The joint charter of the Branković brothers and the magnate chancery in the Nemanjić state

Abstract

A recent discovery shows that the documents Chilandar №58 and №59 are a compilation of two documents issued by the members of the Branković family. For the most part, it is the joint charter issued by Grgur and Vuk in 1364/1365. This paper investigates an unexamined formulary of the Branković brothers‘ joint charter and considers it as a type of a formulary that could be characteristic to the magnate chancery in medieval Serbia. A diplomatics analysis shows us how the vassal-suzerain relationships were represented in the documents of a nobleman’s chancery during the reign of Stephan Uroš, the Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks (1355-1371) and probably earlier in the Nemanjić state.

Keywords

• diplomatics
• aristocratic deed of gift
• Nobelman’s chancery
• the Branković family
• the Nemanjić state