PRAGMATIC LITERACY IN MEDIEVAL SERBIA UTRECHT STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL LITERACY

Transcription

1 PRAGMATIC LITERACY IN MEDIEVAL SERBIA UTRECHT STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL LITERACY 29

2 UTRECHT STUDIES IN MEDIEVAL LITERACY General Editor Marco Mostert (Universiteit Utrecht) Editorial Board Gerd Althoff (Westfälische-Wilhelms-Universität Münster) Michael Clanchy (University of London) Peter Gumbert (Universiteit Leiden) Mayke de Jong (Universiteit Utrecht) Rosamond McKitterick (University of Cambridge) Arpád Orbán (Universiteit Utrecht) Armando Petrucci (Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa) Richard H. Rouse (UCLA)

3 PRAGMATIC LITERACY IN MEDIEVAL SERBIA Ðorðe Bubalo H F

4 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Bubalo, Dorde author. Pragmatic literacy in medieval Serbia. (Utrecht studies in medieval literacy ; 29) 1. Written communication Serbia History To Diplomatics Serbia History To Legal documents Serbia History To Literacy Social aspects Serbia History To Serbia History To 1456 Sources. I. Title II. Series 302.2'244'094971'0902-dc23 ISBN-13: Brepols Publishers n.v., Turnhout, Belgium All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. D/2014/0095/10 ISBN Printed on acid-free paper

5 Contents Foreword Acknowledgements Abbreviations List of Illustrations Maps ix xiii xv xix xxv Chapter 1. Introduction: Medieval Serbia (Land, Ruler, People) 1 Part One: Written Records in Medieval Serbia Chapter 2. Several Observations on Sources 27 Laws 28 Documents 32 Literary Sources 33 Other Sources 36 Chapter 3. Characteristics of This Research 37 Chapter 4. Basic Characteristics of the Documentary Legacy of the Serbian Middle Ages 45 Materials 45 Writing and Language 50 The Names of Documents 55 The Fate and Preservation of Medieval Documents 64

6 vi Contents Chapter 5. Social and Material Prerequisites of Written Communication 87 The Development of Literacy 87 The Pre-Nemanjiæ Period: Examples of Documentary Literacy 93 Serbia in the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries: Causes of the Surge in Documentary Literacy 103 Peculiarities of the Bosnian State 117 Part Two: Agents of Literacy Chapter 6. The Ruler 123 The Rulers Ideology and the Written Document 123 The Reputation of Rulers Documents (Public Faith and Permanence) 132 The Ruler and State Administration 139 Chapter 7. The Church 151 Written Basis of the Privileged Status of the Church 152 Documents of Bishops, Written Administration under the Auspices of the Church 154 Monasteries 163 Chapter 8. The Nobility 177 Written Patrimony 177 The Use of Documents as a Reflection of Social Status 184 Chapter 9. The Towns 191 Town Privileges 192 Administration 195 The Mining Business 199 Trade (Coastal Merchants in the Hinterland) 206

7 Contents vii Chapter 10. Public Notaries and Private Legal Relations 217 Written Documents in Private Legal Relations: The Word of Law 218 Nomiks and Nomik Documents 223 Private Documents and Notes 231 Part Three: Domains of the Use of the Written Word Chapter 11. Diplomacy 241 Diplomatic Correspondence 242 Diplomatic Missions 262 Concluding Treaties and Issuing Charters 276 Chapter 12. Correspondence 285 Hagiographies, Epistolaries, Drafts of Beginnings of Letters, Short Messages (Several Notes on Sources) 286 Private Correspondence of the Ruler s Family 296 The Ruler and the Church: A Symphony in Correspondence 300 Church, Nobles, Citizens, Private Persons Chapter 13. The Probative Force of Documents and Their Role in Judicial Proceedings 315 Means of Evidence: The Basic Purpose 316 The Role of the Written Word in Legal Procedures 323 Probative Force and the Use of Serbian Documents in the Maritime Communes and in Venice 336 Forgeries 352

8 viii Contents Chapter 14. In Place of a Conclusion: The Significance and Scope of the Written Word 359 Symbols 360 Factors of Dispersion 365 Literary Works as a Pattern 369 A Final Look 371 Appendix I: Latin Transliteration of the Old Cyrillic Alphabet 373 Appendix II: List of Rulers 375 Rulers of Medieval Serbia 375 Rulers of Medieval Zeta (Duklja) 377 Rulers of Medieval Bosnia 377 Select Bibliography 379 Primary Sources 379 Secondary Materials 391 Index 401

9 Foreword The study of medieval reality is inconceivable without documents. The development of medieval studies and the improvement of its research apparatus are founded for the most part on the analysis and evaluation of documents as a historical source. Moreover, general validity can be attributed to such an assessment without hesitation, because it was by the critical evaluation of charters that the methodology of historical studies constructed its basic techniques. Historians readily, and with full justification, emphasise the precedence of work with documentary materials, and among them, in particular, the almost unlimited range of questions that can be addressed to these sources. Such an abundance, then, attracts researchers from a whole series of related disciplines, each of which, to a greater or lesser extent, classifies data from the documents into the permanent fund of knowledge. All the cited evaluations, flattering, but not overly so, do not lose in persuasiveness if we apply them exclusively to the approximately 1000 Serbian medieval documents that have been preserved. On the contrary, it is just by work on a comparatively small group that those evaluations show their full justification. Too much space would be required to enumerate all the data that could be extracted from the charters; that is, the fields to which they could contribute better understanding. I would be reluctant to repudiate such a project, but here I will cite just one interesting example as an illustration. The greatest part of the medieval Serbian written legacy was written in Serbian Slavonic, a literary and artificial language. For this reason the documents are all the more valuable as linguistic monuments, as they preserve, in full or in part, snippets of the daily, spoken language, firmly imprisoned like air bubbles in amber. It can be freely said of the charters that they are omnipresent in the studies of the Middle Ages. It would be difficult to find a scholarly work on a medieval theme which does not use at least one document as a source of informa-

10 x Foreword tion, or to support an argument. Charters are measured, photographed, copied, compared, protected, fraudulently obtained, always read anew, interpreted, doubted, and praised. However, from such a preoccupation with charters as historical sources we have completely forgotten to ask ourselves how they were used at the time in which they arose, and for whom they were written? That is basically the question which this study is attempting to answer. Understood most broadly, the use of documents in daily life represents one manifestation of literacy. Such a general conception also encompasses all other aspects of the use of written documents, including legal, diplomatic, and administrative uses, with which at first glance they may have little direct connection. Indeed, all the circumstances and transactions in which documents are present as a necessary factor imply the activity of literate individuals. And more broadly than that, a measure of the development of a culture of literacy is the existence of faith in the power of the written word, clearly expressed at all levels of society, present at the same time in both the literate and illiterate part of the population. An illiterate individual, a poor citizen, or a crude knight, who with the greatest respect preserves the written proof of some right, uses it, and finally passes it on as inheritance, is as valuable a symbol of the culture of literacy as a skilful diplomat or merchant, an enlightened ruler, or his clerk. Such a broad field in which literacy gave a direct and lively demonstration of itself in multiple forms has remained, from today s perspective, almost totally in darkness, inaccessible, and unknown. The concept of literacy in medieval Serbia is usually tied to the book in the widest sense, to the activity of scribes and writers, to the spread of the Word of God, and, in part, to the work of state chanceries. Those are its most indicative traits in terms of external characteristics and quantitative share. However, for the most part, such an attitude of modern researchers toward literacy has caused its practical side to be largely neglected. For example, many works have been written about the diplomatic and linguistic characteristics of rulers documents, but very little about their fate after they were delivered to the beneficiaries. Such disproportion in our knowledge has imposed the need for creating as complete a portrayal of literacy in medieval Serbia as possible. The pages that follow, based on the broadest conception of literacy explained earlier, represent an attempt to reach that goal. Their range is not uniform, and it is determined, as usually happens, by disproportionate preservation of sources. An exploration of the use of written documents in commercial, legal, and private relations in medieval Serbian society constitutes the starting point and

11 Foreword xi basic scope of the research. Individual occurrences are placed at the centre of attention, and they are classified on several levels. They are: agents of literacy (ruler, Church, aristocracy, towns, public notaries, and private legal relations), and domains of the use of the written word (the document as a source of evidence, diplomacy, the use of Serbian documents in foreign societies, correspondence). Specific questions are investigated within the scope of each of the occurrences cited, and all occurrences are linked to create an entity, not only by the basic goal of the research but also by the basic approach, means of research, and primary sources. Finally, as a general concluding view of the research and solutions offered, which is only in part based on a summing up of the results reported, it would be necessary to attempt to answer the question of the significance and scope of the written word in medieval Serbian society. It is necessary at the beginning to point to the temporal and territorial scope of the research. The time span basically includes the whole Middle Ages, but except for several sporadic items from times up until the end of the twelfth century, most of the sources relate to the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries, with a marked tendency to increase toward the end of the Middle Ages. In respect to territory, the research encompasses medieval Serbia as well as those regions that over time separated from the Serbian state, forming independent political entities or falling under the control of neighbouring states, Bosnia first of all. A certain number of examples of pragmatic literacy derive from Bosnia or from the states of the Bosnian regional lords, because the conditions and circumstances of the emergence of literacy were almost the same as those in Serbia, because the regions in question were often those that had originally been within the borders of the Serbian state, because the majority of documents were also written in the Cyrillic alphabet and in the Slavic language, and because merchants from the communes of the southern Adriatic spread ideas of pragmatic literacy in the same way in the mining settlements and market towns in Serbia and Bosnia. Legal culture and the culture of literacy, that is, the use of documents, in the city states of the southern Adriatic (including those within the borders of medieval Serbia) are not taken into consideration because these are separate, closed legal systems, differing considerably from states in the hinterland. The municipalities of the southern Adriatic are taken into account, naturally, by an analysis of their influence on the development of written formalism in the hinterland and for an assessment of the validity of Serbian documents in their legal life.

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13 Acknowledgements This book was initially published in 2009 in Serbian as Pisana reè u srpskom srednjem veku: Znaèaj i upotreba pisanih dokumenata u srednjovekovnom srpskom društvu [The Written Word in the Serbian Middle Ages: The Importance and Uses of Written Documents in Serbian Medieval Society] by the publisher Stubovi kulture of Belgrade. As much as was possible, the English translation has been adapted to cater to the needs of an academic readership not directly concerned with the study of Balkan history and Cyrillic literacy. A prefatory chapter has been added containing a survey of the history and society of medieval Serbia; the bibliography has been updated; and certain parts of the text (such as place names and names of institutions and persons) have been explained in more detail or amended. I would like to thank Mr. Charles A. Ward, Professor at the Department of Slavic Languages of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, U.S.A., whose patience, thoroughness and excellent knowledge of Slavic languages and culture has made the English translation no less lucid and expressive than the Serbian original. The Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), the Chilandar Committee of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the Department for Archeography at the National Library of Serbia, the Institute of History in Belgrade, and the Archives of Serbia permitted the use and publishing of photographs from their extensive collections. Among the staff of the aforementioned institutions, I am particularly indebted to the helpfulness of Mile Staniæ, Mirjana Živojinoviæ (Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts), Ljiljana Puzoviæ and Vladan Trijiæ. Thanks are also due to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Serbia for partially funding the English translation of the book. Nebojša S. Šuletiæ, PhD, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Belgrade, expertly crafted precise maps for this book. I would like to thank Charles A. Ward for trans-

14 xiv Acknowledgements lating the book into English. Last but not least, I owe thanks to Marco Mostert, General Editor, and Anna Adamska, who deemed this book worthy of the select company of titles published in the series Utrecht Studies in Medieval Literacy, and whose kind suggestions helped shape its final version.

15 Abbreviations AAV Acta Albaniae Veneta saeculorum XIV et XV, ed. J. VA- LENTINI, 25 vols. (Munich, ). CFHB Corpus Fontium Historiae Byzantinae 1- (1967-). DAD Državni arhiv u Dubrovniku, Hrvatska [The State Archives in Dubrovnik, Croatia]. Danilo, Životi [Archbishop] Danilo et al., Životi kraljeva i arhiepiskopa srpskih [The Lives of Serbian Kings and Archbishops], ed. Ð. DANIÈIÆ (Zagreb, 1866; 2nd edn. London, 1972). DINIÆ, Iz srpske istorije M. DINIÆ, Iz srpske istorije srednjega veka [From Medieval Serbian History], ed. S. ÆIRKOVIÆ and V. ÐOKIÆ (Belgrade, 2003). Domentijan, Žitije Sv. Simeona Domentijan, Život svetoga Simeuna i svetoga Save [The Lives of Saint Simeon and Saint Sava], ed. Ð. DANIÈIÆ (Belgrade, 1865). Domentijan, Žitije Sv. Save DRH DZ GPB Domentijan, Žitije Svetog Save [The Life of Saint Sava], ed. Lj. JUHAS-GEORGIEVSKA and T. JOVANOVIÆ (Belgrade, 2001). Diplomatarium relationum Reipublicae Ragusanae cum Regno Hungariae, ed. J. GELCICH and L. THAL- LÓCZY (Budapest, 1887). Dušanov zakonik [Dušan s Code], ed. Ð. BUBALO (Belgrade, 2010). Graða o prošlosti Bosne (Matériaux pour l histoire de Bosnie) 1- (2008-).

16 xvi Abbreviations GZ Gradski zakon [The Civil Code, Serbian translation of Procheiros Nomos], ed. N. DUÈIÆ, Krmèija moraèka: Opis rukopisa Fotijevi predgovori Gradski zakon [The Moraèa Nomocanon: Description of the Manuscript The Forewords of Patriarch Photius The Civil Code], Glasnik Srpskog uèenog društva, 2 odeljenje 8 (1877), pp HZ Hilandarski zbornik (Recueil de Chilandar), 1- (1966-). IÈ Istorijski èasopis [Historical Review], 1- (1948-). LCR Litterae et Commissiones Ragusinae, 1, ed. J. TADIÆ (Belgrade, 1935: ZIJKSN III, 4). Listine Listine o odnošajih izmeðu Južnoga Slavenstva i Mletaèke republike [Documents on the Relations between Southern Slavs and the Venetian Republic], ed. S. LJU- BIÆ, 10 vols. (Zagreb, : Academia scientiarum et artium Slavorum Meridionalium: Monumenta spectantia historiam Slavorum Meridionalium 1-5, 9, 12, 17, 21, 22). LSSV Leksikon srpskog srednjeg veka [A Lexicon of the Serbian Middle Ages], ed. S. ÆIRKOVIÆ and R. MIHALJÈIÆ (Belgrade, 1999). MR Monumenta Ragusina: Libri Reformationum, ed. J. GELCICH et al., 5 vols. (Zagreb, : Academia scientiarum et artium Slavorum Meridionalium: Monumenta spectantia historiam Slavorum Meridionalium 10, 13, 27-29). MVS ODV I-II ODV III OS Matije Vlastara Sintagmat [Matthew Blastares Syntagma], ed. S. NOVAKOVIÆ (Belgrade, 1907: ZIJKSN I, 4). Odluke veæa Dubrovaèke republike [Decisions Taken by the Governing Dubrovnik Councils], ed. M. DINIÆ, 2 vols. (Belgrade, 1951, 1964: ZIJKSN III, 15, 21). Odluke dubrovaèkih vijeæa [Decisions Taken by the Governing Dubrovnik Councils ], ed. N. LONZA and Z. ŠUNDRICA (Zagreb and Dubrovnik, 2005). Odabrani spomenici srpskog prava (od XII do kraja XV veka) [Selected Monuments of Serbian Law (from the Twelfth to the End of the Fifteenth Century], ed. A. SOLOVJEV (Belgrade, 1926).

17 Abbreviations xvii PKJIF Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor [Contributions to Literature, Language, History, and Folklore], 1- (1921-). RZ Zakon o rudnicima despota Stefana Lazareviæa [The Mining Law of Despot Stephen Lazareviæ], ed. N. RA- DOJÈIÆ (Belgrade, 1962). RZL Latinièki prepis Rudarskog zakonika despota Stefana Lazareviæa [The Latin-Alphabet Transliteration of Despot Stephen Lazareviæ s Mining Law], ed. S. ÆIR- KOVIÆ (Belgrade, 2005: SANU, Odeljenje društvenih nauka: Izvori srpskog prava 11). SANU Srpska akademija nauka i umetnosti [Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts]. SKA Srpska kraljevska akademija [Serbian Royal Academy]. SSA Stari srpski arhiv [Anciennes Archives Serbes], 1- (2002-). SSPP Stare srpske povelje i pisma: Dubrovnik i susedi njegovi [Old Serbian Charters and Letters: Dubrovnik and its Neighbours], ed. Lj. STOJANOVIÆ, 2 vols. (Belgrade and Sremski Karlovci, : ZIJKSN I, 19, 24; 2nd edn. Belgrade, 2006). SSZN Stari srpski zapisi i natpisi [Old Serbian Notes and Inscriptions], ed. Lj. STOJANOVIÆ, 6 vols. (Belgrade and Sremski Karlovci, : ZIJKSN I, vols. 1-3, 10, 11, 14; 2nd edn. Belgrade, ). Teodosije, Žitije Sv. Save Teodosije, Život svetoga Save [Theodosius, The Life of Saint Sava], ed. Ð. DANIÈIÆ (Belgrade, 1860; 2nd edn. 1973). THALLÓCZY, Studien L. THALLÓCZY, Studien zur Geschichte Bosniens und Serbiens im Mittelalter (Munich and Leipzig, 1914). ZIJKSN I SKA/SANU: Zbornik za istoriju, jezik i književnost srpskog naroda: I odeljenje: Spomenici na srpskom jeziku Academia Scientiarum Serbica: Collectanea historiam, linguam, litteras serbicas spectantia, Prima sectio: Monumenta sermone serbico scripta, 1- (1902-). ZIJKSN III SKA/SANU: Zbornik za istoriju, jezik i književnost srpskog naroda: III odeljenje: Izvori za istoriju Južnih Slovena Academia Scientiarum Serbica: Collectanea historiam, linguam, litteras serbicas spectantia, Tertia sectio: Fontes rerum Slavorum Meridionalium, 1- (1932-).

18 xviii ZPP 1 ZRVI ZS ZSS 1 Abbreviations Zbornik srednjovekovnih æirilièkih povelja i pisama Srbije, Bosne i Dubrovnika, 1, [A Collection of Medieval Cyrillic Charters and Letters from Serbia, Bosnia and Dubrovnik, 1, ], ed. V. MOŠIN, S. ÆIRKOVIÆ, and D. SINDIK (Belgrade, 2011: Istorijski institut, Izvori za srpsku istoriju 9, Æirilièki izvori 1). Zbornik radova Vizantološkog instituta [Recueil des travaux de l Institut d études byzantines] 1- (1948-). Zakonski spomenici srpskih država srednjega veka [Legal Monuments of the Serbian Medieval States], ed. S. NOVAKOVIÆ (Belgrade, 1912; 2nd edn. 2005). Zakonopravilo Svetoga Save [The Nomocanon of Saint Sava], 1, ed. M. PETROVIÆ and Lj. ŠTAVLJANIN- ÐORÐEVIÆ (Belgrade, 2005).

19 List of Illustrations Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 Fig. 4 Fig. 5 Fig. 6 Eastern part of the charters of King Stephen the First-Crowned (right) and his son Radoslav (left), for the Žièa monastery, inscribed on the north and south walls of the entrance tower-belfry of the Church of Christ the Savior in the Žièa monastery, around 1220; the fresco inscriptions were repainted at the beginning of the fourteenth century. A watercolour painted by Mihailo Valtroviæ in 1873, when the outer narthex was without a roof (Historical Museum of Serbia, Milutinoviæ &Valtroviæ Collection, No. 4628). 47 Remnants of the charter of Rex Junior Stephen Dušan for the Vranjina monastery, (National Museum of Montenegro, King Nikola s Museum, Court Archives, No. 8; photo: Miljan Gogiæ). 79 Charter of King Stephen Radoslav to Dubrovnik, with his Greek signature, 4 February 1234 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIII, No. 211; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tabs. 6-7). 124 Charter of King Stephen Deèanski concerning the founding of the Deèani monastery, (Archives of Serbia, R-2). 128 Charter of the Bosnian king Stephen Ostoja to Dubrovnik, 5 February 1399 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIV, No. 132; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tabs ). 131 Charter of Despot George Brankoviæ to Dubrovnik, 17 September 1445 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XV, No. 270; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tabs ). 136 Fig. 7 Prostagma of Emperor Stephen Uroš to Dubrovnik, January 1356 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIV, No. 107; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tab. 61). 139

20 xx List of Illustrations Fig. 8 Fig. 9 Writ of King Milutin to Zhupan Tvrtko, 1284 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIII, No. 222; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tab. 41). 143 Charter of King Milutin for the Hrusija Tower, ; lower part with the affirmation of the Serbian archbishop Sava III beneath the king s signature (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, Svt. 3; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No a/9b). 155 Fig. 10 Oath of a newly appointed priest Georgius to the bishop of Hvosno Joseph, copied as a model-document on a blank page of a Serbian book of the Gospels, fourteenth century (the Chilandar monastery, MS 23, f. 242r; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography). 159 Fig. 11 Instrument of chief priest Stepan, a donatio of one Novak and his spouse Jela to the monastery of Saint Paul on Mount Athos, 7 April 1453 (Archives of the monastery of Saint Paul, No. 50; photo: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Chilandar Committee, No. 7149). 162 Fig. 12 Inventory of property of the Holy Virgin monastery in Htetovo, (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, No. A 1/18; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No E/47). 168 Fig. 13 Decision of the Chilandar abbot Pachomius and the monastic brotherhood council on ceding an adelphaton, (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, No. A 2/5; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography, F 2834). 174 Fig. 14 Charter of Duke Stephen Vukèiæ Kosaèa to Dubrovnik, 1 April 1443 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XV, No. 266; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tabs ). 179 Fig. 15 Letter of a Serbian lesser noble Tvrdisav Uglješiæ to Dubrovnik, making a pledge of friendship, first half of the fourteenth century (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIV, No. 146; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tab. 60). 185 Fig. 16 Charter of grand servant John Oliver to the monastery of Saint Demetrius in Koèani, (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, No. A 9/5; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography, F 2822). 188

21 List of Illustrations xxi Fig. 17 Fig. 18 Agreement between two mining shafts about boundaries, recorded on the blank space at the top of a page of a Serbian book of the Gospels (the monastery of the Peæ patriarchate, MS 13, f. 256v; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography). 205 Agreement between two Dubrovnik goldsmiths in Trepèa, written by nomik Stojan, 29 December 1410; a transcript in a Dubrovnik chancery book (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diversa Cancellariae, vol. 38, f. 167r; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, Microfilm No. II/6). 213 Fig. 19 Instrument of nomik Gunjan; a contract by which Radosava, wife of Radonja Mirakoviæ, sells her house in Trepèa to the monastery of Saint Paul on Mount Athos, 19 January 1438 (Archives of the monastery of Saint Paul, No. 53; photo: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Chilandar Committee, No. 7147). 227 Fig. 20 Contract on buying a manuscript book, recorded on the blank space in the middle of a page of the same book (the Deèani monastery, MS 126, f. 158v; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography). 233 Fig. 21 Two notes about the acquisition of monastic property, written beneath the text of the charter of Emperor Stephen Dušan to the monastery of the Holy Virgin in Arhiljevica, 1354 (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, No. A 4/15; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography, F 2767). 235 Fig. 22 Latin Letter of Despot George Brankoviæ on conditions for peace negotiations between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire, 21 May 1449 (Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No ). 245 Fig. 23 A folio from a book of copies of diplomatic letters in the Cyrillic alphabet of the Dubrovnik Republic for the period , containing letters to Duke Sandalj Hraniæ and his spouse Helena, 20 March 1398 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Litterae et Commissiones Levantis, vol. 1, f. 10r; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 8786/10). 250 Fig. 24 a) Letter of the Community of Popovo (in Travunia) to Dubrovnik about a mixed Serbian-Dubrovnik jury on the border, third quarter of the thirteenth century (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, Vienna No. 955; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tab. 39). b) A Serbian lesser noble, Prince Èrnomir protested in a letter to Dubrovnik because of the capturing and selling of his men, July (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIII, No. 216;

22 xxii List of Illustrations photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tabs ). 252 Fig. 25 Accreditation letter of the Bosnian king Stephen Ostoja for his envoy to Dubrovnik, received on 16 February 1418 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Prilozi arhivskim serijama, No. IVa 41; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tab. 135). 265 Fig. 26 Note with a list of damage that the army of Duke Stephen Vukèiè Kosaèa had inflicted on Dubrovnik during the war in , written on both sides of the paper (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XV, No. 301; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tab. 268). 274 Fig. 27 Peace treaty between Grand Zhupan Stephen Nemanja and Dubrovnik, written in Latin with Cyrillic signatures of Stephen Nemanja and his brother Prince Miroslav, 26 September 1186 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XII, No. 29; photo: Archive of the Institute of History in Belgrade, F IV 3/479). 278 Fig. 28 A pair of facing folios from an epistolary (Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Old Collection, MS 26, ff. 100v- Fig r). 289 Outline for the beginning of a letter to my brother Radonja, written on the margin of a Serbian Euchologion from the second decade of the fifteenth century (the monastery of the Peæ patriarchate, MS 76, f. 49v; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography). 290 Fig. 30 Message from nobleman Vlatko to his master Vuk about Turkish troop movements, written at the end of the fourteenth century on the blank space at the foot of a page of a Serbian Paterikon from the last quarter of the thirteenth century (the monastery of the Peæ patriarchate, MS 86, f. 100v; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography). 294 Fig. 31 Fig. 32 Letters of lesser nobles from Travunia to Dubrovnik. a) Letter of Junko, received on 15 September b) Letter of Prince Radiè Paštroviæ, received on 23 March 1420 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Lamenta de foris, vol. 4; photo: Archive of the Institute of History in Belgrade, F IV 12/61-62). 308 Record on the establishment of boundaries in a lawsuit over a mutual boundary of the Chilandar and Holy Archangels monasteries, 1454 (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, No. A

23 List of Illustrations xxiii 7/9; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography, F 2836). 330 Fig. 33 Letter of the Serbian despot Stephen Lazareviæ, containing information about the quittance issued to a citizen of Dubrovnik, Bencho de Gondola, 4 July 1414; a transcript (with despot s signature carefully copied) of the Slavic chancellor of the Dubrovnik Republic Rusko Hristiforoviæ in a chancery book (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diversa Cancellariae, vol. 38, f. 330r; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, Microfilm No. II/6). 339 Fig. 34 a) Letter of accreditation of King Milutin for his envoy to Dubrovnik with request for the payment of the Tribute of Saint Demetrius; received on 29 October 1313 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Prilozi arhivskim serijama, No. IVa 5; photo: Archive of the Institute of History in Belgrade, F IV 12/11). b) Letter of the Serbian queen Helena to Dubrovnik, containing information about the quittance issued to a citizen of Dubrovnik, Nicholas Žurgov; received on 18 May 1304 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Prilozi arhivskim serijama, No. IVa 4; Fig. 35 photo: Archive of the Institute of History in Belgrade, F IV 12/6). 345 Document of the Dubrovnik Municipality confirming the receipt of a deposit from Helena, daughter of the Serbian prince Lazar and widow of Duke Sandalj Hraniæ, 13 November The document was cut in 1443 as a sign of the deposit withdrawal by Duke Stephen Vukèiæ Kosaèa (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XV, No. 252; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tabs ). 348 Fig. 36 a) Original charter of Emperor Stephen Uroš to Èelnik Musa, lower part with signature, 15 July 1363 (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, No. A 5/8; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography, F 2779). b) Forged charter of Emperor Stephen Uroš allegedly prescribing that Dubrovnik would pay tribute to the Mount Athos monasteries Chilandar and Saint Paul for the possession of the Pelješac peninsula and the town of Ston; lower part with signature and seal, 20 June 1358; a Chilandar forgery from the second half of the fifteenth century (Archives of the Chilandar monastery, Serbian Documents, No. A 8/2; photo: National Library of Serbia, Department for Archeography, F 2774). 355 Fig. 37 Greek chrysobull of Emperor Stephen Dušan to the Docheiariou monastery on Mount Athos, March 1349 (Archives of the Docheiariou monastery, No. II/1,7; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 8867/B-18). 364

24 xxiv Fig. 38 List of Illustrations Charter of King Stephen Dušan to Dubrovnik concerning the ceding of the Pelješac peninsula and the town of Ston, 22 January 1333: a) Original of the Latin variant, lower part with signature (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIV, No. 98; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tab. 47); b) A scribe Radonja s transcript of the Serbian variant, lower part with signature and affirmations of Turkish officials, copied by order of Hamza-bey as a means of evidence in litigation concerning the right of possession of the island of Posrednjica, 1472 (State Archives of Dubrovnik, Diplomata et Acta, XIV, No. 99; photo: Archives of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Historical Collection, No. 443, tabs ). 367

25 Maps xxv

26 xxvi Maps