Камиле у српским средњовековним земљама
Camels in Serbian Medieval Lands

Summary/Abstract: nce of camels (Camelus sp.) in medieval Serbian lands, in the time preceding the Ottoman conquests. Camels were attested in larger numbers at the beginning of the fourteenth century. According to archbishop Danilo II, King Stephen Uroš II Milutin (1282–1321) donated herds of camels („чрѣди вель- бѹдь“) to the monastery of Treskavac, situated near Prilep. Тhe use of these animals in the region was inherited from Byzantium, where they had a certain role in regional economy, serving primarily for transport on longer distances. Danilo’s report reveals that he and his contemporaries were familiar with the Common-Slavic word for camels (forgotten in modern Serbian, but preserved in many other Slavic languages) and the same word, albeit in slightly different form is also attested in local toponymy, more precisely in the medieval name of the contemporary city of Kyustendil – Velbazhd („Вельблѹждь“). Another testimony of the presence of camels in medieval Serbia is demonstrated in the Life of St. Symeon, written by his son and successor Stephen the First- Crowned. During his meeting with Hungarian king Andrew II in 1214 or 1215, he received various animals as a gift, including aurochs and the Saracen cattle („срациньскыѥ скоты“), i.e. camels. The report shows that the ruler kept exotic animals near his court and that he possessed his own menagerie. At that time, camels were obviously very rare. The presence of camels in the Medieval Balkans was related to the Byzantine trade with the east, their occasional breeding, but also to the migrations of various nomadic Turkic groups from the Pontic steppes. Intriguing evidence of the latter is preserved in the eyewitness report of a pilgrimage, made by bishop Lietbert of Cambrai in 1054. When the pilgrims from Northern France encountered bands of Pechenegs in the Bulgarian desert (the region of modern Great Morava valley, integrated into the Serbian medieval state at the end of twelfth century), they were amazed to see the nomads, riding on horses, as well as on camels. Although no archaeological trace of these animals in Serbia during the Middle Ages has been found so far, on the basis of previously mentioned written reports and several visual representations, it is evident that they were not unknown, and – from the early fourteenth century onwards – not uncommon, at least in southern parts of the Medieval Serbian state, roughly corresponding to the territory of the modern Republic of Macedonia.

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