doiSerbia

The first coronation churches of medieval Serbia

Kalić Jovanka (Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Belgrade)

The medieval ceremony of coronation as a rule took place in the most important church of a realm. The sites of the coronation of Serbian rulers before the establishment of the Žiča monastery church as the coronation church of Serbian kings in the first half of the thirteenth century have not been reliably identified so far. Based on the surviving medieval sources and the archaeological record, this paper provides background information about the titles of Serbian rulers prior to the creation of the Nemanjić state, and proposes that Stefan, son of the founder of the Nemanjić dynasty, was crowned king (1217) in the church of St Peter in Ras.

Keywords: Serbia, corona regni, Stefan the First-Crowned, Sava of Serbia, Žiča monastery