St. Stephen Chrysobull

The St. Stephen Chrysobull (Serbian: Светостефански хрисовуљ/Svetostefanski hrisovulj) or Banjska Chrysobull (Бањска хрисовуља/Banjska hrisovulja) was a chrysobull, charter, issued in 1314–16^[a] by Serbian king Stefan Milutin (r. 1282–1321). It was held at the Banjska monastery founded by Milutin. It is currently (as of 2004) held at the Topkapi library in Istanbul.^[1] The transcript of this charter in the form of a book, was found in 1889 in Old Saraj, Constantinople, whose text was printed in two editions in Belgrade and in Vienna. Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin raised an endowment between 1313 and 1316 as a grave church in the region of Kosovska Mitrovica in Banjska, dedicated to St. Stefan the First Martyr. Upon completion of construction he issued the charter in the form of a rotulus with a gold seal at its end, which was soon written on parchment in the form of a book, bacause of its wider and better usability. The book next to the text of the charter which ends with the signiture of King Milutin, also contains the expsures of King Dragutin and Archbishop Nikodim I. In the Chrysobull, it is described in detail the expansion of estates wich King Milutin gifted to the settlements of Ibar, Sitnica, Laba, in Ras, Hvosna, Plava, Budim, Zeta and others. It is also known by a special section by the name of “Law of Vlachs” which covers the regulations of Vlach cattle breeder obligations on that maner.^[2] Obligations and privileges of farmers, cattle breeders and craftsman are prescribed in the charter according to monastery Banjska. After the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 the Osmans pillaged Milutin’s endowment and took the charter in the process, which has been kept in Constantinople since the second half of the XV century, in the sultans treasury of Old Saraj.

Finding and publication of St. Stefan’s Chrysobull

The merit for the finding of St. Stefan’s Chrysobull goes to a Hungarian philologist Armin Vambery. He was a great connoisseur of Turkish language and history, a traveler of Central Asia and Otoman Empire and the author of many Turkish dictionaries. Thanks to that he was granted permission to study documents that were moved from Budim to Constantinople several centuries ago. Čedomilj Mijatović and Stojan Novaković found out about that. Stojan Novaković met with a Polish scientist Korzhenovsky who was a member of the expedition that inspected the document. Korzhenovsky informed Novaković that he found “one Serbian diploma, in the for of a book that was donated to some monastery”. Stojan Novaković immediately assumed that it was about the St. Stefan’s Chrysobull. Soon after Novaković met with Vambery and it was agreed that Korzhenovsky would record the charter and give it up to Royal Hungarian Academy who would later give it to the Serbian Royal Academy. In 1889 Novaković compiled a report about the finding of the Chrysobull, but renounced the honor of printing it. He left the honor to Ljubomir Kovačević who issued it on february 1890. Soon after Vatroslav Jagić wrote about the charter, describing how it was found and published it himself at a later date. About the importance of the St. Stefan’s Chrysobull a quote of Nikola Radojčić testifies enough on the occasion of publication of the Stefan Lazarević’s Mining Law: “Serbian historical science has not received greater and more useful surprise since the finding of St. Stefan’s Chrysobull, until the discovery of this Mining Law by Despot Stefan Lazarević. Let us hope that this is not the last great discovery.” The finding of St. Stefans Chrysobull and the discovery of Stefan Lazarević’s Mining Law are the greatest discoveries of historical science since the 19th century to this day. This is the oldest Chrysobull written in the form of a book.

Year of issuance of the charter

The time in which Stefan Milutin issued the charter is connected to the time of the construction of St. Stefan’s monastery in Banjska. The question of the charters publication started soon after it became known to science. The first engage with this question was Stojan Novaković who dates the construction of St. Stefan’s monastery to the period between 1312 and 1317. The gifted charter had to be issued after the construction of the monastery. The construction of the monastery started after the civil war between Milutin and Dragutin, and has finished soon after the death of Queen Jelena, but before the death of King Dragutin. Archbishop Danilo mentions a meeting of the brothers in Pauni at which mutual issues were regulated. Many historians believe that the St. Stefan’s charter on which there are both Kings signatures was passed. However, the exact year of the meeting is not known. It was preceded by the meeting of Serbian Queens Simonida and Katalina that probably happened in the middle of 1314. The meeting between the brothers came after this, and also after the rebellion and blindness of Stefan Dečanski, son of Milutin. It is certainly known that the charter is issued in the time span between the death of Queen Jelena and Dragutin, so between the 8th of February 1314 and the 12th of March 1316. Was the St. Stefan’s charter passed at the convocation, it is also not known, because it is not mentioned in the charter or the “Lives of the Kings and Archbishops of Serbia”. The charter was not confirmed by the Archbishop Sava, at whose time it was enacted. It was confirmed after Dragutins death on the 12th of May 1317 at the time of Archbishop Nikodim.

The appearance of the charter

St. Stefan’s Chrysobull is saved in its original form. It is saved in the form of a parchment. In the past the seals of Milutin and Dragutin were attached to it. On one of the last pages there are Stefan Crnojević’s notes. The saved Chrysobull represents one of the manuscripts created upon acknowledgement in 1317. The signitures of the two Kings were transcribed. Stefan Crnojević bolded/thickened the signiture of Nikodim which he stated in the notes. The charter contains 180 pages with the 2131th row. In the text the document is named St. Stefan’s Chrysobull or Banjska charter. The charter does not contain a verbal invocation which is common for charters of that time. At the beginning there can be found a symbolic invocation. The arenga is extensive and is dedicated to St. Stefan. In the intitulation Milutin quotes his title and ancestors. From the exposure we can see that there was already a church at the place of the monasteries construction which the Serbian King found in ruin. In the disposition of medieval Serbian charters, as the most important part of the document, are enumerated goods which the founder attaches to his monastery. The same applies to St. Stefan’s Chrysobull. Besides that, the St. Stefan’s Chrysobull is significant because it regulates obligations of the dependant population on monastic property. This part of the disposition is known by the name of “the law to the people of the church” and “Vlach law”. In the sanction a penalty is stated for the violators of the royal commandments and charter. As it is known, the exact date of the issuing of the charter is not known because it does not have a date note characteristic for the charters of that time. This is the only charter that contain the confirmations of two Serbian Kings. Milutin's signature in the Chrysobull reads: “Stefan, at the mercy of God, King and autocrat of all Serbian lands and waters”.

Annotations

^
It was issued between 1314 and 1316.^[3]^[4]^[5] Older obsolete suggestions included 1293–1302 (F. Miklosich);^[6] 1299–1300;^[7] 1302–09 (S. Novaković);^[6] before 1313;^[6] 1309–16 (D. Janković);^[8] 1318 (V. Jagić).^[9]

References

^ Mirjana Menković (2004). Kosovo i Metohija u svetlu etnologije: zbornik radova. Етнографски музеј у Београду. p. 209.
^ Mirković 2019, p. 22.
^ Slobodan Ćurčić (1979). Gračanica: King Milutin's church and its place in late Byzantine architecture. Pennsylvania State University Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-271-00218-7.
^ Balcanica. Vol. 39. SANU. 2009. p. 72.
^ Slobodan Erić (2006). Косово и Метохија: аргументи за останак у Србији. Геополитика. p. 229. ISBN 9788686619006.
^ ^a ^b ^c Filološki fakultet 1922, p. 97.
^ SANU (1954). Srpski etnografski zbornik. SANU. pp. 25, 78, 86.
^ Dragoslav Janković (1961). Istorija države i prava feudalne Srbije, XII-XV vek. Naućna knjiga. p. 99.
^ Starinar. Arheološki institut. 1964. p. 148.

Sources

Ćurčić, Slobodan (1979). Gračanica: King Milutin's Church and Its Place in Late Byzantine Architecture. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 9780271002187.
Srđan Šarkić (1996). Srednjovekovno srpsko pravo. Matica srpska. ISBN 9788636303696.
Filološki fakultet (1922). Prilozi za književnost, jezik, istoriju i folklor. Vol. 1–3. Državna štamparija. p. 97.
Mirković, Zoran S., ed. (2019). Serbian law history. Belgrade: University of Belgrade, Faculty of Law.