The 'Byzantinisms' of king Stefan Radoslav

Abstract

The life-style and politics of Stefan Radoslav bear the mark of activities that indicated his special attachment to the Byzantine world. These activities were prompted by a combination of ideological ambitions and political reality, but they were not in keeping with the modest achievements of Radoslav's reign. Moreover, most of these activities belong to the time when Radoslav was heir to the throne. There is no doubt that Stefan Nemanjić the Grand Zhupan and subsequently the first crowned king, had exclusive connections with the Byzantine dynasty of the Angeloi, especially with the emperor Alexios III (1195-1203). In that context, the donor's inscription in the basic ring of the dome in the Church of the Mother of God in Studenica (1208), in which his father Stefan Nemanja, is mentioned as (former) 'veleslavni gospodin vse srbske zemlje veli(ki) župan i svat cara grčkog kir Alesija', is quite indicative. This ideological construction would acquire a contour in reality by means of a political marriage with one of the female offspring of Angeloi lineage, which would represent an alternative solution to Stefan's failed marriage with Eudocia, daughter of the emperor Alexios. Instead, several years elapsed in waging war with the Latins, the Bulgarians and the State of Epiros. However, efforts to create firmer, more tangible ties with the Angeloi dynasty from Epiros were not forgotten. Therefore, the Serbian monarch brought his eldest son Radoslav into play, intending to have him act as a link with the Angeloi bloodline. As a result of all this, the final attempt to have Radoslav become the husband of a princess from the Angelos dynasty is not surprising. At the end of 1219 or the beginning of 1220, he married Anna Doukaina, the daughter of the epirotic ruler Theodore I Angelos Doukas Komnenos, which at that point represented a marriage connection of the highest possible level between two ruling houses. Stefan's insistence on Serbia acquiring a stake in the Byzantine succession could not have been expressed more clearly. Radoslav now had a solid position in that succession. On his engagement ring we read: '(This is) the engagement ring of Stefan, a descendant of the house of Doukai, and therefore, Anna, of the family of Komnenoi, receive it into your hands'. This brief text should be connected to the most important part of the inscription from the dome in Studenica. The statement of kinship with the Doukai must be interpreted as a statement of kinship with the Angeloi dynasty, that is, with Alexios III Angelos. In the said circumstances, it confirms the identification of the Byzantine emperor depicted in the Mileševa monastery, opposite to the figures of Stefan the First-Crowned and Radoslav, as Alexios III Angelos. Thus Mileševa highlights the ideological significance of the direct linkage of two members of the house of Nemanjić, both the father Stefan and his son Radoslav, to the Angeloi dynasty. The other 'Byzantinisms' of King Radoslav when he became sole ruler understandably rested upon the described foundation. The coins from his time, which, ostensibly, were produced in the Salonika mint of the Epirotic monarchs, were similar to the coins of the house of Angeloi and were marked with the surname Doukas, which also appears in the well known Greek signature on a document from the end of his reign. In historical terms, all of this becomes even more striking because during the subsequent reigns of the other sons of Stefan the First Crowned - Vladislav and Uroš I - they distanced themselves entirely from this policy.