Open AccessThe third chrysobull of Zica
Author(s) -
Gojko Subotić
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
zograf
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.104
H-Index - 3
eISSN - 2406-0755
pISSN - 0350-1361
DOI - 10.2298/zog0731051s
Subject(s) - inscribed figure , archbishop , reign , art , possession (linguistics) , deed , art history , apostles , saint , history , ancient history , classics , literature , philosophy , law , linguistics , geometry , mathematics , politics , political science
The chrysobulls of King Stefan the First Crowned, and his son, Radoslav, to the monastery of Žiča, written on the walls of the passage beneath the bell-tower of the Church of the Holy Saviour, were already observed in the 1820s and were published several times, on the basis of various transcriptions. However, no one noticed that beside them, on the surfaces beneath the figures of the saint apostles, Peter and Paul, in the soffit of the arch on the western side, there were severely damaged texts, inscribed in small script, the traces of which allow us to recognise yet another deed of gift of King Stefan. The text started off on the southern side with an invocation and intitulation, followed by an exposition containing a series of toponyms that resumed on an appropriate surface on the northern wall, also enumerating the donated possessions, and ending in a sanction. This third chrysobull was probably granted before the end of the reign of Stefan the First Crowned, when the need was felt to officially confirm possession of the estates that were later granted. Nevertheless, given the worn out state of the text from exposure to bad weather conditions, the content does not offer any significant data that could fill in the picture of the Žiča feudal holdings, with unknown estates. Like the two previous documents, the third chrysobull was also inscribed when the church was being redecorated, in the time of Archbishop Sava III (1309-1316). Technically, it was done in the same layer of plaster and has the characteristic lettering used in the first two chrysobulls. The fact that its contents were written in smaller letters on small fields at the side, although there was enough space on the larger empty surfaces beneath the first two, can probably be explained by the intention to repeat the way in which the chrysobulls were arranged in the passage beneath the bell-tower, in the time of Archbishop Sava I. Then, also in an abbreviated version, in front of the first two documents, extracts from the third were displayed on the free, relatively small surfaces