Baština (Jan 2016)
Contribution to the consideration of the seat of early-medieval diocese of Moravci
Abstract
The issue where the seat of the diocese was situated in the North of Velika Morava Valley in the early Middle Age, in Moraviste or Branicevo, had not been enlightened completely. The reasons are to be controversial source-related data, and the lack of archaeological evidences. The issue is important for the process of urbanization in early Middle Age, since the town differed from surrounding villages the most frequently based on the seat of bishops. As per the available sources, it may be concluded bishop's seat until 1019 has been the town of Moraviste. By the Chart of the tsar of Vasilije 2nd during the foundation of Ohrid's Diocese the seat was dislocated in Branicevo. Later on, the mentioning of the Moravska Diocese in the letter of Teofilakt Ohrid's bishop from1107 is the consequence of the writing style of the erudite Byzantine, and not the factual state of affairs. On the contrary, the seat has permanently been in the town of Branicevo, from 1019 until the establishment of the authority of the Serbian medieval state in that area.
