WHOSE SISTER IS A SVATVICA? A Contribution to the Research of Affinity in the Žiča Charter
WHOSE SISTER IS A SVATVICA? A Contribution to the Research of Affinity in the Žiča Charter

Summary/Abstract: In light of recent research, the paper discusses the provision on incest in the Second Žiča Charter, issued in the third decade of the 13th century by the Serbian kings Stefan and Radoslav. This research explores several directions. It highlights the unclear meaning of the word svatvica for a woman with whom marriage was prohibited. New findings come from a more in-depth insight into the medieval vocabulary in published and unpublished sources and hereto little-known sources from nineteenth-century ethnographic material. The prohibition of incest is analyzed in the broader context of the development and definition of affinity in the Byzantine Empire and medieval Europe. All major questions concerning its evolution are covered in the texts making up the newly compiled Slavic Nomokanon of St. Sava, whose authority the kings invoked. In the context of universal canons and imperial provisions, our research found multiple layers of the message on incest in the Second Žiča Charter, commonly interpreted as confined to one meaning.

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