The Charters of Despot Stefan to Hilandar Monastery

Sometime around 1380 the outer narthex of the Church of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos, the katholikon of the Hilandar Monastery, was built. Prince Lazar contributed the funds for the construction, and very probably also sent the builders - who shaped the narthex in the same spirit in which Ravanica and Lazarica were built. The masters who built the outer narthex left a recognizable imprint of the reign and vision of Prince Lazar. Two parapet slabs on the northern and southern biforate windows carry a particular, perhaps even programmatic message. On one is carved a crest - the coat of arms of Prince Lazar, which his son Stefan Lazarević would later also use - and on the other a double-headed eagle, the emblem of the house of Nemanjić. This was a sign of family continuity, a testimony that the Lazarević line, though forged in blood and suffering, was still borne up by the power of sovereign right and God's blessing. The prince was affirming that he was the true heir of the Nemanjić throne, the guardian of the Serbian spiritual, cultural and state legacy, a ruler who builds not for earthly glory but for the sake of eternal goods. Lazar's endowment fitted perfectly into the existing church. In keeping with tradition, as one of the founders (ktitors), Prince Lazar made rich gifts to the monastery. His charter to the Hilandar Monastery from 1379 or 1380 has also survived; there were other charters of the Prince issued to the Hilandar Monastery that have not been preserved, but on the basis of mentions in the sources it is assumed that there existed a charter of his establishing the revenue from Novo Brdo. It is believed that there were also charters of Prince Lazar concerning the building of the Hilandar tower (pyrgos) in Lipljan, and concerning the taking away of the Lipljan Church of the Most Holy Theotokos - the latter issued in connection with disputes of the Hilandar monks sometime in the last years of his reign. After the martyr's death of Prince Lazar at the Battle of Kosovo, care for Hilandar was continued by the Lazarević family, as several surviving charters confirm. Prince Stefan Lazarević, heeding the petitions of the Hilandar monks, granted the monastery considerable estates. Thus by a charter issued after 1392 (an unfinished copy or draft of this charter is preserved in the archive of the Hilandar Monastery), in agreement with Princess Milica and Patriarch Danilo, he donated to the Hilandar Monastery the hereditary estate of Obrad Dragosaljić, which had earlier been promised to the monastery but had not been handed over to it - the Church of the Presentation of the Most Holy Theotokos on the Ibar, adding to this church the village of Kukanj and its hamlet Čajetina, the village of Šipačno with the hamlet of Noviseli, the village of Prisojnik and "in Hraštani three hamlets with apiaries." By another charter, issued between 1394 and