Bosnian “School of Death”: Interconfessionality of Stećci

Abstract

The author discusses the issue of the confessionality of stećci, Bosnian and Hum mediaeval funerary monuments, proving that below these tombstones followers of all the three Christian confessions were buried: Orthodox Christians, Catholics and the Bosnian Church followers. The question of religious affiliation of the stećci has been present in historiography ever since the beginning of research on them, with attempts to resolve it by completely contradictory theories. Since the understanding of Bogomil nature of the stećci took root, mostly influenced by the English archaeologist Arthur Evans and a member of the Hungarian parliament Janos fon Asbóth, since the late 19th century, which was later used as a ground for their “bosniakisation”, there have been unsuccessful attempts to elucidate the question of their religious affiliation by “serbianising” or “croatianising” them. Since the mid-20th century, beliefs have gradually started to prevail about their non-Bogomil origins, their interconfessional character respectively, which in the meantime has commanded a large following in scientific circles. To which of the mentioned Christian confessions the largest number of the stećci belonged is an open question; however, the fact that the patronage right was related to the right to burial with a significant number of the Bosnian nobles, for instance with the Pavlovićes – followers of the Bosnian Church, may be considered as scientifically established.