Medieval Serbia Research Articles

SIMBOLI U OPECI: ZNAČENjE APSIDE CRKVE SV. DIMITRIJA (MARKOV MANASTIR) U MARKOVOJ SUŠICI KOD SKOPLjA

The apse of St. Demetrios Church in Markova Sušica stands as a profound testament to the intricate interplay of symbolism within the 14th century Serbian architecture. The analysis delves into the specific brickwork patterns, decoding their symbolic meaning. Drawing from the Christian symbolism and theological insights from St. Gregory of Nyssa and St. Basil the Great, the article explores the use of geometric patterns to elevate the mind toward divine contemplation. The article also integrates these symbols into the broader theological context,referencing the Еconomy of Salvation and iconographic representations within the apse. Thus, it is concluded that the apse of St. Demetrios Church emerges as a powerful embodiment of the divine principle, intricately connected to the sacred landscape of Matka. Its rounded form, reminiscent of a womb, symbolizes the nurturing embrace of the Mother of God. The interplay of colors and symbols invites the faithful on a spiritual journey guided by the divine feminine principle, providing a comprehensive exploration of the architectural and symbolic aspects of this medieval Serbian masterpiece.

St. Paul of Thebes among the Serbs: Hierotopy and the Translation of the Holy Land of Egypt into the Visual Culture of Medieval Serbia


 
 
 Translation of the Holy Land through the creation of “New Jerusalems” was an important aspect of medieval Christian culture and a matrix for spiritual life during the Middle Ages. In that respect, the monastic centres established by members of the Nemanjić Dynasty of Serbia were no exception. There, the rendering of the Holy Land and Egypt of the desert fathers in visible form was one of the main hierotopic concerns. In that process, the visual representation of St. Paul of Thebes became a prominent motif in medieval Serbian monastic centres. His visual hagiography decorates various Serbian monasteries from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, including among others Studentica, Žiča, Dečani, Mileševa, Sopoćani, Hilandar, Gračanica, the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć, the Church of St. George in Staro Nagoričane, and Ravanica Monastery. By following the reception of St. Paul’s vita into the visual culture of medieval Serbian lands, this paper will explore the different phases involved in the process of translating Egypt into medieval Serbia, arguing that for the creators of various heterotopic projects, the setting of Egypt of the desert fathers was reinterpreted to suit particular theological positions or to support specific political assumptions.
 
 

SACRILEGE IN SERBIAN MEDIEVAL LAW

The paper analyzes the crime of sacrilege in Serbian medieval law. The author provides a legal-historical analysis of church and secular rules on this criminal offence, which was envisaged in the most important sources of Serbian medieval law: Saint Sava’s Nomocanon, monastery charters, as well as the landmark legal documents that make up the so-called Dušan’s legislation: Matthias Blastares’ Syntagma, Emperor Justinian’s Law, and Dušan’s Code. In particular, the significance of the reception of the Byzantine law in medieval Serbia was emphasized on the example of the criminal offence of sacrilege.

The development of national food culture in medieval Serbia

The development of national food culture in medieval Serbia

The transformation of the cult of Saint Luke in Late Medieval Serbian lands

The paper investigates the nature of the commemoration of saints using the cult of the evangelist Luke in late medieval Serbian lands as a case study. It analyses St. Luke?s veneration starting from the middle of the 14th century, focusing on the changes that occurred after the translation of the saint?s relics to Smederevo on January 12, 1453. The research showed that the cult was transformed with the frequency of commemoration and the importance attributed to Luke?s feast days. In addition, the content of the cult is related to the Serbian environment, especially the capital of the Serbian Despotate, in two ways: by translating Constantinopolitan texts associated with his cult and by compiling new writings. Thus, the veneration of all-Christian saints with stable and lasting cults also proves to be a very dynamic process, in which the focus on the saint?s relics has a vital role.

O drevnosti srpskog identiteta na Kosovu i Metohiji

In this text author used an analytical-synthetic method to present directions for proving the source of Serbian identity on the territory of Kosovo and Metohija or "Old Serbia", as was the name of this territory in the past. The author presented various sources to prove the antiquity of the Serbian Patriarchy of Pec and the formation of the territory of Kosovo and Metohija as a medieval center of statehood and spirituality of Serbian people. This medieval state with its own church jurisdiction, laws, moral values, economic achievements, national customs and manners, and other achievements continued and upgraded the previous church jurisdiction and cultural tradition of Prima Iustiniana. In the text, there is also underlined the significance of the territory of Kosovo and Metohija for Serbian identity in the historical and geopolitical context of genealogical, political, and cultural liaisons of members of the medieval Serbian Nemanjic dynasty with the members of the medieval Greek, Bulgarian, and Russian dynasties. For the purpose of argumentation of significant determinants of the territory of Kosovo and Metohija for Serbian identity, there are used various Serbian and world-historical sources such as the results of archeological research, Serbian medieval state documents, artifacts, heraldic and folk legends and beliefs in the context of historical processes which have shaped the Serbian identity and promoted the territory of Kosovo and Metohija as the cradle of Serbian identity throughout history.

Zadužbina - integrativni višemedijski pristup istraživanju srpske srednjevekovne kulture na ranom školskom uzrastu

This paper will present the process and the results of the work on the "Endowment" project, which was realized in cooperation with the Association for Creative Development of Children "Creative Laboratory" and the Eureka Children's Club during 2022-2023. in Kruševac. The goal of the project was to develop a positive image of oneself and one's spiritual identity, to gain knowledge about our roots and origins, to learn about the importance of medieval culture for the spiritual identity of the Serbian people, to which the children themselves belong. Program contents are devoted to endowments, rulers, saints, historical events and the overall culture of medieval Serbia. 25 children aged 7-11 participated in the project for 10 weeks. As an occasion, provocation and inspiration for research, we used a visit to the Park of Miniatures in Bagdala, where models of our medieval monasteries were placed. The results of the work were presented at the ceremonial academy called "Endowment", which was designed as a three-component unit and, with the blessing of His Eminence, the Bishop of Kruševac Mr. David, was held in the amphitheater of the Lazarica Church in Kruševac in February 2023. The first component consisted of a photo exhibition entitled "Trace of our past" which represents a timeline of children's research activities, the second, an art exhibition of children's works "Mosaic of our past" and the third stage performance "Endowment".By interviewing all participants, qualitative analysis of the process and results of the work, we concluded that the multimedia, integrative and project approach had an effect on raising the interest and self-confidence of children, mobilized their attention and contributed to the development of awareness and knowledge about their spiritual origin and cultural identity.

Crtice o pravnom uređenju bolnica u srednjevekovnoj Srbiji

Medieval hospitals, and more broadly, health care in general, were in the beginnings accessible only to a small part of the population. They were created primarily for the needs of monks in large monastic centers, such as Hilandar and Studenica. Their organisation was regulated by the provisions of the typics, written under Roman influence, and adapted according to the circumstances of medieval Serbia. The mission of these institutions was primarily the healing of the sick, and over time, specialisation in the treatment of diseases and care for people with disabilities became more prominent. Data on their organisation, as well as on the status of hospital staff and patients comes from various legal, but also literary, archaeological and other sources. The level of medical knowledge of „hospital employees”, the appearance of doctors later on and special hospital administration greatly helped the development of hospital care, whose benefits would begin to be felt by the secular population, even before the emergence of city hospitals. Finally, in order for them to be able to perform their functions, it is necessary to considerthe regulation of their property, as well as its legal nature.

Intangible Mosaic of Sacred Soundscapes in Medieval Serbia

Religious practice in Serbia has taken place using both indoors and outdoors sacred sites ever since the adoption of Christianity in medieval times. However, previous archaeoacoustic research was focused on historic church acoustics, excluding the open-air soundscapes of sacred sites. The goal of this review paper is to shed light on the varieties of sacred soundscapes that have supported the various needs of Orthodox Christian practice in medieval Serbia. First, in relation to the acoustic requirements of the religious service, we compare the acoustic properties of masonry and wooden churches based on the published archaeoacoustic studies of medieval churches and musicological studies of the medieval art of chanting. Second, we provide an overview of the ethnological and historical studies that address the outdoor sacred soundscapes and investigate the religious sound markers of large percussion instruments, such as bells and semantra, the open-air litany procession that has been practiced during the annual celebration of a patron saint’s day in rural areas, and the medieval assemblies that took place on the sacred sites. This paper finally points out that the archaeoacoustic studies of sacred soundscapes should not be limited to church acoustics but also include open-air sacred sites to provide a complete analysis of the aural environment of religious practice and thus contribute to understanding the acoustic intention of medieval builders, as well as the aural experience of both clergy and laity.

METHODS OF WRITTEN COMMUNICATION IN MEDIEVAL SERBIA BASED ON THE LIFE OF SAINT SAVA WRITTEN BY DOMENTIAN

Abstract. Communication is essential in all aspects of social life and one of the most important factors in the formation of states. Written communication skills reached the medieval Serbian state from the Eastern Roman Empire. However, only a few traces of written communication from the Middle Ages in Serbia have survived. The Life of Saint Sava written by Domentian is significant for researching medieval Serbian correspondence. This hagiography mentions correspondence approximately twenty times, and it consists of epistles, short messages or orders, and messages delivered orally by messengers. Furthermore, information about the people included in the correspondence, as well as the method by which letters were sent, is essential. The paper examines the methods of communication mentioned in this hagiography to show how correspondence was carried out in Serbia in the 13th century. Key words: Communication, epistolography, Domentian, The life of Saint Sava, Serbia, the Middle Ages

Byzantium as a Metaphor for Identity in Serbian Music

The archaicizing ‘Byzantine thread’ in Serbian art music since the 1950s has proven to be an important one, although it has not been represented by a large number of works. Composers of such works aimed at creating a spiritually-infused atmosphere emanating from evocations of medieval times, and they achieved this goal by employing various modernist techniques. Those composers regarded the culture of Byzantium not only as a metaphor for spirituality and the inscrutable past but also used it as a means of self-identification, not least because Byzantine identity was of broader scope than national identity. Most of the Serbian composers who belonged to that thread, even if only with a handful of works, used melodic fragments either from medieval Serbian and Byzantine church chant or from Serbian present-day chant with roots in the Byzantine tradition, but which were subject to change after the fall of Byzantium. In this article, the ‘Byzantine thread’ in Serbian art music is socially and culturally contextualised.

The Fictive Mosaics of Medieval Serbia

The Fictive Mosaics of Medieval Serbia

РАЗМЫШЛЕНИЯ О МОНОГРАФИИ В. И. ЕРМОЛОВИЧА «ОСНОВНЫЕ ИНСТИТУТЫ ГРАЖДАНСКОГО ПРАВА СРЕДНЕВЕКОВОЙ СЕРБИИ И СТРАН КОНТИНЕНТАЛЬНОЙ ЕВРОПЫ (X-XV вв.)». МИНСК: БГЭУ, 2021. 301 с.

The peer-reviewed monograph by V.I. Ermolovich "Basic Civil Law Institutions of Medieval Serbia and the Countries of Continental Europe (X-XV centuries)" examines the process of establishing civil law institutions in medieval Serbia based on the customary law of Slavic peoples, as well as Roman and East Roman private law. This factor allowed the author of the monograph to rank the law of medieval Serbia among one of the most advanced and perfect legal systems of medieval Europe in the X-XV centuries. The subject of research in the peer-reviewed work is the general and special laws of the evolution of civil law of medieval Serbia and other countries of continental Europe. The author chose the norms and institutions of Serbian law as th.

The Issue of Political Recognition in International Policy: The Case of Kosovo

Due to its geographical and strategic location, the Balkans has become a region where different actors play a role in the historical process. When the physical map of the Balkans is considered, it is seen that Kosovo is also in the center of this region. Therefore, Kosovo is the center of historical events in the Balkans. Kosovo is a young country of today, which is the favorite of the Medieval Serbian State, attaches importance to the ownership and conquest of the Ottoman Empire, has an important place in the disintegration of Yugoslavia and has experienced painful situations during the process of becoming a state. The hypothesis of this study is that although Kosovo has achieved diplomacy with states on the path to recognition, it has not taken an important step towards recognition by international organizations and the entire international community. For this purpose, in the context of current developments, the relations of Kosovo with the states of the region, the strategies to gain the personality of the international community, the diplomatic movements and the reasons for not being recognized by the international community will be discussed.

The Right of Shipwreck in Medieval Serbia

The paper represents the first attempt to specifically and comprehensively explore the right of shipwreck (ius naufragii) in medieval Serbia. In the opening section, the wider comparative context is established through an overview of the presence of this legal custom in Europe and the Mediterranean during the ancient and medieval periods. This is followed by a discussion of the available information on its presence in Serbia, which spans the period from the early 14th to the mid-15th century and includes examples both of its exercise and of regulations by which it was abolished in regard to communities focused on maritime trade – Venice and Dubrovnik. The final section is dedicated to the examination of its status as a regal right of Serbian medieval rulers and the circumstances and mechanisms of its abolition regarding Venetian and Dubrovnik ships.

Sport, igre i viteštvo u srednjovekovnoj Srbiji

Sports games held during the ancient times were an important factor that influenced the entire social life of the era. During the greatest sport events such as the Olympic Games, all hostilities and war conflicts ceased and the winners of the games were considered to be equal to gods. Although developed on the foundations of the Greek culture and Roman state, the Middle Ages, under the influence of Christianity, banned the Olympics considering them a pagan relic, making most sports undesirable. The invasion of barbarians, which destroyed the remnants of the old society, accelerated this process. Yet, not all sports activities died out. The ones related to everyday activities, fighting and warfare continued to live. Serbian medieval state originated in the area between Byzantium and Western Europe and was exposed to influences from both sides, both the East and West. These influences were also manifested in sports, games and chivalry. The influences' paths varied, though, and were connected to population's travelling and mixing. Thus, the Eastern influence came from the Byzantine neighboring cities, and the Western from the Westerners - the Sas (Saxon) miners who worked and lived in Serbia, merchants and craftsmen from the coastal region, as well as mercenary military squads hired by the rulers. Sports activities, games and knightly competitions in medieval Serbia were connected with other social events and could be found in mixed environment such as urban settlements, as well as at gatherings at certain religious buildings. Gatherings in the cities were connected with organization of trade fairs and trade shows, and at monasteries and churches with religious festivals held almost every day. Preserved onomastic materials testify about sports activities: igrište (arena), potecište (starting point), strelište (shooting range) and others. Sports activities and knightly competitions were of a competitive nature, whereas the games were for fun. The paper discusses the presence of sports activities, games and chivalry in medieval Serbia, their origin, venues and social significance.

Patrimonijalni crkveni sud u Dušanovom zakoniku

In medieval Serbia, in addition to administrative and economic immunity, the Church also enjoyed judicial immunity. It had the right to judge the clergy (class court), all Orthodox believers in certain civil and criminal matters, but like any feudal lord, it also had jurisdiction over the inhabitants of church and monastery estates (church people), judging them as a patrimonial court. The subject of the research is the ecclesiastical patrimonial court in Serbian medieval law. First, a legal-historical analysis of this institute from monastery charters will be performed and then from the most valuable Serbian medieval legal monument, Dušan's Code. The basic question is whether the Code only confirmed the existing jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical patrimonial court or whether it introduced certain changes in this area. If there were any changes, it is important to recognize what they were, what they consist of and what the basic motive of the legislator for prescribing them was. The ecclesiastical patrimonial court was without a doubt competent for internal disputes between people of the same monastery, but it should be determined how the jurisdiction in the, so-called, mixed disputes was determined. Further, did Dušan's Code give over jurisdiction to the Church regarding disputes that were otherwise the domain of the ruler's court? Finally, the role and importance of the procedural institutions of appeal, transference and supplication in Serbian medieval law are emphasized.

Importance of Dynastic and Political Ties for Cross–cultural Connections of Nemanide Serbia with the Mediterranean World and Central Europe around the First Fall of Constantinople, and its Reflections on Visual Culture of Nemanide Serbia

The aim of this text is to draw attention to importance of dynastic ties of the members of Serbian Nemanide dynasty with the Byzantine, Venetian and Hungarian ruling dynasties to cross-cultural connection between medieval Serbia and The Balkans with Mediterranean and Central Europe, and its reflection on visual culture. Special attention will be focused on the period around the first fall of Constantinople, which directly affected on political and dynastic relations of the Nemanide with the ruling and noble families of Byzantium, Hungary and Venice. A unique phenomenon in the visual culture of the Balkans of the period is Stephen Nemanja’s major foundation in Serbia ― Studenica monastery, with its katholikon church dedicated to the feast of the Dormition of the Virgin. This landmark monument of Nemanide Serbia founded, built and decorated with frescoes in the years immediately before and after the first fall of Constantinople is possibly the best example of how the political and dynastic connections of the time reflected on visual culture. It is only the initial step of broader study intended to reassess the visual culture of Nemanide Serbia and The Balkans in view of the concept of premodern globalization characterized by and resulting from a transfer of knowledge, technological change and homogenization of spatial and technological particularities, by the concept of common culture and particular individual and collective identities. Importance of dynastic ties in cross-cultural interaction of medieval Serbia, with Mediterranean world and Central Europe opens a new perspective on the general nature of visual culture of this period. It appears that from this perspective we could better perceive the power and creative life of imagery and visual culture in general in this period as an essential element of an awareness of living in the present and looking towards a future.

Odeća kao slika personalnog notabiliteta - portreti vlastelinki u crkvi u Donjoj Kamenici

The paper was created to analyse the clothes of the ktetoress and her daughter in the patroness composition in Donja Kamenica's Church of the Virgin. Along with the analysis of the clothes made, a small review of their headdresses, which are an integral part of the mediaeval costume, is also given. However, the emphasis is on textiles, textile design, dress design, and finding examples of comparison in mediaeval portrait painting of the 14th century from the area of mediaeval Serbia and Bulgaria. The intention is to point out the similarities and differences in clothing between other noble females and the ktetors of Donja Kamenica, as well as the specifics in the dress of these others.

Uticaj Srpske pravoslavne crkve na kamatu u srpskom srednjevekovnom pravu

The loan agreement is a contract with a long and most turbulent history. Friendly loans is existed in every civilization, from the first communities to the present day. Loans with interest, however, are closely scrutinized by almost every legal system. Because these loans are very much open to abuse, governments have almost always had tendencies to prevent such outcomes by limiting interest rates. There are two extreme solutions: allowing high interest rates, as in some ancient legal systems, or as in some modern capitalist systems. On the other side of the spectrum is the suppression of interest as a „root of evil”, i.e. its complete prohibition, as suggested by the Roman Catholic Church or Islam, as well as in the formal socialist states. The Serbian Orthodox Church, as one of the local orthodox Churches, finds itself between these two extreme beliefs. Medieval Serbian states, mostly rooted in the Byzantine version of Roman law, started practicing usurious loans early. Serbian Church, mainly because of Saint Sava (Nemanjić) took a conservative attitude towards interest rates. As the economy grew, the prohibitions seemed to be less and less effective. From the time of emperor Dušan, according to the theory of symphony between the Church and State, middle ground solution was found by: prohibiting the clergy to charge interest; allowing civilians to charge interest, while limiting interest rates.The Serbian Orthodox Church would hold fast to this attitude throughout the Middle Ages, all the way to the present day. Although the Republic of Serbia is a secular state, the clergy obeys the same canonic rules. Interest rates are accordingly regulated and usurious contracts are prohibited.