Later rule
After the death of Kaloyan, there was a succession war in Bulgaria. Tsar Boril, the most ambitious of the nobles, took the throne and exiled Alexius Slav, Ivan Asen II and Strez (of the Asen family). Strez, the first cousin or brother of Boril, took refuge in Serbia, and was warmly welcomed at the court of Stefan II. Even though Boril requested the extradition of Strez to Bulgaria with gifts and bribes, Stefan II refused. Kaloyan had conquered Belgrade, Braničevo, Niš and Prizren, all of which were claimed by Serbia. At the same time, Boril was unable to take military action against Strez and his Serbian patron, as he had suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Latins at Plovdiv. Stefan went as far as to become a blood brother with Strez, in order to assure him of his continued favor.
Andrija Mirosavljević was entitled to the governance of Hum, as the heir of Miroslav of Hum, the uncle of Stefan II, but the Hum nobles chose his brother Petar as Prince of Hum. Petar exiled Andrija and Miroslav's widow (the sister of Ban Kulin of Bosnia), and Andrija fled to Serbia, to the court of Stefan II. In the meantime, Petar fought successfully with neighbouring Bosnia and Croatia. Stefan sided with Andrija and went to war and secured Hum and Popovo field for Andrija sometime after his accession. Petar was defeated and crossed the Neretva, continuing to rule the west and north of the Neretva, which had in 1203 been briefly occupied by Andrew II of Hungary. Stefan gave the titular and supreme rule of Hum to his son Radoslav, while Andrija held the district of Popovo with the coastal lands of Hum, including Ston. By agreement, when Radoslav died, the lands were bound to Andrija.
Đorđe of Zeta, in order to secure his lands from Stefan, accepted Venetian suzerainty, possibly in 1208. Đorđe may have done this due to tensions between the two, although this must not be the case. Venice, after the Fourth Crusade, tried to exert control of the Dalmatian ports, and managed in 1205 to submit Ragusa – Đorđe submitted to prevent that Venice claimed his ports of southern Dalmatia.
Đorđe promised Venice military aid in case of a revolt by another theoretical Venetian vassal, Dhimitër Progoni, the Prince of Albania and Lord of Kruja. This was likely related to the Serbia-Zeta conflict. Stefan II married off his daughter, Komnena, to prince Dhimitër Progoni in 1208. The marriage resulted in close ties and an alliance between Stefan and Dimitri amidst these conflicts. Kruja is conquered by Epirote Despot Michael I Komnenos Doukas, and Dimitri is not heard of in any surviving sources. After Dhimitër's death, the lands are left to Komnena, who soon married Greek-Albanian Gregorios Kamonas, who took power of Kruja, strengthening relations with Serbia, which had after a Serbian assault on Scutari been weakened. Đorđe disappears from sources, and Stefan II controls Zeta by 1216, probably through military action. Stefan either put Zeta under his personal rule, or assigned it to his son Stefan Radoslav. Zeta would from now on have no special status, and would be given to the heir apparent.
Despot Michael I of Epirus conquered Skadar, and tried to press beyond, but was stopped by the Serbs and his murder by one of his servants in 1214 or 1215. He was succeeded by his half-brother Theodore Komnenos Doukas. Theodore took on a policy of aggressive expansion, and allied himself with Stefan II. Stefan Radoslav married Anna Angelina Komnene Doukaina, the daughter of Theodore.
