Dynastic imagery of the Nemanides in the 13th century: Royal bodies revisited
Dynastic imagery of the Nemanides in the 13th century: Royal bodies revisited

Summary/Abstract: To understand the positioning and (visual) articulation of the royal body in medieval Serbia at the height of its political rank and rhetoric, in the first half of the 14th century, it is prerequisite to re-examine the formation this concept had undergone over the course of the previous, 13th century – one that, in many aspects, was crucial in this matter. The interrelated political actions, ktetorship and visual representation(s) of the royal body of king Milutin from the final decades of the 13th and the very beginning of the 14th century, the period that lead to the raising of his mausoleum dedicated to Saint Stephen in the monastery of Banjska in 1313/14, must be taken into consideration as a turning point. This is most strikingly demonstarated by his magnificent imperial clad figure which dominates the eastern wall of the narthex of the church of the Virgin Eleusa or Ljeviška in the ancient city of Prizren. Looking further back into the early decades of the 13th century is likewise crucial in the process of re-examining issues related to the concept and visual articulation of the royal body in Nemanide Serbia. The phenomenon of the royal body, its cult and pertaining visuality that had reached its apogee in the first half of the 14th century, beinning with the concept of burial of the Holy King (Milutin), through the house of the Pantokrator in Dečani housing the sanctified body of his son Stefan Dečanski, to the culmination within the imperial mausoleum of the Holy Archangels near Prizren and the sculpted image of the eternal body of Stefan Dušan, the Christ-like emperor of the Serbs and the Romans, was set in motion and largely formed around the sanctified bodies making up the holy dynastic family tree of Serbian rulers at the close of the 12th and throughout the 13th century – Stefan Nemanja (1168–1196), Stefan Prvovenčani (1217–1227), Radoslav (1227–1234), Vladislav (1234–1243) and Uroš I (1243–1276).

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