The two sons' lives of Stefan Nemanja are the Serbian witness to the situation of 1200: Nemanja's abdication at Ras in 1196 in favour of Stefan, his monastic years at Studenica and on Mount Athos, the founding of Hilandar (1198) and his death there on 13 February 1199, and, in Stefan's version written after the event, the war with the elder brother Vukan of Zeta, who seized the throne with Hungarian help in 1202. Stefan also records the return of the relics to Studenica (1207) and the miracles that reconciled the brothers. Both are hagiography by interested parties: the brothers' quarrel of 1200 to 1202 is told from Stefan's side only, and Sava's text is a monastic foundation narrative rather than a chronicle.
About this source
- Title
- Zhitije svetog Simeona (two Lives)
- Author
- Sava of Serbia (Rastko Nemanjic) and Stefan the First-Crowned
- Author's dates
- Sava about 1174 to 1235; Stefan about 1165 to 1228
- Written
- Sava's Life 1208, as the preface to the Studenica typikon (a short Life stands in the Hilandar typikon of 1199); Stefan's Life 1216
- Language
- Church Slavonic, Serbian recension
- Covers
- about 1113 to 1208 (Sava) and to about 1216 (Stefan)
- Kind
- Saint's life
Safarik's 1873 volume is the only free copy of the texts found; the modern Serbian editions and Hafner's German are in copyright. Sava's short Life in the Hilandar typikon of 1199 is the earliest text. The Rastko online library's edition of Sava's works was not reachable during this check. No full English translation was located.
Where to read it
Editions
- P. J. Safarik (ed.), Pamatky drevniho pisemnictvi Jihoslovanuv, 2nd ed. (Prague, 1873), prints both Lives in Church Slavonic (Zivot sv. Symeona od krale Stepana; Zivot sv. Symeona od sv. Savy)
- D. Bogdanovic (ed.), Sveti Sava: Sabrani spisi (Belgrade, 1986), Serbian with modern translation (not freely online)
- Lj. Juhas-Georgievska (ed.), Stefan Prvovencani: Sabrani spisi (Belgrade, 1988), Serbian with modern translation (not freely online)
Translations
- S. Hafner, Serbisches Mittelalter: Altserbische Herrscherbiographien, vol. 1 (Graz, 1962), German (not freely online)