Hvosno ( sr-Cyrl, Хвосно, "thick wood") was a medieval Serbian county ( sr, / ) located in the northern part of the Metohija region, in what is today

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

. It roughly encompassed the areas of the modern

Istog Istog or Istok ( sq-definite, Istog, Istogu, sr, Исток, ''Istok'') or Burim is a town and municipality located in the District of Peja of western Kosovo. According to the 2011 census, the city of Istog has 5,115 inhabitants, while the munici ...

and Peja municipalities. It was surrounded by the counties of Jelci to the north; Budimlja and Plav to the west; Zatrnava to the south; Draškovina and Podrimlje to the east and southeast.

Name

The name of Hvosno is derived from the Old Slavic word ''hvost'', meaning 'thick wood', probably due to dense forests that grow on the slopes of surrounding mountains. Several of the oldest toponyms in the area have parallels in the Czech Republic (Trebovitić–Trebovetice, Ljutoglav– Litohlavy and Drsnik–Drsník), showing that it was inhabited by Slavs.

History

Hvosno, as ''Hosnos'' ( gr, Χoσνoς, Khosnos) was mentioned in three charters of Emperor

Basil II Basil II Porphyrogenitus ( gr, Βασίλειος Πορφυρογέννητος ;) and, most often, the Purple-born ( gr, ὁ πορφυρογέννητος, translit=ho porphyrogennetos).. 958 – 15 December 1025), nicknamed the Bulgar S ...

(r. 960–1025) as being under the jurisdiction of the

Eparchy of Prizren Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on ...

. During 11th and 12th century, Eparchy of Prizren (including Hvosno) was under jurisdiction of the Eastern Orthodox

Archbishopric of Ohrid The Archbishopric of Ohrid, also known as the Bulgarian Archbishopric of Ohrid *T. Kamusella in The Politics of Language and Nationalism in Modern Central Europe, Springer, 2008, p. 276 *Aisling Lyon, Decentralisation and the Management of Ethni ...

. Serbian Grand Prince

Stefan Nemanja Stefan Nemanja (Serbian Cyrillic: , ; – 13 February 1199) was the Grand Prince ( Veliki Župan) of the Serbian Grand Principality (also known as Raška, lat. ) from 1166 to 1196. A member of the Vukanović dynasty, Nemanja founded the Nema ...

(r. 1169–1196) managed to gain full independence from the Byzantines and started to expand his domain, capturing Hvosno among other territories. Hvosno was mentioned in the ''Life of Saint Simeon'', written between 1201 and 1208 by his son and first Serbian archbishop

Saint Sava Saint Sava ( sr, Свети Сава, Sveti Sava, ; Old Church Slavonic: ; gr, Άγιος Σάββας; 1169 or 1174 – 14 January 1236), known as the Enlightener, was a Serbian prince and Orthodox monk, the first Archbishop of the autocephalou ...

, as one of the districts that Serbian Grand župan Stefan Nemanja (Saint Simeon) conquered from the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

between 1180 and 1190. Archbishop Sava mentioned Hvosno as one of

's "grandfather's land" which he recaptured It appears that beside the ''

župa A župa (or zhupa, županija) is a historical type of administrative division in Southeast Europe and Central Europe, that originated in medieval South Slavic culture, commonly translated as "parish", later synonymous "kotar", commonly transl ...

'' (county) of Hvosno there was also a larger territory called ''zemlja'' (lit. "land") of Hvosno which encompassed the župa of Hvosno and some of the surrounding ones: Kujavča, Zatrnava, Podrimlje and Kostrc. The ''zemlja'' of Hvosno later corresponded to the territorial spread of the bishopric of Hvosno. Nemanja gave the rule of Hvosno to his elder son Vukan, who in 1195 is titled as "King of

Duklja Duklja ( sh-Cyrl, Дукља; el, Διόκλεια, Diokleia; la, Dioclea) was a medieval South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana Riv ...

, Dalmatia,

Travunia Travunia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Travunija, Травунија; el, Τερβουνία, Tervounía; grc, Τερβουνία, Terbounía; la, Tribunia) was a South Slavic medieval principality that was part of Medieval Serbia (850–1 ...

, Toplica and Hvosno" (''Velcani, regis Diokle, Dalmatie, Tripunie, Toplize et Cosne'').

Annotations

References

Sources

* * {{coord missing, Serbia Subdivisions of Serbia in the Middle Ages Historical regions in Kosovo Nemanjić dynasty History of the Serbian Orthodox Church Kingdom of Serbia (medieval) Grand Principality of Serbia