ПОНОВО О ВЕЛИКОМ ДОМЕСТИКУ АЛЕКСИЈУ РАУЛУ И ЊЕГОВОМ ДАРИВАЊУ МАНАСТИРА СВЕТОГ ЈОВАНА ПРЕТЕЧЕ КОД СЕРА
ONCE MORE ABOUT THE GRAND DOMESTIC ALEXIOS RAOUL AND HIS BESTOWMENT OF THE MONASTERY OF ST. JOHN THE FORERUNNER BY SERRAI

Summary/Abstract: Alexiоs Raoul was a scion of a family of Norman origin that appeared in Byzantium at the end of the 11th century and whose members settled in Thrace in the following century. An imperial document in the Greek language; created in the 14th century; confirms the land grants of the Grand Domestic Alexius Raoul for the metochion of the Incorporeal near Zychna; a dependent institution of the monastery of St. John the Prodrome on the Mount Menoikeion in the vicinity of Serrai. The first transcripts from the middle of the 19th century that circulated among scholars were not complete (they lacked elements of the date); so this prostagma was at first attributed to Stefan Dušan; but later research (from the beginning of the second third of the 20th century) transferred the authorship to Andronikos III. When the Vatopedi document from 1366 was discovered; where the grand domestic of Serbia – Raoul of Zychna – was mentioned; the focus was shifted back to the Serbian ruler. With the discovery of the old monastery cartulary from the 14th century; the so-called “Codex B”; an almost complete version of the prostagma (dated January; VI Indiction) was discovered; as well as a previously unknown grant (dated September 3; VI Indiction) by which the Grand Domestic donates lands in the vicinity of Zychna to the Menoikeion monastery. In the meantime; the document of the Metropolitan of Serrai; Jacob the Serb; saw the light of day; there he; on the orders of Tsar Dušan; determines the boundaries of the property of the Athonite monastery of Philotheou in the neighborhood of Zychna; with the help of “the most noble Grand Domestic and Kephale” Alexios Raoul; “the servant and uncle of the powerful and our holy lord and Tsar”. By analyzing the language and style of the prostagma; and by considering the layout of Dušan’s and Byzantine documents within “Codex B”; as well as by bringing them into correlation with the data of other documents; it was concluded that the Serbian ruler issued the prostagma in January 1353 and awarded the title of grand domestic to Alexios Raoul; who spent the largest and most significant part of his political life within the borders of the Serbian Tsardom.

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