefan Dušan in 1355. His coinage asserts royal authority during a period when the empire was dissolving into competing regional lords. He died at the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, where a combined Serbian force was routed by Ottoman troops — a defeat that accelerated Balkan collapse and left his son Marko ruling as an Ottoman vassal.
Vukašin ruled as co-king alongside the nominal emperor Stefan Uroš V, effectively controlling the western territories of a fragmented Serbian empire following the death of Stefan Dušan in 1355. His coinage asserts royal authority during a period when the empire was dissolving into competing regional lords. He died at the Battle of Maritsa in 1371, where a combined Serbian force was routed by Ottoman troops — a defeat that accelerated Balkan collapse and left his son Marko ruling as an Ottoman vassal.