Zbornik Radova Vizantološkog Instituta

: Dioclea in De administrando imperio; In this text the author analyzes the data on the Slavic Principality of Dioclea found in De administrando imperio, the work by the Byzantine emperor and writer Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos. In the beginning, he adresses the narrative given in chapter 29 (Of Dalmatia and of the adjacent nations in it) concerning the emperor Diocletian building ancient Dioclea, after which the inhabitants of this principality were named Dioklhtianoi. This is then followed by an attempt to specify the data from chapter 30 (The story of the province of Dalmatia) about Dioclea’s borders being given arbitrarily in relation to the Byzantine cities and the neighbouring Slavic principalities. The most concrete datum in chapter 35 (Of the Diocletians and of the country they now dwell in) refers to the list of Dioclean towns which have not been located even today. The author reveals new data in terms of the names of those towns, which in certain cases point to where they could now be possibly located. De administrando imperio does not contain valuable data on the Slavic past of the Dioclea Principality, but only general views of Dioclea accentuating its geographical characteristics.

: Dividing the indivisible; The spatial dualism, secular - sacred, reflected deeply on the creation of the Byzantine monastery space. My investigation focused on the dualism of monastic spaces and buildings, especially on their secular aspects in Byzantine cenobitic monasteries.

: Domentijanova prosopografija; (francuski) L'identification des personnes mentionnées par leur nom dans les textes des Vies de saint Simeon et saint Sava par Domentijan sert de prétexte a une critique de la tradition manuscrite de ces deux œuvres. On suit l'apparition de ces mêmes noms dans les écrits tardifs ayant repris les deux textes de Domentijan (anciennes chroniques serbes et généalogies). Il s'efforce d'expliquer les raisons pour lesquelles on en arrive dans les manuscrits divers de cet auteur, par ailleurs bien informe, a une confusion s'agissant du patriarche qui a ordonne Sava le premier archevêque. Dans certains manuscrits figurent le nom de Germain II (1220-1240), qui n'était pas contemporain de Theodore Lascaris, et dans d'autres celui de Manuel Ier (1217-1222) qui a effectivement participe a l'ordination de Sava. Enfin, on commente les données chronologiques sur l'ordination dans les textes des époques plus tardives. .

: Dynastie et sainteté à l'époque de la famille des Lazarević; U ovom radu istražuju se okolnosti u kojima je, u Srbiji krajem 14. i početkom 15. veka, došlo do odstupanja od ideološkog obrasca vladavine Nemanjića, te su nastali novi modeli vladanja, samo delom oslonjeni na stare uzore. Razmatra se ideal vladara-mučenika i odnos prema kultu svetog kneza u doba neposredno posle Kosovske bitke i u vreme samostalne vladavine Stefana Lazarevića. Takođe, analizira se Despotov odnos prema kultovima, relikvijama i carigradskim uzorima, posebno na primeru ustrojstva nove prestonice kao "svetog mesta". .

: Early-Christian monuments on the eastern slopes of the Kopaonik mountain; Significant Early-Christian localities referring to the rich mining activities of this region were found on the Kopaonik Mountain or in the Silver Mountain, as it was named by Roman, Venetian, and Turkish sources. From broader point of view, even from the times of Roman provinces settlement on the Balkan, the area of Serbia with very thick settlements’ net was used as a logistic and strategic support of the Roman Empire. The territory being the subject of our research is the zone where provinces Moesia Prima Mediterranean Dacia (Dacia Mediterranea) and Dardania meet. The sites that offer new data for the process of settlement and Christianization of these regions are CELESTIAL CHAIRS on the top of Kopaonik at the altitude of 1,800 m, DUB in Mala Vrbnica in the bottom of the Mountain and Gradac in Gornje Leviće at 1,089 m altitude. They are in the northern part of Dardania, in the Province where silver with lead were dug as well as golden silver together with exploitation of iron, copper and mercury ores. The zone of these findings gravitates to Roman administrative center Municipium Dardanorum near to Sočanica at Kosovo. Thus, it may be assumed that still non-referred northern border of Dardania could have covered eastern slopes of Kopaonik up to the bottom and border with Aleksandrovac Župa. On the eastern slopes of Kopaonik three early-Christian basilicas were found; one in Celestial Chairs with floor mosaic; another in Gradac site in Gornje Levi}e within the fortress and the third one in the Dub site in a village Mala Vrbnica, with stone decorative plastic. All these buildings date from the period of 5-6th century based on archeological material. Sites in Celestial Chairs and the one in Gornje Leviće have, as many castles in broader vicinity, continuity of 4-6th century proved by founding of secular objects like fibula with bent legs, cross-like fibulas, money, ceramic fragments with rake ornaments. Porkpie stated that Dardania had reconditioned 68 fortresses out of 70 original ones, and only 8 were new-built. Celestial Chairs visually dominate the whole area. From this place, one can see as on his palm Early-Byzantine fortresses on Vojetin, Čučaica and in Gornje Leviće, as well as the mines in Zaplanina and Belo Brdo. Having in mind natural features of the terrain historical surrounding, and, first of all, archeological finding, we think that Celestial Chairs and Gornje Leviće could be the spot to look for spiritual and administrative center of the northern part of Roman province Dardania.

: Entering of Stefan Dušan into the Empire; At the moment when, in October 1341, a new Civil War broke out in the Byzantium after the death of Andronicus III, the traditional views of the imperial power and the Empire underwent considerable changes. The powers of the co-rulers had been on the rise since 1272, and during the Civil War of 1321-1328 the Byzantine Empire was in effect divided, that is, two Basileis were ruling 'imperially' (autokratorikōs) over their respective territories within the formally unified Empire, under the scope of relations of Superior basileus - co-basileus. Therefore, the Empire (autokratoria, imperium) could multiply in the sense of rulers’ authorities, and be divided in the sense of territoriality. The imperial power and the Empire became subject to family relations and family law. In view of the family connections between the Byzantine Emperors (basileis autokratores) and the monarchs of the neighboring countries and nations, the right to succession was being used as an argument in some disputes between the rulers. The Byzantine law, that is the Byzantine political views, allowed for the possibility of the so-called 'joint rule' (e oikeia arch) by a Byzantine basileus autokrator and some other, foreign member of the dynasty ruling over certain region of the Byzantine Empire - a foreign ruler would be allowed to rule on condition that the Byzantine basileus be recognized as the supreme master. This scenario is known from one recorded dispute between the Byzantine basileus Andronicus III and the Bulgarian tsar Michael Assen III dating from 1328, when the Bulgarian Emperor did not accept the Byzantine rule, however. All these circumstances are of special importance since they directly precede the King Stefan Dušan’s involvement in the Civil War, that is, his later entering into the Empire. The first phase of Dušan’s involvement in the Civil War is typically conquering and opportunistic in nature, with the aim of immediate territorial enlargement. The second phase was initiated with the agreement he signed with Kantakouzenos in August 1342, the details of which are now not clear, but it is to be supposed that the agreement envisaged the division of power in the Byzantine regions that Du{an would conquer for Kantakouzenos, that is Dusan’s participation in power in some form of the atypical co-ruling, that is, some form of the 'joint rule'. In August 1343, after previously having parted ways with Kantakouzenos, Du{an accepted the offer by the regents from Constantinople to form an alliance with the legitimate dynasty of Palaiologoi. The agreement included the engagement of Dušan’s son Uroš to the sister of the Byzantine Emperor John V, and also probably a kind of the 'Charter of Rule' over the lands west from the gorges near Christopolis, that is, over the areas that Dušan had already conquered in part as Kantakouzenos’ ally. The important issue for the forming of the alliance with the regents was, on one hand, the position of Kantakouzenos as the rebel against the imperial power and his previous excommunication from the Church, and, on the other, the legitimacy of the Palaiologoi dynasty and the fact that the regents ruled over Constantinople. It is possible that this agreement was also signed with the idea of some sort of 'joint rule'. However, there is no information to confirm that Du{an considered the Palaeologus his master. After having signed the agreement, which meant the legitimization of his rule over one part of the Romaian Empire by the legitimate and ruling dynasty Dušan changed his views of the statehood. That is evident from the change of his royal title, used after August 1343, when signing decrees and other documents, which, besides the traditional 'Serbian and maritime lands' included in different forms 'the Greek lands', that is, 'the Greeks', and sometimes even 'the Bulgarian lands', that is, 'the Bulgarians'. It is interesting to note his title autokratōr Rōmaiōn (inscription on the Church near Pološko), that is, imperator Romaiorum (inscription on one kind of currency). This title shows that Du{an considered himself the ruler of Rhomaioi; however, he soon gave it up and started using the term Romania, for which he could have hoped to be more ideologically acceptable on the conquered territories as well as to his allies in Constantinople. King Du{an used different titles to refer to his rule over the Greek lands and the Greeks - gospodin (master), čestnik (participant), samodržac (=autokrator) autokrator, imperator, dominus - all of which, nonetheless, meant one and the same essential thing. Morphologically speaking, the term čestnik (participant, lat. particeps) invoked the idea of co-ruling over the part of Empire. In the Mount Athos Charter from November 1345, King Du{an accepted that during the church liturgies in the Mount Athos region and the neighborhood the name of the Basileus of Rhomaioi to be mentioned before his own. This document shows that King Dušan accepted the hierarchical supremacy of the Emperor from Constantinople, but based on the principle primus inter pares. Little is known about the details of the alliance between Du{an and the regents in the period from August 1343 through the victory of Kantakouzenos in February 1347. The contemporary Byzantine historiography offers in certain way one-sided views of the events. Gregoras and Kantakouzenos were partial neither to the regents nor to Du{an but to Kantakouzenos himself; besides, there was no historiographer partial to the regents at all, and subsequently, Dušan’s portrayal in the Byzantine historiography was one-sided, and for the most part negative. Concerning the relations between Du{an and the regents, the period of greatest importance is from the death of the most important regents’ ally, Apokaukos, in June 1345 through the victory of Kantakouzenos in February 1347, which remains almost entirely unknown. After having conquered Serres in September 1345, Dušan’s army was camped in the vicinity of Thessaloniki. In February 1346 he requested a fleet from Venice so he could conquer Constantinople, and in the first half of the year 1346 he managed to conquer Berroia. Du{an proclaimed himself a basileus and autokrator of Serbia and Romania (by many contemporaries the act was understood as a proclamation for a Byzantine Emperor in the first instance) at the end of 1345 or beginning of 1346, and he was crowned by the previously ordained Serbian patriarch, and until then archbishop, Joanikije, and the Bulgarian patriarch Simeon. The engagement between Dušan’s son and John’s sister did not result in marriage, for the reasons we can only speculate on. It was probably broken off before April 1346, because in Du{an’s Charter for Zografou of that date, while referring to the Emperor John Palaiologos there was no mention of the appropriate terms reflecting the actual kinship, if there had been any. Likewise, the lack of the term 'dearest' next to the title and name of the Emperor of Rhomaioi, in comparison to the way the name of the Emperor of Bulgarians was mentioned suggests that the relations between Du{an and Constantinople were not that close in the time of his coronation. It remains unknown what the views of the regency and the Patriarchy of Constantinople were towards Dušan’s proclaiming himself an Emperor and the creation of the Patriarchy, as well as the coronation. The Patriarchy of Constantinople reacted only a few years later but not before mid 1351 and not later of the autumn of 1352, when the Patriarch Kallistos excommunicated Du{an and the Serbian Church. On the other hand, the first Kantakouzenos’ coronation, in Adrianople in May 1346, could be considered a reaction to Dušan’s coronation. However, at the time of the issuance of the Code, in 1349, Du{an emphasized that he also had the blessing of 'the Greek throne' for his coronation. It is most probable that the reference in the said document meant the Archbishop of Ohrid, in a rather unusual way, and not the Patriarch of Constantinople. Supposition based on the common views on the Byzantine politics, from which it could be deduced that it would be impossible for the official Constantinople to make a deal with Du{an over the imperial title, is of little value in the time of the Civil War, where there were a lot of precedents, as we are well aware of. For completeness sake, it should be noted that even before and at the time of deposition and excommunication of the then Patriarch John, one of the regents (deposed in February 1347), there had been accusations about his 'illegal actions against the Empire and the Church.' In the context of the Civil War between the regents and Kantakouzenos, these generally mentioned accusations could also refer to his relations with Du{an, as the major foreign ally of the regents. Since his imperial coronation, Du{an signed his prostagmata with menologema, which had been the exclusive right of the Emperor of Rhomaioi and the crowned co-ruler, the junior basileus autokrator. This could be interpreted as the sign of Du- {an’s highest pretentions - namely, gaining the throne of the Emperor of Rhomaioi, but it could also be interpreted as the expression of his specific position of the co-Emperor (Emperor of Romania) that is some kind of the co-ruler with the Emperor from Constantinople (Emperor of Rhomaioi). It remains unclear whether the usage of the menologema was a willful act, and thus usurpation of power, or if there had been some kind of an agreement over this with the regents. On his way to the Empire, Du{an had probably been inspired by the Bulgarian example of the co-existence of yet another Empire besides the Byzantium. However, the change of the title of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Alexander at that time, that is, the appearance of 'the Greek' component in it, taken together with Dušan’s title and what is known about the character of his Empire, seems to indicate that the both monarchs actually ruled over the empires that were the combination of co-existing and co-ruling models, that is, that the both of them were local and 'Byzantine' emperors at the same time. At the time of Dušan’s coronation, there had been a dominant opinion about the spiritual and political kinship of the rulers, that is, about the family of emperors. In that, ideal sense, Du{an and Ivan Alexander were brothers of Andronicus III that is, of Anna Palaiologos, and uncles to John Palaiologos. The actual kinship, when there had been such, was cited besides the ideal one, with the appropriate terms of family relations. Dušan’s entering into the Empire begun in the legitimate spirit, through the agreement with the Palaiologos dynasty. Later steps - proclaiming himself a basileus, creation of the Patriarchy and the actual coronation - were disputed, if not earlier, then most certainly after Kantakouzenos came to power. The genealogical tree from the fresco in the Monastery church near Matejich, created after 1347, although illegible in the most part, shows certain disputable components - it shows the kinship with the Emperor Isaac Comnenos, and through it the right of the Nemanjić dynasty to the Byzantine Imperial Crown to precede the right of the Palaiologos and Kantakouzenos families.

: Episcopal towns of medieval Serbia; This paper is part of a study devoted to the role of the so-called old bishoprics in the medieval history of Serbia. Most of the towns functioning as epsicopal sees grew on early Christian sites and traditions, and were renovated in the Byzantine period. The goal of the research, focused on two towns, Ras and Niš, with the findings cross-checked against Prizren and Belgrade, is to examine the attitude of the Serbian rulers towards the pre-existing ecclesiastical organization. The research also addresses the issue of the capital city of the medieval Serbian state.

: Erster und zweiter Sieger. Zum Byzantinisch-Karolingischen bündnis bezüglich Bari 870-871; The growth of Arab power in Southern Italy and even Dalmatia menaced the Byzantine Empire as well as Carolingian Italy and led both to an alliance in 869/870. Their attempt, however, to conquer Bari in a joint attack failed in 870 (not 869) due to a lack of coordination. An exchange of letters, which followed between Basil I and Louis II, reveals cultural and ideological alienation between christian East and West.

: Ethnische Invektiven in der spätbyzantinischen Händlerwelt Zum anonymen Poem im Marcianus gr. XI, 6 aus dem 3. oder 4. Jahrzehnt des 14. Jahrhunderts; A small poem of six political verses published by Alexander Turyn from a Greek manuscript in Venice compiled in 1321 classifies six ethnic groups: gypsies, Albanians, Cretans, Germans, Goths in Crimea and Trapezuntinians. The article examines firstly the manuscript and the copists and than the role of the six groups in politics and society of the Late Byzantine Empire. The poem have, as it seemed, its origins in merchant circles in Constantinople and describes the public meaning in the streets and places of the Capital.

: Etude de l'anthroponymie slave dans les praktika du XIIe et XIIIe siècle; (francuski) Ce travail se propose d'observer la présence et le taux de représentation des populations slaves dans les régions actuelles de Grèce du nord pour lesquelles les sources nous fournissent des indications. Le matériel utilisé est constitué par les praktika des monastères athonites, et avant tout ceux d'Iviron et de Lavra. Comme indices révélant l'appartenance ou l'origine ethnique on a retenu les noms et surnoms rattachés à ce groupe ethnique. L'analyse des sources montre de grandes différences d'une région à l'autre. Dans certaines, à savoir la région de Moglen, le massif du Pangée et les environs de Strumica, le taux de population slave s'avère très important et même supérieur à celle des Grecs. Dans d'autres, la présence de Slaves, du fait d'un processus d'hellénisation encore partiel, est clairement attestée comme dans la partie est de la Chalcidique, où leur nombre reste approximativement constant au cours de la période en question, et dans la vallée du Strymon au XIIe siècle, alors que le siècle suivant enregistre un fort processus d'hellénisation. Enfin, on constate l'absence totale de Slaves à Lemnos ainsi que dans la partie ouest de la Chalcidique au XIIe siècle où l'apparition de quelques noms slaves vers le milieu du XIIIe siècle peut être considérée comme quelques cas de nouveaux venus qui se sont rapidement fondus dans le milieu grec.

: Family Alberto (Bono) in Dubrovnik in the late Middle Ages; In this study, on the basis of the documents preserved in the Archives of Dubrovnik, the author has described the activities of the family Alberto (Bono) in Dubrovnik, in the Serbian lands and Venice at the end of the 14th and during the first half of the 15th century. The founder of the family was ser Alberto Bono, chancellor by vocation. He came to Dubrovnik from Venice in 1388 and worked as a clerk in the city municipality until the end of his life (1407). However, his sons and a grandson were engaged in intermediary commerce, connecting the lands in the hinterlands of Dubrovnik, Serbia and Bosnia, with the Mediterranean. Thanks to the commerce of precious metals from the Serbian lands, the family became very rich and outstanding. The members of the family, as the citizens of Dubrovnik, were included both in the economical and social life of the city. It could be seen, among other things, that they all, like many other rich and distinguished citizens of Dubrovnik, were elected into the ranks of the Antunini, that they were given lands in Konavle and in the Dubrovnik settlements (commercial colonies). In the Serbian lands some of them, even very often, were elected into judicial commissions. Nevertheless, the members of the family Alberti maintained all the time business and family relations with their land of origin.

: Features of Vulgar Latin in the inscriptions of Naissus; The epigraphic material from the region of Naissus, in spite of its relative scarcity and poor state of preservation, offers valuable examples of Vulgar Latin usage. Interesting phenomena include an instance of the imperial name Pertinax in the form Pertenax, which may be due to a vulgar reinterpretation of the name (‘Very Tough’, cf. Constans, Valens, sim.) and may imply rhizotony (Perténax); the adjective superstantes ‘survivors’, apparently the issue of two consequent vulgar developments, superstes > superstens (hypercorrect spelling) > superstans (false analogy); an isosyllabic 3rd declension nominative singular, Melioris (from the name Melior), as well as a 3rd decl. dative singular generi from the 2nd decl. noun gener ‘son-in-law’; an early borrowing from Germanic, brutes ‘daughter-in-law’; a ‘weak’ future participle, sequiture, for secuturae; the bastard noun volumptas, cf. voluntas and voluptas; a correlative construction with sic...sic for quemadmodum...sic; and the verb adjuvare followed by a dative, which illustrates a vulgarism known from the Glossaries. Another kind of vulgarity, which is rather a matter of simplicity than purely linguistic incompetence, is found in cases such as an epitaph whose dedicator calls herself bene merita; or a semi-metric inscription-a commaticum-whose actual text may be the outcome of tampering with a regular epigraphic poem

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