Danilo's pupil (14th century) was a talented monk who wrote the biography of
Danilo II between 1337 and 1340. He is credited with compiling the biographies written by Danilo II in a collection, and he added his biography of
Stefan Uroš III
Stefan may refer to:
* Stefan (given name)
* Stefan (surname)
* Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname
* Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname
* Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer
* Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...
and the "Life of Archbishop Joanikije I," written by a monk from the Monastery of
Sopoćani. He also left some information concerning the first few years of the rule of
Stefan Dušan
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан, ), known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr, / ; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Gre ...
, the mightiest of the
Nemanjić Serbian rulers, and the only one who was not named a saint by the
Serbian Orthodox Church. His name is unknown to us, though professing anonymity was not uncommon for monks in
medieval Serbia
Serbia in the Middle Ages refers to the medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, and lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in the second hal ...
. Names of some monk scribes are difficult to come by because of their dedication to their craft of writing and because their spirituality did not permit them to disclose their name or take any credit for their work. Some would only give their first name, and occasionally some, like those from the
Rača monastery
The Rača Monastery ( sr-cyrl, Манастир Рача, Manastir Rača) is a Serbian Orthodox monastery 7 km south of Bajina Bašta, Serbia. The monastery was built by Stefan Dragutin (1276-1282). The monastery became a place where Serbian ...
, used the name of their monastery as a surname.
Danilo's pupil wrote along the same lines as Danilo II, describing the life of his teacher after 1337, and presenting only the spiritual life and ecclesiastical calling of his master.
His works excel for their artistic and stylistic qualities. He had a keen sense of the dramatic and his narration is vivid and exciting. He was unable to completely avoid the stock phrases and epithets common in
hagiographic
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies migh ...
literature of the time, however, the realistic detail in his works is unusually abundant for the period. In addition, "The Lives of Serbian Kings and Archbishops" (''Животи краљева и архиепископа српских'') constitutes a valuable source for political and religious life in Serbia during the Nemanjić ascendency.
His depiction of the attack of the
Catalans
Catalans (Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; es, catalanes, Italian: ''catalani'', sc, cadelanos) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citiz ...
on
Mount Athos
Mount Athos (; el, Ἄθως, ) is a mountain in the distal part of the eponymous Athos peninsula and site of an important centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism in northeastern Greece. The mountain along with the respective part of the peni ...
monasteries is also a unique descriptive record of timely history.
References
{{reflist
Serbian monks
Archbishops of Serbs
Nemanjić dynasty
Hagiographers
Eastern Orthodox royal saints
14th-century Serbian historians
History of Eastern Orthodoxy