Composed chrysoboulloi of kings Uroš II Milutin and Stefan Dušan to the Hilandar monastery a contribution to Serbian diplomacy

Abstract

In an examination of the content and the philological analysis of several transcripts of the chrysoboulloi of kings Uroš II Milutin and Stefan Dušan (four monastery transcipts and a chancery transcript made out in the chancery of the Serbian ruler), we demonstrate the role of what is today the lost chrysoboullos of King Uroš I (from around 1276) in the composition of these documents and the nature of their inter-relatedness. Uroš’s chrysoboullos, first of all, was entered by means of a transcription in the chrysoboullos of King Milutin (1297-1299), and then, through the chrysoboullos which was approved in the Assembly (in around 1303), it continued to serve as the basis for writing the composed chrysoboulloi of the kings Milutin (firstly, in 1313/1314 and later) and Dušan (1336/1345). In observing the issues of chrysoboulloi of the Serbian rulers and their transcription in the Hilandar monastery, we have tried to contribute to a better knowledge of the two chanceries in the Middle Ages, that of the Serbian ruler, and of the Hilandar monastery.

Keywords

• chrysoboullos (confirmed and composed)
• transcript (in the monastery and in the king’s chancery)
• diplomatics
• textology
• Serbian ruler’s chancery
• the Hilandar monastery
• the pyrgos at Hrusia (Hrusē)
• kings (Uroš I
• Milutin
• Dušan)