place where Tsar Samuil allegedly had a heart attack upon
seeing thousands of his soldiers had been blinded by the Byzantines after the Battle of Kleidion. Byzantium lost it to the Second Bulgarian Empire, but later
retook it. Prilep was acquired in 1334 by Serbian King Dušan and after 1365 the town belonged to
King Vukašin, co-ruler of Dušan's
son, TzarStefan Uroš V. After the death of Vukašin in 1371, Prilep was ruled by
his son Marko. In 1395 it was incorporated into the
Ottoman Empire, of which it remained a part of until 1913, when it entered into
the Kingdom of Serbia. From 1918
to 1941 Prilep was part of the Kingdom
of Yugoslavia, and from 1944 to 1991 the town belonged to the Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, as part of its constituent Socialist
Republic of Macedonia. Since 1991 the town has been part of the Republic of
Macedonia.
