Битка код Никопоља у делу Константина Филозофа
The Battle of Nicopolis in the Hagiography of Stefan Lazarević by Constantine the Philosopher

Summary/Abstract: It has been a long time since Житије деспота Стефана Лазаревића (The Hagiography of Despot Stefan Lazarević) has been established in historiography as the paramount historic source regarding the period between the end of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century. The abundance of data provided by it, not only on the life of prince and despot Stefan, but about the other persons, phenomena and events, exceeds the chronological and biographic frame of an only locally significant person’s hagiography. The manner in which Constantine the Philosopher in his work depicted one of the most dramatic events from the end of the 14th century, i.e. the Christian victimisation at the Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, differs from his detailed descriptions of the other events that Stefan Lazarević took part in. A comparative display observation of the event within the very source, as well as by comparing it with the other relevant sources of the western provenience, the issue of the hagiography author’s aim projections has arisen. The fact that Constantine the Philosopher described the battle in a reduced way, omitting Stefan Lazarević’s crucial role in the Christian defeat against the Ottomans, brought along the question of self-censorship. Certain potentially compromising facts regarding Stefan Lazarević in Constantine’s work are certain to have been left out. Those facts could have cast some doubt on the creation of his Christian cult. Having taken into consideration all the relevant factors, the time of its origin (the fourth decade of the 15th century) as well as the endangered position of the Christian states by the Ottomans, the inner analysis of the hagiographic contents and the comparison with the other available sources, we have derived the conclusion that Constantine the Philosopher, most likely led by the higher, Christian ideal, purposefully omitted Stefan’s key role in the Battle of Nicopolis in which the conflict was resolved in favour of the ‘infidels’ and after which the persecution of the Christian captives took place. The other presumption according to which Constantine, although being very well-informed even on the events preceding the rule of Stefan such as the Kosovo Battle, had no clue of Stefan’s role at the Battle of Nicopolis, remains almost not plausible at all.

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