ВЕЛИКИ КАЗНАЦ ЈОВАН ДРАГОСЛАВ: ВЕЛМОЖА КРАЉА МИЛУТИНА
GREAT KAZNAC JOVAN DRAGOSLAV: KING MILUTIN’S NOBLEMAN

Summary/Abstract: Owing to the founder’s inscription above the entrance to the Church of the Virgin Hodegetria in the village of Mušutište from the second decade of the 14th century, which mentions the name „іѡан(а) вєликаго казнца. драгослава” (íѡan(a) vêlikago kaznca. dragoslava), the oldest memory of a Serbian lord-founder has been preserved. However, with the title of the great kaznac that stands next to the nobleman’s name in the inscription, his career had been ending, thus the inscription was the starting point for the reconstruction of Jovan Dragoslav’s biography. Other available sources, mostly allow tracing his rise from the service of a servant (sluga), which he probably started his career with, through the service of kaznac in the vicinity of Skopje, at the beginning of the 14th century. It seems that he performed this service for the longest period of time since he is also mentioned with it around 1308–1311 in the record of Anagnost Radin on the last page of manuscript he wrote. The private life of Jovan Dragoslav can only be seen to a limited extent: despite the fact that only assumptions can be made about his origin, position, and size of the property, the sources mention his wife, kaznačica Jelena, as well as his children. Parallel to the political progress of Jovan Dragoslav, the process of adoption of Roman customs among the Serbian noblemen is being followed, one expression of which is the foundation by which the great kaznac saved himself from oblivion. Apart from being a reflection of the power that Jovan Dragoslav wielded as a figure at the top of the state hierarchy, the building of the Church of the Virgin Hodegetria, modeled on the ruler, was also a reflection of his faith.

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