Alekseev S. V. Serbian Historical Hagiography: Between the Chronicle and Vita

The research is conducted with support from the Russian Foundation for the Humanities (the project “Monuments of the Serbian Medieval Historiography of the 12th-17th Centuries: Translation and Investigation”, No. 13-01-00118а).

(Moscow University for the Humanities)

Abstract ♦ The article is devoted to genre features of the most significant monument of Serbian medieval historiography — "Lives of the Kings and Archbishops of Serbia" by Archbishop Daniel II and his successors.

The number of historical narratives in Serbia is extremely small and includes "The Chronicle of the Priest of Duklja", "Lives" and the genealogies and annals, which appeared only in the second half of the 14th century. This phenomenon can be explained by the archaic social structure of Serbia and, in particular, by the strength of tribal traditions. The latter include the preservation of ancient forms of genealogical legends (rodoslov), which, together with related epic tales, fully satisfied the official history needs of the secular elite. With the development of spiritual literature, primarily the hagiographic, it started to acquire some features of historical works.

The climax of this process came with the creation of the corpus of Daniel II, which introduced some features of a hagiographic cycle into traditional royal genealogies. Thus, the history of the Nemanjich state received a Christian understanding, which incorporated the genealogical tradition and the ancient ideas about the sacredness of the supreme ruler. This experience, however, did not receive further development in Serbia.

Since the beginning of the Turkish wars, political and cultural reasons helped the vitae of rulers took a more traditional shape. They were no longer linked to a larger cycle. On the other hand, there appeared written genealogies and then the Serbian annals. In traditional Serbian literature the genealogy was maintained as a form of historical information until the end of the 18th century. At the same time, "The Lives", having entered into literary and historical use in Russia, became a likely model for the "The Book of Royal Degrees" (mid-16th century).

The fate of Serbian historical literature can be compared with that of other European nations which combined a developed written culture with vestiges of social archaism (Icelanders, the Celts of the British Isles).

Keywords: Middle Ages, sources, the South Slavs, Serbia, Nemanjich state, vitae, genealogies, annals, folklore, "Lives of the Kings and Archbishops of Serbia".

Alekseev Sergey Viktorovich, Doctor of History, Professor, Head of the Department of History, Moscow University for the Humanities, Chief editor, The Scholarly Works of Moscow University for the Humanities, Chairman of the Board, Historic-Educational Society “Radetel’”. Postal address: B. 3, 5 Yunosti St., Moscow, Russian Federation, 111395. Tel.: +7 (499) 374-55-81. E-mail: ipo1972@mail.ru

Citation: Alekseev, S. V. (2014) Serbskaia istoricheskaia agiografiia: mezhdu khronikoi i zhitiem [Serbian Historical Hagiography: Between the Chronicle and Vita]. Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie, no. 3, pp. 148–156. (In Russ.).

Submission date: 30.05.2014.

RUSSIAN VERSION

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