НЕГАТИВНЕ ПЕРЦЕПЦИЈЕ О ВИЗАНТИЈСКИМ ЦАРЕВИМА АНДРОНИКУ I И МИХАИЛУ VIII У ДЈЕЛИМА СРПСКИХ СРЕДЊОВЈЕКОВНИХ ПИСАЦА
NEGATIVE PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE BYZANTINE EMPERORS ANDRONIKOS I AND MICHAEL VIII IN THE WORKS OF SERBIAN MEDIEVAL WRITERS

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents an attempt to observe the negative perceptions of Serbian medieval writers about two Byzantine emperors. The first was Andronikos I (1183–1185), a representative of the Komnenos dynasty, while the second, Michael VIII (1259–1282), belonged to the Palaiologos family. Historical data on this topic are provided by the hagiographers of Saint Simeon (Domentianos and Stephen Nemanjić), Archbishop Daniel II, who wrote the Life of King Milutin, and the authors of two marginal records – Theodore the Grammatist and an anonymous writer. Stephen Nemanjić and Domentianos provide testimonies of the very negative notions towards Andronikos Komnenos that existed in the Serbian medieval milieu. The reason for their descriptions’ contentual and terminological similarities is based on the fact that these two sources are interdependent, i.e., that Domentianos incorporated a large part of the text from the Stephen’s work. It may be surmised that the transmitter of negative perceptions about this emperor in Serbian intellectual community was the monk Sabas Nemanjić, Stephen’s younger brother, who could have acquired them at the court of Alexios III Angelos during his trips to Constantinople. Negative perceptions of Michael VIII Palaiologos are connected with the interpretation of his actions after the signing of Union of the Churches at the Second Council of Lyon in 1274. At that time, the founder of the Palaiologos dynasty faced strong opposition from all strata of Byzantine society. The assumption is that in this case, too, the transmitters of ideas were the Athonite monks, with whom Serbian Archbishop Daniel II, the hagiographer of King Milutin, had close ties.

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